2026-05-26 21:00:00
Floppy disks are several decades old—many of the disks are degrading and the data stored on them is at risk of being lost. In response, Leontien Talboom, a technical analyst at Cambridge University Libraries and Archives, led a roughly year-long project preserving floppy disks called “Future Nostalgia,” which concluded in January.
Leontien Talboom is a technical analyst at Cambridge University Libraries and Archives, where she transfers material from a wide range of storage media to make them accessible to archivists.
IEEE Spectrum spoke to Talboom about her work preserving data from Cambridge’s collection of floppy disks and collecting knowledge about the disks themselves.
Why is it important to preserve floppy disks now?
Leontien Talboom: Two reasons. First, the physical media is starting to degrade. Floppy disks are made from plastic, but they’ve got a magnetic layer of iron oxide, and that’s deteriorating. A lot of floppy disks are found in attics or garages, which means they also suffer from mold.
Second, a lot of people who developed floppy disks and systems that use floppy disks are starting to retire or pass away, which means that a lot of tacit knowledge is disappearing.
Whom did you go to for that tacit knowledge?
Talboom: I went to the retro computing community. Their work is more around preserving these machines to keep them running [than] the data that lives on the floppy disk. But they know their stuff about floppy disks.
For example, they know that in a lot of the older disks, the inside of the disk—the doughnut—gets stuck to the top. So if you flex the casing, the doughnut falls down again. If I hadn’t known that, I would have assumed that those disks in our collection were broken or corrupt.
What is the most difficult part of working with floppy disks?
Talboom: Accessing the files can be quite challenging if we don’t understand the file system. Within libraries and archives, we get a lot of material from machines that are not as well loved. Many of the personal computers that you had at home, such as the Amstrad or ZX Spectrum or BBC Micro, are very well documented. But a bunch of our material comes from business or research systems. They’re not as nostalgic for people, so there’s not as big a community preserving this type of material.
Do you have a favorite type of floppy disk?
Talboom: Five and a quarter. The weirder the system, the more frustrating and fun it is. I quite like doing that detective work.
The Amstrad disk has also really stolen my heart. The popularity of floppy disks is very geographically dependent. Our library, for example, has these Amstrad 3-inch disks. But if you go to the U.S., they’re really uncommon. They weren’t able to manufacture enough of these drives, and [3.5-inch disks] took over at a certain point. But they’re really cute.
What’s the best method for sustainably storing data?
Talboom: The main thing is actively looking after it. A lot of the floppy disks we get in the library haven’t been accessed for 20 or 30 years, which means that you need certain special hardware to actually read them, and then work with emulators or other tools to make these file formats accessible.
Now that we’ve done that work and transferred it, we can monitor it and make sure it’s not suffering from anything like bit rot. We can also make decisions around migrating it to other file formats or working on specific file systems or unknown file formats in more detail.
2026-05-26 18:00:01
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Outgassing is the release of volatile substances from a cured adhesive over time. These released materials, which may include residual solvents, unreacted monomers, or other chemical species, can deposit on nearby surfaces, causing contamination that interferes with sensitive components.
The industry standard for measuring outgassing is ASTM E595, developed by NASA. This test exposes a cured sample to 125 °C at high vacuum (10⁻⁵ to 10⁻⁶ torr) for 24 hours, measuring Total Mass Loss (TML) and Collected Volatile Condensable Materials (CVCM). To meet NASA low outgassing requirements, materials must exhibit less than 1 percent TML and less than 0.1 percent CVCM.
Optical assemblies need contamination-free bonding and prevention of fogging the optics to maintain clarity. High-vacuum scientific equipment, semiconductor manufacturing tools, and aerospace electronics also demand low outgassing materials.
Low outgassing adhesives are essential wherever contamination could compromise performance and this is particularly relevant for space and satellite systems. Optical assemblies, including cameras, telescopes, and laser systems, need contamination-free bonding and prevention of fogging the optics to maintain clarity.
High-vacuum scientific equipment, semiconductor manufacturing tools, and aerospace electronics also demand low outgassing materials. Even terrestrial optical devices benefit from reduced outgassing to ensure long-term reliability.
