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Strict new rules for telecoms firms to prevent cyber-attacks on UK networks

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) said the security regulations will be “among the strongest in the world” and will provide protections designed to prevent network failure or the theft of sensitive data. This will include protections to the electronic equipment and software at phone mast sites and in telephone exchanges which handle internet traffic and telephone calls. Currently, telecoms providers are responsible for setting their own security standards in their networks. However, the government’s Telecoms Supply Chain Review found providers often have little incentive to adopt the best security practices. The new regulations and code of practice were developed with the National Cyber Security Centre and the industry regulator Ofcom, and will force providers…

E+T Magazine in Ethical Aspects
Book review: ‘Superspy Science’ by Kathryn Harkup

Reading ‘Superspy Science’ brought back memories. Let me share a couple of them. How do you like this? “My name is Zakhov, Avvakum Zakhov.” Hmm... Sounds weird... Let’s try again: “My name is Boyev, Emil Boyev.” Even harder to digest for an ‘English-speaking ear’ more accustomed to one of the world’s most popular soundbites: “My name’s Bond. James Bond.” No wonder. Trust me, had the West lost the Cold War, the first two quotes could have been on everybody’s lips too. Why? Because both Avvakum Zakhov and Emil Boyev were the former communist world’s answers to James Bond. Let me explain. In the Soviet Union of my childhood and youth, where Ian Fleming’s Bond novels and the movie versions were strictly banned, the global phenomenon was either silenced completely or silenced and heavily…

E+T Magazine
The sustainable approach that will help avoid a third ‘AI winter’

The majority of big artificial intelligence companies are pouring huge amounts of energy and resources into AI in the hope of creating a more efficient and automated future. However, throwing large volumes of data at machine-learning algorithms and using vast amounts of processing power is neither efficient nor futureproof. Algorithms were never developed with efficiency in mind, so focusing on this aspect is a vital step towards avoiding another ‘AI winter’. The energy consumption required for mining and managing Bitcoin has been in the media spotlight for years now. The energy usage of crypto transactions has even been compared to that of countries the size of Greece, a country with a population of over 10 million people. The response of environmental organisations and the public on social…

E+T Magazine in Engineering with a Disability
Researchers use dental scanner to study coral growth

Australian researchers are using technology most commonly found in dentists’ surgeries to study coral, after noting the similarities between coral and human teeth: both are calcium-based and need to be measured on wet surfaces. Dr Kate Quigley, a senior research scientist at the Minderoo Foundation who conducted the research at the Australian Institute of Marine Science and James Cook University, said she came up with the idea to use dental scanning technology in her coral studies during a visit to the dentist. “One day I was at the dentist and they rolled out this new scanning machine," she said. “I knew immediately that it was something that could apply to scanning very small corals given corals and teeth actually share many similar properties." Coral reefs are among the Earth’s…

E+T Magazine in Research and Innovation
Cruise operator to use SpaceX’s Starlink to provide passengers with broadband

Starlink uses a constellation of orbiting satellites to provide continuous internet coverage to remote locations around the globe. The first batch of 60 small satellites was launched in 2019, although the firm has been given permission to send almost 12,000 satellites into space, an endeavour that will require multiple launches over the course of several years. RCG’s announcement makes it the first in the cruise industry to adopt the service which can provide high-speed, low-latency connectivity. The broadband internet service will be installed on all Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Silversea Cruises ships, along with all new vessels for each of the brands. Deployment of the Starlink technology across the fleet will begin immediately and is estimated to be completed…

E+T Magazine in Space
Edtech firms failing to protect children’s data, say campaigners

Privacy campaigners have accused major edtech players of breaking UK data laws, the Financial Times has reported. The 5Rights Foundation has conducted research showing how Google as well as other third parties have tracked children's clicks on external links, while they were using Google Classroom and ClassDojo. This data can be used to determine preferences and display personalised advertising. The charity presented the report to the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Department for Education on Wednesday, claiming the company's opaque privacy terms go against UK data protection law and can confuse teachers. “The pandemic has both shown the utility of technology, but also revealed the lack of oversight,” Lady Biban Kidran, chair of 5Rights, told the Financial Times. Edtech…

E+T Magazine in STEM Education and Skills
TfL funding deal will see cuts to bus services and fare price increases

