Thomas Top Five: Amtrak’s U.S.-Made High-Speed Rail Hits the Tracks (Video)

Video Transcript

We kick off with transportation news: Amtrak made history by introducing its new high-speed rail, the NextGen Acela. These high-speed trains — the first to be built in the U.S. — have a 27% increase in seating capacity, feature a tilt system for a smoother ride, and will eventually replace the current Acela equipment. Learn more details about the new model in our write-up.

Next, an incident led to a sizable and "violent” explosion of Firefly Aerospace's Alpha rocket during a pre-launch test in Central Texas. Though the stage is considered a total loss, the company believes these events offer data that helps engineers improve designs and build a more reliable system. Watch this footage of the blast at Firefly's facility.

And then there's the massive scale of space exploration manufacturing: Blue Origin recently opened its New Glenn rocket production facility and Lunar Plant 1 in Florida. The plant will house a replica of the Blue Moon lunar lander and is a key part of the company's goal to make the moon the next airport and an energy-efficient jumping off point for solar system travel. Head on over to our article spotlighting this innovative rocket factory.

For a blast from the past, an MIT project created a screenless, retrofuturistic AI sous-chef called Kitchen Cosmo that scans leftover ingredients in your pantry. This tribute to Honeywell's 1969 Kitchen Computer uses a mix of GPT-4o and a webcam to print personalized instructions on a roll of thermal paper. Read this article to discover how the device can create customized recipes.

Lastly, robotics startup Skild AI is bringing to market "Skild Brain,” a newly developed AI model that can be applied to make any robot act more like a human. When a robot using Skild Brain is deployed, the data it produces is fed back into the system, allowing the "shared brain” to improve its knowledge quickly. See how the AI model enhances bots?ˉ balance and spatial awareness in this video.

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