We may be waiting for the consumer metaverse to fully materialize, but in some pockets of industry, digital replicas have been a thing for decades, enabling businesses to see virtual models of products, tools, and even cities.

Take the aerospace industry, for example. In the business of designing planes, each component and part must be tested and certified for safety before the plane is ready for service, which can be very expensive.

• As a result, some in the industry have turned to digital twin technology over the last two decades as a way to potentially help lower costs, speed up testing cycles, and model aircraft before building and testing physical prototypes.

To do this sort of in-depth virtual testing, many aerospace companies look to external organizations like the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR), the aerospace R&D arm of Wichita State University.

NIAR works with government agencies, eVTOL manufacturers, and commercial aircraft OEMs like Boeing to test parts for compliance with FAA regulations, and with the FAA itself on certification by analysis methodologies for airframe crashworthiness and ditching, according to Gerardo Olivares, senior research scientist and director at NIAR.

Zoom out: “[Digital twins are] a game changer for the aerospace industry, because now you don’t have to spend many millions of dollars building physical prototypes in order to be able to develop, and then test new aircraft concepts,” Olivares said. Keep reading the full story here.—JM

If you only look at the headlines, you’d think the tech job market is in crisis. Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and other giants are cutting jobs and freezing hiring as they report lower earnings.

“There’s no question we’re operating in an uncertain environment,” Philipp Schindler, Google SVP and chief business officer, told investors in October.

Indeed, earnings calls from the tech giants have been dire. Alphabet, Google’s parent company, reported a drop in growth from 41% last year to 6% this year. Meta saw share prices go into what looked briefly like a total free fall after audience numbers remained static and CEO Mark Zuckerberg reaffirmed his commitment to bug-infested VR platform Horizon Worlds. Amazon stocks fell 13% on weak earnings reports.

But the struggles of the tech behemoths belies the strength of the actual IT job market, ZipRecruiter chief economist Julia Pollak told IT Brew.

• “In the headlines, we see tech companies saying that they’re instituting hiring freezes and pulling back,” Pollak said. “But it’s not showing up in the aggregate data on those industries at all.”

By the numbers. Put simply, even with the big-name companies floundering, there are still more positions than skilled workers, even if those positions aren’t necessarily in the prestigious tech companies where IT professionals might want to build their résumés.

Read the full story from IT Brew here.—EH

Stat: The International Energy Agency made its biggest-ever upward revision to its renewable energy forecast this week. It increased its five-year forecast for renewables by nearly 30% compared to last year’s estimate and now expects renewable energy generation to surpass coal by 2025.

Quote: “And now, thanks to the hard work of so many people, these chips can be proudly stamped Made in America…This is an incredibly significant moment.”—Tim Cook, at an event celebrating TSMC’s forthcoming Arizona facility, which is expected to begin operating in 2024

Read: A deep look at Amazon’s progress on warehouse robotics.

Learn: The economic climate has hit the tech sector hard. Learn how to protect your business and bottom line by signing up for our Analytics Accelerator so you use data to make more informed decisions.

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Three of the following news stories are true, and one...we made up. Can you spot the odd one out?

• Dyson is planning to release a pair of air-purifying headphones that cost nearly $1,000.
• The EU threw an expensive metaverse party for young people, but reportedly only six people showed up.
• Meta is considering building a Twitter competitor to capitalize on chaos surrounding the company.
• Google announced plans to overhaul its search function into a ChatGPT-inspired chatbot format.

Catch up on the top Emerging Tech Brew stories from the past few editions:

• How the tech downturn could usher in an era of ‘healthier’ innovation
• OpenAI is also a startup investor—here’s its investment thesis
• 5G private networks are surging in popularity—here’s why