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Achieving specified outgassing performance requires attention to storage, mixing, and curing. For two-part systems, use the correct mix ratio and mix thoroughly to ensure complete reaction. Follow recommended cure schedules — adding heat, even at modest temperatures of 150-200 °F, significantly improves cross-linking and reduces outgassing. For UV-curable adhesives, ensure complete cure by using the correct lamp wavelength (typically 365 nm), adequate intensity, and proper exposure time with no shadowed areas.
If contamination appears on optical surfaces or outgassing test results are higher than expected, an incomplete cure might be one of the root causes. The first step is to verify that the adhesive has fully hardened to its specified Shore hardness. The next step is to consider adding or extending heat cure to improve cross-linking.
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2026-05-26 02:00:01
The OnCampus program, administered by IEEE Educational Activities, last year expanded its engineering experiences from two to seven universities.
Part of TryEngineering, the program is held at universities around the world, offering preuniversity students hands-on opportunities to solve engineering problems.
The IEEE Innovation Committee provided funding for the additional locations.
The electrical engineering and computing faculty at the University of Zagreb, in Croatia, hosted a two-day program in June. Twenty-five children ages 10 to 14 participated in lectures and workshops on artificial intelligence, computer science, robotics, and astronomy. Tomislav Jagušt, an IEEE senior member and the chair of the IEEE preuniversity coordinating committee, led the program.
In September the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport’s engineering college held a two-day session at its Abu Kir, Egypt, campus. Fifty students participated in hands-on activities on Ohm’s law, radio communications, and circuit building. They also learned from professors about engineering careers and job opportunities.
Also in September, the Majan University College, in Muscat, Oman, hosted 40 high school students who competed in six challenges to design and build circuits. These include an IoT design and an LED brightness control using a potentiometer, a three-terminal, manually adjustable resistor that functions as a variable voltage divider.
The program also highlighted AI and quantum computing technologies and introduced students to job opportunities in the fields.
The workshop transformed curiosity into creation, empowering students with technical skills and confidence in emerging technologies.
In November at the Universiti Malaysia Perlis, in Arau, 50 students explored the fundamentals of quantum computational intelligence and AI through hands-on activities and interactive simulations. IEEE Senior Member Mohd Hafiz Ismail, a professor of electronic engineering and technology, gave an introduction about quantum computing intelligence technology.
The Hellenic Robotics Center of Excellence at the National Technical University of Athens hosted a two-day session in December. Twenty-five students explored robotics and AI through hands-on design challenges such as TryEngineering’s AI and machine learning methods. They also toured the university’s research facilities.
The City University and St. Francis University in Hong Kong, and the University of Ioannina, Arta campus, Greece, participated in the program for a second year.
Under the leadership of IEEE Senior Member Paulina Chan and volunteers from the IEEE Hong Kong Section, the City and St. Francis universities jointly held the program in July. They welcomed 55 students ages 12 to 18 from 41 schools.
The students attended tutorials on foundational concepts and theories of AI. They worked in small teams on projects using AI-generated images, voice, and music manipulations. They were coached by students from St. Francis and Imperial College London. The participants presented their projects to judges, teachers, and parents.
The students also visited a nearby semiconductor equipment manufacturer to learn about technology careers from engineers working there.
The results of a post-program survey showed strong satisfaction with OnCampus, with nearly 75 percent of participants giving it a rating of 4 or higher out of 5.
“I enjoyed getting to know about deep learning and its application,” one student participant said. “The content of the activity matched my interest, and I gained new knowledge.”
“OnCampus is led by a strong team with lots of experts in the field,” another said. “It’s a rare chance for students to use software, learn about the theory behind how deep learning works, and get a glance at future possibilities.”
The University of Ioannina hosted the program in Arta in July with support from IEEE Senior Member Stamatis Dragoumanos and IEEE members Nikos Giannakeas and Eleftheria Kallinikou. Nearly 50 students, ages 12 to 16, attended the seven-day event, supported by 17 instructors and six volunteers from the university’s IEEE student branch.
