• AI companies cannot be trusted to self-regulate, says Autodesk CEO

    Despite comments from tech bosses like Sam Altman and Elon Musk, AI companies cannot be trusted to self-regulate themselves, the CEO of Autodesk has said. In recent days, there have been calls for the industry to slow down following incendiary comments from a safety researcher at Anthropic, developer of AI chatbot Claude, who said there is a greater than 10% chance that AI “could kill all humans” within the next decade. But Andrew Anagost, who leads Autodesk, said that the idea that any of these companies are going to self-regulate themselves “is ridiculous, they’re not going to.” Speaking at the firm’s annual conference, he said: “I think some of this is a little bit of political theatre designed to pump up [their tech]. ‘Look how great our tech is, it’s so dangerous there’s a 10% chance…

  • £70m project aims to beam mobile coverage from the stratosphere

    The UK’s Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA) is investing £70m to develop autonomous aircraft that could provide continuous mobile coverage from high above the UK. The initiative will look to develop aircraft known as high-altitude pseudo-satellites (HAPS) that can operate reliably and cost-effectively in the stratosphere. These autonomous, solar-powered gliders would provide high-performance communications infrastructure to support AI and digital services, while extending connectivity to underserved and remote regions. The stratosphere – the second-lowest layer of Earth’s atmosphere extending from an altitude of roughly 10-50km – is being scoped as a location for such infrastructure as it offers a cheaper, low-latency alternative to orbital satellites. Flying at around 20km above…

  • Interview: James West - the man behind the microphone. Every Microphone!

    Born into a world that told him scientists did not look like him, James E West co-invented the technology inside virtually every microphone on Earth. At 95, he hasn’t stopped yet. Pick up almost any device that records or transmits the voice and you are holding the life’s work of James E West. The laptop on your desk; the smartphone in your pocket; the wireless earbuds on your commute; the audio sensor in your car’s GPS navigation system; the automatic speech recognition that tells Alexa to order something from Amazon. They all include microphones. Nine in every 10 microphones made anywhere in the world use a technology that West developed with his colleague Gerhard Sessler at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey, US, in 1962. So why isn’t he a household name? “That’s a good question…

  • McLaren to invest £500m in scaling UK operations and launching SUV

    British luxury supercar brand McLaren Automotive has announced that its Abu Dhabi owner will invest £500m to expand its UK operations and bring new models to market at scale. The investment will see McLaren expand out of its niche as a low-volume supercar manufacturer to become a broader player in the automotive market. The first model to be confirmed as part of this shift is a performance SUV. While little information has been released about this new vehicle other than its supporting the company’s hybrid strategy, McLaren has revealed it is being designed as a high-volume luxury model. This means it will enter the premium utility sector to compete directly with models from the likes of Ferrari, Lamborghini and Aston Martin. The investment will also see the firm expand its manufacturing…

  • Nuclear power capacity could more than triple by 2060, IAEA predicts

    Global nuclear power capacity could more than triple by 2060, with small modular reactors (SMRs) expected to be a major driver of the increase. For the sixth year in a row, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has revised up its predictions for the expansion of nuclear power plants across the world. At the end of 2025, 413 nuclear power reactors were operating worldwide, providing 377.1 gigawatts electric (GW(e)) of global nuclear generating capacity. In the IAEA’s high case projection, capacity reaches 1045 GW(e) by 2050, compared with 992 GW(e) projected last year, before increasing further to 1284 GW(e) by 2060 – approximately 3.4 times the 2025 level. Countries are rapidly scaling the technology up, as it provides climate-friendly baseload generation that is less prone to…

  • MOD develops 3D-printed turbojet engine in less than seven months

    Digital design and manufacturing techniques have enabled the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to fast track the development of a turbojet engine from concept to flight in under seven months. The engine model, which has been designed, built and tested entirely in Britain, forms part of a family of turbojet engines spanning the 30N to 2000N thrust range. These engines will be used to power everything from small drones to larger uncrewed aircraft. Their development is the result of a new UK sovereign defence technology co-development programme, a public-private initiative to establish sovereign propulsion capability for future weapons and aircraft, reducing reliance on overseas supply chains. Led by the MOD’s strategic capabilities office, the programme combines government investment with matched…

