• Global sulphur shortages could stop green tech revolution in its tracks

    The study from University College London finds that global demand for sulphuric acid is set to rise significantly from ‘246 to 400 million tonnes’ by 2040 - a result of more intensive agriculture and the world moving away from fossil fuels. The researchers estimate that this will result in a shortfall in annual supply of between 100 and 320 million tonnes - between 40 and 130 per cent of current supply - depending on how quickly decarbonisation occurs. A vital part of modern manufacturing, sulphuric acid is required for the production of phosphorus fertilisers that help feed the world, and for extracting rare metals from ores essential to the rapidly required green economy transition, like cobalt and nickel used in high-performance Li-ion batteries. Currently, over 80 per cent of the…

  • Researchers create chipless, wireless ‘e-skin’

    The device is able to send signals related to pulse, sweat, and ultraviolet exposure, without using bulky chips or batteries. The team’s sensor design is a form of electronic skin, or 'e-skin' – a flexible, semiconducting film that conforms to the skin like electronic Scotch tape. The heart of the sensor is an ultrathin film of gallium nitride, a material that can both produce an electrical signal in response to mechanical strain and mechanically vibrate in response to an electrical impulse. The research team's design, detailed in the journal Science, harnessed gallium nitride’s two-way piezoelectric properties for both sensing health indicators and sending the information to an external device through wireless communication. Currently, most wireless sensors communicate via embedded Bluetooth…

  • Online Safety Bill should be ‘national priority’ for next PM, NSPCC says

    The bill puts a duty on tech giants like Facebook and Google to develop systems to identify and remove illegal material, as well as deal with content that is harmful to adults and children. Ofcom would enforce this as the regulator. An open letter led by the NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) charity and signed by the parents of children who have been groomed expressed frustration that the long-delayed bill was held up yet again last month in its passage through parliament. Addressed to Conservative Party leadership candidates Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, the letter states: “It was upsetting to see opponents of the bill rejoicing at this delay and calling for the legislation to be scrapped altogether. “The Online Safety Bill would begin to hold tech companies…

  • ‘Forever chemicals’ that contaminate drinking water eliminated with new process

    Known as PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), the group of around 12,000 different chemicals are commonly found in non-stick cookware, waterproof cosmetics, firefighting foams and products that resist grease and oil. But despite their utility, they have been associated with dangerous health effects in humans, livestock and the environment. Scientists have been experimenting with many remediation technologies, but most of them require extremely high temperatures, special chemicals or ultraviolet light and sometimes produce by-products that are also harmful and require additional steps to remove. Chemists at UCLA and Northwestern University in the United States have developed a simple way to break down almost a dozen types of these nearly indestructible 'forever chemicals' at relatively…

  • Self-driving cars to hit UK roads by 2025 under government plans

    The Department for Transport (DfT) is heavily investing in self-driving vehicles, a technology that it said could "revolutionise public transport and passenger travel" and create up to 38,000 jobs and be worth £42bn.  Although s elf-driving vehicles will not be allowed on UK roads until 2025, certain models of cars, coaches and lorries with self-driving features could even be operating on motorways in the next year, the government said. Users wanting to buy these models would require a valid driving licence to drive the vehicle on other roads, while those that purchase the modes that will be used for the public transport of deliveries and allowed on UK roads by 2025, will be able to be to do so without a driving licence as they would be completely autonomous. “We want the UK to be at…

  • Summer STEM Challenge: Digital water clocks

    The clock was invented in the Stone Age when a troglodyte stuck a stick into the ground outside the cave and noticed the shadow. But when the sun doesn’t shine… you need a water clock. So, water clocks were the next invention in timepieces. In ancient Greece, water clocks called ‘clepsydra’ were used, famously to stop lawyers from arguing for too long. Water clocks and sundials are analogue clocks. But 700 years ago, the human race got around to digital clocks, clocks based around an oscillator, a pendulum, whose oscillations were counted up on gearwheels, and hands pointing at a circle of numbers. Curiously, these used the 5000BCE sexagesimal system with 60 seconds per minute, 60 minutes per hour, that we still use. But you don’t have to use pendulums – or quartz crystal oscillators. You…

