• Robot swarms to construct timber buildings from the top down

    A building construction technique using swarms of robotic assemblers and lifting units is being developed by architecture firm Foster and Partners (F&P). The swarms of robots will be designed to build modular timber structures that can be adapted over time and disassembled on demand. By focusing on timber as a structural material, SWIFT-BUILD (Swarm-based Inverted Fabrication for Timber Buildings) is designed to demonstrate that its automated construction methods are sustainable and low-cost. Unlike traditional construction techniques, the robotic construction system builds timber structures from the top down by assembling each floor at ground level, then lifting it upward to make room for the next. A team of coordinated robots handles the work, with ground-based machines assembling and…

  • AI helps neurosurgeon remove brain tumour in world first

    AI has been used to assist in the removal of a brain tumour by a neurosurgeon for the first time. 48-year-old Rhys Hibbert is the first patient to have had surgery using the technique, and doctors believe that without the operation, his tumour would have continued to threaten his sight and could ultimately have led to blindness. The operation successfully removed the tumour and protected his vision. During the procedure at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London, UK, AI analysed the live surgical video feed in real time, rather than using pre-surgery scans, to help the surgical team make more precise decisions by highlighting critical structures at the base of the brain. In this part of the brain, the pituitary gland, blood vessels and nerves controlling vision…

  • SpaceX plans $100bn Starbase launch complex in Louisiana

    SpaceX has unveiled plans to build a $100bn (£73bn) rocket launch complex in southern Louisiana that will be its largest facility yet. Dubbed Starbase, the launchpad will be built to support thousands of Starship flights a year and will include a propellant production facility, power generation, deep-water shipping capabilities, vehicle processing facilities and an airport. It will become the company’s fourth launch site. At full buildout, Starbase will include five launch complexes, each with two launch pads. While it has only just been announced, SpaceX said construction would start in 2027, with the first launches of its massive Starship rocket taking place in 2029. In June, SpaceX launched its highly-anticipated IPO that valued the company at $1.77tn, despite the fact that it only…

  • Industry insight: Why AI benchmarks don’t prove real-world reliability

    This article has been provided by Gleb Tsipursky, CEO of Disaster Avoidance Experts. Engineering teams are being asked to make consequential decisions from a deceptively simple object: a benchmark score. A model appears more accurate, capable or efficient than its competitors, and the number begins to stand in for a much harder question—whether the system will behave dependably in the environment where it will actually be used. The distinction matters because benchmark performance is not operational fitness. NIST’s recent work on AI evaluation separates benchmark accuracy from generalised accuracy. The first describes performance on a fixed set of test items. The second tries to estimate performance across a broader population of similar tasks. Those measures can differ, and both depend…

  • China data centres to use nearly three times UK total electricity by 2030

    China’s rapid build-out of data centres will see the sector using nearly three times as much energy as the entirety of the UK by 2030, analysis from Wood Mackenzie shows. Like many countries around the world, China has wholeheartedly embraced AI technologies in the last few years, which has necessitated the need for massive data centre construction. The report suggests that by 2030, electricity requirements from the sector will triple, equating to around 6% of the country’s entire electricity consumption, or around 774TWh. To put that in perspective, the UK’s total national power grid currently sees generation of around 275-320TWh. The report – Rewiring China’s grid for the AI era – predicted that by 2060, data centres could account for 17% of China’s total electricity consumption. “Data…

  • Sonar system could protect undersea cables and pipelines from attack

    Subsea cables and pipelines are highly vulnerable to attack from underwater vehicles. But start-up Ultra Maritime says its underwater sonar system could help fend them off. Energy interconnectors, gas pipelines and communication cables are uniquely vulnerable to physical sabotage and hybrid attacks because of their immense geographic footprint, publicly charted locations and position at relatively accessible depths. Carrying roughly 99% of intercontinental data and vital energy supplies, these assets represent critical national infrastructure that remains nearly impossible to monitor continuously across thousands of miles. But Ultra Maritime has demonstrated a new integrated active-passive sonar solution capable of providing persistent surveillance across contested maritime environments…

  • PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ widespread in commercial pet food, study finds