Despite the essential cash injection, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has warned that the money still leaves “a significant funding gap” which could lead to the closure of some bus services and increases to fare prices. In 2020, the number of rail journeys undertaken by passengers fell to lows not seen since the Victorian era, with buses also facing massive reductions in passengers. TfL later warned that London transport could be forced into a ‘managed decline’ scenario if the government did not provide the emergency funding needed to maintain the capital’s transport services. The Department for Transport (DfT) said the new funding will ensure the network is protected against potential lost revenue caused by uncertainty of post-pandemic demand, alongside some modernisation and network upgrades…

E+T Magazine in Railways
Baltic countries to boost offshore wind power capacity sevenfold

Nations bordering the Baltic Sea agreed on Tuesday to increase offshore wind capacity sevenfold by the end of the decade. The agreement was announced at a summit attended by European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and ministers and lawmakers from Denmark, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Sweden, which all border the Baltic Sea. "We share a great potential for offshore wind," Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen said at an energy summit in Copenhagen. "As long as we depend on fossil fuels, we are vulnerable." The Baltic Sea currently has 2.8 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind capacity installed, with almost all of it in Danish and German waters. However, the EU's Nordic countries are still highly dependent on fossil fuel for their energy consumption. The…

E+T Magazine in Renewable Energy
‘Messengers from outer space’ sought by scientists with high-tech balloon

The project, termed Extreme Universe Space Observatory on a Super Pressure Balloon – aka EUSO-SPB2 – is searching for messengers from outer space: tiny, highly energetic particles that hit the Earth on their way from elsewhere in the universe. The mission, which involves 280 researchers from 13 countries and 77 institutions, consists of two instruments which will be attached to a high-altitude balloon launched by Nasa. The balloon and its cargo are currently under final construction and assembly. When completed, EUSO-SPB2 will ride wind currents about 20 miles above the Earth around the southern hemisphere, gathering data and searching for tracks left by two types of incoming particles. Image credit: Angela Olinto EUSO-SPB2 will carry two different telescopes…

E+T Magazine in Space
Intel leans harder on RISC-V

Much like IBM after the PC architecture ran away from it and almost collapsed Big Blue’s highly profitable minicomputer and mainframe businesses, Intel has been through some soul-searching in the wake of Arm’s expansion from the world of cellular phones into just about everything else. Intel has moved from a company that sued relentlessly to try to maintain control of the instruction set architecture (ISA) that powered the PCs that crippled IBM’s original business to one that now sees or at least claims to see the advantages in an ISA that anyone can use to build their own processors. Intel is now one of RISC-V’s biggest fans, launching this week a programme to try to get more chip designers onboard with the architecture. At the RISC-V Spring Week back in May, Gary Martz, senior director…

E+T Magazine in Electronics Design
Switching concrete for timber in construction shown to yield huge carbon savings

The 106Gt saving is about 10 per cent of the remaining carbon budget for the 2°C climate target, the researchers said. Besides the harvest from natural forests, newly established timber plantations are required for supplying construction wood. While this does not interfere with food production, a loss of biodiversity may occur if not carefully managed. The study analyses the impacts of a large-scale transition to timber cities on land use, land-use change emissions, and long-term carbon storage in harvested wood products. “More than half the world’s population currently lives in cities, and by 2100 this number will increase significantly. This means more homes will be built with steel and concrete, most of which have a serious carbon footprint,” said Abhijeet Mishra, lead author of the…

E+T Magazine in Research and Innovation
Underwater messaging made possible with app

The University of Washington's 'AquaApp' is potentially the first mobile app for acoustic-based communication and networking underwater that can be used with existing devices, such as smartphones and smartwatches, without the need for additional hardware. In addition to their device, the only item a user of the app would need would be a waterproof phone case rated for the depth to which they are planning to dive, the researchers said. The most likely use case for the application is for activities such as diving, where professionals of the sport currently use over 200 hand signals to communicate information ranging from oxygen level to the proximity of aquatic species, to the performance of cooperative tasks. Using this language as an inspiration, the AquaApp interface enables users…