  • Severe security flaws in Apple devices ‘may have been actively exploited’

    The software vulnerabilities have affected various models of the iPhone, iPad and Mac, with experts advising consumers to update their devices to secure them. Apple has said it is “aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited”, and has published two security reports, but it did not give details regarding who discovered the flaw or how many users were affected by it. Security experts have recommended users update their devices, particularly the ones affected:  iPhones6S and later models; several models of the iPad, including the 5th generation and later, all iPad Pro models and the iPad Air 2; and Mac computers running MacOS Monterey. Apple’s explanation of the vulnerability means a hacker could get “full admin access to the device” so that they can “execute any code…

  • Bees have changed shape due to climate change stresses, study shows

    In the new study, environmental changes have been shown to have a direct impact, such as the overuse of particular pesticides or extreme heat killing individuals, but more subtle effects have also been shown to be affecting the insects. Four species of bumblebee from the UK that were held in museum collections over the past century were analysed and evidence was found that the insects have been getting increasingly stressed. This could potentially have a knock-on impact on their health and their ability to adapt to the changing environment. The research was able to use an approach that looked at the asymmetry of their wings to determine the amount of stress the individual insects were under when they were alive. Dr Richard Gill at Imperial College London studies how human activities…

  • Plasma reactor could create oxygen on Mars

    Vasco Guerra   at the University of Lisbon, Portugal, and his colleagues have shown that   plasma can be made to vibrate in such a way that it separates carbon dioxide into its components − carbon and oxygen − in a process that could allow humans to breathe in Mars.  “Mars has very good natural conditions for the production of oxygen using plasma technology,” Guerra said. Last year, a m icrowave-size device attached to Nasa's Perseverance rover was able to convert carbon dioxide into 10 minutes of breathable oxygen using the agency’s Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE). In its first activation, the MOXIE instrument produced about 5g of oxygen, equivalent to roughly 10 minutes’ worth of breathing for an astronaut, Nasa said.  Since then, scientists have been looking…

  • ISS spacewalk ended early due to battery emergency

    Expedition 67 commander Oleg Artemyev and flight engineer Denis Matveev, both of Roscosmos, were instructed by Russian flight controllers to end the spacewalk yesterday after the issue occurred. Despite the early ending, cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev still managed to complete the installation of two cameras on the European robotic arm during the spacewalk. Soon after, his spacesuit started showing abnormal battery readings. The arm is affixed to Russia's Nauka research module and will be used to remotely move equipment outside of the station. It was roughly two hours into a six-hour spacewalk when voltage levels in his spacesuit's battery began to unexpectedly drop. Mission Control-Moscow instructed him to return to the Poisk airlock to connect to the space station’s power supply. Cosmonaut…

  • Forty-five million Britons will face fuel poverty come winter, study says

    The research suggested that around 18 million families will face fuel poverty, as a consequence of rising energy costs and an inflation rate that has reached a 40-year record high. According to the study, the region hardest hit will be Northern Ireland, where 76.3 per cent of families are battling to make ends meet, followed by Scotland at 72.8 per cent, then the West Midlands (70.9 per cent) and Yorkshire and the Humber (70.6 per cent). When looking at the demographics of the affected population, the research published by the Guardian newspaper further stated that 86.4 per cent of pensioner couples will fall into fuel poverty. Single-parent households with two or more children are expected to bear the brunt at 90.4 per cent. The dire energy crisis the United Kingdom faces has led Ofgem…

  • Ultra-thin device generates ambient power through air moisture

    The device is made of a thin layer of fabric, only about 0.3mm in thickness, with sea salt, carbon ink, and a special water-absorbing gel. The team of researchers from the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) said that conventional devices that use moisture to generate energy cannot produce enough to power electrical devices, whereas their rechargeable fabric-like ‘battery’ provides higher electrical output than a conventional AA battery. The new device contains two regions of different properties to perpetually maintain a difference in water content across the regions to generate electricity and allow for electrical output for hundreds of hours. It consists of a thin layer of fabric – in this case a commercially available fabric made of wood pulp and polyester – which was coated…

