Pulling punches The seemingly indestructible fists of the mantis shrimp can take a punch Specialized structures in the animal's claws can seemingly absorb impact. Elizabeth Rayne Feb 22, 2025 7:00 am | 4 Credit: Giordano Cipriani Credit: Giordano Cipriani Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreThe mantis shrimp comes equipped with its own weapons. It has claws that look like permanently clenched fists that are known as dactyl clubs. But when it smashes the shells of its prey, these fists come out of it undamaged.When throwing punches, mantis shrimp can strike at the speed of a .22 caliber bullet (about 1,316 kmph or 818 mph)one of the fastest movements in the animal kingdom. That generates a force over a thousand times their body weight. However, unleashing that much energy can backfire because the shockwaves it produces could seriously damage an animals soft tissue. None of that seems to affect the mantis shrimp. Now we finally know why.When a team of researchers from Northwestern University studied the dactyl clubs of one mantis shrimp species, they found that they have layered structures that selectively block sound waves, acting as protective gear against vibrations that could otherwise harm the shrimp. These types of structures, known as phononic mechanisms, filter out sound waves that could otherwise cause nerve and soft tissue trauma.Together, these region-specific mechanisms form a synergistic protection system that withstands repeated high-intensity impacts without substantial damage, the researchers said in a study recently published in Science.Beyond body armorMantis shrimp are neither mantids nor shrimp. They are actually stomatopods, predatory marine crustaceans that first emerged 400 million years ago and feed on mollusks, fish, cnidarians and other crustaceans. The peacock mantis shrimp (Odontodactylus scyllarus) is one of the most formidable predators of the tropical shallows it hunts in.The Northwestern research team closely studied the dactyl clubs of one peacock mantis shrimp specimen and discovered three layers of phononic defenses. Phonons are units of vibrational energy that arise from atoms moving back and forth in a solid material. Phononic materials, like the shrimps defense mechanisms, are structured to manipulate sound waves that pass through them.When dissecting the clubs, the researchers found that they are covered in hydroxyapatite, a coating that also gives tooth enamel and bone their toughness. Beneath that coating is what they call the impact region, which consists of a chitin layer in a herringbone pattern (chitin is the hard, sugar-based material that makes up the animals shell). This particular structural form of chitin is thought to dissipate sound waves that could possibly cause cracking.Under the herringbone layer is what the researchers called the periodic region, made from layers of coiled chitin springs. The shrimp will draw back its dactyl clubs and then punch forward, releasing energy from the loaded springs to crack the shells of prey. These springs are made of chitin nanofibers layered in a twisted arrangement, which makes each structure appear much like an actual spring. These also manipulate the propagation of sound waves to both prevent breakage and protect nerves and soft tissues.Protecting yourself from yourselfMantis shrimp have to put up with incredibly intense blows, even though they are the ones who deal them. Their dactyl clubs swish through the water so fast that they create a temporary low-pressure area and form air bubbles in a process called cavitation. When those bubbles implode, they release light and heat energy so extreme that, for a fraction of a second, the water immediately surrounding the punch zone becomes as hot as the Sun. There may even be momentary flashes of light.To find out how much force a mantis shrimps dactyl clubs can possibly withstand, the researchers tested live shrimp by having them strike a piezoelectric sensor like they would smash a shell. They also fired ultrasonic and hypersonic lasers at pieces of dactyl clubs from their specimens so they could see how the clubs defended against sound waves.By tracking how sound waves propagated on the surface of the dactyl club, the researchers could determine which regions of the club diffused the most waves. It was the second layer, the impact surface, that handled the highest levels of stress. The periodic surface was almost as effective. Together, they made the dactyl clubs nearly immune to the stresses they generate.There are few other examples that the protective structures of the mantis shrimp can be compared to. On the prey side, evidence has been found that the scales on some moths wings absorb sound waves from predatory bats to keep them from echolocation to find them.Understanding how mantis shrimp defend themselves from extreme force could inspire new technology. The structures in their dactyl clubs could influence the designs of military and athletic protective gear in the future.Shrimp impacts contain frequencies in the ultrasonic range, which has led to shrimp-inspired solutions that point to ultrasonic filtering as a key [protective] mechanism, the team said in the same study.Maybe someday, a new bike helmet model might have been inspired by a creature that is no more than seven inches long but literally doesnt crack under pressure.Science, 2025. DOI: 10.1126/science.adq7100Elizabeth Rayne Elizabeth Rayne is a creature who writes. Her work has appeared on SYFY WIRE, Space.com, Live Science, Grunge, Den of Geek, and Forbidden Futures. She lurks right outside New York City with her parrot, Lestat. When not writing, she is either shapeshifting, drawing, or cosplaying as a character nobody has ever heard of. Follow her on Threads and Instagram @quothravenrayne. 4 Comments

gigacast battery packs This EV could reboot medium-duty trucking by not reinventing the wheel Modest goals and keeping within the lines have done this startup well. Tim Stevens Feb 22, 2025 6:00 am | 3 Harbinger's rolling chassis, at the company's factory in Garden Grove, California. Credit: Tim Stevens Harbinger's rolling chassis, at the company's factory in Garden Grove, California. Credit: Tim Stevens Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreHarbinger provided transportation from LAX to its HQ in Garden Grove, California, so Ars could drive its prototype truck. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.GARDEN GROVE, Calif.There's no shortage of companies looking to reinvent the delivery experience using everything from sidewalk drones to electric vans. Some are succeeding, but many more have failed by trying to radically rethink the simple, age-old task of getting stuff from one place to another.Harbinger likewise wants to shake up part of that industry but in a decidedly understated way. If you found yourself stuck in traffic behind one of the company's all-electric vehicles, there's a good chance you wouldn't even notice. The only difference? The lack of diesel smoke and clatter.From the outside, Harbinger's pre-production machine looks identical to the standard flat-sided, vinyl-wrapped delivery vehicles that seemingly haven't changed in decades. That's because they really haven't. Those familiar UPS and FedEx machines are built on common chassis like Ford's F-59 or Freightliner's MT45, with ladder chassis and leaf spring designs dating back to the earliest days of trucking.Rather than discarding decades of learning and optimization, Harbinger is keeping its focus narrow, changing only what's required to move the industry away from expensive and ugly combustion to cleaner and cheaper electric drive.Harbinger is exclusively focused