• Global chip shortage will ‘run deep into 2023’, say US officials

    The global semiconductor shortage shows no signs of slowing down soon, according to US officials. The chip shortage caused by Covid-related supply chain disruptions; the increase in demand that followed the move to remote working, and the ongoing trade war between the US and China is currently affecting many industries that rely on the technology. "I do not, unfortunately, see the chip shortage abating in any meaningful way any time in the next year," said Raimondo. The US Commerce Secretary has recently been on a trip to South Korea, where she convened a dozen CEOs, including leaders of chipmakers. The country is one of the leading producers of semiconductors. Although Taiwan, home to chip manufacturing giant TSMC, accounted for over 60 per cent of global foundry revenues in 2020, South…

  • Improve lorry drivers’ conditions or slap new tax on sector, say MPs

    The group of MPs said the sector needed to deliver sufficient drivers, workers and facilities, including high-quality services and welfare. While there is a shortage of lorry drivers across Europe, Brexit has considerably worsened the problem in the UK as many come from other parts of the EU. This was coupled with the Covid-19 pandemic which saw many UK-based foreign lorry drivers return to their home countries, with few of them coming back to the UK since. There have also been tax changes making it more expensive for drivers from elsewhere in Europe to work or be employed in the UK. If the sector does not improve within two years, MPs on the Commons Transport Select Committee said the government should implement a 'Supply Chain Levy' to assist in building facilities and training new…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Money &Markets: Just In Time is failing because of supply chain issues

    JIT (just in time) has become NIT (not in time), and supply chains are having a hard time resetting to the silken smoothness of the past. On the face of it, JIT is a brave strategy because it relies on the business world spinning in a super-efficient way with everyone not only competent but also cooperative and collegiate. A nervous type could easily see that for a manufacturer to push the responsibility of having a stock of parts onto their suppliers, it could easily become a recipe for disaster, because if an enterprise gives itself over to the care of its suppliers and if those parties fail, everything will grind to a halt for that trusting customer. A warehouse of stock is insurance against just that kind of expected outcome. JIT means, by definition, there is little to no slack in the…

  • Hands-on review: Zhiyun Crane M3 camera gimbal

    Like it's smartphone-specific sibling, the Smooth 5 ( which we reviewed previously ), the Crane M3 is also a Red Dot Award 2022 winner for its product design. Certainly, on looks alone the Crane M3 is an eye-catcher. Switching from the traditional/typical grey and black tones of pretty much every gimbal out there, with the M3 Zhiyun has gone all-out on white. Even the very useful bag that comes with the Combo Kit is white. While this might not be our #1 colour of choice for a backpack (although it is undeniably a very useful, well-designed bag for stashing your camera and lenses, plus the gimbal and its accessories), for the gimbal body itself the new colour is quite lovely. Mostly white on the handle, with a subtle red accent, contrasting with black on the metal camera clamps. It's a good…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Urban magnetic fields reveal clues about energy efficiency and pollution

    Researchers from Germany and the US compared urban magnetic fields between two US cities: Berkeley, California, and the Brooklyn borough of New York City. They looked at what kinds of information can be extracted using data from magnetic field sensors to understand the working of cities. Magnetic field activity from various sources could provide insight into what is going on during a 24-hour period, the researchers said. “A city is viewed as a physical system akin to a distant astronomical object that can be studied using a variety of multispectral techniques,” said Vincent Dumont, from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. “In short, our project was inspired by our desire to apply what we learned practising fundamental physics research to the study of cities.” Researchers collected…

  • BT and Ericsson partner to build 5G private networks

    British telecommunications company BT has joined forces with Swedish telecoms equipment manufacturer Ericsson to offer private 5G networks to UK organisations, aiming to enable them to deploy Internet of Things and next-generation technologies in a fast and secure way. The partnership agreement is the first of its kind to offer an out-of-the-box private network to companies, rather than a service tailored to each individual business. In contrast to public 5G, private 5G networks allow companies to limit connectivity to a group of devices in a dedicated space, where 5G's security and ultra-low latency can be fully utilised in additional services. These networks are also said to provide higher quality connections, offering fewer delays and glitches than conventional Wi-Fi networks. “This…

  • EU to ban 90 per cent of Russian oil imports by the end of the year

    The commercial war between Russia and the EU continues, as European officials approve a new set of sanctions against the Russian giant, in light of the continuing invasion of Ukraine.  The embargo covers Russian oil brought in by sea, allowing a temporary exemption for imports delivered by pipeline, which is expected to provide Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic with additional time to wean themselves off crude oil supplies from Russia. Russia currently supplies 27 per cent of the EU's imported oil and 40 per cent of its gas, with the bloc paying around €400bn (£341bn) a year in return. T hat is equivalent to around 2.4 million barrels per day, according to data from the International Energy Agency. For this reason, the sanctions - expected to be legally endorsed on Monday - will…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Bills could be halved by 2035 with investment in low carbon heating

