• Device provides 5G signal and wireless power to IoT devices simultaneously

    The number of IoT devices is anticipated to rise alongside global improvements to 5G network coverage. However, such devices typically face hurdles regarding their connectivity and power supply; namely, short transmission distances and a fixed direction from which power can be received wirelessly. The researchers have reported the production of a wirelessly powered transmitter-receiver for 5G networks that overcomes both of these problems. Dr Atsushi Shirane, who led the project, said: “The millimetre-wave wireless power transfer system is a promising solution for massive Internet of Things, yet it has been hampered by technical problems. We were thus able to make a breakthrough by producing a 5G transceiver with high efficiency at big angles and distances.” The transmitter-receiver produced…

  • World’s largest companies lack ‘credibility’ in their net zero plans

    The climate charity analysed the Forbes 2000 largest companies list and found that more than one third (702) now have net zero targets, up from one fifth (417) in December 2020. However, 65 per cent of corporate targets do not yet meet minimum procedural reporting standards, it said. Recent years have seen an increasing number of countries setting and strengthening their carbon reduction commitments, with some 91 per cent of global GDP now captured by net zero targets proposed national by governments, up from 68 per cent in December 2020. But in contrast to the near-universal coverage of country-level net zero targets, the robustness of targets set by “non-state actors” is “alarmingly weak”, Net Zero Tracker said. Frederic Hans, the report’s co-lead author and climate policy analyst at…

  • View from Brussels: Ukraine’s brightest get EU windfall

    The European Innovation Council (EIC) last week announced the €20m fund dedicated solely to helping Ukraine’s start-up sector become more closely aligned with the rest of Europe’s. Under the new fund, grants of up to €60,000 and non-financial support will be made available. The first call for applications will launch on 23 June and the European Commission hopes that applicants will be emboldened to then apply for more funding from the EIC. "Ukraine has a vibrant deep-tech community and strong potential for creating breakthrough innovations," said EU research chief Mariya Gabriel, who also added that the sector will play an essential role in rebuilding the country’s destroyed infrastructure. According to the Ukrainian government, more than 70 per cent of start-ups are still going about…

  • CBI’s economic forecast demands government investment in business

    With the cost-of-living crunch showing no sign of abating, airports struggling to cope, national rail strikes on the horizon and 'Groundhog Day' battles with the EU over the Northern Ireland Protocol, there is a real risk that the economy stays a ‘distant second to politics’ this summer, according to the CBI report. Growth has been downgraded to 1 per cent in 2023 as consumer spending weakens: real household incomes are predicted to fall at their fastest pace on record since the 1950s. With this impending household recession, investment in business is even more essential, the CBI said. The CBI’s outlook suggests that growth will soften as household spending turns downwards amid dented business and consumer confidence. As a result, the CBI has downgraded its GDP growth outlook significantly…

  • View from India: Conserve the soil for a better tomorrow

    Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, founder of Isha Foundation, has been named one of India’s 50 most influential people. His transformational programmes have touched the lives of millions the world over. This time, he has set out on a global mission to motivate people in diverse parts of the globe to save the soil from extinction. The visionary has embarked on this expansive 30,000km #JourneyForSoil on a motorcycle. The 100-day global journey kick-started in London earlier in the year, crisscrossed 27 nations in Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East and is now spreading the message on the Indian terrain. The movement is envisioned to initiate policy-driven action to address land degradation, advocate for healthy soil and save it from extinction. There’s a pressing need for saving the soil everywhere…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Mining the bonepile of precious rubbish

    Waste electronics are piling up around the world, whether they are lost in drawers, cupboards and attics just in case the devices might be useful one day or dispatched to the growing mounds of landfill in Africa and South-East Asia. The United Nations Global E-Waste Monitor estimated that consumers, governments and companies threw away some 53.6 million tonnes of unwanted electronics in 2019. That represented an increase of 21 per cent over the amount discarded five years earlier. By 2030, the world could easily be dumping 74 million tonnes of e-waste “fuelled mainly by higher consumption rates of electric and electronic equipment, short life cycles and few options for repair”. Out of 2019’s haul, only 17.4 per cent of the waste was collected and recycled in some way. It is a situation…

