• World’s plastic waste mapped from space using AI

    The tool, called Global Plastic Watch (GPW), can detect plastic waste sites as small as 5 by 5 metres, creating an interactive 'living' map of plastic pollution in near real time. The data gathered is believed to be a world first, providing a historic insight into one of the planet’s most complex environmental challenges - how to stop plastic from flowing into our oceans. “It’s not about naming and shaming,” but “empowering governments” with information to help tackle the problem, said Fabien Laurier, a key architect of GPW. The free, publicly available tool was developed and funded by Australian non-profit the Minderoo Foundation, and has been “applauded” by the United Nations. A plastic waste site in Indonesia leads towards the water. Pic: Maxar Technologies/Earthrise…

  • UK could become global player for EV batteries, but time is tight

    The report highlights the opportunity to invest in a sector which it suggests could benefit the UK economy by £24bn by 2025, but it also warns that there is a narrow window for the UK to secure a major share of the market and that significant barriers to investment must be overcome. The global car industry is now in rapid transition because meeting global climate targets relies on phasing out internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. In the UK, where road transport accounts for around a quarter of national greenhouse gas emissions, the sale of new ICE vehicles will end from 2030 and the shift to EVs is a key priority in the government’s 'Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution'. The value of the transition from ICE to EV powertrains could benefit the UK economy by upwards of £24bn…

  • Hands-on review: Fenix E09R rechargeable flashlight

    Time was - back in the heady, now vintage days of last century - having a torch meant something the size of a half baguette in your hand that probably ran on three or more hard to find, heavy and expensive C or D-cell batteries. Even at full brightness, you'd be lucky to illuminate the other side of a room in any meaningful way - and the chances were equally likely that when you really needed the torch to work, the bulb itself would have mysteriously blown since the last time you used it, and you were never likely to source a replacement, so into a drawer the whole thing went. Fast forward to the modern day and now we have torches (or flashlights, as our US cousins prefer to call them) that are so bright you can practically dazzle astronauts onboard the ISS. Tiny, powerful torches that…

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  • Biden secures deal to lower internet costs for low-income households

    Biden and US Vice President Kamala Harris will unveil the agreement on Monday at a ceremony with executives from the companies that have agreed to cutting prices or increasing internet speeds for millions of people across the country.   The commitments are part of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which is an aspect of the Biden administration's infrastructure law passed with support from Republicans and Democrats last year. Its goal is to help low-income households reduce their internet bills by as much as $30 (£24) a year. Currently, 27.6 million (22.5 per cent) of US households don’t have home internet, and over a quarter-million still use dial-up internet.  The increasing rate of digitalisation of services such as education and healthcare brought forth by the pandemic has…

  • Energy sector urges government to ‘deliver on full potential’ of new technologies

    The UK energy sector is urging the government to make the biggest changes to the UK’s energy laws in over a decade, amid a deepening crisis caused by high gas prices.  Energy UK said the upcoming Queen’s Speech should include a new energy bill which increases investment into new technologies such as hydrogen and heat pumps, while the Heating and Hotwater Industry Council (HHIC) is calling for greater support for hybrid systems in the government’s net-zero strategy in order to provide customers with a practical method of achieving low-carbon heating. The investment in greener energy sources will also improve energy efficiency in buildings across the country, with EnergyUK advocating more smart meters and charging points for electric cars . The current record energy bills are seen by the…

  • World at risk of running out of materials for consumer electronics

    A new campaign run by the Royal Society Of Chemistry (RSC) hopes to draw attention to the unsustainable practice of continuing to mine for the precious materials used in many consumer technology products. One study has estimated that the world’s mountain of discarded electronics, for 2021 alone, weighed 57 million tonnes - more than the entire Great Wall of China. The RSC warned that some key elements needed to build electronics are now simply running out. It pointed out that geopolitical unrest, including the war in Ukraine, has caused huge spikes in the price of materials such as nickel, a key element in electric vehicle batteries . In addition, the price of lithium, another important component in battery technology, has increased by almost 500 per cent between 2021 and 2022. This volatility…