on medium-duty options right now, trucks that are significantly larger than the Rivians or Mercedes eSprinters of the world. "That's basically everything 5 through 15 tons or thereabouts," co-founder and Harbinger CTO Phillip Weicker said, "the dominant product for what's called a strip chassis, essentially what in the passenger market is called a skateboard."Yes, Harbinger just builds the chassis. Everything on top comes from somewhere else. On the left, Harbinger's alpha prototype EV chassis. On the right, a Ford F-59 chassis. Tim Stevens On the left, Harbinger's alpha prototype EV chassis. On the right, a Ford F-59 chassis. Tim Stevens Someone else provides the bodywork. Tim Stevens Someone else provides the bodywork. Tim Stevens On the left, Harbinger's alpha prototype EV chassis. On the right, a Ford F-59 chassis. Tim Stevens Someone else provides the bodywork. Tim Stevens "Most medium-duty vehicles are built by one company building the chassis [and] another company installing the body," Weicker said. "So this made the perfect sense for our first product because we're going to be focused almost entirely on the differentiated aspects. We don't have to deal with the high capital investments for body in white, paint shop, [and] a lot of the things that have cost EV startups lots of money just to get to a table-stakes position with their incoming competitors."If you're a company that wants a medium-duty vehicle like this, your dealer sources the chassis for you and then coordinates sending it to a company called an upfitter. The upfitter then builds the entire body on top of the chassis to your exact specifications.Designs from upfitters have been defined and refined over decades of experience by the companies that operate them. Those giant white or brown delivery vans might look very similar from the outside, but there's a lot of nuance to their design."The door handles work slightly differently. The locking logic works differently. The vehicles are about 2 inches narrower for one of those companies than the other," Harbinger co-founder and CEO John Harris said. "These are all designed to get the driver in and out of the door one second faster at every stop, to get in and out of the depot and load the vehicle two or three minutes faster." Harbinger CTO Phillip Weicker demoing the delivery van. Credit: Tim Stevens Harbinger's solution fits the same template but operates in a very different way. It's still a big, long ladder-frame, and it uses a leaf-spring rear suspension. But rather than slapping a big engine up front, Harbinger relies on a 330-kW (443 hp) electric motor that's wound in-house and mounted between the rear wheels. It uses a De Dion arrangement, which isolates the heavy motor from the rear suspension.The idea was to keep the whole thing simple and familiar so that any company that wanted to get off diesel could start ordering vehicles with a Harbinger chassis without radically changing its fleet management or driver training.I got a chance to see just how familiar the two things are during my visit to Harbinger's 5,000-square-foot headquarters in Garden Grove, California. I wish I could say driving the Harbinger was an evocative, world-changing experience, but the company's ethos of not reinventing the wheel very much continues through to the experience of sitting behind the wheel that steers the thing.I started by taking a lap of the Harbinger parking lot in a Ford F-59-based machine, a former delivery truck that had already lived a hard life before it was put out to pasture, becoming something of a test mule for Harbinger. I'd never driven anything exactly like this before, but I have spent many hours droning down the highway in various abused U-Haul trucks, and the experience is much the same. On the left, the Harbinger prototype. On the right, an old Ford F-59 truck. Tim Stevens On the left, the Harbinger prototype. On the right, an old Ford F-59 truck. Tim Stevens A closeup of Harbinger's motor assembly. Tim Stevens A closeup of Harbinger's motor assembly. Tim Stevens On the left, the Harbinger prototype. On the right, an old Ford F-59 truck. Tim Stevens A closeup of Harbinger's motor assembly. Tim Stevens The same, but louder. Yes, the 6.7-liter diesel certainly makes a lot of noise, but the creaking and crashing of the boxy body built on top of that aged ladder-frame chassis is deafening. The automatic transmission has a leisurely approach to its job, delivering the next gear only when absolutely needed. The throttle delivers the kind of precision response that had me slamming my foot to the floor just to get around the parking lot. Doing so made a lot more noise but not much more acceleration.That part, at least, is radically different in the Harbinger. While the throttle pedal has the same long throw, you needn't dip nearly so far into it. A light pedal brush had the empty Harbinger delivery truck leaping forward. It's hardly a Lucid Air Sapphire, but it still surged forward with the sort of instant acceleration that makes EVs so addictive.Braking, too, is far more sharp. I lurched against the racy orange seatbelt the first time I stepped on the left pedal, and the combination of regenerative braking and fresh disc brakes made for a far more effective slowing solution.There's no transmission to worry about here, either. Instead of slinging a giant column shifter downward, in the Harbinger, you just hit the D button and pull away. It's not the most stylish cabin we've sat in. Credit: Tim Stevens In motion, though, the experience is much the same. You're seated up high, deafened by the clatter and bangs from the empty, boxy body, which, again, is exactly like that built on a traditional truck. The feedback is so harsh that it's actually difficult to separate the overall ride quality of the truck. Still, even unladen, and thus at its harshest, it's a far smoother drive than the Ford.It's easier to turn, too. The Harbinger offers 50 degrees of steering angle at the front. I pulled off my first U-turn on a narrow, suburban LA street quickly enough to not get honked at by even a single impatient Angelino.It ultimately wasn't the plush, hushed experience offered by your average electric sedan, but that's not the point. By keeping everything familiar, Harbinger CEO John Harris told me Harbinger can offer a product with price parity to those aged, diesel-powered machines. Harris declined to provide formal pricing, but its affordability is at least partially dependent on federal incentives.Currently, alternatively fueled medium-duty vehicles like Harbinger's are eligible for the Commercial Clean Vehicle Credit 45W, which provides incentives of up to $40,000, depending on vehicle size and propulsion type. Battery modules. Credit: Tim Stevens "Where we're pricing the vehicles, we need that 45 W if we want to undercut diesel, and that's what we're doing," Harris said. "With 45 W, we can undercut the typical diesel vehicle by a few thousand dollars."But even if that credit goes away under the current administration, Harbinger has some price flexibility to remain competitive, he added.That's doubly true if you factor in operating costs. Harris says the average cost to operate a medium-duty vehicle like this is $0.50 per mile for fuel, or $0.85 if you factor in all costs relating to the vehicle itself. Harbinger is aiming to halve that, targeting $0.40 per mile. But, Harris says, Harbinger doesn't need to lean on that total cost of ownership (TCO) logic."On a TCO basis, it's easy: We blow diesel trucks away. But the whole point is to have the right acquisition cost from day one, and then the simpler operating costs deliver savings every day," he said. The cast battery