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Researchers release new standards for 3D printing with powders

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Researchers release new standards for 3D printing with powders


Laser-generated gold colloid. Credit: Dr. Anna Ziefuß

One of the most common industrial 3D printing processes is laser powder bed fusion. It is mainly used for complex, heavy-duty components in aerospace, medical technology, and toolmaking.

Over a period of six years, researchers led by the University of Duisburg-Essen have been working on improving processes and powders. The priority program Materials for Additive Manufacturing has now been successfully completed.

The results provide a unique reference for science and industry. They are freely accessible via data from an interlaboratory study and in a special issue of the journal Advanced Engineering Materials.

In (LPBF), a laser selectively melts thin layers of metal or polymer . This creates the component layer by layer. In order to systematically improve and standardize materials and additive processes, the German Research Foundation (DFG) established the priority program SPP 2122 in 2019.

Under the direction of Dr. Stephan Barcikowski, Professor of Technical Chemistry at the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE), more than 30 teams have since conducted research ranging from customized metal and polymer starting powders to functionalization with nanoparticles and detailed process characterization.

The interlaboratory study has resulted in the largest open dataset of its kind: 32 international laboratories produced, standardized, components from metallic and polymer powders—with and without nanoparticle modifications—in order to systematically compare the influence of material properties, machine parameters, and process control.

“The interlaboratory study is a milestone for science and industry, as it provides the first globally comparable data on highly complex manufacturing processes across different material classes,” says Dr. Anna Ziefuß, head of the Surface Chemistry and Laser Processing group at the UDE.

“The results of the study, together with the contributions in the special issue, provide insights into the entire process chain—from material design and particle properties to final component performance.”

Based on the results, reliable standards can be developed, processes optimized in a targeted manner, and new materials brought into application more quickly.

“Our goal was to present both fundamental understanding and practical solutions—and both completely open access,” says Ziefuß. This has been achieved: The data from the interlaboratory study will be available from November 11, 2025.

More information:
Ihsan Murat Kuşoğlu et al, Large‐Scale Interlaboratory Study Along the Entire Process Chain of Laser Powder Bed Fusion: Bridging Variability, Standards, and Optimization across Metals and Polymers, Advanced Engineering Materials (2025). DOI: 10.1002/adem.202402930

Ihsan Kuşoğlu et al, Booklet for Standard Operational Procedures of DFG SPP2122 Interlaboratory Study measuring the effect of nanoparticles on the entire PBF-LB process chain of AlSi10Mg and PA12, DuEPublico: Duisburg-Essen Publications online, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany (2024). DOI: 10.17185/duepublico/82630

Stephan Barcikowski et al, DFG SPP2122 Interlaboratory Study Dataset, DuEPublico: Duisburg-Essen Publications online, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany (2025). DOI: 10.17185/duepublico/82674

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The Best Movies to Stream This Month

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The Best Movies to Stream This Month


April might be springtime in the northern hemisphere, but some of the best streaming services seem to think it’s the perfect time for a dry run of spooky season. How else to explain the arrival of some exquisitely dark slices of horror, like 28 Days Later: The Bone Temple arriving on Netflix, Weapons coming to Prime Video, or Shelby Oaks landing on Hulu? If you prefer your off-season Halloween viewing to be in the vein of campy B movies rather than serious scares though, horror specialist Shudder has you covered with Deathstalker, a gloriously cheesy reboot of a near-forgotten ’80s series.

Reality is often scarier than fiction though, as shown by Louis Theroux’s Inside the Manosphere—his first documentary film with Netflix, exploring the dark side of social media and the world of toxic male influencers. (Be sure to read our interview with the filmmaker.) And if the thought of that leaves you wanting something a bit more wholesome to watch, thankfully Zootopia 2 has popped up on Disney+—and there’s even a rabbit in that, for some appropriately springtime imagery.

Here are WIRED’s picks of the best movies to watch right now.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

The fourth film in the long-running postapocalyptic horror series switches focus from rampaging rage zombies to a more dangerous threat: humans. OK, OK, “people are the real monsters” isn’t a hot take for the genre, but The Bone Temple offers a unique twist, with 28 Years Later survivor Spike (Alfie Williams) trapped in the company of a murderous gang led by deranged satanist “Sir Lord” Jimmy Crystal (Sinners’ Jack O’Connell). The villain is modeled on disgraced British TV presenter Jimmy Savile, whose sexual abuse crimes hadn’t been revealed by the time of the initial outbreak in 28 Days Later, adding a dash of real-world terror.

As the group stalks what remains of the English countryside, Spike’s only hope might be Dr. Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), whose experiments on curing alpha zombie Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry) might hold humanity’s last hope. Although best watched back to back with its predecessor for the full, horrifying picture, director Nia DaCosta’s chapter stands on its own—and earns bonus points for one of the best uses of Iron Maiden’s “Number of the Beast” in film history.

Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere

It’s the silence that does the trick; British documentarian Louis Theroux always knows when not to speak and instead let his subject expose themselves for the world to see. It’s a masterful technique whether Theroux is investigating the Westboro Baptist Church or UFO conspiracy theorists, but it is rarely put to better use than in his latest outing: exploring the online “manosphere” subculture of self-appointed “alphas” offering toxic advice on how to be a “real man.” Speaking with key figures in the loosely defined movement, Theroux’s mild-mannered approach often leaves them to do most of the talking, exposing shockingly misogynistic and extremist views. Even more distressing? The quiet revelation that for many of them their performative masculinity is all just one big grift, and how they rationalize the harm they cause in pursuit of a payout. Depressing but compelling viewing—not all men, but definitely all of these men.