    PFAS, often referred to as forever chemicals, are frequently detected in commercial pet foods sold in Japan, particularly fish-based products, according to an Ehime University study. PFAS were first produced at the end of World War II and can now be found in everything from furniture and cosmetics to food packaging, non-stick pans and clothing. But due to their unbreakable chemical structure and widespread use, high concentrations are building up in water supplies, soil and food, raising concerns about the impact on human health. Researchers at Japan’s Ehime University analysed 100 dry and wet food products for dogs and cats sold in Japan, testing them for 34 different PFAS compounds. The study examined how PFAS patterns differed according to food type, ingredients and country-related product…

  • Relaxing EV targets could delay £1.56bn of home charger sales

    Relaxing electric vehicle (EV) targets could delay up to £1.56bn worth of UK home charger sales and installations, a trade body has warned. Officially introduced on 1 January 2024, the government’s Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate is a series of targets to ramp up the number of EVs sold annually, until traditional internal combustion engine vehicles are ditched entirely by 2035. However, the mandate has received severe backlash from the automotive industry over concerns they’d be difficult to meet. Stellantis blamed the “stringent” targets for the consolidation of its UK manufacturing hubs at the end of 2024, putting 1,100 jobs at risk. In response to mounting pressure, ministers launched a review of the ZEV mandate. Rather than an outright ban of new petrol and diesel vehicles in…

  • Iranian hackers infiltrate and shut down UK power plant

    Iranian hackers were able to infiltrate and shut down a small UK power plant last month, The Telegraph has reported. For security reasons, it has not been disclosed which facility was impacted. But it did not affect one of Britain’s essential power plants, likely just a smaller gas-fired plant designed to act as backup when the grid is under strain. It is thought to be the first time that Iran has been able to pull off an attack of this scale, but it underlines the potential weakness that Britain’s energy grid has to overseas adversaries. The attack took the plant offline for four days in total, but according to a government source, the generator was so small it was below the legal threshold required to notify the government of cyber activity. Across the UK, there are hundreds of small…

  • Humanoid sprinters smash Usain Bolt’s 100m record at Beijing's robot games

    Humanoid robots have set a new sprint record at the World Humanoid Robot Games, currently underway in Beijing. In August 2009, Jamaica’s Usain Bolt broke the 100m world sprint record at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin in a time of 9.58 seconds. Seventeen years later that record has been broken by 0.26 seconds, but not by a human and in quite a different championship. The second World Humanoid Robot Games are taking place from 22 to 26 August 2026 in Beijing’s National Speed Skating Oval, which was originally built for the 2022 Winter Olympics. But for these games, it’s only humanoid robots competing. More than 2,000 of them are participating across 51 events including athletics, table tennis gymnastics, weightlifting and football.While there are 16 countries participating, among…

  • Aggressive driving dramatically accelerates EV battery ageing

    Aggressive driving could cause EV batteries to degrade more than twice as quickly as smoother driving styles. Researchers at Shanghai Dianji University in China have found that high driving speeds do not wear out EV batteries as much as aggressive driving styles do. In other words, repeatedly slamming your foot on the brake before accelerating again and rapidly launching away from traffic lights. They found that regularly driving this way causes around 2.5 times more battery capacity loss compared to adopting a smoother or more economical driving style. To reach this conclusion they analysed the driving data from 15 EVs in Guangzhou during 2022. Data was gathered every 10 seconds on metrics such as speed, battery current, state of charge, voltage and temperature. This helped to determine…

  • Rising CO2 boosts grass growth in Africa’s dry savannahs

    Higher atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) helps wild savannah grasses in southern Africa thrive despite very dry conditions, according to University of Sheffield researchers. In a study, they found that rising atmospheric CO2 levels between 1989 and 2021 resulted in a 28% increase in grass production in South Africa’s Kruger National Park, a vast wildlife reserve featuring a rich mix of open grasslands. Plant types known as C4 grasses dominate many tropical and subtropical savannahs. They are adapted to being highly efficient in bright light, high temperatures, and dry conditions compared to plants in other biomes. C4 grasses use a highly efficient form of photosynthesis that allows them to capture CO2 and turn it into sugars, helping them thrive in hot and dry climates. As the findings…