pack enclosure. Credit: Tim Stevens Still, that's potentially a huge savings when you consider the hundreds of thousands of miles a machine will cover over its lifespan, which is expected to be measured in decades, not years. Many of the medium-duty delivery vehicles you see on the road today date from the last century. Harbinger's chassis has been designed to last just as long, including its custom-made, gigacast battery packs, which were designed for durability."If you took the battery pack out of a Tesla Model 3, and you put it in a commercial truck, and you tried to operate it in that environment, even if the cells lasted, I think the rest of the battery system would kind of shake itself to pieces," Weicker said.Harbinger customers can specify their desired pack size, and there's even a hybrid model with an onboard generator for extended running. Harris, Harbinger's CEO, declined to say when the company's chassis will be in full production other than "very soon." The company has 4,000 preorders on the books, and it has already delivered pre-production models to customers like Thor.It's a modest start for the company, which today counts 330 employees, but in an age of EV startups promising the moon and delivering little more than hype, the Harbinger's focus on the basics is refreshingand encouraging. 3 Comments

NASA/Adboe Stock/ Ryan WillsOur universe is expanding, so it must have been smaller in the past. Indeed, if we rewind our cosmological movie, we see the universe shrinking back almost to a point the big bang some 13.8 billion years ago. Is this when time began? Alas, things arent so simple. Albert Einsteins general theory of relativity tells us that the backdrop of the universe is a fluid continuum, space-time, in which neither space nor time has an absolute meaning. Whats more, at the big bang, space-time distorts into a point of infinite density called a singularity. We cant say this is where time begins, only that it marks a rupture beyond which we cannot extrapolate.Even so, some cosmologists believe there was a before the big bang. Some suggest that another universe preceded ours, and that this one contracted and then bounced at the big bang, resulting in the expanding era we now observe. More radically, cosmologist Roger Penrose has proposed that new universes can emerge from ones that dont contract, through a dramatic rescaling of all space-time.In both these scenarios, time is eternal, but thats just one possibility. The late cosmologists Stephen Hawking and James Hartle suggested that time was once an ordinary dimension like space, which got derailed at the big bang into space-time. Another outlandish idea is that space-time is made of particle-like pieces. If so, these could be arranged in different phases, akin to steam and liquid water. Maybe the big bang was the point at which they condensed into the fluid, continuous space-time we observe today.

TV companies are helping feed YouTube's growth in long-form viewing.Some are distributing full-length episodes and even making originals for the frenemy platform.Companies like the UK's Channel 4 and Fremantle are finding new audiences and revenue there.Many TV companies have stopped trying to fight YouTube and are embracing its rise instead.TV has become the top place people watch YouTube in the US, beating out mobile and desktop. And increasingly, Hollywood is providing shows for viewers to watch there."Long-form content is now crushing on YouTube," media industry analyst Evan Shapiro told Business Insider. "Mainstream media companies are leaning into it by programming YouTube with their existing libraries of long-form TV."This content ranges from full-length episodes and movies to original shows made for the platform.Companies in the reality TV and game show space have been particularly active.British broadcaster ITV recently struck a deal with YouTube to post hundreds of hours of popular shows like "Love Island" and "I'm a Celebrity" on the platform.The production company Fremantle, known for long-running and popular formats like "The Price is Right" and "Too Hot to Handle," has been expanding its YouTube presence over the past several years and now has 1,500 channels on YouTube and 32 billion views across YouTube and Facebook combined. Unscripted production giant Banijay has 75,000 hours of full-length shows such as "Big Brother" and "Master Chef" on YouTube. And in the past year, the UK's Channel 4 has increased its sharing of full-length episodes of lifestyle shows and documentaries on YouTube.The moves by media companies have gone beyond lifestyle content.Warner Bros. Discovery this month began putting "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" episodes on YouTube the day after they air on HBO and Max. Previously, viewers had to wait four days to catch new episodes on YouTube. WBD has also been making older, full-length movies available on YouTube for a few years and recently moved them to its own channel from YouTube's hub of free movies and TV shows to improve their visibility.In another sign of YouTube's undeniable reach, some companies are even starting to make original shows for the platform.Paramount Global's Nickelodeon just made its first animated series for YouTube, "Kid Cowboy," and said there would be more to come.Fremantle has decided to start making originals for YouTube as well. It has two original shows in production, including a comedy video podcast,"High in the Sky,"where the hosts riff on conspiracy theories, and several more in the pipeline."About 18 months ago, we decided we needed to future-proof ourselves," said Brian Lovett, head of content strategy for Fremantle's original productions. "Cable, broadcast, streaming, are a huge part of our business, and we do that really well. But what else can we do?" John Oliver on "Last Week Tonight." HBO YouTube has become harder to ignoreAs YouTube has cemented itself as a destination on TV screens, it's changed the conversation around the platform in Hollywood. YouTube isn't just seen as a place for short, user-generated clips anymore.The streaming data analysis company Digital i found that videos lasting 30 minutes or more accounted for 73% of total viewing on the platform in the US in October 2024, up 8% from a year earlier. Long-form viewing on YouTube is on the rise. Digital i YouTube isn't the only game in town when it comes to free streaming TV. Publishers are also distributing full-length movies and TV on other free video platforms like The Roku Channel and Fox's Tubi. Some have even experimented with TikTok, which now allows videos up to 60 minutes long. But industry insiders generally say YouTube is the biggest opportunity because companies can easily upload videos there, control their publishing strategy, and reach a vast audience.YouTube's appeal varies somewhat from publisher to publisher.Kids media companies like Nickelodeon recognize YouTube is increasingly the platform of choice for their core audiences.In the case of "Last Week Tonight," a person familiar with the decision said the call to move up the YouTube drops was made to satisfy Oliver. They added that delaying the YouTube release hadn't helped the show's viewership on WBD's own channels anyway. This person asked for anonymity because they weren't publicly authorized to discuss the strategy; their identity is known to BI.For companies like Fremantle and WBD, with huge catalogs of older shows and movies, YouTube can unearth pockets of viewers for even the most niche shows."These are 10-year-old shows that were hugely popular," Lovett said. "Being able to air them on a [free, on-demand streaming] channel gave them a whole new revenue stream. This is pretty much