  • Beaches across Britain issue pollution warnings

    Swimmers have been advised to avoid beaches and swimming pools across England and Wales due to pollution from sewage waters.  The south-west and south coast of England were the worst affected, according to data gathered by the environmental campaign group Surfers Against Sewage (SAS). Nine beaches in Sussex, seven in Cornwall, four in Devon, three on the Isle of Wight and three in Essex are amongst those polluted by storm sewage overflows after the recent downpours. Swimming spots in Lincolnshire, Cumbria, Lancashire, Bristol and South Wales have also been affected. There has been growing public outrage in recent years at the volume of raw or partially-treated sewage pumped into the UK’s rivers and coastal waters. Hugo Tagholm, the chief executive of SAS, took to Twitter to on Tuesday…

  • View from India: Drones to boost economy across various sectors

    Coming to a drone's functioning, the pilot’s input should be minimal and mostly confined to timely decisions. This can be possible only if the drone is fully equipped. “The drone should be enabled with on-board sensors for easier navigation. It means that the drone technology should be powerful enough to achieve the desired results. This can happen through AI-led sensors, compute, machine learning, deep learning and computer vision, which enable the drone to plan its course,” said Vipul Singh, co-founder and CEO of Aarav Unmanned Systems (AUS), at the 3rd NASSCOM XperienceAI Virtual Summit 2022. To illustrate, the drone should be able to navigate air-related disturbances such as wind turbines. This could be an opportunity for equipping oneself with drone management. Drone professionals need…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Commercial greenhouse to be launched to space in world-first

    As part of an effort to explore the possibility of producing food outside of the Earth's atmosphere, Redwire Corporation has set off to develop the "only commercially-owned and operated spaceflight-qualified plant growth platform capable of growing plants from seed to maturity in space", the company has said.  The greenhouse will be launched in the spring of next year and be housed in the International Space Station (ISS).  The space infrastructure company's project is expected to help deliver critical insights for Nasa's Artemis missions, which aim to take a new crew of astronauts to the Moon, where they would establish a long-term lunar colony. This colony is perceived as a precursor to the eventual human exploration of Mars. “Growing full crops in space will be critical to future space…

  • Floating ‘artificial leaves’ could produce clean fuel for the shipping industry

    The ultra-thin, flexible devices take their inspiration from photosynthesis and are light enough to float on water. The researchers believe they could be used to generate a sustainable alternative to petrol without taking up space on land. Outdoor tests of the lightweight leaves on the River Cam in Cambridge showed that they can convert sunlight into fuels as efficiently as plant leaves. This is the first time that clean fuel has been generated on water, and if scaled up, the artificial leaves could be used on polluted waterways, in ports or even at sea, and could help reduce the global shipping industry’s reliance on fossil fuels. Image credit: Virgil Andrei Currently, around 80 per cent of global trade is transported by cargo vessels powered by fossil fuels…

  • What will a post-pandemic living space look like?

    The Covid-19 pandemic has made people dramatically reassess their relationships with their homes. As lockdowns forced us to live under stay-at-home orders, we made significant changes to cope with the pressures of juggling all aspects of our lives stuck indoors for prolonged periods of time. Now, as we move beyond the pandemic and permanently adopt some of the lifestyle changes we’ve made, what are the lasting implications for the design of our living spaces, furniture and home products? What opportunities are there to transform our homes for the better going forward? By April 2020, half of the world’s population was in lockdown, and as we adapted to the ‘new normal’, many took the opportunity to adapt their homes as well. Sales of consumer goods surged – garden furniture, storage, printers…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Mathematical model offers insight into health effects of landing humans on Mars

    The team simulated the impact of prolonged exposure to zero gravity on the cardiovascular system to determine whether the human body can tolerate Mars’ gravitational forces – which aren’t as strong as on Earth – without fainting or suffering a medical emergency when stepping out of a spacecraft. The model could be used to assess the impact of short and long duration space flight on the body and provide vital information for landing humans on Mars in the future. There are multiple risks associated with travelling to Mars, although one of the largest is prolonged exposure to microgravity which could cause fundamental changes to the body alongside exposure to damaging radiation from the Sun. “We know it takes about six to seven months to travel to Mars and this could cause the structure…