  • EU plans one-year renewable energy permits for faster green shift

    The European Union executive wants to speed up the bloc's green transition and cut its reliance on Russian fuels by allowing some renewable energy projects to receive permits within a year, according to a draft document. Brussels is expected to shortly unveil a package of measures to end the European Union's reliance on Russia, by boosting renewable energy, saving energy and increasing gas imports from elsewhere. As part of this strategy, the European Commission will propose rules requiring countries to designate "go-to areas" of land or sea suitable for renewable energy, where such projects would have a low environmental impact, the draft legislative proposal indicates. "The permit-granting process for new projects located in renewables go-to areas shall not exceed one year," the document…

  • AI used to support people with learning disabilities

    Currently, about 1 in 100 people are identified as having a learning disability. Of this population, over 65 per cent have two or more long-term health problems, known as multiple long-term conditions (MLTCs), and a life expectancy that is 20 years lower than the UK average. However, the physical ill-health symptoms of people who suffer from learning disabilities are often wrongly attributed to a behavioural problem, leading to worse healthcare outcomes or ineffective  care from health and social services. Scientists at Loughborough University and the Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust have teamed up to address this issue. Through the 'Decode' (Data-driven machinE-learning aided stratification and management of multiple long-term COnditions in adults with intellectual disabilitiEs) project…

  • UK proposes fair-play rules for tech platforms’ use of news

    The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and Ofcom have published joint advice for the government which proposes a new regime designed to curb the power of big tech platforms. As well as smaller competitors online, the rules could help to bolster the UK’s newspapers and other publishers by providing a framework for fair financial terms for publishers’ content where this is hosted by the largest platforms with significant market power. The proposals consist of legally-binding obligations on the biggest tech firms which provide clarity about how they should behave when dealing with consumers and businesses, including publishers. In the event of a dispute between a platform and a publisher about the application of a code, the Digital Markets Unit (DMU) would have a role in deciding whether…

  • Germany offers £12bn to lure chipmakers to the country

    Germany is determined to build up its chipmaking capacity. To achieve this, the country’s Ministry of Economy has announced it will offer €14bn (about £12bn) in financial support of the industry.  The semiconductor shortage and the supply chain disruptions caused by the rise of demand in the wake of the pandemic, have created havoc in many industries that rely on this technology, including carmakers, healthcare providers and telecom operators. In this context, large corporations like Apple and Ford were forced to halt production processes , facing billions of dollars in losses. The chip shortage is expected to last until at least 2024, according to Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger. To address this challenge, the European Commission has set out plans to encourage chip manufacturing in Europe through…

  • Scottish Power commits to raft of green hydrogen projects in the Highlands

    The projects are led by Scottish Power and Storegga and are expected to deliver hundreds of megawatts of green hydrogen production capacity before the end of the decade, with plans for the first facility to be operating by 2024. Hydrogen production is typically delineated into ‘green’ methods, which can be carbon neutral through the use of electrolysis to separate it from water, and blue hydrogen, which is not carbon neutral as it is produced by splitting natural gas. Blue hydrogen can only be described as a net-zero carbon fuel when used in conjunction with carbon capture and storage; furthermore, studies have found that blue hydrogen is more carbon-intensive as a source of heat than natural gas, coal, or diesel. Green hydrogen is currently two to three times more expensive than blue…

  • AI can predict bone fractures in cancer patients

    As medicine continues to embrace machine learning, a new study suggests that scientists may be able to use AI tools to predict how cancer affects the probability of spinal fractures.  Every year, over 1.6 million cancer cases are diagnosed in the US, 10 per cent of which experience spinal metastasis, which occurs when the disease spreads from other places in the body to the spine. One of the biggest clinical concerns patients face is the risk of spinal fractures due to these tumours, which can lead to severe pain and spinal instability. “Spinal fracture increases the risk of patient death by about 15 per cent,” said Soheil Soghrati, associate professor at Ohio State University. “By predicting the outcome of these fractures, our research offers medical experts the opportunity to design better…