passive income."YouTube can also help a show find an audience it missed on TV.Channel 4 put "Huge Homes with Hugh Dennis," where the comedian takes viewers inside big houses, on YouTube after it flopped elsewhere. The audience went bonkers for it on YouTube, and then viewership on streaming ticked up.YouTube can offer new ad revenue and viewers but can be tricky to navigateRepublishing full-length content successfully on YouTube isn't always quick or easy.Shows are often tangled up in a knot of local and overseas rights, preventing producers from dropping them straight on YouTube. It also can take a while to figure out how to package up old shows so they land with viewers.Channel 4 tested for months to hone its strategy. The company bleeped swear words to avoid YouTube's age restrictions and worked to nail titles, thumbnails, and keywords so the platform's algorithm would surface the videos. And it had to curate its vast amount of material for a YouTube audience. It figured out that "blue light" emergency services docs about police and ambulance rescues played well with viewers, for example.In publishing to YouTube, media companies also have to reckon with the potential loss of licensing or audience revenue. That's why viewers tend to see older shows on YouTube that are of less value to other platforms."I would be surprised if any legacy media business was not nervous about this or had any existential crisis," said Matt Risley, managing director of 4Studio at Channel 4. "We discussed it at length."Despite that, many media companies, including Channel 4, feel they're getting meaningful ad revenue from YouTube and reaching new audiences.Risley said that, as a premium publisher, the broadcaster is allowed to sell its own ads on YouTube. He said Channel 4 makes up to five times the ad rate that it would get if YouTube sold the ads programmatically, and that publishing across YouTube and other social channels combined is now an eight-figure business for the company."This is a way to create a much longer tail for our content," said Matt Creasey, EVP of sales, acquisitions, and coproductions for Banijay Rights. "And advertisers are moving to YouTube as well."Other companies take a different tack Netflix picked up popular YouTuber Ms. Rachel. Netflix Disney has made some of its shows available on YouTube, like "Bluey," which was the top pre-schooler channel on the platform in 2024, per Digital i.But don't expect media giants like Disney or NBCUniversal, which have spent billions to build their own streaming services, to shovel huge swaths of their full-length catalogs on YouTube anytime soon.And Netflix and Amazon, with deep pockets and big audiences, have taken a different approach to YouTube than some traditional TV rivals. These companies are now licensing or making shows with popular YouTubers for their own platforms.That said, some media execs say they only see the interplay between YouTube and paid streaming services increasing as the industry matures."The audience and power of YouTube is undeniable," Lovett said.After all, distributing content to different audiences has been a mainstay of media for years. Some Hollywood companies have recently got back into the licensing game in a big way as they hunt for cash, after hoarding their content to power their own streamers. Valuable shows like HBO's "Sex and the City" and Disney's "Grey's Anatomy" are back on Netflix, for example.Could they one day make their way to YouTube?

My parents travel around the world in an RV while I'm in New York City, so we're often far apart.Trader Joe's keeps us connected because my mom and I often recommend products to each other.As a Japanese family, we love to connect over Trader Joe's offerings.Seeking adventure runs in my blood. My father met my mother after he asked his friend if he knew a girl who scuba dives and rides motorcycles. My parents have been diving and riding together for more than 30 years now.This also meant that as soon as I left my childhood home in California, my parents sold it, bought an RV, and have been on the road. Every time I call them, I'm not sure where they are. Every Thanksgiving, I have to call them and figure out where they would be. One year, they were in Utah, another in Florida.I, on the other hand, settled down in New York City, which means I'm often thousands of miles away from my parents.Unexpectedly, Trader Joe's has been invaluable in keeping my Japanese family connected.Trader Joe's: Our surprising family anchorMy mother and I love Trader Joe's. I remember tagging along as a kid, always asking to get a bucket of the alliterative masterpiece that is the "Crispy Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies."Perhaps it's the familiar handwritten chalkboard signs or the clanging of the bells calling for employees across the store, but today, every time I step into a Trader Joe's, I feel like I'm shopping with my mother.Every time I grab a pack of Japanese fried rice or the amazing Kimbap (I excitedly told my mom a few months ago over the phone that my local store increased the customer limit from two to four), I'm reminded that my mother recommended those items to me.Whenever I look for a new apartment in New York, I keep a separate Google Maps tab open on my browser that shows all the Trader Joe's locations nearby. When I moved into a new apartment a few years ago, the first question my mother asked me was whether a Trader Joe's was close.Whenever my mother and father arrive in a new town, I ask my mother whether there's a Trader Joe's. Last time, somewhere in Wyoming, she responded, "That's the thing, it's beautiful here but no Trader Joe's. But don't worry, I stocked up on the Japanese fried rice, and it's in the freezer, so we're good."When I visit, I've even offered to bring with me what I can from my local Trader Joe's when they're somewhere without easy access to one.We keep in touch by recommending Trader Joe's products to each otherMy mother recently sent me a photo of the brand's Butternut Squash Soup, Thai Yellow Curry Sauce, and a can of coconut milk. She texted, "Apparently, if you mix these up and throw in some veggies and some meat, it's really good."Our relationship with national news is also shaped by Trader Joe's, too. The bird flu is causing egg prices to hit a record high. At my nearest grocery store, a dozen eggs were $10, nearly a dollar per egg. Meanwhile, my mother sent me a photo the other day from Trader Joe's showing that they've implemented a limit of one egg product per customer while keeping the egg prices at a much more reasonable $3.49 per dozen. She said, "Trader Joe's is so admirable! Check out this price."Additionally, when I travel 5,000 miles away to Japan, Trader Joe's still manages to bring our family together. I found out that their "Daily Facial Sunscreen" works really well on my skin, not leaving a white cast. I bought a few and brought them over to Japan to give to my grandma, who loves skincare.My grandmother loved it so much she told my mother about it. My mother then sent me a message asking where I got the sunscreen, and she got excited when she learned I bought it from our favorite store.I'm glad we have something to bond over when we're so far apartI doubt that Trader Joe's designed its products or its shopping experience to foster a sense of connection between members of a Japanese family scattered around the US.But that's exactly what they've done.Now, please excuse me. My mother just messaged me about Trader Jo's sea salt from Portugal, which comes "in a really cute container." She says she loves how it looks on her countertop, and 3000 miles away, I'd love to find out whether it looks good on mine.

