• View from Brussels: Horizon Europe in jeopardy

    UK membership of the EU’s multi-billion-euro Horizon Europe scheme has been in limbo for several months, as the European Commission prioritised the applications of other countries and waited to see how the situation around the Northern Ireland Protocol would develop. Initially, top EU officials insisted that applications to join the research programme and the bloc’s satellite network, Copernicus, would not be affected by parallel talks on the finer points of implementing Brexit. However, the situation has rapidly evolved and the UK government is reportedly preparing an alternative to Horizon Europe, known as the ‘Discovery Fund’, according to The Telegraph. That homegrown scheme will certainly fail to replicate the benefits of the pan-EU programme, given that it will cut British researchers…

  • Technology will be key to rail fare reforms, warn Lords

    In its letter to Chris Heaton-Harris, the Built Environment Committee notes that the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail published in May this year sets out steps to reduce the complexity of fares and improve ticketing technology. The writers state: “it is critical to the success of the proposals that the Government outlines a coherent vision for fares that can be implemented stage-by-stage." In its specific recommendations on technology, the committee says that in order to implement any simplified fare structure, contactless payment options should be made available at all stations across the national network. The Government should prioritise a move to digital forms of ticketing. This will require infrastructure upgrades at stations to enable smart cards, phones and QR codes to be scanned, which…

  • View from India: India aims to achieve net zero by 2070

    Globally, India ranks fourth in terms of installed renewable energy capacity. At COP26, or the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties, Modi promised that 50 per cent of the country’s energy requirements will be met by renewable energy by 2030. The time frame is the same for scaling up non-fossil energy generation capacity to 500GW. Modi has also committed that India will reduce its total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes from now onwards till 2030. The country, he pledged, would reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by 45 per cent. The time frame for achieving the goal of net zero seems quite long. But then India has several issues to address and each brings its share of challenges. To begin with, the country is the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse…

  • ‘Net zero is not zero’: carbon offsetting focus at COP26 under criticism

    Greenpeace, Amnesty International, ActionAid, Global Witness, Articulacao dos Povos Indigenas do Brasil (APIB), and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) have jointly criticised carbon offsetting as a distraction or scam that fuels land grabs for tree planting in developing countries, imperilling indigenous communities. The coalition has called on governments to raise their ambitions and set “real” zero-carbon emissions targets. Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, the world must reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 in order to keep global temperature rises to within 1.5°C; this is critical for protecting small island nations and averting the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. Although most nations – and many businesses and local authorities – have made some…

  • Crabby-sense tingling? Engineers map crab physiology to suit

    Creatures that evolved underwater have wildly different physiology and anatomy to humans and their closer cousins. For instance, the horseshoe crab has a sensory system with a network of multiple 'eyes', some of which are photoreceptors that distinguish between light and dark. With funding from the Office of Naval Research, which has granted him a Young Investigator Award through its Littoral Geosciences and Optics program, Professor Bartlett is putting an electronic version of the horseshoe crab’s unique sensory system to work in a series of soft electronics to be worn by a human. Bartlett and his colleagues are intrigued by creatures such as the mantis shrimp, octopuses and the horseshoe crab, due to the jaw-dropping variety of natural sensors they all employ. These organisms have the…

  • Prince of Wales views carbon-capture tech; notes ‘frustration’ of COP26 protestors

    Arriving at the offices of Doosan Babcock, Renfrew, in an electric vehicle, Charles (pictured above, in 2017) was shown the carbon-capture machine CycloneCC, which its inventors at Carbon Clean describe as the world’s smallest device of its type. Iain Tobin, Carbon Clean’s chief corporate officer, said of the royal visitor: “He was very impressed. He’s genuinely interested in what we’re trying to achieve, which is to bring cost-effective carbon capture technology to hard-to-abate industrial sectors.” Charles, who is also the Baron of Renfrew, asked questions of staff including Aniruddha Sharma, Carbon Clean’s co-founder and chief executive, and James Hall, the head of research at the company, who demonstrated the vast difference in size between the old carbon capture technology and the…

