Check out our editors' top news picks for this week, from Laser Focus World and elsewhere.
1. Budget news regarding the National Ignition Facility has not been good as the goal of fusion proves elusive:
2014 laser fusion budgets: Rochester going up, Livermore down
2. Commerical 3D printed firearm components have arrived.
First commercial 3D printed firearm component produced by Sintercore
3. If you think 3D laser additive manufacturing (LAM) has promise, then check the 1800s for some design ideas from the NY Times:
3-D Printing the 19th Century
4. The Mars rover has used photonics for doing great research--here's a summary of its first year from National Geographic:
Mars Curiosity Milestone: Top 5 First-Year Discoveries
5. Galileo and his telescope technology--who could resist this article in MIT Technology Review?
Galileo’s Secret Telescope Technology Revealed
Conard Holton
Conard Holton has 25 years of science and technology editing and writing experience. He was formerly a staff member and consultant for government agencies such as the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the International Atomic Energy Agency, and engineering companies such as Bechtel. He joined Laser Focus World in 1997 as senior editor, becoming editor in chief of WDM Solutions, which he founded in 1999. In 2003 he joined Vision Systems Design as editor in chief, while continuing as contributing editor at Laser Focus World. Conard became editor in chief of Laser Focus World in August 2011, a role in which he served through August 2018. He then served as Editor at Large for Laser Focus World and Co-Chair of the Lasers & Photonics Marketplace Seminar from August 2018 through January 2022. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, with additional studies at the Colorado School of Mines and Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.