  • The problem with packaging

    The conveyor belt whizzes past, carrying waste that residents have put in their recycling bins. Moving almost as fast, a handful of pickers remove items that shouldn’t be there (a negative pick) or collect ones that should (a positive pick). Cardboard packaging, aluminium cans and plastic bottles all fly by and will be recycled. But so too do keyboards, baking trays, dustpans, and an awful lot of flexible packaging – sweet wrappers, bread bags and the like – all of which are ‘contaminants’. “The cleaner the stream, the quicker you can run everything,” explains Richard Hinchcliffe, regional manager at Suez Recycling and Recovery UK, which operates the plant near Bedlington under a contract with Northumberland County Council, “and the less residual waste we send to energy from waste [incineration…

  • After All: brazen, innovative, and sure as Eigg is Eigg

    In an article on Ukraine that I contributed to a national political monthly shortly after the Russian invasion, I surmised that after a while, the amount of British media war coverage was likely to dwindle. The public would get used to the war and start seeing it as an unfortunate, yet distant, reality, having little to do with themselves. Two months later, I must admit that I was right and wrong: media coverage of the war has indeed gone down, but public support for my long-suffering, yet brave and proud, motherland stays strong and unanimous. Life goes on, and human nature is such that it cannot focus on wars and conflicts alone. To function properly, we require regular intakes of positivity and hope. Having devoted my last four columns to the war, I have chosen a different topic this…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Bizarre Tech: MyndHub, Garbage Can Fly Trap and ReadySip

    MyndHub Tap into your midi-chlorians! According to its creators, MyndHub lets you move, power and control electrical gadgets and devices using the POWAAAA OF YOUR MIIIIIND. It’s an alleged bridge between your mind and the physical world, and your brain becomes a controller: things “act or react to your concentration (focus) and meditation (calm) in real-time. “Simply plug and play to train your brain... “Mindhacks without coding... “Used by top athletes and brands.” Well that sounds like a recipe for JEDI MIND TRICKS. By using the MyndHub, you train your focus, improve mental health, combat burnout, all while using real-life neurofeedback. The team says they are here to help you harness your brain, which faces daily digital distraction, leading to poor focus, lack of mental clarity…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Big Tech spends millions in campaign against antitrust bill

    Since January 2021, the largest players in the technology industry have been lobbying against antitrust legislation reform that will ban such platforms from favouring their own products and services, The Wall Street Journal has reported. In total, the group of companies has spent over $36.4m (£29.5m) on their advertising efforts. Almost 40 per cent of the sum has been spent on television and internet advertising since May 1, according to data from ad-tracking service AdImpact. By contrast, groups supporting the legislation have spent around $193,000 (£156,000). The sums involved have made it one of the biggest ad campaigns by the technology industry in recent years, reflecting the potentially game-changing nature of the proposed law. The ad campaign opposes the passing of the  American…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Cacao Eco Village

    Designs have been unveiled for a modular and sustainable village made from 3D-printed cacao waste. Cacao Eco Village will be located on the coast of Ecuador’s Manabi province, where farmers produce chocolate by extracting cocoa butter and solids from cacao beans. Designed by New York-based architectural practice Valentino Gareri Atelier for Ecuadorian chocolate manufacturer Muze and non-profit organisation Avanti, the village will boast 3D-printed structures built from recycled elements of agricultural crops. Construction will also incorporate other local materials such as bamboo and wood. The modular design will create a self-sufficient village, with building facades drawing inspiration from the wide range of multi-coloured Ecuadorian houses and from the cacao trees’ colourful fruits. Decorative…

  • HS2’s green tunnels designed to blend into landscape

    The one-and-a-half-mile-long structure in Chipping Warden, Northamptonshire, is being built on the surface of the ground to speed up the process, HS2 project leads have said. Over 5,000 concrete segments made in a factory in Derbyshire will be assembled on-site before being covered by earth, trees, shrubs and hedgerows to blend in better with the surrounding countryside. The HS2 project has faced fierce criticism about the environmental impact it will have along the full route of the high-speed rail line. The green tunnel will be an M-shaped double arch with separate halves for northbound and southbound trains. Both halves will be approximately the height of two double-decker buses. Image credit: HS2 Ltd According to those involved in the project, the tunnel…