  • £230m Thames electricity tunnel reaches halfway point

    A 2.2km high-voltage electricity cable tunnel being built underneath the Thames has reached the halfway point ahead of its planned opening in 2029. The £230m project is a new high-voltage electricity link that will replace the existing 1960s Thames Cable Tunnel. It forms part of The Great Grid Upgrade, the largest overhaul of the electricity grid in generations. A tunnel boring machine (TBM) known as Caroline has been deployed to create the new infrastructure, and it has passed 1.1km beneath the River Thames since it first broke ground in May 2026. So far, more than 40,000 tonnes of material have been excavated and over 5,100 pre-cast concrete tunnel segments installed to form the tunnel lining. Just over 840 rings have been installed, and the tunnelling team has achieved its best daily…

  • Underwater drones deployed to rescue people from London waterways

    London Ambulance Service (LAS) is deploying underwater drones, helping paramedics rescue people who get into difficulty in the capital’s waterways. Whereas previously, paramedics would use long-handled poles to reach people and bring them closer to the surface, the unmanned drones are equipped with mechanical grabbers to perform the same task. The technology means that LAS’ Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) can reach those in danger, while reducing the need for the paramedics to enter hazardous water. “Even for experienced first responders, entering the water to rescue someone can be very challenging. These new drones will help us quickly locate and reach people submerged in the water, while reducing the need for paramedics to undertake potentially dangerous rescue attempts themselves…

  • Nuclear heater to keep spacecraft alive through 14-day-long lunar nights

    A private space firm is preparing to send a nuclear-powered heater on a trip to the Moon as a way to help spacecraft survive the long lunar nights. Firefly Aerospace said its Survive-the-Night Package includes a Radioisotope Heater Unit (RHU) which will operate through the extreme cold and prolonged darkness of the 14-day lunar night. The payload comprises a 5-watt RHU coupled with a platform that includes structural, communications, electrical power, command and data handling, and thermal management subsystems. Firefly said its earlier Blue Ghost mission allowed it to measure the extreme temperatures on the Moon’s far side where it reached 110°C during the day, before plummeting to 170°C at night. These aggressive temperature swings can cause violent thermal expansion and contraction…

  • Battery-free pacemaker powered by the heart could eliminate replacements

    An implantable, battery-free pacemaker that’s charged by a patient’s heartbeat has the potential to last an entire lifetime, researchers have said. Most pacemakers need to be changed every 5 to 15 years. As the battery is permanently sealed inside the pulse generator box, replacing it requires swapping out the generator itself, though the wire leads connected to the heart usually stay in place. University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers believe their new device could make these procedures unnecessary, helping to reduce the associated risks and costs. “For a device like this, it’s not just about producing energy. Power density is the most important part. You need to get enough power in a small enough volume,” said Xudong Wang, a professor of materials science who oversaw the research…

  • Flight paths to be rerouted to avoid climate-warming contrails

    The £5m Operation Blue Skies initiative, backed by the UK government and Google, will use AI to cut the climate-warming vapour trails left behind by aircraft. Operation Blue Skies will draw on Google-developed AI models to predict where warming contrails are likely to form over the Atlantic Ocean. This data will allow air traffic controllers to make small altitude adjustments to flight paths, enabling aircraft to avoid these areas. Condensation trails, or contrails, form when water vapour from an aircraft’s exhaust mixes with very cold air in the upper atmosphere. Under the right atmospheric conditions, the water vapour freezes into tiny ice crystals, creating a visible cloud-like trail. When these trails persist, they develop into clouds that trap heat radiating from the Earth, and so…

  • AI call-routing system to help unclog police 101 service

    A £1.4m AI call-routing system will automatically filter out non-policing queries, freeing up phone operators and reducing waiting times. Officially rolled out across England and Wales in 2012, the 101 service enables the public to reach the police for non-emergency situations where an immediate response is not required. For instance, reporting a past crime or minor traffic collision. But the service, which receives around 20 million calls a year, is often abused, with phone operators frequently having to contend with nuisance reports. Even when calls are legitimate, more than 20% of them - or four million - are not actually for policing matters and need to be redirected elsewhere. The AI call-routing system, backed by £1.4m in government investment, should allow operators to reduce the…