The students learned about AI, augmented reality, microchip design, microcontrollers, and 3D printing. They also attended presentations by engineers from the industry. To give the students exposure to real-world engineering, they visited two hydroelectric power plants and a green data center.
At the end of the program, students presented their projects and showcased the technical skills they had developed.
Those involved in the TryEngineering OnCampus program are proud of the impactful experiences students have gained. The opportunities are possible because universities open their doors, share their expertise, and invest in the next generation of innovators.
The University of Zagreb, the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport, the Majan University College, and The City University and St. Francis University will be participating again this year.
To learn how you can bring the OnCampus program to your educational institution, send a request to [email protected].2026-05-25 21:00:01
“Social engineering” sounds like something out of a conspiracy thriller, charged with totalitarian control and fringe paranoia. More mundanely, it’s come to be associated with phishing and other scams, in which fraudsters manipulate people into disclosing personal information.
Yet the concept is older and more benign: it is the deliberate shaping of human behavior, often at scale. It predates silicon—and became pervasive, and ungoverned, especially once its practitioners learned to hide it. Authoritarian regimes and more recently scammers and big companies have profited from it. To defend ourselves from bad actors, and to benefit from social engineering’s good side, we need to reclaim the name, and govern it prudently.
In 1894, Dutch entrepreneur Jacques van Marken urged companies to hire “social engineers” to manage human systems such as insurance, education, and profit sharing for workers as carefully as they did mechanical ones. Fifteen years later, reformer William H. Tolman published Social Engineering, describing how U.S. industrialists optimized workers’ conditions alongside manufacturing methods. If industrialists could shape steel and electricity on demand, why not society itself?
By the 1920s, that confidence had spread. The architect Le Corbusier declared that dwellings were “machines for living in,” imagining cities as orderly lattices where people moved like parts on a conveyor belt. Civilization would run like a Swiss watch.
The idea soon darkened. Authoritarian regimes pushed it to extremes, promising to fashion “the New Man.” In Nazi Germany, engineer Fritz Todt founded Organization Todt, a vast state engineering enterprise that emerged from the autobahn highway system and later operated concentration camps using slave labor.
In the Soviet Union, leaders adopted U.S. scientific management techniques to plan factory-worker movements and classify populations through centralized records, feeding both rapid industrialization drives and the gulag system of forced labor. The same tools and managerial methods used to build highways and enact five-year plans worked for repression and mass control.
By the 1950s, “social engineering” had become a contaminated phrase. The revelations of Nazi and Soviet abuses, along with Cold War critiques of grand social planning turned the term from a progressive slogan into a warning label. Banishing the words pushed the practice underground, making it harder to recognize when it resurfaced in new forms—such as organizational psychology and systems management that still relied on classification and behavioral influence techniques but under softer, less loaded labels.
In the postwar years, the new social-engineering lexicon included “human factors” and “urban planning,” all promising integration rather than command. As computing advanced, the language shifted again: “customer journey mapping” to track interactions, “user experience” to script them. Engineering, which began as a means of reshaping physical space, set its sights on shaping behavior. Digital design features embedded in our smartphones now target our attention and desire.
Language helps conceal these modern forms of social engineering. “Data analytics” sounds neutral beside “surveillance.” “Personalization” flatters individuality while still sorting users into predictable categories. “Behavioral nudges” guide decisions without the sense of intrusion. We attach “social” as a favorable modifier to sciences, capital, and media, yet recoil when it meets “engineering.”
That discomfort is a clue. Engineering implies control, and control prompts us to ask who directs whom, toward what ends, and with whose permission.
Not all social engineering these days is hidden. Hackers don’t need to break a firewall if someone hands over their password. Romance scammers cultivate intimacy the way farmers cultivate crops. They succeed not through force but by exploiting trust. If even these obvious attacks work, the invisible kind, with roots in social engineering, are a shoo-in.