    In a report, it found that the current heat-pump installation rate “languishes” at just 30,000 per year and hydrogen heating and heat networks are still nascent technologies. High upfront costs of around £10,000 are needed for the installation of heat pumps which means the government needs to provide “significant financial help” in the short term to reduce carbon emissions from heating in the long term. According to the report, this is compounded by the artificially high price of electricity relative to gas which is caused by government policy costs and unequal carbon pricing. “The good news is that innovators believe that with the right support they can bring down the upfront costs, permanently, to £5,000, or perhaps even to parity with boilers in time (roughly £2,500),” the report states…

  • Sub-£30 washing machine brightens laundry days for low-income families

    Eight Bristol engineering students are refining a hand-spun washing machine. The $35 (£28) product from the Washing Machine Project has been designed to save around 20 hours of hand-washing chores per week. 3,000 of the cheap but effective bare-bones washing machines will be delivered in 2022, mostly to refugee camps but also to low-income families in the UK. The Bristol firm is led by University of Bristol alumnus Navjot Sawhney - a former Dyson engineer - who dreamt up the idea during a sabbatical in India. Some six billion people around the world live without a washing machine. For many, the problem is a lack of funds, while others may not have consistent access to electricity - or simply no electricity at all. Sawhney saw the need for hand-spun washing machines while making cooking…

  • Laser-welding ‘robotic snake’ brings fusion power closer to reality

    The £2.7m project has taken seven years to develop as part of EUROfusion’s flagship DEMO programme, which is expected to be the successor to ITER – the experimental fusion reactor currently under construction in France. The snake will be deployed and operated remotely inside a hazardous environment without being touched by humans. It can also work effectively in pipes packed together, with little space for access. Tristan Tremethick, lead mechanical design engineer, UKAEA, said: “In fusion machines, pipework has to be connected and disconnected remotely because of the hazardous environment. “Pipework in DEMO is extra challenging because of the limited working space. We’ve been looking at different ways of tackling this and I’m delighted our new snake has passed its first set of trials…

  • China uses digital yuan to stimulate Covid-hit consumption

    The southern city of Shenzhen started distributing 30 million yuan (approximately £3.7m) worth of free digital cash on Monday to revive consumption and aid businesses. The move comes days after Xiong'an New Area, in northern Hebei province, launched a similar campaign to hand out 50 million yuan (approximately £6m) worth of e-CNY 'red packets' as gifts. China is actively developing a central-bank digital currency. Issuing these e-CNY subsidies has the dual purpose of encouraging consumption and further promoting use of the electronic yuan. Transactions using e-CNY totalled 87.6 billion yuan (approximately £10bn) at the end of 2021, with 261 million individual e-wallets opened, according to the central bank. "Previously, when the government issued subsidies, there could be certain obstacles…

  • Four Scottish cities introduce low-emission zones

    Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee are introducing LEZs in order to improve air quality, with many older vehicles banned from city centres. Penalties for bringing a non-compliant vehicle into the LEZ will typically be set at £60, and halved to £30 if paid early. Although the LEZs have formally already begun, the four cities have established different grace periods to allow users to get used to the shift. While Dundee will start enforcing the measure from 30 May 2024, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen will end the grace period for residents on 1 June 2024, with Glasgow already enforcing the measures for buses and other specific types of vehicles. “Our air quality is generally good – but for too long air pollution has exceeded legal limits for health in our city centres as a consequence…

  • Robots help address Singapore’s skill shortage

    Singapore is heavily reliant on an immigrant workforce. However, after the number of foreign workers in the country fell by 235,700 between December 2019 and September 2021, the city-state turned to technology, in particular robotics, to address the shortage of workers, according to a Reuters report. Singapore is a good example of how Covid-19 curbs have sped up "the pace of technology adoption and automation" by companies, said the city-state’s manpower ministry. During the pandemic, Singapore trialled B oston Dynamics’ four-legged robot , 'Spot', to help promote safe distancing in parks, gardens and nature reserves to lower the risk of exposure to coronavirus. The robot broadcast a message reminding park visitors to observe social distancing guidelines. It was also fitted with cameras…

  • Carbon capture system sequesters record amounts of CO2 for direct air capture

    Isophorone diamine (IPDA) in a “liquid-solid phase separation” system was found to remove carbon dioxide at the low concentrations contained in the atmosphere with 99 per cent efficiency. The researchers said that the compound is reusable with minimal heating and at least twice as fast as existing systems. While the world is currently trying to reduce its carbon emissions to net zero, scientists are also looking at ultimately removing CO2 that has already been released in order to bring levels down to those found in the pre-industrial era. Currently, many hurdles remain before carbon capture technologies can be deployed at scale. The biggest challenges come from efficiency, particularly in processing atmospheric air directly in direct air capture (DAC) systems. The concentrations of CO2…