  • World central bank group denounces Big Tech data harvesting

    A paper published by the world’s main central bank umbrella group said that while many countries already have some laws around data use, most individuals are still not aware of their data rights or the risks that come with the unregulated use of data. The advent of smartphones, digital technologies, software applications and network connectivity has led to a dramatic expansion of consumers’ digital footprints, turning data into a valuable commodity. In this context, s ocial media giants, Big Tech firms and banks have been able to harvest, process and sell user data with little oversight. In order to ”level the playing field between data subjects and data controllers," authorities should adopt new data governance systems, the paper said. These would include requiring firms to get clearer…

  • 1,000 Big Issue sellers now accept cashless payment

    The move is designed to help homeless sellers of the magazine as cash use in the UK falls dramatically. A study from last year found that if the current trend of declining cash usage in the UK continues, the country could become entirely cashless by 2026 . The Big Issue is using contactless technology via the Zettle by PayPal card reader, which enables sellers to accept contactless payments in-person directly on their Android mobile devices, with no additional hardware or fees. The magazine found that vendors offering cashless payments will sell up to 35 per cent more magazines using the Zettle card reader than a vendor that is only accepting cash, as nearly 70 per cent of debit card transactions and over half (56 per cent) of credit card transactions in the UK are now contactless. Vendors…

  • View from Brussels: Losing friends, alienating people

    Access to the EU’s €95bn research programme – Horizon Europe – is contingent on signing up to other rules and regulations, so that non-EU countries are on the same level playing-field as the 27 member states. For non-EU nations like Norway, it is relatively smooth sailing as it is part of the European Economic Area (EEA), whose rules are very closely aligned with the full-fat EU codex. But for Switzerland and the UK, it is more complex. This time last year, talks between Bern and Brussels broke down, as the Swiss government pulled the plug on a bilateral deal that would have codified hundreds of separate agreements with the EU into one overarching framework. Swiss ministers were concerned that the pact would undermine the Alpine republic’s preciously guarded sovereignty over migration…

  • Money & Markets: Engineers will likely survive this round of inflation

    Do you remember when ‘spin’ was a new idea and ‘spin-doctors’ were a new concept? Well, here we are 25 or so years later and it has become hard to believe anything. This is a bad situation made worse by finding ourselves with a novel and worrying business configuration. What just happened and where are we heading? As I am sure my audience of engineers love to do, I will try and simplify as much as possible. Covid and actions to combat it have brought us to a point where inflation is baked into the global economy and interest rates are going up. For some time to come, the sovereign deficits of the major global economies are going to grow, while that ‘real’ GDP - after adjusting for inflation - is set to fall. You will likely hear the word ‘reset’ a lot going forwards when it comes to markets…

  • Global collaboration ‘necessary’ in the fight against Big Tech, says EU antitrust chief

    The architect of landmark EU antitrust rules has called upon governments to collaborate on a common approach to curb the power of large technology corporations. Vestager, who has handed out billions of euros in fines to Alphabet's Google and launched investigations into Apple, Amazon and Meta Platform's alleged anticompetitive behaviour, said there was global agreement on the issues raised by large digital platforms. "This debate is no longer a hot topic amongst competition practitioners but it has strong political attention," she said in a recent conference. "Close cooperation will be necessary because we will not be short of work and we will not be short of novel services or practices to look at." Earlier this week, the European Commission accused Apple of restricting competition…

  • Fuel and oxygen could be harvested from lunar soil to aid Moon base

    Researchers from Nanjing University in China are hoping to design a system that takes advantage of lunar soil and solar radiation, the two most abundant resources on the Moon. After analysing the lunar soil brought back by China’s Chang’e 5 spacecraft, their team found the sample contains compounds including iron-rich and titanium-rich substances that could work as a catalyst to make desired products such as oxygen using sunlight and carbon dioxide. With China and Russia announcing a collaboration to build a research station on the surface of the Moon last year, the discovery could help to provide vital resources by harvesting local resources instead of relying on expensive cargo drops from rocket launches. The team proposed an “extra-terrestrial photosynthesis” strategy which uses lunar…

