• Heat-tolerant plants being bred to combat climate change

    Climate change is causing major challenges for plant breeders. Summers are getting hotter, year on year: this summer, Germany experienced a heatwave with temperatures of up to 40°C. The resulting drought inevitably affected plants. Given an ample supply of water, these plants can cool themselves via evaporation. However, they cannot do this when under drought stress. This is why plant breeders hope to develop heat-tolerant, drought-resistant plants that can survive with less water whilst still producing a good yield, using the smallest possible amount of fertiliser and pesticides. The breeders have been receiving support from researchers at Fraunhofer EZRT, where for many years research has been carried out into technologies for determining plant phenotypes. This refers to their external…

  • Hands-on review: Victrola Revolution Go portable record player

    Victrola is a turntable specialist originally founded in 1906, with models that tend to have nostalgic designs, so the Revolution Go is a new, contemporary look for the company and perhaps aimed at a new audience. This unusual portable turntable has a built-in rechargeable battery so you can spin vinyl anywhere, such as at a picnic in the park. The guitar-style thick strap gives it a messenger bag look and the lid pops off to display up to five albums. Campervan-owning retrophiles may wish to take a briefcase-style portable turntable on their travels, but most will require mains power or some form of rechargeable source. The Revolution Go is a rechargeable turntable, with a design aimed more at modern hipsters picnicking or who just can’t wait to get home from Rough Trade to listen to their…

  • Plastic waste converted into feedstock for 3D printers

    They have developed a simple and efficient way to convert polylactic acid (PLA), a bio-based plastic used in products such as filament, plastic silverware and food packaging, to a high-quality resin. “We found a way to immediately turn this into something that’s stronger and better, and we hope that will provide people the incentive to upcycle this stuff instead of just tossing it away,” said Yu-Chung Chang, a postdoctoral researcher and a co-corresponding author on the work.  “We made stronger materials just straight out of trash. We believe this could be a great opportunity.” About 300,000 tons of PLA are produced annually, and its use is increasing dramatically.  Although it’s bio-based, PLA, which is categorised as a number seven plastic, doesn’t break down easily. It can float in…

  • California asks residents not to charge electric vehicles during heatwave

    California is currently suffering a severe heatwave. The extremely high temperatures - which reached 44°C in Los Angeles - have created a huge demand in the state's already-stretched power grid, leading energy providers to ask residents not to charge their electric vehicles.  The recommendations made by the state's Independent System Operator also include limiting the use of major appliances such as laundry machines, vacuum cleaners and dishwashers, and turning off unnecessary lights during peak times.  "Consumers are urged to reduce  energy use  from 4 to 9pm when the system is most stressed because demand for electricity remains high and there is less  solar energy  available," said the American Public Power Association, a body that represents public utilities. It said that the top…

  • Boris Johnson promises £700m in funding for Sizewell C nuclear plant

    The go-ahead for the plant, which is expected to generate about 7 per cent of the UK's electricity needs and operate for 60 years, was confirmed in July but negotiations were still ongoing with French energy giant EDF about the exact funding arrangements with the UK Government. The new plant will be built next to the existing Sizewell B, which is still generating electricity, and Sizewell A, which has been decommissioned. In one of his last policy speeches as Prime Minister, Johnson said: “We need to pull our national finger out and get on with Sizewell C. “That’s why we’re putting £700m into the deal, just part of the £1.7bn of government funding available for developing a large-scale nuclear project to final investment stage in this Parliament. “In the course of the next few weeks…

  • Book review: ‘Hegemony Now’ by Jeremy Gilbert and Alex Williams

    From the writings of an Italian political theorist more than a century ago to the observation that there were no generic structural changes in popular music in the first decade of the 21st century, ‘Hegemony Now: How Big Tech and Wall Street Won the World (And How We Win it Back)’ (Verso, £16.99, ISBN 9781786633149) is an extraordinary extended essay on the evolution of political power, finance and the role technology has played in that. A few short years ago - before the Trump presidency, Brexit and Covid came along - we knew where we were, say Jeremy Gilbert and Alex Williams. Well, if we didn’t exactly know where we were, we knew where we weren’t, because the way the world spun was based on the economics of neoliberalism. It was structured and obeyed rules. There was one (admittedly broad…