Who hasnt heard the phrase ignorance is bliss a thousand times?Like all cliches, it sticks because its rooted in truth, but its worth asking why ignorance can be so satisfying. If you read the history of philosophy, you dont find all that much interest in the delights of ignorance. Instead, you hear a lot about the pursuit of truth, which is assumed to be a universal human impulse.Thats not entirely wrong, of course. But denial and avoidance are also human impulses, often more powerful than our need to know. So these drives a need to know and a strong desire never to never find out are often warring within us, shaping our worldview, our relationships, and our self-image.Mark Lilla is a professor of the humanities at Columbia University and the author of a new book called Ignorance and Bliss: On Wanting Not to Know. Its short, elegantly written, and maybe the highest compliment I can give is that it reads like a book that couldve been written at almost any point in modern history. It engages one of the oldest questions in philosophy to know or not to know? and manages to offer fresh insights that feel relevant and timeless at the same time.So I invited Lilla on The Gray Area to explore why we accept and resist the truth and what it means to live continuously in that tension. As always, theres much more in the full podcast, so listen and follow The Gray Area on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever you find podcasts. New episodes drop every Monday.This interview has been edited for length and clarity.The book opens with a kind of parody of Platos famous Allegory of the Cave. In the original story, there are prisoners who spend their whole life bound by chains in a cave looking at shadows being cast on a wall, and they mistake those shadows for reality because its the only reality theyve ever known. Whats your spin on it?In Platos edition, a stranger comes in and turns one of the prisoners around so that he realizes that hes been living in a world of shadows and is invited to climb up to the sun and then lives up there until hes told to come back down and get other people.In my version of the story, hes got a little friend with him, a young boy who also goes up. When it comes time to go back down, the man tells him he can stay up staring at the forms and being in the pure sunlight and seeing what is, and it turns out hes desperate to return. Its a cold life. All of his fantasy and imagination have dried up. He misses his virtual friends and eventually hes taken back down. And so I start the book saying its an open question whether coming out into sunlight is a good thing.We want to know the truth, we want to see the world as it is, but we also need to be ignorant of certain things and we really, really hate to admit our own ignorance. So were constantly playing this game of hide and seek with ourselves. This is a weirdly untenable dance for humans, dont you think?It is. People dont want to feel that theyre incurious and holding things at arms distance and not thinking about them. I think part of it is that our opinions are not things that we just have in a bag that we pull out when they need expression, but rather they feel like prostheses, like an extra limb, and if someone refutes our argument or mocks it, it feels like something quite intimate has been touched.And so that is an incentive to not admit your ignorance and to build up all sorts of defenses and appeal to bogus authorities in order to remain convinced of your own rational capacities and your independence. It becomes a kind of perverse thing where youre constantly trying to patch things together to show to yourself and others you understand, and in the meantime, you can start pulling in some preposterous things that become part of your worldview.Is there a good model of a wisely ignorant person, someone who climbs the mountain of knowledge and says once they reach the peak, You know what? I like it better down there in the cave!I think youre leaving out an option, and that option is something that Socrates explores in the other Platonic dialogues, which is learning from your own ignorance. That is to recognize that youre genuinely and generally ignorant about things and to continue inquiring with the understanding of what you come up with is tentative.Especially right now, we live in a world where were more and more aware of the uncertainty of our knowledge because things changed so quickly. It was very striking to me during Covid just how frustrated people seemed to be by the fact that the public health authorities kept changing their advice. First they said it was all about washing your hands, and then they said it was all about masks and so on, and they get angry about that, but thats the way science works. But people dont like to live that way. They like to hear from an authority that this is what you do. They want a doctor who doesnt hem and haw and doesnt constantly change the meds and say, Lets try this, lets try that. Its very destabilizing. And so I think we have a yearning to live standing on solid ground, but we dont stand on solid ground.Do you think that ignorance also has a power that we overlook?Yeah. I began the book with a quotation from George Eliots novel, Daniel Deronda, saying that we thought a lot about the power of knowledge, but we havent thought about the power of ignorance. And what she means is the power of people who are ignorant to mess things up in life, that its a kind of social force out there, which is certainly the case. But ignorance is also power if not knowing certain things or leaving certain things unexamined permit you to continue in your life and not be paralyzed. I use an example at the beginning of the book: What would happen if we each had an LED screen embedded in our foreheads and we could read the thoughts of everyone around us? Social life would grind to a halt because you cant control your thoughts, right? We would constantly be looking to see how people are thinking about us, and we could never develop a stable sense of ourselves. There are lots of people who are willfully ignorant, and there are lots of people who are ignorant of their ignorance, but then theres this other species of cynicism you talk about in the book that knowingly exploits ignorance. Whats the political significance of this?People need certainty, and they will demand it. And so political leaders, demagogues in particular, can provide simple answers to things that seem very complicated and that stir people in a way that can be directed. Thats classically how a demagogue works and how a demagogue becomes a tyrant.Especially now, Im not surprised that were facing aggressive ignorance among populists and those who are moved by populists. Making sense of things right now is very difficult because we just dont know various things because our experience is so new. For example, what do you do about the fact that the state of any nations economy depends on an international economy and that no country has a full say in how that international economy operates, and it will continue to affect everyone in every country? Its hard to accept the fact that our political leaders do not control the economy. And so you go to whoever says hes the answer, or whoever says shes the answer. It is very hard, for all of us, to confront the present with an open mind and a deep sense of the tentativeness of our understanding of it.At some point, we have to ask: Whats the point of knowledge? Do we want knowledge for the sake of knowledge because its inherently good, or is knowledge only valuable if its useful? And if knowing something isnt useful or if knowing something is actually painful, why would we want to know it?The question that youre asking, for me at least in the book, is really a question of different kinds of human characters. There are some people for whom something quickens within whenever the opportunity of new knowledge presents itself. Why that happens, why the soul responds like that, is a mystery, and Socrates tells various myths about why that might be, but it just seems to be a fact and not everyone has it.Do you think theres anything worth knowing