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TU Delft has withdrawn from a research collaboration on artificial intelligence. ‘Delft Student Intifada’ is protesting on 3 December partly against this partnership, because the Israeli company Weebit Nano was involved. Three other collaborations will not go ahead.
News from China: an experimental molten salt reactor is said to have run on thorium for the first time. This type of technology is also being developed in Delft. Last week, an agreement was presented for the construction of Europe’s first pilot plant. Nuclear physicist Martin Rohde: “The thorium reactor is the holy grail.”
In order to become more independent from American big tech companies, SURF is investigating the possibilities offered by the European NextCloud. An initial successful trial is being scaled up: from a few dozen to two thousand users.
The first snow of the year has fallen. Is that early, or late? What do we actually know about snow? The KNMI (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute) longs for new data on snowflakes. And that is exactly what researcher Nina Maherndl will deliver.
Last weekend, AE alumnus Michiel Kruijff won the audience award at the Wubbo Ockels Innovation Awards with his idea for an aluminium battery. The awards are named after Delft sustainability professor and astronaut Wubbo Ockels, who exactly forty years ago became the first Dutchman to travel into space.
Professor of Biotechnology and Society Patricia Osseweijer will retire this Friday. Delta has already read her farewell speech. The tone and form are light-hearted, but what resonates is an urgent plea for designing with global justice as the conscious end goal. “Things can be different.”
While development aid is under pressure, the Delft Global Initiative is celebrating its 10 year anniversary on Thursday. Continuing it is needed, says its Managing Director Claire Hallewas. “Major issues do not stop at the borders.”
Three Chinese astronauts are stuck in their space station after a possible crash with space debris. What can be done about space debris? Jeannette Heiligers (Astrodynamics & Space Missions) is working on a solution. “Space debris is one of the biggest challenges in aerospace.”
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