• 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…

  • 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…

  • ‘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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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
    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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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
    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…

  • 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…

  • 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
    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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • California bans the sale of petrol-powered vehicles from 2035

    California has taken a "historic" step in the path towards tackling carbon emissions from automation and phasing out the sale of gasoline cars over the next 13 years in America’s largest auto market. The rules issued by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) establish a clear roadmap to accelerate the introduction to the market of cleaner vehicles. The ban on petrol cars is expected to apply to 35 per cent of sales by 2026, 68 per cent by 2030 and finally reach 100 per cent in 2035.  The announcement comes after California's Governor Gavin Newsom set a target in 2020 to speed up the shift away from fossil fuels, and it has been considered as one of the world’s most stringent pieces of regulation for transitioning to electric vehicles. If successful, the new policy would allow California…

  • Summer STEM Challenge: Solar Spray Schooners

    It’s a sunny day at the seaside. A high-powered jet ski whizzes across the sea, a jet of water shooting high into the air behind it, pushing it along. WRONG! That jet of water is NOT what makes jet skis go. They need a lot more power than that little spray. (Underneath they have a high-speed prop or a much more powerful underwater water jet.) That small jet of water – the ‘visibility spout’ or ‘rooster tail’ is mostly just to look cool, although it makes the jet ski more visible, and useful for a small craft. But you can actually power a boat – or jet ski – with a big enough spray of water into the air. Here’s how… You’ll need a boat hull 40cm or more long, the longer the better, something that can be loaded up with 1,000g without water above its Plimsoll line. You’ll also need a solar…

  • Hands-on review: Zhiyun Weebill 3 professional DSLR camera gimbal

    Like the changing of the seasons, you can almost set your calendar by Zhiyun's gimbal updates. We previously reviewed the first two iterations of the Chinese firm's Weebill gimbal range. It's been one a year, every year, like clockwork. Sure enough, summer 2022 has arrived and here's the Weebill 3, right on time. What's new with you, Weebill fella? Let's get this out of the way first: the price is a little higher than Weebill 2, although actually not by much - and the extras (especially with the Combo kit) help assuage and offset that increase in cost. We're only talking £20-30 more this time around for either version. That's fair. It's certainly nothing like the hike in our energy bills, that's for sure. As for the gimbal itself, the headline features this time around are the new 'Sling…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Nasa rover collects Martian rock samples eroded by water for return to Earth

    Perseverance first landed on Mars in February 2021 after a gruelling seven-month, 293-million-mile journey from Earth. Its multi-year mission is to scour the planet’s surface for signs of ancient microbial life with the ultimate goal of returning samples back to Earth and potentially pave the way for future human visitors. The latest rock samples come from the floor of the Jezero crater, where Perseverance currently resides, which was chosen as the study site because it sports a large river delta that once flowed into an ancient lake. Scientists believe that a watery Mars could have supported life billions of years ago. “These kinds of environments on Earth are places where life thrives. The goal of exploring the Jezero delta and crater is to look in these once-habitable environments for…

  • Scientists develop squashable computer

    Ryan Harne at Pennsylvania State University and his colleague have developed a type of soft cube-shaped computer that responds to being squeezed.  The computers were built by combining rows of blocks of rubber that have lines of a silver-rubber compound running through them. Different configurations of the blocks act like different circuits, which when combined and connected to electricity allow the device to perform mathematical calculations. The scientists hope these devices could be used for robots that respond to physical stimuli. One version of the computer was set up to add together two numbers. A user would tell the computer which numbers to add by squishing the component blocks to the left or to the right, connecting some of the silver-rubber lines that didn’t touch before in…

  • UK imports zero fuel from Russia for the first month on record

    Figures from the  Office for National Statistics  (ONS) show that by June the UK had already achieved its goal of phasing out Russian oil and natural gas imports.  The plunge was driven by the sanctions imposed on Russia as a result of the invasion of Ukraine. Prior to the invasion, Russia was the UK’s largest supplier of refined oil, supplying 5.9 per cent of the UK’s crude oil imports and 4.9 per cent of gas imports, according to the ONS. Overall, Russia accounted for 24.1 per cent of all imports of refined oil. To compensate, the  ONS said the UK had been compensating by increasing imports of refined oil from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the Netherlands and Belgium. “The economic sanctions applied by the UK government are likely to have driven the decreases in imports from and exports to…

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