  • Battery-as-a-service model moves up the grid

    With inflation rising and the outlook for the UK economy worsening, funding constraints and a dip in investor confidence are threatening to slow down the roll-out of battery charging infrastructure. For the automotive industry, the worry is that this could have a knock-on effect on demand for new battery electric vehicles (BEVs), particularly in densely populated cities such as London where home-based charging is less feasible. There are a number of options that cost-conscious consumers can consider when weighing up the benefits of BEV ownership. For example, instead of buying and owning a new vehicle, complete with its own lithium-ion battery pack, the battery-as-a-service (BaaS) model could be worth considering. And while its focus is on the consumer, this approach could also bring value…

  • Oxygen produced on Mars with lunchbox-sized instrument

    The MIT-led 'Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilisation Experiment' - aka 'Moxie' - has been successfully making oxygen from the Red Planet’s carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere since February 2021, when it touched down on the Martian surface as part of Nasa’s Perseverance rover mission. By the end of 2021, MOXIE (pictured below) was able to produce oxygen on seven experimental runs, in a variety of atmospheric conditions, including during the day and night, and through different Martian seasons. In each run, the instrument reached its target of producing six grams of oxygen per hour - roughly the rate of a modest tree on Earth. Researchers envision that a scaled-up version of Moxie could be sent to Mars ahead of a human mission to continuously produce oxygen at the rate of several hundred trees…

  • US limits sales of artificial intelligence chips to China

    Two of America's top chipmakers have been ordered by US regulators to halt exports of some of their artificial intelligence (AI) technology to China.    In a regulatory filing, Nvidia said that it had been told by the US Department of Commerce that the requirement was due to a potential risk of the products being used by, or diverted to, a "military end-user".  The restrictions cover Nvidia's A100 and forthcoming H100 integrated circuits, and any systems that include them. The enforcement of this measure would threaten $400m (345m) worth of business for the company, according to the filing. AMD has also told CNN that the same restrictions have been applied to the company with regard to its shipments of MI250 integrated circuits to China. “The US government has imposed a new license requirement…

  • Robots could be better at determining child wellbeing than people, study finds

    The researchers from the University of Cambridge found that children would see the robot as a confidante and believed they wouldn’t get into trouble if they shared secrets with it. The study, conducted with 28 children between the ages of eight and 13, used a child-sized humanoid robot administrator to carry out a series of standard psychological questionnaires to assess the mental wellbeing of each participant. Each child took part in a one-to-one 45-minute session with a Nao robot (pictured), a humanoid robot approximately 60cm tall. Image credit: Dreamstime During each session, the robot performed different tasks including asking open-ended questions about happy and sad memories over the last week. It also used the 'Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression…

  • Nokia offers users eco-friendly rewards for keeping phones for longer

    Called 'Circular', the service will also recycle, refurbish and re-subscribe devices returned to the firm or donate them to charitable causes in order to keep them out of landfill, the Finnish tech firm said. The longer a user keeps their phone, the Circular programme will reward them with an increasing number of 'Seeds of Tomorrow' credits. These eco credits can then be put towards a range of global sustainability and charitable causes, such as planting trees with Ecologi, helping clean pollution from rivers with Clear Rivers, or providing connectivity to those in need. When a user wishes to upgrade their phone or tablet, they can return it to Nokia, who will securely wipe the device before refurbishing it either to send to another Circular subscriber or donating it to someone in need…

  • Arm files breach of licence lawsuit against Qualcomm

    Arm has sued Qualcomm and its subsidiary, Nuvia - which the company acquired last year in a $1.4bn (£1.2bn) deal - accusing both organisations of breach of licence agreements and trademark infringements. If successful, the lawsuit could unwind one of Qualcomm's largest strategic moves of the last few years, in which the company aimed to broaden its portfolio beyond the smartphone sector and develop more powerful chips that could be used in laptops and servers for data centres.  The British company's complaint centres around Nuvia's use of Arm's licences, which the organisation argues can't be transferred over to Qualcomm without its permission. Moreover, Arm has also accused Qualcomm of continuing to use its CPU designs in its products after its licences expired in March 2022.  “Qualcomm…