  • Pubs and licensed venues will be able to adopt digital ID age checks for over-18s

    The government has introduced new rules allowing pubs, off-licences, nightclubs and restaurants to let customers prove their age using a digital ID app on their smartphones. The new rules allow licensed businesses across England and Wales to accept digital proof-of-age IDs. However, for the time being, adoption is not mandatory, with digital checks running alongside traditional physical IDs such as passports or driving licences. Rather than using a government-issued app, customers download a certified third-party app – including Luciditi, Yoti or Post Office EasyID – officially registered under the UK’s digital verification services trust framework. The app generates a secure QR code that is then scanned by a business via a free checker app downloaded onto an existing device, such as…

  • US scraps emissions limits on coal and gas power plants

    The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalised a sweeping rollback on major climate regulations limiting pollution from fossil fuel-fired power plants. In 2024, the Biden Administration put in place strict greenhouse gas emissions standards for coal and gas power plants. However, the Trump Administration has now repealed these rules, according to an official statement published by the EPA. When Donald Trump came to power a second time he pledged to boost domestic energy production to, in his own words, “drill, baby, drill”. He has also consistently pulled away from international climate commitments, describing the Paris Agreement as a “rip-off” and famously calling climate change a “hoax”. As well as repealing the existing carbon pollution rules, the EPA statement also outlines…

  • Volvo starts series production of its 700km-range electric trucks

    The heavy-duty, long-haul Volvo FH Aero Electric is rolling off Gothenburg assembly lines, offering up to 700km on a single charge. “We are now turning groundbreaking technology into industrial reality. Starting series production of our new electric trucks is a clear proof of our commitment to lead the transformation to more sustainable truck transport,” said Roger Alm, president of Volvo Trucks. The trucks feature a redesigned chassis with new e-axle technology, which effectively frees up space to accommodate significantly more battery capacity onboard. This is combined with a megawatt charging system, which is capable of charging eight batteries from 20% to 80% in approximately 50 minutes. Electric trucks can now realistically compete on long-haul routes that have traditionally relied…

  • £1bn deal to deliver UK’s first mainline battery-electric train fleet

    A fleet of 29 British-built electric trains will enter service along the TransPennine route in northern England by 2034, offering long-distance regional travel. The £1bn contract between TransPennine Express and French rolling stock manufacturer Alstom covers the supply of 29 five-car battery-electric multiple units, station charging infrastructure and long-term maintenance. The trains will be built at Alstom’s historic Litchurch Lane Works in Derby. According to the firm, the project will support more than 350 highly-skilled jobs at the site and over 5,500 roles across its UK supply chain. Manufacturing is expected to begin in 2028, with the first trains scheduled for delivery by the end of 2032 and a full passenger service commencing in 2034. Chris Jackson, managing director at TransPennine…

  • Existing UK laws ‘ill-equipped’ to protect human rights from AI, warn MPs

    A cross-party group of MPs and Lords has urged the government to introduce a new AI bill to address the “scale and seriousness” of AI’s threats to human rights. The report, published by the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR), calls for a new legislative and regulatory approach to AI that is “fit for purpose”, with stronger protections against the human rights risks posed by the technology’s rapid development. AI is “moving with such speed and complexity that its impact is hard to accurately predict,” says chair of the JCHR Alex Sobel MP, leaving the UK “unprepared to deal with its consequences”. When Labour came to power in 2024, the then science, innovation and technology secretary Peter Kyle said the government would prioritise laws around AI and touted that an AI bill would be…

  • Grid upgrade delays risk adding billions to energy bills, NAO warns

    Consumers face rising energy bills without urgent upgrades to the nation’s electricity grid designed to help it accommodate more renewables, the National Audit Office (NAO) has said. In a report, the body said that the grid cannot carry enough electricity “from where it is produced to where it is needed” forcing the National Energy System Operator (NESO) to keep supply and demand in balance by effectively paying wind farms to turn off and gas plants to turn on. These payments, known as constraint costs, ultimately hike up household energy bills. In the 2025-26 financial year these totalled around £1.9bn, an already hefty sum that could increase to £7.8bn by 2030 without concerted action from NESO, the NAO said. Ofgem estimates that £70bn of investment is required in the grid between 2025…