  • Plans to burn £4bn of unusable PPE raise environmental concerns

    According to the cross-party Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the Department for Health & Social Care (DHSC) lost 75 per cent of the £12bn it spent on PPE in the first year of the pandemic to inflated prices and kit that did not meet requirements. This included £4bn of PPE that will not be used in the NHS and needs to be disposed of, such as 50 million face masks with ear loops rather than head loops that were not fit for purpose. There is no clear disposal strategy for this excess, but the Department currently plans to burn significant volumes of it in order to generate power, although there are concerns about the cost-effectiveness and environmental impact of this “strategy”. In its latest report, the PAC said that as a result of DHSC’s “haphazard purchasing strategy” 24 per cent of…

  • Real-time remote control of smart factory achieved between Korea and Finland

    The ETRI team announced that it has succeeded in demonstrating its Industrial Internet of Things service, which controls and monitors smart factory facilities and robots in real-time at home and abroad at the same time. The core of successfully demonstrating the technology is ultra-low latency communication technology. The communication delay between a distance of over 10,000km is less than 0.3 seconds. The team demonstrated that factory facilities in Gyeongsan, Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea, could be controlled in real-time seamlessly from the University of Oulu in Finland. A smart factory refers to an intelligent factory which increases productivity and reduces defect rates to enhance industrial competitiveness by applying information and communication technology (ICT) to the entire manufacturing…

  • Many companies exaggerate their renewable energy claims, research finds

    Companies might be overestimating their use of renewable energy, new research  shows. Many businesses rely on renewable energy certificates (RECs) to support their green energy claims. However, a scientific analysis suggests that  corporate REC purchases are unlikely to lead to additional renewable energy production, and can jeopardise global efforts to stop climate change.  When companies purchase RECs, they are supporting renewable energy projects around the world. By doing this, businesses can continue to use electricity generated by fossil fuels, and use the certificates to offset those emissions.  “Too many consumers, media, even investors, might actually think that the company is physically using 100 per cent renewables. And that is just not the case,” said Anders Bjørn, a postdoctoral…

  • Plastic-eating worms offer solution to waste crisis

    University of Queensland researchers discovered the common Zophobas morio ‘superworm’ can eat through polystyrene, thanks to a bacterial enzyme in their gut. They fed superworms different diets over a three-week period, with some given polystyrene foam, some bran and others put on a fasting diet. “We found the superworms fed a diet of just polystyrene not only survived, but even had marginal weight gains,” Dr Rinke said. “This suggests the worms can derive energy from the polystyrene, most likely with the help of their gut microbes.” Image credit: University of Queensland The researchers used a technique called metagenomics to find several encoded enzymes with the ability to degrade polystyrene and styrene. The long-term goal is to engineer enzymes to degrade…

  • Scientists give robots living human skin

    In Japan, a team of scientists has pushed forward the field of robotics, by crafting living human skin on robots. With the aim of making robots more human-like, the researchers from the University of Tokyo submerged a robotic finger in a cylinder filled with a solution of collagen and human dermal fibroblasts, the two main components that make up the skin’s connective tissues. Due to the natural shrinking tendency of this collagen and fibroblast mixture, the solution adapted to the shape of the robotic finger, providing a uniform foundation for the next coat of cells — human epidermal keratinocytes — to stick to. These cells make up 90 per cent of the outermost layer of skin, giving the robot a skin-like texture and moisture-retaining barrier properties.  The results, described in the…

  • Nasa launches scientific study into UFOs

    The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) has commissioned a study into unidentified flying objects (UFOs), also known as UAPs (unidentified aerial phenomena). The investigation will analyse all the information publicly available on these events from a scientific perspective, as well as look into how Nasa can best make use of this data to understand the unexplained sightings. “We are not shying away from reputational risk,” said Nasa’s science mission chief, Thomas Zurbuchen, acknowledging that this decision might be perceived as if the organisation is “selling out”, by giving credit to the phenomena. “Our strong belief is that the biggest challenge of these phenomena is that it’s a data-poor field,” he added. The study will begin later this year and last nine months…