  • Strict new rules for telecoms firms to prevent cyber-attacks on UK networks

    The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) said the security regulations will be “among the strongest in the world” and will provide protections designed to prevent network failure or the theft of sensitive data. This will include protections to the electronic equipment and software at phone mast sites and in telephone exchanges which handle internet traffic and telephone calls. Currently, telecoms providers are responsible for setting their own security standards in their networks. However, the government’s Telecoms Supply Chain Review found providers often have little incentive to adopt the best security practices. The new regulations and code of practice were developed with the National Cyber Security Centre and the industry regulator Ofcom, and will force providers…

  • Book review: ‘Superspy Science’ by Kathryn Harkup

    Reading ‘Superspy Science’ brought back memories. Let me share a couple of them. How do you like this? “My name is Zakhov, Avvakum Zakhov.” Hmm... Sounds weird... Let’s try again: “My name is Boyev, Emil Boyev.” Even harder to digest for an ‘English-speaking ear’ more accustomed to one of the world’s most popular soundbites: “My name’s Bond. James Bond.” No wonder. Trust me, had the West lost the Cold War, the first two quotes could have been on everybody’s lips too. Why? Because both Avvakum Zakhov and Emil Boyev were the former communist world’s answers to James Bond. Let me explain. In the Soviet Union of my childhood and youth, where Ian Fleming’s Bond novels and the movie versions were strictly banned, the global phenomenon was either silenced completely or silenced and heavily…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • The sustainable approach that will help avoid a third ‘AI winter’

    The majority of big artificial intelligence companies are pouring huge amounts of energy and resources into AI in the hope of creating a more efficient and automated future. However, throwing large volumes of data at machine-learning algorithms and using vast amounts of processing power is neither efficient nor futureproof. Algorithms were never developed with efficiency in mind, so focusing on this aspect is a vital step towards avoiding another ‘AI winter’. The energy consumption required for mining and managing Bitcoin has been in the media spotlight for years now. The energy usage of crypto transactions has even been compared to that of countries the size of Greece, a country with a population of over 10 million people. The response of environmental organisations and the public on social…

  • Researchers use dental scanner to study coral growth

    Australian researchers are using technology most commonly found in dentists’ surgeries to study coral, after noting the similarities between coral and human teeth: both are calcium-based and need to be measured on wet surfaces.  Dr Kate Quigley, a senior research scientist at the Minderoo Foundation who conducted the research at the Australian Institute of Marine Science and James Cook University, said she came up with the idea to use dental scanning technology in her coral studies during a visit to the dentist.  “One day I was at the dentist and they rolled out this new scanning machine," she said.  “I knew immediately that it was something that could apply to scanning very small corals given corals and teeth actually share many similar properties." Coral reefs are among the Earth’s…

  • Cruise operator to use SpaceX’s Starlink to provide passengers with broadband

    Starlink uses a constellation of orbiting satellites to provide continuous internet coverage to remote locations around the globe. The first batch of 60 small satellites was launched in 2019, although the firm has been given permission to send almost 12,000 satellites into space, an endeavour that will require multiple launches over the course of several years. RCG’s announcement makes it the first in the cruise industry to adopt the service which can provide high-speed, low-latency connectivity. The broadband internet service will be installed on all Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Silversea Cruises ships, along with all new vessels for each of the brands. Deployment of the Starlink technology across the fleet will begin immediately and is estimated to be completed…

  • Edtech firms failing to protect children’s data, say campaigners

    Privacy campaigners have accused major edtech players of breaking UK data laws, the Financial Times has reported. The 5Rights Foundation has conducted research showing how Google as well as other third parties have tracked children's clicks on external links, while they were using Google Classroom and ClassDojo. This data can be used to determine preferences and display personalised advertising. The charity presented the report to the Information Commissioner’s Office and the Department for Education on Wednesday, claiming the company's opaque privacy terms go against UK data protection law and can confuse teachers. “The pandemic has both shown the utility of technology, but also revealed the lack of oversight,” Lady Biban Kidran, chair of 5Rights, told the Financial Times.  Edtech…

  • 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…

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