Crime 101

Jewel thief Mike (Chris Hemsworth) is the best in the business, a meticulous planner who pulls off his heists without leaving a shred of evidence—much to the consternation of LAPD detective Lou Lubesnick (Mark Ruffalo), who doesn’t even know exactly who he’s hunting for a string of thefts. Elsewhere in the City of Angels, Sharon (Halle Berry) is an underappreciated VP at an insurance firm, frustrated at being passed over for promotion for years. She’s the perfect insider to help Mike orchestrate an elaborate $11 million diamond heist. But as Lou uncovers evidence connecting to Mike’s past, and the chaotic, violent biker Ormon (Barry Keoghan) aims to take the score for himself, even the most masterful planning can’t prevent everything spiraling dangerously out of control.



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OpenAI Executive Kevin Weil Is Leaving the Company

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OpenAI Executive Kevin Weil Is Leaving the Company


Kevin Weil, OpenAI’s former chief product officer who was recently tapped to build a new AI workspace for scientists, Prism, is leaving the company, WIRED has confirmed. Weil was previously an early executive leading product at Instagram.

OpenAI is also sunsetting Prism, which the company launched as a web app in January this year to give scientists a better way to work with AI. The company is folding the roughly 10-person team behind it into Thibault Sottiaux’s Codex team. An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed the changes, and tells WIRED this is part of the company’s effort to unify its business and product strategy. OpenAI has broader ambitions to turn Codex, its AI coding application, into an “everything app.”

Weil, who joined OpenAI in June 2024, announced last September that he would be starting a new initiative inside of the company called “OpenAI for Science.” Now, OpenAI is dispersing those employees throughout the company’s product, research, and infrastructure teams. An OpenAI spokesperson reiterated the company’s commitment to accelerating scientific discovery, and says it’s one of the clearest ways AI can benefit humanity.

OpenAI is currently trying to refocus the company around a few key areas, such as enterprise offerings and coding. Last month, OpenAI’s CEO of AGI deployment Fidji Simo told staff that the company needs to simplify its product offerings. The push to divert resources to more consequential efforts resulted in OpenAI discontinuing its Sora video-generation app.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.



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Gazing Into Sam Altman’s Orb Now Proves You’re Human on Tinder

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Gazing Into Sam Altman’s Orb Now Proves You’re Human on Tinder


Sam Altman’s iris-scanning, humanity-verifying World project announced at an event in San Francisco on Friday that Tinder users around the globe can now put a digital badge on their profiles signaling to potential suitors that they’re a real human, provided they’ve already stared into one of World’s glossy white Orbs and allowed their eyes to be scanned. The announcement follows a pilot project for Tinder verification that World previously conducted in Japan.

The global Tinder expansion is one of the biggest tests yet for World, and the company’s bet that everyday consumers will be willing to sign up for biometric verification services to use internet applications. Founded in 2019 by Altman and Alex Blania, the World project was designed for a future where the internet is overrun with highly capable AI agents that make it incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to tell who is really human. As companies like OpenAI—where Altman is CEO—and Anthropic push AI agents into the mainstream, the problem World was built to solve feels increasingly urgent.

But World has struggled to achieve mainstream adoption, and it has encountered resistance from governments around the globe that have probed the company over suspected violations of data protection laws. The company says 18 million people have now been verified with an Orb, up from 12 million last year.

In addition to the Tinder global expansion, Tools for Humanity, the company behind World, announced a number of other consumer and enterprise partnerships on Friday at its Lift Off event in San Francisco. The startup says Tinder users who verify with their World ID will receive five free “boosts,” typically a paid feature that increases the number of users who see a profile by up to 10 times for 30 minutes. The videoconferencing platform Zoom also says that users can now require other participants to verify their identity with World before joining a call. Docusign, the contract signing software, will allow users to require World’s identity verification technology.

Tiago Sada, Tools for Humanity’s chief product officer, tells WIRED the company sees major platform partnerships as key to helping World become a mainstream identity-verification technology. Sada said he’s especially interested in working with social media companies in the future, and was encouraged to see that Reddit has started testing World as a solution to help users distinguish bots from real people.

World is also launching a tool called Concert Kit, which lets artists reserve concert tickets for verified humans, a pitch aimed squarely at the bot-driven scalping problem that critics say has plagued sites like TicketMaster. World will test the feature on the upcoming Bruno Mars World Tour featuring Anderson .Paak, who is scheduled to play a verified-humans-only show under his alias DJ Pee .Wee in San Francisco on Friday night.

No new hardware announcements or updates were made at Friday’s event. World first launched the iris-scanning Orb back in 2023, alongside a mobile app that contains “mini apps” for different verification and blockchain-related programs. After a person scans their eyeball with one of World’s Orbs, the startup creates a unique cryptographic key for each person—their World ID. This creates a private, decentralized way to verify people online, without requiring them to upload their government ID all over the internet.

The project was initially called Worldcoin, and in the early days the startup offered people free cryptocurrency to scan their irises. World still offers a cryptocurrency token and a wallet for digital currencies, but dropped the “coin” from its name in 2024 and has since shifted its focus to identity verification for the AI era. Jess Montejano, a spokesperson for Tools for Humanity, says the company still offers crypto as an incentive when new users sign up, but has also expanded its offerings to include Netflix and Apple TV subscription trials.



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