  • Herbarium at Kew Gardens to be digitised, free to access

    The announcement was made by Simon Clarke, chief secretary to the treasury, on a visit to Kew Gardens, while the UK government continues to host COP26 in Glasgow. The Herbarium is 170 years old and contains approximately 8.5 million items – including some collected by Charles Darwin – which staff store, catalogue, arrange systematically, and carefully preserve for future generations.  This record is used to identify specimens collected in the field – including by providing DNA samples – and compare newly discovered species with known species. It contains around 95 per cent of vascular plant genera, 60 per cent of fungal genera, and 330,000 type specimens with 25,000 more added each year. So far, just 12 per cent of the Herbarium collection has been databased, including all type specimens…

  • Biowaste could be repurposed in optical devices

    The consumption of non-renewable raw materials for construction, digital devices, and other goods is a major environmental problem. Researchers from Aalto University, the University of Turku, the Research Institute of Sweden, and the University of British Columbia, have proposed in an Advanced Materials study that a promising solution may be found in renewable biomass. Specifically, the researchers examined how lignocellulose could be used for optical applications, potentially replacing commonly used materials like sand . “We wanted to map out as comprehensively as possible how lignocellulose could replace the unrenewable resources found in widely used technology, like smart devices or solar cells,” said Professor Jaana Vapaavuori, a materials scientist at Aalto University in Finland. Lignocellulose…

  • Cultivated meat project devours $10m grant at Tufts

    As the world’s demand for protein grows, food production needs to keep pace. Farming animal meat is also a significant contributor to carbon emissions worldwide, as well as one of the biggest emitters of methane - an even more potent greenhouse gas. A team led by David Kaplan, the Stern Family Professor of Engineering will combine the multi-disciplinary efforts of engineers, biologists, nutrition researchers and social scientists at Tufts University, Massachusetts, US, along with contributors from other universities, in an effort to produce an alternative source of sustainable protein that can enhance food sustainability, nutrition and security. Kaplan, a Distinguished Professor at Tufts and chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, and his team have led some of the early work…

  • Money & Markets: Facebook/Meta’s VR project boosts cryptocurrency

    It is quite a popular idea that we are all just living in a simulation. The idea is that in due course there will be infinite simulations of us in the universe yet only one real universe, and as such the chances of us being part of one of those countless simulations rather than existing in the real thing is extremely high. It is all very nihilistic. Simulations of the world go back a long way and even the young engineer's favourite Meccano set or a box of Lego speak to the desire to recreate and simulate real-world objects. What could be more exciting than simulating whole worlds? Once called god games, they have been rebranded as the metaverse. The metaverse is little more than a playroom or Disneyland on your computer, and if you want to feel you are really there you can strap a VR…

  • Book review: The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails

    The only meaningful way to review a dictionary, particularly one as all-encompassing and weighty as this 834-page, 3.5kg behemoth, is to test it against the database of your own knowledge of its subject. In this case it’s spirits and cocktails, or, for this reviewer, mostly spirits. I have to confess that, despite having been on the wagon for some time, I can claim a certain experience of the spirit world (nothing to do with spiritualism), gained during my Soviet youth and later – particularly when researching my own ‘Borders Up! Eastern Europe through the Bottom of a Glass’. Let’s open my book’s first edition to part two, ‘Spirits Lands’, where the first word is ‘aqua vitae’. According to 'The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails’ (Oxford University Press, £45, ISBN 9780199311132) this…

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  • Why humans will always be an enduring element of the supply chain

    What may be the world’s most famous prehistoric monument has left its impact on history way beyond stones, paying testament to the power of the human supply chain. Stonehenge, when viewed in this context, is proof that even as we move towards fully autonomous, AI-driven supply chains, humans will always play an integral role. Energy crises, global labour shortages and transport bottlenecks have all sharpened the focus on how automation can accelerate processes and streamline operations. However, lessons of the past clearly show that humans remain a vital component of supply chains today. The planning involved in the construction of Stonehenge was momentous, and it was through a combination of strategy and innovative technology that humans were able to carry out the work successfully. Because…

  • Quantum computing errors reduced by factor of 25

    Q-CTRL is an Australian start-up that builds quantum control infrastructure software, with a focus on developing tools and techniques for error suppression. Q-CTRL’s approach applies the principles of control engineering to accelerate quantum computing technology. This is a particular obstacle in quantum computing. While there is considerable excitement about the possibilities of quantum information and quantum computing applications – spurring billions of dollars of investment around the world – many technical hurdles have yet to be crossed. Most quantum computers are so prone to error that only the shortest, simplest algorithms can be run. When Q-CTRL experimented with algorithmic hardware systems, building on recent benchmarking experiments from the US Quantum Economic Development Consortium…

  • Younger people more likely to fall victim to cyber crime, survey finds

    While elderly individuals are usually thought to be the ones who have less experience with modern technologies and are therefore more vulnerable to cyber crime online, new data based on the National Cybersecurity Alliance survey suggests otherwise. Two thousand participants in the UK and US took part in the survey and provided information online in response to questions about their cyber security behaviours. Generation Z, or those aged 18 to 24, and Millennials (25 to 40) were found to be less likely to report cyber crime than other generations and become victims to it. Gen Z in particular were found to be the least likely to report cyber crime, with only 21 per cent informing authorities. Nearly one-third (32 per cent) of Millennials have reported a cyber crime. Following up, some…

  • ‘End of coal in sight’ with COP26 pledge, but progress too slow

    A series of major initiatives are being announced today (4 November) at COP26 to encourage the phase out of coal for electricity generation. Coal accounts for more than 35 per cent of the world’s power. In the biggest victory so far for COP26 regarding the critical need to keep fossil fuels in the ground, dozens of countries – including many major coal-burning economies – have pledged to phase out coal for electricity generation. “Today, I think we can say that the end of coal is in sight,” said COP26 President Alok Sharma. “Who’d have thought, [in 2019], that today we are able to say we are choking off international coal financing or that we would see a shift away from domestic coal power?” His comments were echoed by Leo Roberts of climate think tank E3G, who said: “The past few days…

  • Aviation could consume one-sixth of remaining ‘temperature budget’

    The study suggests that emissions produced by the aviation industry must be reduced every year if the sector’s emissions are not to aggravate warming further. Aviation is widely recognised as a hard to abate sector , along with shipping, construction and steelmaking. Although research efforts are underway to develop sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs), hydrogen-powered aircraft and electric aircraft, these all remain in early stages and it is highly unlikely that the sector will be able to reduce emissions as quickly as other sectors. The study set out to inform the discussion about aviation’s 'fair share' of future warming. Researchers from the University of Oxford, Manchester Metropolitan University and the NERC National Centre for Earth Observation developed a simple technique for quantifying…

  • Manufacturers will struggle to adapt to UK’s green energy transition, study finds

    A study led by the University of Leeds suggests that governments should strengthen international carbon reporting standards for energy-intensive industries in order to ensure that firms using more expensive and less carbon-intensive options aren’t outcompeted by those relying on older, more polluting, but typically cheaper technologies. It suggests that total levels of CO2 production during the manufacture and lifetime of materials should be measured more transparently as part of assessment looking at the progress towards national net zero targets. The carbon price also needs to rise to make it economically viable to introduce new manufacturing technologies with low CO2 emissions. Lead author of the study Dr Alan Grainger calls on the UK Government to set out a revised Industrial Decarbonisation…

  • Algorithm predicts suicidal thoughts in teenagers

    The team, comprising of university researchers at Brigham Young University (BYU), Johns Hopkins and Harvard, outlined their machine learning approach in the journal PLOS One . The paper also details risk factors that are leading predictors of suicidal ideation and behaviour among adolescents: online harassment and bullying. “Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents in the US,” said Michael Barnes, study co-author and associate dean of the BYU College of Life Sciences. “We must have a better understanding of the risk factors – and the protective factors – associated with this heartbreaking issue.” The study results show researchers can predict with high accuracy which adolescents will exhibit suicidal thoughts (consideration or planning) or suicidal behaviour (attempting…

  • Sixty companies from FTSE 100 commit to net-zero by 2050

    By Thursday (4 November), 60 of the FTSE 100 – with a combined market value of over £1tn – had committed to a net-zero target as part of the United Nations Race to Zero campaign. They are part of the 5,200 companies which have joined up to the UN pledge. Nearly half of these companies are British. “Businesses both large and small, across all sectors of the global economy, have a crucial role to play in both reducing their environmental impact and developing the green technologies that will set us on the path to net-zero,” said business and industry minister Lee Rowley. “With over 2,500 UK companies joining the Race to Zero, including the majority of our largest firms, the UK is leading the way in showing how going green doesn’t just make sense for the planet, it makes business sense, too…

  • ‘World’s first’ flying car drag race takes place in South Australian desert

    The race was part of a testing session for EXA, Airspeeder’s first electric flying car racing season, created by Alauda Aeronautics ahead of a proposed international competition that will take place next year. The racing series sees remote pilots take control of full-scale electric flying cars and serves as technical demonstrators for the new vehicles. According to a report this year from IDTechEx, the market for eVTOLs (electric vertical take-off and landing) is predicted to be worth $14.7bn by 2041. In September, UK start-up Urban-Air announced it was partnering with automaker Hyundai to build 65 mini airports worldwide that are designed for the new generation of vehicles. Upcoming race events using eVTOLs will see a grid of full-scale electric flying cars known as 'Speeders…

  • Meta days ahead: Facebook shuts down face-recognition system

    Jerome Pesenti, vice president of artificial intelligence for Facebook’s new parent company Meta, said in a blog post: “This change will represent one of the largest shifts in facial-recognition usage in the technology’s history. “More than a third of Facebook’s daily active users have opted in to our 'Face Recognition' setting and are able to be recognised and its removal will result in the deletion of more than a billion people’s individual facial-recognition templates.” Pesenti said the company was trying to weigh the positive use cases for the technology “against growing societal concerns, especially as regulators have yet to provide clear rules”. However, it appears that Facebook is not abandoning facial-recognition entirely and will continue working on the technology, possibly with…

  • Microbes engineered to produce carbon-neutral fuel

    Biologists and engineers worked together to modify a microbe, Rhodopseudomonas palustris TIE-1, to produce biofuel using carbon dioxide, solar panel-generated electricity and light. R. palustris is a bacterium found in all sorts of environments and notable for its ability to change between four different metabolic modes, giving it potentially useful biotechnology applications. In particular, R. palustris TIE-1 has been shown to obtain energy through extracellular electron transfer. Previous work from Professor Arpita Bose’s laboratory at Washington University revealed how they use electrons to 'fix' CO2 and could be used to create sustainable bioplastics. In the latest project from the Bose lab, researchers have used R. palustris TIE-1 to create a biofuel, n-butanol. This is a carbon-neutral…

  • Electric soot collector negates air quality impact of residential fireplaces

    The air pollution emitted by residential biomass combustion is a known cause of adverse health effects, such as respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, as well as adverse climate effects. It has been cited as a major source of air pollution almost everywhere in the world, causing particularly high emissions of fine particulate matter, black carbon and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Manufacturers of stoves and fireplaces must soon comply with tightening emission regulations, such as the Ecodesign Directive entering into force in the European Union in 2022, spurring demand for new emission control solutions. Researchers at the University of Eastern Finland believe their invention presents a novel method to reduce particulate emissions. HiTESC is an electrically insulated high…

  • Hydrogen cheaply produced from wastewater with new technique

    Wastewater treatment is vital to remove pathogens, but is typically incredibly energy intensive – responsible for around 3 per cent of energy use in the UK, equivalent to 13 billion kilowatt hours. The researchers managed to cut the energy used in the purification process by using microbial electrolysis cells that use electromagnetic microorganisms to break down organic pollutants in waste water, producing clean water and hydrogen gas. The ability to produce hydrogen gas is valuable in itself, as it can be sold to chemical and plastics industry or used in hydrogen fuel cells for energy storage or electric vehicles. Although the research sounds promising, it hasn’t yet been developed on an industrial scale, as the anode materials - which are used in the reaction to breakdown the organic…

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