E+T Magazine in Research and Innovation
View from Brussels: Waiting for Brazil

Talks on a big trade agreement between the 27 EU countries and Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – known as the Mercosur bloc – wrapped up in 2019 but a number of factors have stalled progress. The biggest hurdle has proved to be Brazil’s incumbent far-right leader, Jair Bolsonaro, who refused to make any compromises on environmental protections. EU governments have declined to ratify the deal until safeguards are put in place. Bolsonaro also decided to make the issue personal when he insulted the wife of French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, who was one of the main voices calling for anti-deforestation clauses to be written into the Mercosur deal. Record logging in the Amazon rainforest last year and news that the carbon sink has become an emitter of carbon dioxide does not sit well…

E+T Magazine
Second jobs, pub closures and small businesses squeezed as energy prices surge

It has also been revealed that small businesses in the UK are owed on average almost £23,000 from overdue invoices - a 6 per cent year-on-year rise - as customers and suppliers try to delay payment for as long as possible, feeling the pinch in their own cashflow. Rising energy bills have also been suggested as predicating an early end for many people to the flexible working concepts introduced during the pandemic, given the additional costs of heating and lighting required when working from home. Returning to the office, where the employer picks up the electricity tab, could hold strong appeal - especially during the winter months. A survey by KIS Finance has found that nearly one-third of 18 to 35-year-olds have been forced to take on an additional job in order to make ends meet. This…

E+T Magazine in Business Planning
Elon Musk hopes Teslas will be fully self-driving by the end of the year

“The two technologies I am focused on, trying to ideally get done before the end of the year, are getting our Starship into orbit and then having Tesla cars to be able to do self-driving,” he said, speaking at an energy conference in Norway. “Have self-driving in wide release at least in the US and potentially in Europe, depending on regulatory approval.” After years of delays, Tesla started rolling out over-the-air updates for its vehicles that enable “full self-driving” for eligible owners in July 2021. Safety experts soon expressed concern that the nascent technology “lacks safeguards” after tests found that vehicles using the feature were scraping against bushes, missing turnings and even heading towards parked cars. The US National Transportation Safety Board later called on Tesla…

E+T Magazine in Electric Vehicles
EU promises ‘structural reform’ of energy market

The Eu ropean Union is drafting emergency plans to intervene in its energy market , with the goal of addressing the soaring energy prices, as well as putting in place longer-term reform s to ensure electricity prices reflect cheaper renewable energy . "The skyrocketing electricity prices are now exposing the limitations of our current market design," Eu ropean Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said. "It was developed for different circumstances. That’s why we are now working on an emergency intervention and a structural reform of the electricity market." Over recent months, the bloc's 27 countries have disagreed over the possibility of an intervention in energy market s, as reduced Russian gas deliveries to Eu rope have pushed up power costs. However, after gas prices reached…

E+T Magazine in Power Equipment
Work begins on first major broadband upgrade under £5bn Project Gigabit

The £6m contract was awarded today to boost the rollout to more than 7,000 hard-to-reach properties in Dorset by 2025. The first home will be connected by the end of the year, with an expected completion date for all by 2025. The project will cover the rural outskirts of towns, villages and hamlets across the region from Sherborne to Verwood and Shaftesbury to Blandford Forum. The Project Gigabit fund is used to meet pledges originally announced in the 2019 Conservative manifesto to install full-fibre, gigabit-capable broadband in every home and business across the UK by 2025. This pledge was later downgraded to just 85 per cent of premises in the UK, although MPs have questioned whether even this target is plausible considering the speed of the rollout. The Department for Digital,…

E+T Magazine
Nasa scientists ‘hopeful’ for second Artemis 1 Moon launch attempt

Nasa scientists are hopeful they can successfully launch a rocket to the Moon as soon as Friday despite a failed attempt on Monday. The launch of the biggest rocket ever developed by Nasa was originally scheduled to take place at 1:33 pm BST on Monday, from the Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida. However, the launch was called off moments before due to a temperature problem in one of the engines, which was later attributed to a hydrogen leak. Michael Sarafin, Artemis mission manager, said the team also encountered issues over the weekend and on Monday, including lightning strikes and a fuel leak. F ollowing the postponed take-off, he told a Nasa press conference the team is “not ready to give up” and the earliest possible time for the next attempt would be just before 1pm…

E+T Magazine in Space
Chinese cities leading the way on emission reduction, study finds