  • EVs double market share; VW to invest €10bn in production

    Battery-powered electric vehicles (BEVs) almost doubled their market share in the European Union during the first quarter of 2022, as the rollout of models across the continent gathers pace. BEVs accounted for 10 per cent of total passenger car sales in the EU, according to data from the region's carmaker association (ACEA), surpassing plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, which accounted for an 8.9 per cent share. In total, 224,145 BEVs were sold across the EU in the period January-March 2022 – a significant increase over the 146,125 vehicles sold in the same period in 2021. Hybrid electric vehicles accounted for more than a quarter of the market, up from around a fifth in the same period last year. Cars powered by petrol and diesel lost market share, but still accounted for 52.8 per cent…

  • Structural changes observed in the brains of astronauts on long-duration missions

    The team imaged the brains of 15 astronauts before and after extended tours of duty on the International Space Station (ISS). They found that in their time away from planet Earth, the fluid-filled spaces along veins and arteries in the brain were altered. These spaces, known as perivascular space, are integral to a natural system of brain cleansing that occurs during sleep. The network of tubes is known as the glymphatic system – a brain-wide network that clears metabolic proteins that would otherwise build up in the brain. Scientists say this system seems to perform optimally during deep sleep. “These findings have important implications as we continue space exploration,” said senior author Juan Piantino. “It also forces you to think about some basic fundamental questions of science and…

  • Telecom sector drops its challenge to landmark California net neutrality law

    A group of industry associations that represent major internet providers, including AT&T, Comcast and Verizon, have dropped their challenge of a federal district court's ruling upholding California's net neutrality law. While supporters of net neutrality rules celebrate the legislation as a necessary step to ensure a free and open internet, telecom providers believe the rule discourages investment in broadband and introduces uncertainty about acceptable business practices. The 2018 law allows the California state government to ban internet service providers (ISPs) from slowing down or blocking access to websites and applications that don’t pay for premium service. Last month, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously rejected an industry attempt to prevent the state from enforcing…

  • Night-time satellite images used to identify areas of poverty

    Despite successes in reducing poverty globally in the last two decades, almost one billion people are still living without access to reliable and affordable electricity, which in turn negatively affects health and welfare, and impedes sustainable development. Researchers have been using satellite images of Earth at night to study human activity for almost 30 years and it is well established that these images – commonly referred to as night-time radiance – can help map issues like economic growth, poverty, and inequality, especially in places where data are lacking. In developing countries, areas that are unlit at night generally indicate limited development, while brightly lit areas indicate more developed areas like capital cities where infrastructure is abundant. An obvious example…

  • Handheld device could cut the rate of cancer biopsies in half

    Scientists have been able to successfully leverage millimetre-wave imaging to slash the rate of unnecessary biopsies. In 2015, 5.9 million skin biopsies were performed on Medicare recipients - a 142 per cent increase since the turn of the millennium. The healing process from these procedures is long and painful, as doctors need to carve away small lumps of tissue for laboratory testing, leaving patients with wounds that can take weeks to heal. Patients have been willing to undergo such treatments to enable early cancer treatment. However, this approach might soon no longer be necessary. Researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology are developing a low-cost handheld device that could cut the rate of unnecessary biopsies in half and give dermatologists and other frontline physicians easy…

  • Why upskilling is the key to attracting tech talent during a skills shortage

    Both Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic have taken a toll on the recruitment process. Amidst a pool of vacant positions, employers are having a hard time when it comes to attracting the best talent. Employees are reluctant to switch roles due to uncertainty, outsourcing workers from the European Union isn’t on the cards anymore, and employees lack both hard and soft skills. This is on record as the most severe skills shortage that the UK has ever faced and is likely to slow Britain’s economic growth. Although trade sectors, such as construction, engineering, and IT, are affected the most, the UK labour shortage spans across all industries. In a recent KPMG pulse survey , 70 per cent of the companies that participated said they found it difficult or very difficult to attract and retain employees…

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