sciencehabit writes: Recycling isn’t as guilt-free as it seems. Only about 30% of the plastic that goes into soda bottles gets turned into new plastic, and it often ends up as a lower strength version. Now, researchers report they’ve engineered an enzyme that can convert 90% of that same plastic back to its pristine starting…

This flash sale is one day only, and we’ve rounded up the best deals in one place. …read more Source:: CNet

The current situation has given closet germaphobes the world over a chance to get out there and clean the hell out of everything. Some of it may be overdone; we ourselves can cop to a certain excess as we wipe down cans and boxes when returning from a run to the grocery store. But sometimes…

Earlier this week Slashdot reader puddingebola shared a CNN story headlined “Wanted urgently: People who know a half century-old computer language so states can process unemployment claims…” But now IEEE Spectrum reports that “Cobol programmers in the United States are heeding the call to work on antiquated state unemployment benefits computer systems⦔ The new claims…

If the presumptive Democratic nominee winds up becoming president, he could have a profound effect on tech issues affecting us all. …read more Source:: CNet

I asked a currently idle Apple store employee about my new MacBook Air. He offered robust views. …read more Source:: ZDNet

This week the Washington Post asked their “business of health care” reporter to explain the true status in the scientific community of hydroxychloroquine, an already-approved malaria drug also used to control inflammation in lupus and rheumatoid arthritis patients. “There is no clear evidence that the drugs work against the coronavirus,” he writes, “despite their use…

With almost entirely digital school days and only seeing friends over video chat, it’s important to keep kids safe online during the coronavirus pandemic. …read more Source:: CNet

We’re certainly familiar with vacuum grabbers used in manufacturing to pick items up, but this is a bit different. [James Wigglesworth] sent in some renders and demo video (embedded after the break) of the Dexter robot arm and a laser cutter automatically producing face shields. It’s a nice little bit of automation, where you can…

Digitizing film is a tedious process that becomes a lot more fun if you spend more of your time building a digitizer and less time actually working working with old film. [Heikki Hietala] has been at it for years and his Kotokino Mark IV film scanner is a masterpiece of simple machine building. Since we…