  • Massive 3D-printed model recreates catastrophic Swiss avalanche

    A five-metre-wide scaled model of the Swiss landscape has been constructed to simulate how avalanche debris flows move. In May 2025, a devastating landslide and avalanche struck the Swiss village of Blatten. Massive rockfalls from a nearby peak crashed onto the glacier, triggering ice and debris to thunder down the slope at 200 km/h. Most of the village was completely destroyed by the impact. The disaster inspired researchers at Swiss university ETH Zurich and the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF in Davos to build a detailed, scaled replica of the Blatten region. Using this physical model, the team can assess how landslides move through the mountainous terrain, with the data helping to improve the accuracy of computer simulations. The 1:577 scaled model, which measures…

  • NATS to conduct ‘full investigation’ into UK flight crisis

    National Air Traffic Services (NATS) has launched an investigation into a recent technical failure that saw more than 2,000 flights cancelled and 330,000 passengers impacted across UK airports. The glitch, which was first reported by NATS on the afternoon of 8 September, effectively meant that air traffic control had to switch to manual operations, limiting the volume of aircraft allowed into UK airspace. An update an hour later confirmed the breakdown had been traced to its flight processing system at the Swanwick Centre in Hampshire. While a fix in the form of a software patch was implemented, the issue was not fully resolved until that evening. In the space of less than five hours, the domino effect of so many flights being unable to take off led to travel chaos across 15 major airports…

  • Apple finally enters foldable smartphone market with £1,999 iPhone Duo

    Apple has finally announced its much-anticipated iPhone Duo, the company’s first-ever foldable smartphone. The tech giant has opted for a passport style form factor when the device is shut rather than the typical rectangular shape found on most smartphones. The firm’s recently-appointed CEO John Ternus called it the “most transformational change to iPhone since the original.” The new device sees Apple playing catch up with rivals like Samsung which released its first foldable smartphone all the way back in 2019. While the segment still remains niche – representing just 1.5% to 2% of total global smartphone shipments – it is currently the fastest-growing in the mobile industry. This year, analysts expect foldable shipments will increase by around 30% year-on-year compared to the largely…

  • LG smart TVs caught ‘spying’ on users even when offline or on standby

    The South Korean tech giant LG is alleged to be using its smart TVs to harvest extensive household data even when screens are turned off. The allegations come after a three-month investigation by YouTube channel Gamers Nexus, which worked with technology platform Level1Techs and independent cybersecurity researchers to analyse the tracking capabilities of LG’s retail OLED models like the G3 and G5 series. In their resulting 135-minute investigative video, Gamers Nexus editor-in-chief Steve Burke claims that LG is operating "216,000,000 spy TVs". “LG TVs are able to be utilised as eavesdropping listening devices in part because of the advertising functionality that’s built into them,” said Burke in the video. This is not the first time that smart TVs have been accused of tracking and…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • UK data centre boom could create just a quarter of promised jobs

    The rapid expansion of data centres in the UK will only lead to around a quarter of the number of jobs currently cited by the government, the environmental thinktank Verdant has said. The UK government and the data centre industry has frequently cited claims from lobby group techUK that over 40,000 new jobs could be generated by 2035 due to the rapid proliferation of data centres. But Verdant says the figure isn’t grounded in actual employment data from new facilities and is instead an extrapolation from older aggregate figures that don’t hold up to scrutiny. Drawing on a database of planned data centres, Verdant believes that a more realistic estimate for UK data centre employment is just 10,400 total direct jobs nationally, a fraction of the number claimed by techUK. TechUK uses a jobs…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Audi unveils compact £32,200 EV with up to 400 mile range to rival Chinese models

    German automaker Audi has revived its early 2000s premium entry-level car, but this time it’s all-electric. The A2 e-tron will serve as Audi’s entry-level EV - with prices starting at £32,200 in the UK - replacing the retired A1 supermini and Q2 crossover. It is a revival of the A2 supermini, but while it maintains its namesake’s distinctive bubble-like silhouette, much of the technology is all new. Built on the VW's MEB modular electric platform, the 4.3m long, rear-wheel-drive hatchback achieves low energy consumption of just 12.8 kWh per 100 km, with power outputs ranging from 168 bhp up to 322 bhp. The figures suggest the EV is significantly more frugal in terms of energy usage than most compact rivals like the Nissan Leaf or Peugeot e-308, and instead rivals aerodynamic sedans like…