regardless of the cost?Self-knowledge can be harmful if its partial. Thats the story of Augustine in the Confessions at the moment where he says, God ripped off the back of me, which was this other face and everything that everyone else could see, but I couldnt and then God holds it in front of me, and I see myself, and in that moment Im so horrified that something clicks and I give myself over.So there could be limits to this kind of thing, but Socrates assumes that all self-knowledge is in the end going to be helpful because you are now clear to yourself and that knowing itself makes people good. Once you know, the power of your ignorance is no longer holding you hostage.Do you think thats true? I dont think so.No, I dont. And its hard to believe that Socrates really thought that. You can see it in the way he deals with other people in the Platonic dialogues, you see that he has a lot of knowledge about how people fall short of that.RelatedYour mind needs chaosYeah, I could definitely see a case being made for always wanting to know abstract truths and truths about the external world. But when it comes to self-knowledge, sometimes when you peer inward, what you find is that youre just a bundle of contradictions that cant be squared, and Im not sure its necessarily good to be intimately acquainted with that and to get hung up on that.There is one way in which it is, and thats the Montaigne option. The picture Montaigne gives of us in the essays is that were exactly what you just said, and his advice is to live with it. Just go with it. Youre a contradiction.I think thats easier said than done, though its probably wise. But do you think theres a link, maybe even a necessary link, between self-knowledge and knowledge of the external world? In other words, on some level, do we have to know ourselves in order to know the truth about the world outside ourselves?I can think of a couple answers to that. Im not sure which one would be mine. One is that these things are detachable. I remember spending a year at the Institute for Advanced Study, and I would sometimes go and sit in this place where the scientists and mathematicians were, and you could tell these people just had no self-awareness in terms of how people reacted to them. Perhaps they were just wrapped up in their problems and they were discovering things.On the other hand, one barrier to us in knowing things about the world is to know what constitutes knowing, and that requires an analysis of ourselves. And then the third sense, while not strictly necessary, the exercise of trying to know oneself is a kind of training exercise for inquiring about the world outside.I do want to talk a bit about nostalgia, which youve written about before and again in this new book. At what point in our journey of knowledge, as individuals and societies, are we overtaken by nostalgia? At what point are we just longing to go back to a previous time when we didnt know what we now know?When it comes to whole societies being nostalgic, I think that it has to do two things: One is illegibility. When the world becomes illegible, the present becomes illegible. That means you dont know how to act, and if you dont know how to act, its deeply disturbing because you want to be able to control your environment and control things so you can reach your own ends.And so a dissatisfaction with the present and an absence of knowledge about how to improve things are spurs to imagine that, just as being 8 years old seemed less complicated and easier than being 68 years old, that there was a time when life was ordered in a better way in which we knew less about various things or certain changes hadnt happened, and maybe we can reverse the machine or reverse the train.I do wonder what the upshot of all this thinking and writing was for you personally. Have you changed your relationship to your own ignorance as a result of this project?I would hope so. I think I have a better understanding of what philosophy is and what philosophy can do What is it that philosophy can and cant do?Philosophy that is aware of our ignorance is a step forward. The greatest cognitive achievement of human beings is getting to maybe.Listen to the rest of the conversation and be sure to follow The Gray Area on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever you listen to podcasts. See More:

One of the big challenges of reporting on the new administration is that its hard to figure out whos really calling the shots. Take AI. In his comments to world leaders at the AI Action Summit in Paris last week, Vice President JD Vance laid out one view of where the Trump administration should go on AI: This administration will ensure that American AI technology continues to be the gold standard worldwide and we are the partner of choice for others foreign countries and certainly businesses as they expand their own use of AI. He specifically spoke about the importance of America having its own advanced semiconductor design industry. Right now, theres a desperate scramble in the AI industry to source enough of the advanced computer chips on which AI systems run. Theyre an essential technology, and building them in America is a reasonable priority whether youre concerned about the capabilities of advanced AI, conventional war with China that would dampen semiconductor imports, or reshoring manufacturing. Vances speech was bullish on AI: Based on his remarks, I expected that while many features of Biden administration-era AI policy, like concerns about AI-generated misinformation, were probably on the outs, the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act which encouraged the development of an advanced American semiconductor industry, and restricted exports of advanced semiconductors was here to stay. And so far the CHIPS project has been going quite well. So I expected the administration to stick with it or even double down.This story was first featured in the Future Perfect newsletter.Sign up here to explore the big, complicated problems the world faces and the most efficient ways to solve them. Sent twice a week.Trump officials might still do so. But its now hard to tell, because of the actions of a different arm of the new administration: DOGE. As youve surely heard by now, Elon Musks so-called Department of Government Efficiency is across many government departments systematically firing all probationary employees that is, broadly anyone who was hired or promoted in the last year. That includes most of the people in the government who have been hired to work on AI, including a majority of the staff working on implementing the CHIPS Act, Axios reported this week, citing conversations with sources familiar with the decision. Per Axios, 74 postdocs, 57% of CHIPS staff focused on incentives, and 67% of CHIPS staff focused on R&D were slated to be fired. (It appears the cuts havent happened yet, so its still very possible the admin will reverse course or limit their scope.)To be clear: This isnt a targeted cut. Its not that the administration has decided to reverse course on CHIPS. Its just that, in the course of firing every single recent hire across broad swathes of the government, Musks team may by accident fire all of the recent expertise that has been accumulated around AI.AI moves fastAt the start of the Biden administration, almost no one outside Silicon Valley was talking about AI. Even by the 2022 midterm elections, we were still pre-ChatGPT. It is only in the past two years that AI has begun to turn the world upside down.First there was ChatGPT, and then the scramble from every other major tech company in the US to produce a competitor: DALL-E 2 and then Midjourney, and a flowering of other open-source AI art generators, drove artists out of business and transformed the visual content available on the internet. Then came DeepSeek and other AI models that can reason, and now Deep Research, which many people have said can essentially replace research interns. RelatedBecause it has all happened in the space of two years, all of the government hires focused on grappling with our new AI-powered world are new hires including not just the ones working