Most of the social engineering we encounter is proprietary and beyond our control. Firms build recommendation algorithms tuned to boost engagement and profit with no hearings or right of appeal. Browser and cookie defaults decide what data we surrender. A single autoplay toggle can cost users hours and build unhealthy habits. These are acts of engineering as deliberate as laying a road or redrawing an electoral district. They create a kind of curated itch by which boredom never settles, and satisfaction never arrives. The results are predictable—users click on targeted ads, make purchases, form habits, and lock in opinions.
Consent has transformed along with it. Once straightforward and revocable, it is now subtle and persistent, buried in defaults or opaque terms of service too quickly accepted. You remain free to opt out, much as you are free to refuse roads or electricity. Consent has become the preselected setting of modern life.
When social engineering operated more in the open, citizens could contest it, at least in societies with responsive government. Today’s invisible version diffuses accountability so thoroughly that scrutiny becomes hard to direct. Despite recent congressional hearings on social media’s impact on youth mental health and juries agreeing that firms are knowingly designing algorithms that cause harm, pinpointing responsibility remains elusive. When the mechanism is buried inside a system used by billions, we cannot easily point to a single decision-maker or trace the precise moment of manipulation.
Today’s social engineering is less overt and theatrical than its predecessors. Earlier versions arrived on public posters and loudspeakers for mass audiences. Today’s version is more intimate, delivered through personal devices and constant feeds tailored to the individual. The model succeeds because participation feels like freedom, not control.
Not all social engineering is dystopian. Well-kept parks foster community, accessible buildings extend dignity, vaccines and seatbelts save lives. Even in the digital realm, positive examples exist: browser extensions that automatically block hidden trackers, search engines that refuse to build personalized surveillance profiles, and decentralized social platforms that give users greater control over their own data and feeds.
The term “social engineering” still unsettles, though. But “asocial” engineering, which ignores human consequences entirely, is worse. Recognition of the human dimension to engineering is the beginning of repair. Only by seeing the machinery clearly and naming it honestly can we decide who engineers what and why. The machinery will not dismantle itself. Once named, it becomes subject to choice. That negotiation of purpose, power, and process are the defining political questions of any real democracy. We cannot ensure that social engineering serves and sustains society so long as we dodge the words.
2026-05-25 18:00:01
This webinar presents a workflow offering end-to-end solutions for designing, training, validating and verifying, compressing, and deploying AI-based virtual sensor models to embedded processors within a single environment.
Highlights
2026-05-22 02:00:01
Patients who use mobile applications to manage medical conditions including depression and chronic pain might assume the apps have been evaluated by regulatory agencies to be safe and effective. But that isn’t necessarily the case.
Most of the more than 55,000 medical apps that claim to diagnose or treat a condition—or ones that provide clinical decision support, known as “therapeutic” apps—have never been assessed by any trusted neutral bodies or regulatory agencies to evaluate them for technical soundness, ethical design, or clinical benefit. The apps often don’t comply with regional data security and privacy laws to protect people’s sensitive health information.
Medical apps differ from traditional wellness apps, which provide users with insights into becoming healthier by, for example, tracking fitness activities, monitoring blood pressure, and analyzing sleep patterns.
There is no reliable way to verify that therapeutic apps deliver the results they indicate. To help ensure such apps are credible, the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE SA) recently launched the IEEE Global Medical Mobile App Assessment and Registry. The publicly searchable directory is designed to list apps that have been vetted by experts across several criteria including technical soundness, ethical design, compliance with data security and privacy regulations, and clinical efficacy, which is evidence of a clinical benefit for the patient.
“Patients, clinicians, payers, and health care systems often struggle to distinguish clinically meaningful therapeutic apps from those that are simply well-marketed,” says IEEE Senior Member Yuri Quintana, chair of the assessment and registry program. He is chief of the clinical informatics division at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in Boston. “Our goal is to establish a standardized review method using criteria developed by experts.”
Because the apps are intended for medical use without being part of a medical implement, they fall under the designation of software as a medical device (SaMD), according to the International Medical Device Regulators Forum. SaMD is supposed to be regulated by public health agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but the apps have developed and grown in popularity so quickly that regulators haven’t been able to keep up, Quintana says. Some companies have received approval, but most have not, he says.