Researchers from the University of Birmingham found that a further 21 cities have cut CO2 emissions as their economies or populations have ‘declined’ over the same period - defined as passively emission-declined cities. ‘Emission peaked’ cities, such as Beijing, achieved emission decline mainly due to efficiency improvements and structural changes in energy use, whilst ‘declining’ cities, such as Fuxin (Liaoning province) and Shenyang (Liaoning province), are likely to have reduced emissions due to economic recession or population loss. The study suggests that emission targets for cities needs to be set individually considering their resources, industrialisation levels, socio-economic characteristics and development goals. Super-emitting cities with outdated technologies and lower production…

E+T Magazine in Climate Change
Hands-on review: 1More ComfoBuds Mini earbuds, Red Edition

Earlier this year, we reviewed 1More's ComfoBuds Mini earbuds. At the time, their USP was - amongst other commendable tech spec data - that they were the ‘World’s Smallest Active Noise Cancelling Earbuds’. They might still hold that accolade for all we know. We're not aware of any competitors shouting, "Hold my beer…" and going to their workbench to wrest this tiny crown from 1More. At least, not yet. At launch, the ComfoBuds Mini came in any colour you liked, as long as it was black or white. The classics. Now, 1More has thrown caution to the wind and launched this striking(ly) red edition of the ComfoBuds Mini. How red are they? Very red. Image credit: 1More To use a Premier League football analogy, they are - despite this writer's Mancunian affiliation - what…

E+T Magazine
Fukushima plant clean-up postponed by robot development delays

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (Tepco) had originally planned to begin removing melted fuel from the Unit 2 reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi plant last year, 10 years after the disaster triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011. That plan was postponed until later this year, and now will be delayed further until about autumn next year because of additional work needed to improve the performance of the robotic arm needed for the fuel removal process, the company said. The giant arm, jointly developed by Veolia Nuclear Solutions of Britain and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, has been transported to Japan and is being adjusted at a testing facility south of the Fukushima plant. The delay will not affect the overall decommissioning at the plant, which is expected…

E+T Magazine in Nuclear Power
Electric vehicle owners face soaring charging costs as energy price cap rises

Regulator Ofgem announced today that energy bills will rise roughly 80 per cent in October from £1,971 to an average of £3,549. The RAC found that a 64kWh model, such as a Kia e-Niro, will cost £33.80 to charge from the first of October when the next price cap comes into place. This would have cost just £13.69 earlier this year and approximately £18.37 now under the current price cap. In comparison, petrol prices for ICE vehicles have actually come down in recent weeks after reaching highs of around 190p per litre for petrol in mid-July, gradually declining to around 170p per litre today. Diesel prices have mirrored this trend, whilst always remaining slightly more expensive than petrol. Sales of fully electric cars have been soaring in recent years, rising from less than 1,000 in 2011…

E+T Magazine in Engineering with a Disability
Biden signs order to implement $52.7bn chips law

US President Joe Biden has signed an executive order to kickstart the implementation of the $52.7bn (£44.5bn) semiconductor chips manufacturing subsidy and research law, the White House said. Earlier this month, Biden signed the bipartisan bill to boost efforts to make the United States more competitive with China's science and technology efforts. The 'Chips and Science' law also includes an investment tax credit for chip plants estimated to be worth $24bn (£20bn). Commerce secretary Gina Raimondo said the department has been preparing for months for the programme, including the launch of CHIPS.gov, which will oversee funding awards for the production of silicon semiconductors. "We are committed to a process that is transparent and fair," Raimondo said. "This programme is intended to…

E+T Magazine in Semiconductor Technology
James Webb finds carbon dioxide on an exoplanet for the first time

The discovery was made during an observation of a gas giant planet orbiting a Sun-like star 700 light years away. The finding suggests that Webb may be able to detect and measure carbon dioxide in the thinner atmospheres of smaller rocky planets too. WASP-39 b is a hot gas giant with a mass roughly one-quarter that of Jupiter (about the same as Saturn) and a diameter 1.3 times greater than Jupiter. Its extreme size is related in part to its high temperature (about 900°C). Unlike the cooler, more compact gas giants in our solar system, WASP-39 b orbits very close to its star – only about one-eighth the distance between the Sun and Mercury – completing one circuit in just over four Earth days. The planet’s discovery, reported in 2011, was made based on ground-based detections of the subtle…

E+T Magazine in Space

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