  • E&T Innovation Awards: ‘A range of thinkers is paramount to the success of a project’

    These days, the terms ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusion’ are commonplace. Yet it’s up for debate whether their value and significance within an organisation’s culture is truly embraced. Fulfilling diversity quotas is not enough. So much more needs to be done by companies to inspire and evoke an innovative mindset in all its employees. The strategies for doing this effectively are surprisingly basic. We are living in a constantly changing world, where innovation is essential for overcoming the challenges that brings. As Charles Darwin said: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one most adaptable to change.” The process of innovation has itself changed over the years. In the past we forged it with our intelligence, believing that in gathering…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • View from India: Technology, enabler for waste management

    Waste pickers rank lowest in the category of waste picking, sorting and segregating. They lack social security and are mostly unbanked. Over 15 million people earn livelihood through the informal sector, which is critical to the waste management space. “It’s essential to build trust and adopt a collaborative approach towards waste collection. Technology is the enabler. For instance, the mobile app can be leveraged for monitoring the waste collection in smart bins. Alerts, with real time updates will hasten the process. The fact that these workers can use mobile technology for their work itself may be a reckoner,” said Sandeep Patel, CEO, and NEPRA, at the CII webinar on Waste Management through Social Inclusion. Technology can be tapped to detect the precise quantity of waste generated. What…

  • The measure of: Elroy Air Chaparral cargo aircraft

    California-based Elroy Air is joining forces with a leading express delivery business to test an autonomous vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) air cargo system in the USA. Under the agreement, FedEx Express will develop plans to test Elroy Air’s Chaparral system within its middle-mile logistics operations, moving shipments between sorting locations. Elroy Air unveiled a pre-production model of its Chaparral autonomous aircraft in January 2022, ahead of flight testing. The Chaparral is a VTOL aerial cargo system that can autonomously pick up 300-500lb (up to 225kg) of cargo and deliver it by air up to 300 miles (480km). The system includes both the aircraft and the purpose-designed lightweight, aerodynamic cargo pod, along with the robotic handling system that picks it from the ground…

  • China to build solar a power plant in space in 2028

    The first launch for the construction of China 's solar power project in space has been scheduled for 2028 – two years earlier than originally planned – when a trial satellite orbiting at a distance of around 400km will test the technology used to transmit energy from the power plant to Earth. This satellite will "convert solar energy to microwaves or lasers and then direct the energy beams to various targets, including fixed locations on Earth and moving satellites" according to the South China Morning Post. It would have a 10kW power output. The Chinese government's updated plans reportedly include the building of the power station in four stages. Two years after the initial launch, the programme will send a more powerful satellite to conduct further tests. The extended power plant would…

  • EU votes to ban internal combustion engine cars from 2035

    The European Union assembly voted in Strasbourg, France, in favour of a motion that will require carmakers to cut carbon-dioxide emissions by 100 per cent by the middle of the next decade. The legislation is part of the 'Fit for 55' package, which includes the ban of combustion-engine cars from 2035 and a 55 per cent reduction in CO2 from vehicles in 2030 compared with 2021. The move deepens an existing obligation on the car industry to lower CO2 discharges by 37.5 per cent on average at the end of the decade compared to last year. Although the measure still needs to be confirmed by the European Council, the parliamentary vote was considered as the most crucial step in the approval process. “Purchasing and driving zero-emission cars will become cheaper for consumers,” said Jan Huitema…

  • Zero-emissions hydrofoil uses minimal energy by floating above the water

    Developed and built in Belfast, the vessels - which cost £12m to develop - can achieve a top speed of 34 knots and a range of 60 nautical miles at 25 knots cruise speed. Developers Artemis Technologies said the vessels achieve energy savings of up to 90 per cent compared to conventional fossil-fuel workboats. The new boats fly 'silently' above the water to ensure a smooth ride for passengers, even in rough conditions, while creating a minimal wake, making them suitable for busy waterways. Artemis Technologies is a spin-off from the Artemis Racing team that competed in the America’s Cup. Its founder, Dr Iain Percy OBE, said: “Combining our experience from the worlds of high-performance sailing, motorsports and advanced manufacturing, the electric propulsion system that we’ve designed…

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