on CHIPS, but also everybody at the National Institute of Standards and Technologys AI Safety Institute, which does AI research and tests the risks and capabilities of commercial AI models. And that means most of them are probationary hires who are likely to be impacted by DOGEs rampage through the federal government.This is an extremely stupid problem to have. If the administration wants to give up on an advanced semiconductors industry in the US, thats one thing. But if the administration wants to have an advanced semiconductors industry to remain competitive on the most important technology of the 21st century, as Vance said it does last week, it is absurd to give it up because it so happens that we hired most of the people who work on it quite recently. One of the ways that AI poses an unprecedented challenge for the government is just how fast it moves. Its hardly the first technology to obviate lots of jobs, or to dramatically change the way other jobs work. But the faster those transitions happen, the more lives they can damage in their wake, and the harder it is for democratic mechanisms of oversight and regulation to function. If AI were going to happen slowly, gradually changing the way we live and work over the next 30 years, Id be fairly optimistic that wed have plenty of time to course correct, learn, and design appropriate laws. But AI is happening very fast, and the US government which is not generally very good at doing things fast has been continually on the back foot. And DOGE looks liable to make that a lot worse not even through malice, but through inattention. Firing people is a lot faster than hiring them; freezing funding is a lot faster than figuring out where it can be put to best use. But with AI, we need to be able to accumulate expertise quickly, act on it quickly, and stay abreast of the pace of change in the private sector. DOGE was originally conceived as an agency that would make that easier. But so far, theyre making it harder. It seems very likely to me that world-transforming AI will arrive during the current administration, technology that may replace tens of millions of jobs overnight, that will represent a massive change in concentration of power in our society, and that experts warn could go fatally wrong. Vance isnt wrong about the upsides. Musk, who believes theres a very real chance that AI will destroy humanity, isnt wrong about the downsides. But theyre both going to have to get serious if they want their administration in a position to make this go well.Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

Premium smartphones are usually synonymous of hefty price tags, but Samsung has released an irresistible offer that feels almost too good to be true. Just a month after its grand debut, the Galaxy S25 Ultra comes with a massive discount that transforms this flagship Android into an accessible luxury.One of the highlights of Samsungs current offer is their double the storage for free deal: Essentially, the 512GB model now costs the same as the 256GB version which makes it a no-brainer to go for the higher storage option. Normally priced at $1419, the 512GB variant is now available for just $1299. And if youre eyeing the top-tier 1TB version, its also massively discounteddown to $1419 instead of its original $1659.See Galaxy S25 Ultra at Samsung.comBut thats just the beginning and Samsungs trade-in program takes this deal to another level: If you have an eligible older smartphone to trade in, you can get up to $900 off the price of the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The list of qualifying devices is available on Samsungs official website and if you hit the maximum trade-in value (if you trade in a Galaxy S24 Ultra, Z Fold 6 or Z Flip 6), you could walk away with the Galaxy S25 Ultra for an unbelievable $399 instead of $1419!Samsung is throwing in additional perks for Galaxy S25 Ultra buyers by offering huge discounts on accessories to complete your setup. For example, you can grab the latest Galaxy Buds3 Pro for just $59 (down from $249) or pick up the Galaxy Watch Ultra for $297 instead of $649 (save over $300 on the most premium Android watch!). Theres even potential to resell these discounted accessories and use that extra cash to offset some of the remaining cost of the phone itself.Apples Biggest CompetitorNow, lets talk about what makes the Galaxy S25 Ultra such a unique and premium device: this smartphone features a stunning 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with QHD+ resolution (remember, Samsung is probably the best phone display manufacturer in the world and produces iPhones displays) which delivers vibrant colors and sharp details that make everything from streaming videos to gaming an absolute joy. Under the hood, its powered by Qualcomms latest Snapdragon 8 Elite processor for lightning-fast performance no matter how demanding your tasks are.The camera system on the Galaxy S25 Ultra is another major highlight: At its core is a groundbreaking 200-megapixel main sensor, supported by an ultra-wide-angle lens (improved from the previous Galaxy 24 Ultra) and two telephoto lenses with impressive optical zoom capabilities. This camera setup truly delivers professional-grade results every time, no matter how good you are in photography.Samsung has also packed this phone with intelligent features that enhance everyday usability: The Galaxy AI system takes things to another level and offers real-time translation, smart search capabilities, photo editing and personalized summaries that help keep your life organized. Features like the Now Bar (which gives you quick access to key functions even when your phone is locked) and Now Brief (a customizable dashboard for important updates) add even more convenience.With all these features and innovations, its no wonder people are comparing the Galaxy S25 Ultra to Apples iPhone 16 Pro. But heres where Samsung wins: thanks to this promotion, youre getting a device that rivalsand in some ways surpassesthe iPhone 16 Pro at a fraction of its price. This offer will not last forever, and even the previous Galaxy S24 Ultra wasnt that cheap for Black Friday. You should make sure you grab yours before it runs out of stock.See Galaxy S25 Ultra at Samsung.com

Nvidias GeForce RTX 5090, 5080, and 5070 Ti are some of the most in-demand GPUs today, but if you think theyll help you play your Steam accounts back catalog at blistering FPS, you may be better sticking with your old RTX 30- or 40-series. Nvidia dropped its hardware-accelerated physics system support for some of the best games from the early 2010s. Its just another way modern hardware developers are failing to preserve past titles in their prime. Earlier this week, Nvidia confirmed in its official forums that 32-bit CUDA applications are deprecated on GeForce RTX 50 series GPUS. The companys support page for its Support plan for 32-bit CUDA notes that some 32-bit capabilities were removed from CUDA 12.0 but does not mention PhysX. Effectively, the 50 series cards cannot run any game with PhysX as developers originally intended. Thats ironic, considering Nvidia originally pushed this tech back in the early 2010s to sell its GTX range of GPUs. PhysX is a GPU-accelerated physics system that allows for more realistic physics simulations in games without putting pressure on the CPU. This included small particle effects like fog or smoke and cloth movement. Nvidia developed it and promoted 32-bit PhysX as a physics engine, though they only managed to deploy 32-bit PhysX in a few dozen games in engines ranging from Unreal to Unity and Gamebryo. These relied on the CUDA cores for GeForce graphics cards, which is why its so strange to see the capabilities deprecated now with the enormous core counts on the RTX 50-series.Modern games rely on a range of physics systems that dont depend on CUDA. Now, todays PC gamers can feel the same feeling of being left out as AMD buyers from a decade ago. Users on the Resetera forums compiled a list of all games that wont work with GPU-accelerated PhysX, including classics like Borderlands 2, Mirrors Edge, Batman: Arkham City, Metro 2033, Metro Last Light, and Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag. These games may be playable with the physics enabled, but youll suffer from massive framerate drops. Gizmodo tested some games and found that the performance impact can be significant. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 can push a massive number of frames. As an experiment, I loaded up Deep Rock Galactic and pushed enough settings to achieve over 800 FPS with 4x frame gen. Its silly and pointless, but in many ways, so is any FPS count above 240 (especially when theres little point in owning a display above 240 Hz refresh rates).But compare that to a game like Batman: Arkham City. Rocksteady released its semi-open world Dark Knight simulator in 2011, and in many ways, its a modern classic. Still, you wont find it on Microsofts Game Pass or any other modern system except the Nintendo Switch. The best way to play it is on PC, or it would be if youre using a non-50-series RTX graphics card. I loaded it up on a system with an Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti, and when you try to enable hardware-accelerated physics in settings, youll receive a note reading, Your hardware does not support Nvidia Hardware Accelerated PhysX. Performance will be reduced without dedicated hardware. The above image shows Batman: Arkham Asylum running with PhysX, left, and without PhysX, right, on a system with an Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti. Image: Kyle Barr / Gizmodo The in-game benchmark shows that with the hardware accelerated physics setting enabled on the RTX 5070 Ti, I saw a hit of 65 average FPS compared to the setting off, from 164 to 99. The difference is striking. In the section where you battle The Penguin wielding the freeze gun, ice crystals no longer shower the floor as they do with the setting enabled. Smoke no longer pools on the ground, and banners no longer flutter in the breeze. These are still playable framerates, but the CPU must do a lot more work than it should to handle the physics effects, leading to stuttering and dips that make it a pain to play. My PC included an Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, whichwhile notoriously not as capable as the 14th-gen high-end Intel chipmay be higher-end than gamers who angle toward the mid-range RTX GPUS. I imagine some players may experience even worse framerates than I did when trying to force PhysX to work.In other games, like Borderlands 2, the game simply refuses to allow the PhysX option. As one Reddit user found, you can force it through editing the game files, but that will result in horrible framerate drops. Its not what the game makers intended. The best option is to plug a separate, older GeForce GPU into the system and run 32-bit PhysX games exclusively on that card. When gaming console makers move on, publishers are too keen to forget about games from yesteryear. PC gaming is where most people land if they want to try to get older titles running, but even then, its never easy. Hardware has to change, yes, but there is some legacy software that should remain enabled for the sake of game preservation. With its latest RTX 50-series cards, Nvidia has failed to preserve games in a way that would help them run as well today as they did back then.When we see Nvidia deprecating its own hardware capabilities, hurting games that are little more than a decade old, were reminded just how difficult a task is game preservation. Theres only so much companies like GOG can do to make games run as they were intended. Mirrors Edge used PhysX to create more exciting moments, such as in its helicopter chase scene. Batman: Arkham City used it for the sake of ambiance for its most memorable fights and sections. You may need an RTX 50-series card to get multi-frame gen and over 200 FPS on Cyberpunk 2077 with ray tracing, but youll want a 40-series card if you want to play the most beautiful games from 2011.

Visitor Center alovica Pecina / ARHINGinenjeringSave this picture! Lejla NurkoviArchitects: ARHINGinenjeringAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:500 mYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2022 PhotographsPhotographs:Lejla NurkoviManufacturersBrands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers: Ceramiche Refin, EGGER, Saint-Gobain, AUSTROTHERM, VHM Solutions Lead Architects: Jasmina Kujovi Salkovi, Elvira Alihodi Muzurovi More SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. The Visitor Center as the starting point of the tourist offer for a tour of the alovia Cave is being developed in a challenging location in the form of a group format. The building is the result of a response to the found context of built physical structures and the surrounding landscape, primarily the proximity of the Bistrica River and mountain peaks. The object is exposed to views from all sides, so the offered form is loose and playful. Due to the time-limited stay of visitors who are part of the tour to alovia Cave, the main idea was to establish physical and visual contact with the river as a dominant design factor as soon as possible. That's why the building is "split" into two parts, grouping functions so that the hall area becomes an extended terrace that overlooks the river.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!The Visitor Center "alovia Peina" with accompanying facilities (cafe-bar with restaurant, offices, exhibition space, presentation hall, etc.) was built in the coastal part of the Bistrica River. A parking space is planned next to the building. Visitors are directed from here to the starting station of the cable car that leads to alovia Cave. The building has a ground floor, located so that it can be viewed from all sides, opening up views of the river and the road to the Podvrh monastery.Save this picture!The facility is accessed via a driveway connected to the parking lot. It is functionally differentiated into two zones - right and left, which "opens" towards the river. The right side contents include a restaurant with a sanitary block, while on the left side, there is: an info desk with a souvenir shop, a museum exhibition area, a presentation hall, an infirmary, and a service. The administrative tract is located at the entrance of the facility, which allows direct and unhindered access to employees. The mentioned units are integrated by a covered open hall space made of steel construction, which becomes a gathering point for visitors. The project task of the Investor, the available location and the specific configuration of the terrain influenced the spatial design of the building. At the same time, all the specifics of the extremely stimulating environment were considered. In particular, the architecture of the building was influenced by the surrounding architecture, natural materials such as pebbles and the visual connection with the Bistrica river.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!An architectural expression and the concept were defined through the principle of "group form", composed of several buildings that build a functional and aesthetic ensemble with an adequate mutual relationship. Through the process of transposition, the architectural composition was conceived of multi-pitched roofs with a slope of 16. By the contrast of the two materials in carefully balanced volumes and the layout of the openings, an adequate response to the environment was achieved. Special attention was paid to the covered hall space, which integrates all the contents and is also the main meeting place. A solar power plant with a capacity of 46 solar panels is installed on the roof of the canopy.Save this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessProject locationAddress:Bijelo Polje, MontenegroLocation to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.About this officeARHINGinenjeringOfficeMaterialConcreteMaterials and TagsPublished on February 22, 2025Cite: "Visitor Center alovica Pecina / ARHINGinenjering" 22 Feb 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1027052/visitor-center-dalovica-pecina-arhinginzenjering&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream