• Indonesia’s rice waste could generate enough electricity to power all its homes

    Each year, Indonesia produces about 100 million tonnes of the rice straw, and around 60 per cent of this waste is burned in open fields, causing air pollution which has been linked to higher rates of lung cancer. The amount burned releases enough energy, if it could be harnessed, to power Indonesia’s households 10 times over. A research consortium which includes Aston University aims to develop processes to capture more affordable energy from rice straw than ever before and demonstrate that it can be done on a commercial scale. Part of the process involves a biomass conversion technology called pyrolysis. This involves heating organic waste materials to high temperatures of around 500°C to break them down, producing vapour and solid products. Some of the vapour may be condensed into…

  • Wi-Fi routers could be used to monitor breathing

    Scientists at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have created BreatheSmart, an algorithm to determine whether someone is having trouble breathing using available Wi-Fi routers and devices.  Wi-Fi routers continuously broadcast radio frequencies that phones, tablets and computers are able pick up.  As the signals travel, they bounce off or pass through everything around them — the walls, the furniture and even people. Due to the frequencies' sensibilities any movements - including breathing patterns - slightly alter the signal’s path from the router to a device. These are the changes that BreatheSmart has been trained to pick up and analyse.  Complete setup for the experiment using an off-the-shelf Wi-Fi router and receiving device. / S. Mosleh…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Nasa’s InSight lander stops responding after months of declining power

    The agency said it has assumed that InSight may have reached its end of operations after previously admitting that dust build-up on its solar panels may be preventing its battery from charging. While this could be a reason the lander has gone quiet, Nasa admitted that it current has no definitive explanation of why InSight’s energy levels have declined although it will continue to try and regain contact. Since landing in November 2018, the probe has been traversing the surface of Mars measuring marsquakes and observing the local weather, powering itself with a pair of solar arrays that soak up energy from the sun. It was originally only expected to operate for two years so is already running on borrowed time. Nevertheless, as recently as October the probe was still making discoveries…

  • Virgin Orbit obtains licence for first UK space launch

    The CAA has announced the news, stating that Virgin Orbit had “taken all reasonable steps to ensure safety risks arising from launch activities are as low as reasonably practicable”. The launch will see   Virgin Orbit’s jumbo, known as Cosmic Girl , carrying   LauncherOne, to an altitude of approximately 35,000ft (10km) and then dropping it. Once released into the atmosphere, the LauncherOne rocket will accelerate to 8,000mph (12,875km/h) before deploying seven satellites into orbit   with a variety of civil and defence applications. “Receiving Virgin Orbit’s range and launch licences takes us one step closer to the first satellite launch take-off from UK soil," said Virgin Orbit chief executive Dan Hart, following the announcement.  The mission was named Start Me Up in tribute to the…

  • Drone uses lightweight sensors to determine next volcano eruption

    The main gases released by volcanoes are water vapour, carbon dioxide, and sulphur dioxide. Analysing these gases is one of the best ways of obtaining information on volcanic systems and the magmatic processes that are under way. The ratio of carbon dioxide levels to those of sulphur dioxide can even reveal the likelihood of an impending eruption. While drones have already been used to analyse the site of volcano activity, transporting them to their operation sites has required significant expense due to their high weight. A team of researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) has been assessing a very compact drone system that can be transported on foot to sites that are normally extremely difficult to access through other means. A particularly promising parameter when…

  • Elon Musk reveals plans to resign as Twitter CEO

    The billionaire had promised to abide by the result of a Twitter poll where he asked users whether he should resign as the social media platform's chief executive officer. After 57.5 per cent of users vote "yes", Musk said he would stay on as Twitter CEO until he could find " someone foolish enough to take the job". Once he did, the billionaire said he would "just run the software and servers teams".  This is not the first time the platform’s new owner has indicated he will pull back from the position. In November, the now second-richest person in the world told a court in Delaware  that he would reduce his time at Twitter and eventually find someone to run it in his place. According to CNBC, Musk would have been looking for a replacement since before posting the poll on his Twitter profile…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • UK forests could store almost twice as much carbon as previously thought

    UCL researchers used a 3D-scanning technique and analysis to assess the amount of aboveground biomass (AGB) – used to derive carbon storage – of 815 trees in a UK woodland. The team found that their results were 77 per cent higher than previous estimates, which could have implications for the role of forests in tackling climate change, with the potential underestimation of forest carbon stocks having both positive and negative consequences for climate policy. Study co-author Professor Mat Disney said: “Forests currently act as a carbon sink in the UK. However, whilst our finding that the carbon storage capacity of typical UK woodland could be nearly double what we previously thought might seem like a purely positive outcome, in practice this means that for every ha of woodland lost, we…

  • Berlin scientists break tandem solar cells efficiency record

    The current record for the efficiency of tandem solar cells has been broken at HZB, certifying institute European Solar Test Installation (ESTI) in Italy has confirmed.  Tandem solar cells consist of a silicon bottom cell and a perovskite top cell. In order to increase the technology's efficiency, the HZB team used an advanced perovskite composition with a smart interface  modification. Having developed an interface modification to reduce charge carrier recombination losses, the researchers applied detailed analysis to understand its specific properties. Altogether, the interface and optical modifications enabled high photovoltages (open-circuit voltage) and resulted in the new record efficiency for tandem technology. "This is a really big leap forward that we didn't foresee a few months…

  • Book review: ‘Astrotopia’ by Mary-Jane Rubenstein

    For all that space bros tend to profess their lack of religiosity, there is something about their fervour for space that could justifiably be interpreted as religious. In ‘Astrotopia: The Dangerous Religion of the Corporate Space Race’ (The University of Chicago Press, $24, ISBN 9780226821122), Mary-Jane Rubenstein picks apart the parallel religious mythologies behind the colonisation of Earth and of space. The main characters are SpaceX CEO Elon Musk (the hare) and Blue Origin CEO Jeff Bezos (the self-described tortoise), with Robert Zubrin a major influence. Although distinct in their visions of Utopia, Musk and Bezos propose exploiting space for the benefit – nay, the salvation – of humanity. ‘Astrotopia’ argues that these characters are now peddling the same strain of Christian mythology…

  • TSB fined £48m for major IT failures

    The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) fined the bank a total of £48.65m for “operational risk management and governance failures” including outsourcing relating to the bank’s IT upgrade programme. In April 2018, TSB updated its IT systems and migrated customer services on to a new platform. While the data itself migrated successfully, the platform immediately experienced technical failures resulting in significant disruption to the continuity of TSB’s banking services, including branch, telephone, online and mobile banking. All of TSB’s branches and a significant proportion of its 5.2 million customers were affected by the initial issues. Some customers continued to be affected by some issues and it took until December 2018 for TSB to return…

  • EU countries agree on gas price cap

    After months of negotiations and a succession of draft proposals, the 27 countries that form the European Union have agreed to impose a price cap on rising gas prices.   "Another mission impossible accomplished," said the Czech minister for trade and industry, Jozef Síkela, who chaired talks between energy ministers. "Most importantly it was our duty towards our citizens and businesses who were waiting for us to act," he added. Under the agreement, the price cap will kick in when prices on the main European gas exchange, the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF), exceed €180 (£157) a megawatt-hour and are €35 (£31) higher than a global reference price for liquefied natural gas (LNG) for three successive working days. Once activated, it will remain active for 20 days but it can be suspended…

  • Sicily introduces hybrid train that can run on electricity, battery and diesel

    Hitachi Rail said the new 'Blues' train, which is the first of its type to enter passenger service in Europe, could reduce carbon dioxide emissions and fuel consumption by up to 50 per cent when compared to traditional trains. The train is ready to begin passenger service following its international presentation at rail expo Innotrans last September in Berlin. The Blues is equipped with a new generation of hybrid technology: the train can travel with diesel engines on non-electrified lines, with pantographs on electrified lines, and with batteries, where applicable, to travel the last mile on non-electrified lines or while stopping at stations, avoiding the use of fuel. Batteries also help to further improve normal power performance. Switching off the engines during the arrival, parking…

  • Government to provide £400 energy support for 900,000 households

    The government said that 900,000 households in England, Scotland and Wales would be able to apply online from the start of the new year to obtain £400 in support – matching what is being paid out to millions of households with a more traditional energy set-up. The support will extend to the 900,000 households in Great Britain that do not have a direct relationship with an energy supplier, allowing Travellers access to the cash for the first time. In addition, all households in Northern Ireland will receive a one-off payment of £600 to help with their energy bills, with payments starting in January. Households in Great Britain that use alternative fuels such as heating oil will receive a £200 payment. “Putin’s illegal war has caused global energy prices to soar, but we are continuing to…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • How DMA rules will challenge online gatekeepers beyond Europe

    In November 2022, the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) entered into force. This pioneering and controversial regulation aims to make European digital platform markets fairer and more competitive by curbing the power of the ‘GAMAM’ group of Big Tech businesses – Google, Amazon, Meta, Apple and Microsoft. While it is still too early to know exactly how they will respond, it is unlikely that any one of these tech giants will back down without a fight. The DMA responds to the concerns highlighted in several international expert reports from 2019, including the Furman , Stigler and Vestager reports, which showed that core platform markets are globally dominated by one or two of the same five companies. The reports agree that the high degree of market concentration results from an unusual…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Biomimicry innovations set to transform urban construction

    The Ray of Hope Prize from the US Biomimicry Institute is an annual programme that supports the top nature-inspired start-ups whose innovations have the potential to solve critical environmental and social issues. Among the 2022 finalists are two organisations with innovations that can transform urban construction, Mycocyle and Metavoxel, which between them have addressed the issue of waste management and materials consumption. For companies working in biomimicry, the Ray of Hope Prize is one of the most important. Founder and CEO of Mycocycle , Joanne Rodriguez, says: “The Biomimicry Institute is fundamentally aligned with our mission. When we consider that there is no waste in nature and that we are using nature to solve man-made problems, there is no other place globally that can clearly…

  • Robotic arm to inspect leak in Russian spacecraft

    Russia's space corporation, Roscosmos, said the crew was using a camera on a Canadian-built robotic arm to capture images of the Soyuz MS-22 where a coolant leak was detected last Wednesday. After the images are transmitted to the ground on Monday, space officials will analyse them and decide on the next steps. "The Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft will be inspected with cameras of the SSRMS, the Space Station Remote Manipulator System," Roskosmos, the Russian space agency, said in a statement. "The results will be transmitted to Earth on Monday." Commonly known as Canadarm2, the SSRMS is a 17-metre-long arm which performs maintenance, moves supplies and grapples vehicles to the space station Soyuz capsule docked on the ISS / Nasa Image credit: Nasa The coolant...

  • UK and North Sea countries sign deal to build energy interconnectors

    The deal is intended to foster greater collaboration on development of offshore renewable energy and grid infrastructure that will be needed for the to meet UK net zero carbon goals. The initiative could help to support the UK targets to increase offshore wind more than fivefold to 50GW by 2030 - up from 8.4 GW today. The agreement was signed with the North Seas Energy Cooperation (NSEC) which is an EU body overseeing an offshore energy grid that links nine countries in the North Sea region. Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the European Commission are currently members of the NSEC, since the withdrawal of the UK from the EU in 2020. Energy minister Graham Stuart said: “I’m pleased to agree even greater energy cooperation with…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Oil and gas firms to pay £265,000 in emission-related fines

    The crackdown is part of the regulator's commitment towards upholding  its flaring and venting guidance, which aims to eliminate unnecessary or wasteful flaring and venting of gas, with a view towards achieving zero routine flarings and venting by 2030. While venting is the discharging of gases into the atmosphere, flaring is burning the gases before they are discharged and mainly results in CO2 emissions.  Inspectors revealed UK-based EnQuest was fined £150,000 for flaring an excess 262 tonnes of gas on the Magnus Field, in the North Sea, between November 30 and December 1 last year, "despite knowing it did not have the necessary consent in place", the NSTA said. Norway-based Equinor was also fined £65,000 for flaring at least 348 tonnes of CO2 above the amount permitted on the Barnacle…

  • View from Brussels: Santa comes early for Europe’s industries

    The EU’s headline climate goals of more than halving emissions by 2030 and neutralising them by 2050 only work if the bloc’s carbon market is firing on all cylinders. By charging emitters for every tonne of carbon emitted, the market creates an incentive for polluters to invest in green technology. If buying pollution permits is a bigger expense for a steel producer than purchasing next-generation blast furnaces, the decision is an easy one. After many years of ineffective pricing, where the cost of pollution permits was a negligible cost that big companies simply put up with, the market has come into its own lately. The price has rocketed up towards €100, which cannot be ignored. That is why officials call it the flagship policy of the Green Deal and have called for more firepower in…

  • Scientists freeze coral to restore Australia’s Great Barrier Reef

    In a world first, the team at the Great Barrier Reef has been able to cryogenically freeze and store coral, with  a new lightweight "cryomesh" that is cheaper and more efficient than current methods, Reuters has reported. In a December lab trial, scientists used the cryomesh to freeze coral larvae at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS). The coral had been collected from the reef for the trial, which coincided with the brief annual spawning window. "If we can secure the biodiversity of coral … then we'll have tools for the future to really help restore the reefs, and this technology for coral reefs in the future is a real game-changer," Mary Hagedorn, a senior research scientist at Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, told Reuters. …

  • Hydrogen will have ‘niche role’ in decarbonisation, say MPs

    Hydrogen will not play a major role in the UK’s efforts to reach net zero although it can grow to become “a big niche” fuel in particular sectors, MPs on the Commons Science and Technology Committee have said. In a new report, the Committee argues that hydrogen will probably have a “specific but limited” role in decarbonising sectors, for example where electrification is not possible, and as a means of storing energy. MPs urge the government to give the industry more clarity over how and when it will make decisions about the role of hydrogen in the UK economy. While hydrogen is a potentially zero-carbon fuel source, it can be more carbon intensive than gas and coal if derived from fossil fuels rather than through electrolysis powered by a renewable energy source. Currently, 95 per cent…

  • UK manufacturers report steep fall in output

    This fall was largely attributed to sectors including mechanical engineering, food and drink, tobacco, paper and printing & media, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said. The survey, which was based on the responses of 220 manufacturing firms, also found that selling price inflation is expected to accelerate slightly in the next three months although below the record high reached earlier this year. The volume of goods and services produced by factories fell by 9 per cent in the three months to December – a steep drop from the 18 per cent rise in output reported in the previous three months to November, and means it contracted at the fastest pace since September 2020. Anna Leach, CBI deputy chief economist, said: “The corrosive effect of higher inflation on demand is increasingly…

  • UK army approves £129m contract for mini drones that fit in a soldier’s backpack

    The drones will be designed to replace existing Mini Uncrewed Aerial Systems (MUAS) which are expected to be retired by the end of 2024. Lockheed will supply 159 rotary-wing Indago 4 devices which weigh just 2.27kg and can be folded and carried in a soldier’s backpack and deployed in two minutes with a range of approximately eight miles. Its high-resolution camera system provides zoom capabilities for deployed forces to accurately identify people, objects, vehicles and weapons, be it day or night. A further 105 fixed-wing Stalker VXE30 drones will also be produced that weigh a little over 20kg and feature a 4.88-metre wingspan. The Stalker is more capable than the Indago 4 and can be vertically-launched and flown for more than eight hours, covering around 60 miles. Alex Chalk KC, minister…

  • Hands-on review: 1More SonoFlow Hi-Res Audio wireless ANC headphones

    We've reviewed a number of 1More's 'headphone' products, although to date these have all been earbuds, each with their own USP, ranging from spatial audio , to being tiny , being tiny and red , and being tiny and Hi-Res Audio capable . Now, we've lent both our ears to the company's latest full-size over-ear headphones, named SonoFlow. We recently reviewed a very similar-looking pair of Bluetooth true wireless active-noise-cancelling (ANC) headphones, the OneOdio Focus A10 . Much of what we said about them, including the core tech spec, also applies here to 1More's SonoFlow. Bluetooth 5.0; 32Ω impedance 40mm drivers; multimode ANC; multi-device connectivity; lightweight, mostly plastic, build; soft and comfortable, skin-friendly protein leather earpads and headband; easy flat folding for…

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