  • Straw offers low-carbon route to meeting UK’s 300,000 homes annual target

    The UK could meet housing targets of building up to 300,000 new homes each year by swapping high-carbon building materials for locally produced straw. The UK produces around 9.9 million tonnes of straw every year, far more than would be needed as a construction material to meet the government’s housebuilding targets. According to researchers at the University of Bath, agricultural straw could replace high-emission materials such as concrete and steel, while storing carbon in buildings. Using straw in construction could also help to bolster the agricultural sector by diversifying farmers’ revenue streams by turning an underutilised byproduct into a higher value building material. Currently there are a number of factors holding back the use of straw in construction. Most prominently, there…

  • Europe’s largest cross-border carbon capture project opens

    Norwegian chemical giant Yara International has officially inaugurated its carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility in Sluiskil, the Netherlands, making it Europe’s largest commercial cross-border operation of its kind. The project will capture CO2 produced during manufacturing at the Yara Sluiskil plant, liquefy it and ship it to Norway, where it will be permanently stored deep beneath the seabed. Yara Sluiskil is a major producer of nitrogen fertilisers, which are used to support global food production. To make these fertilisers, the plant manufactures ammonia, a process that releases vast amounts of greenhouse gas. The CCS project aims to capture and liquefy up to 800,000 tonnes of CO2 yearly from its ammonia production. This will be transported by Northern Lights to a permanent storage…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Rail freight to increase by 40% by 2040 under new government target

    By 2040, the government wants a 40% increase in goods moved by rail freight, transport minister Heidi Alexander has told the Commons. Rail freight is considered to be a key part of decarbonising Britain’s transport system. A single train can replace up to 129 heavy goods vehicles, helping to cut down on road congestion. While a tonne of freight moved by rail produces about a quarter of the carbon emissions it does by road. But despite its environmental benefits, it is estimated that rail freight only accounts for around 10% of surface freight across the UK today. The government had previously set a target of boosting rail freight by 75% by 2050 from 2022/2023 baseline traffic levels, but has now set an interim target of 40% by 2040. Goods carried by rail freight are already worth almost…

  • London Underground-style ‘Tube map’ used to model nuclear fuel cycle options

    Researchers have applied London’s iconic Tube map to help visualise the complexities of different nuclear fuel cycle options. Nuclear energy is already considered a sustainable energy source. However, the simplest fuel cycle option - the Once-Through Cycle (OTC) - has an environmental question mark over its end-to-end sustainability, particularly over the permanent disposal of used radioactive fuels. Other options involve different degrees of closing the fuel cycle by recycling and reusing materials from these used fuels. In their study, a research team based at the Dalton Nuclear Institute at The University of Manchester, wanted to examine how six different options for the nuclear fuel cycle, all with different degrees of materials recycling, could improve the sustainability of nuclear…

  • Electric aircraft-boat hybrid takes its first manned flight

    An electric aircraft capable of simultaneously operating as a boat has completed its first human crewed flight. Regent Craft’s Seaglider is a 12-passenger vessel that flies just above coastal waters using wing-in-ground effect technology. It can float like a boat before rising onto retractable hydrofoils for wave tolerance near docks, and low-altitude flying. While it only has 160 nautical mile range with existing batteries, Regent Craft says it can be upgraded to have a range over 400 nautical miles with next generation technology. Its first manned flight took place at Regent’s headquarters in Rhode Island, USA. With a crew of two captains aboard, the Seaglider flew a distance of 596m at a height of 10m above the water for 30 seconds. The Regent team spent the summer increasing the…

  • Does screen time create as many problems as we believe?

    The UK government’s proposed ban on social media for under-16s has widespread support – but will it solve the problems we perceive social media creates? For the first time, a large-scale experiment intends to find the answers. At social gatherings, Professor Amy Orben tries to avoid revealing what she does for a living, because often it’s all parents want to talk about – and no wonder. For a decade she has investigated how digital technology affects children and adolescents, and the evidence is murky. Trying to find clear answers is a long-term, complex endeavour, whereas every parent wants to know what to do right now. New tech emerges far faster than scientists can study it. “Many parents feel they are making high-stakes decisions about their children’s development with very little clear…

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    E+T Magazine

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