Today on In Case You Missed It: NASA was just awarded a patent for a crawly, amorphous robot that can climb through rubble or dusty planets, theoretically more easily than rovers with wheels and gears to gunk up.
Samsung has formally (and publicly) apologized over the hydrofluoric acid leak that occurred in January. Alongside this, Vice Chairman Kwon Oh-hyun said that the company will revoke its application to get its plants certified as green for another five years. He added that the company is now overhauling its existing system to prevent any similar accidents from recurring. Samsung's 'green' plants were previously able to sidestep governmental checks on the facilities' environmental impact. Meanwhile, police are still investigating seven people on charges of negligence over the incident.
Source: Yonhap News
Samsung has already been given a small fine for not reporting a fatal gas leak promptly enough, but now it could be in more serious trouble. At the time of the accident, which led to the death of a maintenance contractor, the manufacturer released a statement indicating that the leak of hydrofluoric acid had been "contained." But CCTV footage seen by investigators now suggests that some of the lethal gas reached beyond the confines of the chip plant. A local environmental group claims to have detected high levels of the gas within a couple of kilometers of the building -- an area with tens of thousands of residents. Police still appear to be investigating, but if all this turns out to be true then another $1,000 ticket probably isn't going to fix it.
Source: Yonhap News