  • UK launches legal action against EU over Horizon research programme

    The UK government has written to the European Commission demanding that the bloc ends "persistent delays" over the UK's access to the £81bn ‘Horizon Europe’ programme, as well as similar research grants.   Under the 2020 Brexit agreement, the UK was to obtain associate membership of the bloc's research initiatives post-Brexit. However, it was revealed earlier this year that the EU has been purposefully delaying the UK’s membership as a response to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s threat to tear up the Northern Ireland Protocol, a vital part of the Brexit deal.  "The EU is in clear breach of our agreement, repeatedly seeking to politicise vital scientific cooperation by refusing to finalise access to these important programmes," foreign minister Liz Truss said in a statement. In addition…

  • 3D printing shown to give unexpected boost to trade

    Fears have been stoked that greater uptake of the technology could dramatically reduce international trade due to the ability for people to produce goods locally. But research from the University of California San Diego and World Bank suggests that while 3D printing can change production processes, supply chains typically remain intact. The paper looks at the production of hearing aids, a good most commonly produced by 3D printing. The results reveal that the shift to 3D printing led to a doubling or near doubling in producers’ exports after five years and the technology was the main cause for the rise in exports. Some 35 other products were also examined, such as running shoes, aircraft parts and prosthetic limbs, which are increasingly being 3D printed, and they found similar patterns…

  • BMW autonomous electric test car involved in fatal crash

    BMW has confirmed that one of its test car models was involved in a fatal crash on a German highway. However, the company has refuted the claim that it was a self-driving vehicle.  Initial police reports raised questions regarding whether the driver of the fully electric BMW iX car had been actively steering the vehicle at the time of the accident. The car in question had veered onto the opposite lane of the B28 federal road near the south-western town of Roemerstein on Monday 15 August, crashing into two other vehicles and indirectly causing another collision. Traffic police have launched an investigation into the accident, which resulted in the death of a 33-year-old woman and severely injured nine other people, including the 43-year-old driver of the BMW and his 18-month-old passenger…

  • Fossil fuel firms not decarbonising fast enough to meet Paris Agreement goals

    They analysed six scenarios published between 2020 and mid-2021 by fossil fuel firms and the International Energy Agency (IEA) and calculated what the temperature outcomes for these scenarios are. The scenarios include four from major oil firms (two from BP, one from Royal Dutch Shell, and one from Equinor), and two from the IEA. The results show that most of the evaluated scenarios would be classified as ‘Lower 2°C pathways’ or those that keep peak warming below 2°C with a 66 per cent likelihood or more. Dr Robert Brecha, co-lead author of the study from Climate Analytics, said: “Most of the scenarios we evaluated would be classified as inconsistent with the Paris Agreement as they fail to limit warming to ‘well below 2°C', let alone 1.52°C, and would exceed the 1.52°C warming limit…

  • Nasa plans to send yeast into space

    Nasa's Artemis I mission will be uncrewed, but it will send living organisms into space. In addition to sending the Orion capsule around the Moon, the mission will also involve a collection of secondary missions off into space. One of those is BioSentinel, which will carry yeast into deep space, performing the first long-duration biology experiment to be done beyond the location of the International Space Station.  The goal of the Artemis missions is to "prepare humans to travel on increasingly farther and longer-duration missions to destinations like Mars", the organisation said. For this reason, Nasa has decided to focus on studying the effects of space radiation, which has been suspected to damage living cells. Enter BioSentinel. The shoebox-sized CubeSat is expected to carry microorganisms…

  • Chinese tech giants share secret algorithm details with top regulator

    The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has released a list with descriptions of 30 algorithms alongside a brief description of their purpose. The data published includes algorithms developed by some of the country's largest technology companies, including e-commerce firm Alibaba  and gaming giant Tencent. Publication follows China's drive to bring in tighter controls for technology firms. Last March, the country brought in a law that gives consumers more control over companies' algorithms and requires firms to obtain a licence to provide news services.  Algorithms regulate the way users interact with online content, based on analyses of their interaction with each platform. Because of this, they are often closely guarded by companies. The list published by the Chinese government marks…

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