Many users are unaware of the regulatory gap, he says.
“Seeing an app from a well-known company often creates the impression that it has been meaningfully vetted for safety and efficacy, even when that is not the case,” he says.
Some companies are using deceptive advertising to sell their product, he adds. Marketing materials might claim that all of a company’s health apps are certified, even though only one app has been approved by a regulatory body to treat a particular condition. Or the verbiage might imply the company has clinical evidence proving its application works, even though the app has never been tested independently.
Another concern is that updated apps aren’t being vetted, says Maria Palombini, IEEE SA’s director of health care and life sciences global practice lead.
“The original app might have received approval from a regulatory agency, but not the updated version,” Palombini says. “There could have been significant changes from the original.”
“Not every medical-related app triggers the same regulatory classification or review across jurisdictions,” Quintana adds. “That leaves a large gray zone of clinically relevant but lower-risk apps that haven’t undergone an independent assessment. The IEEE registry was created to help fill these gaps.
“IEEE is the best organization to address this problem because this is fundamentally a standards, trust, interoperability, and conformity assessment challenge,” he says. IEEE “is the world’s largest technical professional organization, with deep expertise in developing globally recognized standards including in health care, cybersecurity, AI ethics, and interoperability.”
“Through the IEEE Conformity Assessment Program, we already run rigorous assessment and registry programs,” Palombini says. “Our neutral, consensus-driven, multidisciplinary approach—bringing together clinicians, regulators, developers, and ethicists without commercial bias—makes IEEE uniquely positioned to create trustworthy global guardrails that can scale across jurisdictions and support regulatory harmonization.”
The assessment framework was developed by a multidisciplinary group of 35 volunteer experts from 10 countries, Quintana says. The panel includes academics, AI experts, app developers, clinicians, ethicists, mental health experts, patient advocates, regulators, researchers, technologists, and those who assess safety in health care.
The registry is for any app used for clinical care or therapeutics that claims to demonstrate a medical benefit. That includes apps designed for cardiology, diabetes, mental health, neurology, oncology, rehabilitation, and respiratory diseases, Quintana says.
Initially, he says, the focus will be on apps that aim to treat mental health conditions, given the large number of offerings in that area and the registry committee’s expertise.
The submission of apps is voluntary. There is no government mandate that requires a company to use the IEEE registry.
The products will be evaluated against about 150 consensus-based criteria across three major areas:
IEEE charges a nonrefundable submission fee that covers the cost of the assessment plus the registry’s annual subscription for the first year.
Developers first must demonstrate they are a legally established entity before they can complete the app publisher registration form and then submit documentation and attestations about the product.
The IEEE review of an app is estimated to take six to eight weeks, Palombini says. The assessment results will be privately shared with the app publisher, she says, and to be listed in the registry, an app must achieve more than 85 percent compliance in each category.
Upgraded apps must be submitted and reassessed, Palombini says. Similar to how users are notified when an app on their smart devices has , the registry will be notified when listed apps have a new update available, she says.
Applicants who do not pass the assessment are to receive feedback explaining why. They will be given an opportunity to make changes or provide additional documentation, Palombini says.
“It’s a pretty methodological process, with checks and balances,” Quintana says. “We’re being very transparent about the process.”
Approved apps added to the registry receive an IEEE certification badge and submission identifier, which the company can display on its website, app store listings, and marketing materials.
“The badge serves as visible proof that the app has met the independent, consensus-based assessment for clinical value, technical robustness, and ethical design,” Quintana says.
The registry will be publicly available at no cost, he says.
Patients and families seeking safe, trustworthy apps—and payers and insurers evaluating reimbursement potential—will find the registry helpful, he says.
The application website is open. The public registry page does not yet list a specific count of approved apps because assessments are ongoing. Approved apps and their unique identifiers are to be published when the initial reviews are completed.
To learn more, you can watch a webinar recorded in March.
The assessment framework that underpins the registry is supporting the formal recognition of IEEE P3962 Standard for Criteria Assessment Framework f