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The opinions expressed here by Trellis expert contributors are their own, not those of Trellis. Brands in the personal care and beauty spaces know that most of their packaging formats—the lotion pumps, serum bottles, and powder compacts — aren’t easily recyclable. Between small sizes, special features like droppers, multi-material components like plastic and glass, and leftover product residue, this type of packaging is typically not accepted in curbside recycling programs.   But now, extended producer responsibility (EPR) programs are putting pressure on brands to succeed with refill solutions. For example, under California’s landmark packaging EPR program, brands will be required to…

Lessons from building production AI systems that nobody talks about. The conversation around AI agents has moved fast. A year ago, everyone was optimizing RAG pipelines. Now the discourse centers on context engineering, MCP/A2A protocols, agentic coding tools that read/manage entire codebases, and multi-agent orchestration patterns. The frameworks keep advancing. After 18 months building the AI Assistant at Cisco Customer Experience (CX), we’ve learned that the challenges determining real-world success are rarely the ones getting attention. Our system uses multi-agent design patterns over structured enterprise data (mostly SQL, like most enterprises). The patterns that follow emerged from making that system…

If you’re reading this, you’re likely in need of a 20,000mAh power bank. Before you do a quick search on Amazon or Best Buy, you need to know these four excellent high-capacity power banks within that range so you get the most value for your money.A lot of people find it perfectly acceptable to buy any power bank, so long as it comes from a reputable name brand. Meanwhile, some people really only care about the price. But you can’t go off these factors alone in your hunt for the right 20,000mAh power bank.Price and trustworthiness of the manufacturer aside,…

Bacterial infections remain a major complication in orthopedic and maxillofacial surgery, particularly when associated with biomaterial surfaces, where they become exceedingly difficult to eradicate. Inspired by naturally occurring biocidal surface topographies, nanostructured surfaces have emerged as promising strategies for reducing the risk of infection. In this study, we investigated the potential for fine-tuning the nanostructures of calcium-deficient hydroxyapatite (CDHA) by adjusting the reaction conditions during the hydrolysis of α-tricalcium phosphate. By systematically varying synthesis parameters, including temperature, pH, duration, and nucleation seed, we generated a diverse set of nanostructured topographies. From these, three morphologies were selected: interconnected nanosheets, densely packed…

Over the past decade, hardware has seen tremendous advances, from unified memory that’s redefined how consumer GPUs work, to neural engines that can run billion-parameter AI models on a laptop. And yet, software is still slow, from seconds-long cold starts for simple serverless functions, to hours-long ETL pipelines that merely transform CSV files into rows in a database. Back in 2011, a high-frequency trading engineer named Martin Thompson noticed these issues, attributing them to a lack of Mechanical Sympathy. He borrowed this phrase from a Formula 1 champion: You don’t need to be an engineer to be a racing driver,…

Last week we got our first glimpse at Fitbit’s upcoming screen-less device, and while there’s a lot to get excited about, I’m far more interested in the competing wearable that Garmin is rumoured to drop any minute. Even though Garmin has ruled the roost for quite a while for flagship wearables aimed at heavy-duty users like triathletes and ultramarathon runners, the humble Whoop Strap has offered a very compelling alternative. With no screen or even any buttons to speak of, the Whoop Strap provides a distraction-free method of keeping tabs on your health, and it was one of the first…

In late March, Iran circulated a shaky video supposedly showing an American F/A-18 under attack. Iranian officials claimed they had destroyed the jet, though the Pentagon denied that. The video quickly earned millions of views online, demonstrating how Iran has exploited the global media ecosystem to propagate an image of military prowess. The New York Times reconstructed how Iran was able to use overt and covert global networks alongside unwitting participants to spread its message through social media, state-affiliated news organizations and American influencers.Here is how the claim went from a single post to a global audience of millions in…

Indian telco Bharti Airtel isn’t simply a major player in international telecom—it’s now the world’s second largest international telco group in terms of mobile subscriptions, behind undisputed top dog China Mobile.  Launching its first domestic mobile services in India in 1995, Bharti Airtel has built up a portfolio of businesses covering 17 countries in Asia and Africa. Here’s a look at how Bharti Airtel grew to an international telecom behemoth, powered by data you can find in TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database.

As data centers consume more energy to support growing digital demands, engineers at the University of California San Diego have introduced a new chip design that could make powering graphics processing units (GPUs) more efficient. The innovation focuses on a key function in electronics: converting high voltages into the lower levels required by computing hardware. In laboratory testing, a prototype chip successfully performed this type of voltage conversion with high efficiency under conditions similar to those found in modern data centers. The findings, published in Nature Communications, suggest the potential for smaller and more energy-efficient systems in advanced computing environments.…

Customer communications are at a breaking point. For years, organizations have optimized for scale – delivering statements, policies, and notifications efficiently across channels. But leaders today know that customers now expect something fundamentally different: communications that are relevant, timely, and highly responsive to their needs and whims. In other words, customers expect personalized, omnichannel, and two-way engagement – rather than one-way messaging. And when those expectations aren’t met, the consequences are immediate. Research by Aspire shows that one in five consumers (and one in four between the ages of 18 and 43) have switched providers in the past 12 months…