  • London children’s lung growth improves after ULEZ introduction

    The introduction of London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) appears to have improved lung growth in children living in the capital, a study has revealed. Researchers from Queen Mary University of London assessed more than 3,400 children and found that air quality improvements were “strongly associated” with accelerated lung growth. The team recruited over 3,400 children aged 6-9 from 84 primary schools in London and Luton, with Luton acting as a comparison site with a similar mix of traffic pollutants but no clean air zone. The children’s lung size and health were measured and monitored at annual school visits from 2018 to 2022 to assess the impact of air quality changes on their lung development, following the introduction of the ULEZ in London. Initial lung capacity measurements taken…

  • 288-metre glass elevator slashes commute time for Chinese schoolchildren

    A glass cliffside elevator in a remote Chinese village has cut a perilous three-hour journey for local schoolchildren to just 30 minutes. Children living in the remote Chinese village of Nizhuhe Village would have to hike cliffside trails through the Niujiu River Grand Canyon for over three hours to reach their boarding school, which sits at an elevation of approximately 1,650 metres. A vertical drop of more than 500 metres separates the village at the bottom of the canyon from the school at the top with children, aged six to 15, having to scale a very steep and slippery path up. This one-way journey has now been cut to just 30 minutes with the addition of the newly opened Fuyao Ladder, a 288-metre vertical lift attached to the canyon wall. Operating alongside the 268-metre Qingyun…

  • Living bacteria used to build complex computing circuits by MIT team

    Engineered bacteria that can function as transistors in an electronic circuit have been developed by MIT researchers. In electrical circuits, transistors function as switches that can turn the current on or off. In the biological circuits created by the researchers, bacterial switches control the flow of small molecules, which send signals to downstream circuit components. The team said that the technology allows for the creation of living “circuit boards” that can be printed onto a growth medium in a Petri dish. They designed two different types of bacterial transistor, along with three bacterial strains that relay information between them. Using these building blocks, the team were able to design nearly any type of circuit, including circuits with two or three inputs that can be directed…

  • Nasa’s Starling mission demonstrates GPS-free satellite navigation

    Nasa has found a way to allow orbiting satellites to estimate their position by referencing other objects in space rather than using traditional networks such as GPS. As part of the Starling mission, Nasa deployed its FALCON technology (Fast Autonomous Lost-in-space Catalog-based Optical Navigation), which could allow future spacecraft to operate more independently. Although GPS is widely used by satellites to estimate their position, it can prove unreliable and doesn’t work when moving away from Earthbound orbits. As Nasa prepares for more missions beyond Earth’s orbit, technologies such as FALCON can support lunar satellite swarms, distributed science missions and human exploration. The FALCON payload itself uses flight software known as Era-Core, which was developed by startup firm…

  • Thames Barrier may need £20bn replacement decades earlier than predicted

    Extreme weather could mean the Thames Barrier will need replacing up to two decades earlier than previously expected, at a cost of at least £20bn, according to a report by the Financial Times (FT). The structure – which has been operational since 1982 – helps to protect areas of London lying in the floodplain from high tides and storm surges moving up from the North Sea. Spanning 520 metres across the River Thames near Woolwich, it has 10 steel gates, each weighing 3,300 tonnes, that can be raised into position across the river, effectively blocking water from flowing upriver into London. The Thames Barrier was built to last until 2030, however the Environment Agency (EA), which runs and maintains it, said as part of its Thames Estuary 2100 Plan unveiled in 2023, that it expects it to…

  • Classic car owners face fines under proposed emissions rules

    Proposals to levy fines against owners of vehicles that do not comply with emissions standards could badly hit owners of classic cars, an insurance firm has claimed. In a new consultation, the UK Department for Transport (DfT) has proposed that vehicles must meet the exact emissions standards and emissions-control requirements that applied when they were manufactured and first registered. The rules will also make it illegal to remove, bypass, or alter key emissions control components, regardless of whether the vehicle still passes a real-world emissions test. If vehicles are classed as non-compliant, owners could be subjected to fines. Footman James, an insurer that specialises in insuring classic cars, has warned that while these rules are intended to target deliberate cheats, they create…

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