  • G7 nations pledge to phase out coal

    Climate and energy ministers from the Group of Seven nations have announced that they will aim to largely end greenhouse gas emissions from their energy sectors by 2035, with the goal of an “eventual” complete phaseout. The announcement by Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Canada and the US comes at the end of a three-day summit in Berlin and follows the European Union’s decision to find new energy sources and  cut its reliance on Russian oil and gas as a response to the invasion of Ukraine. The ministers also said they would raise their ambitions with regard to renewable energies and "rapidly scale up the necessary technologies and policies for the clean energy transition." Germany, the current chair of the G7, has been one of the main drivers of this commitment. After taking office…

  • China readies launchpad for final missions to complete Tiangong space station

    Over the weekend, Chinese state media reported that the China National Space Administration had moved its Shenzhou spacecraft to a launch site in inner Mongolia ahead of a planned launch on 5 June. The craft will be sent into space atop a Long March 2F carrier rocket. The flight will mark the ninth crewed Chinese spaceflight and the fourteenth flight of the Shenzhou program. The spacecraft will carry three People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps (PLAAC) 'taikonauts' on the third flight to the Tianhe core module, the first module of the Tiangong space station. Tianhe was first launched into orbit in April last year, with three Chinese astronauts entering the module some months later .  Following the upcoming mission, China will launch one of the station’s lab components in July this year…

  • Exposed: The national wiring scandal putting lives at risk

    Gareth Bourhill, who has worked in the electrical contracting industry for 40 years, says it is well-known in the industry that the public’s safety is being jeopardised in search of profit. “People know it’s a huge problem but it’s all down to money. That is because your normal householder, or unscrupulous letting agents and landlords, are simply driven by costs,” he says.   A new law first introduced in 2020 means that landlords must have an inspection – known as an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) – carried out on their properties every five years, but E&T has found that many electricians are carrying out inadequate tests. In some cases, contractors are incorrectly passing unsafe properties while others are mis-selling unnecessary upgrades. E&T has also heard evidence of…

  • Sustainable air travel institution launched in bid to cut aviation emissions

    Its researchers plan to look at all elements of air transport, from fuel and aircraft design to airport infrastructure, air traffic control and aviation policy. It comes a week after the government announced its ‘Flightpath to the future’ plan which is designed to help the sector recover from the disastrous impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. It details how aircraft emissions can be cut, including shorter-term plans to blend 10 per cent sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) into the UK fuel mix by 2030. The research institute has been back by a £25m donation from Brahmal Vasudevan, CEO of private equity firm Creador, and his wife Shanthi Kandiah, founder of legal firm SK Chambers. Professor Alice Gast, ICL president said: “The Brahmal Vasudevan Institute for Sustainable Aviation will focus Imperial…

  • Book review: ‘Machines Behaving Badly’

    Books about the societal impacts of artificial intelligence and the ethical questions it raises are a dime a dozen, so it is always worth asking: does this book do anything differently? In the case of ‘Machines Behaving Badly: The Morality of AI’ (The History Press, £20, ISBN 9780750999366), the answer is yes, thanks to the author’s decades entrenched in the community from which AI has sprung. The first third or so of ‘Machines Behaving Badly’ examines the people and companies developing AI technologies. This is packed with nuggets of little-known information. It is not much known, for instance, just how small the group of people building AI is (“There may never have been a planet-wide revolution before which was driven by such a small pool of people”). Walsh paints this community with…

  • Six million UK homes could face power cuts this winter, as energy crisis worsens

    The UK is preparing for a harsh winter, as the war in Ukraine drags on and energy prices continue to soar. In order to prepare for a “reasonable” worst-case scenario, Whitehall officials have drawn up a plan for the winter that could lead to the rationing of electricity for up to six million homes at the start of 2023, should Russia cut off all gas supplies to the EU. Earlier this month, Ofgem warned of a likely   energy price cap increase “in the region of £2,800”. The curbs could be imposed on industrial use of gas, including on gas-fired power stations, and may last for more than a month, mostly at peaks in the morning and evening. A Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy spokesperson told the PA news agency the UK "has no issues with either gas or electricity supply…

  • Researchers develop hydrogen battery from bacteria

    What if bacteria could be used to create hydrogen biobatteries? A paper published in Joule shows that these types of batteries could perhaps be used to store and release hydrogen.  Green hydrogen, which is produced from water with the help of renewable energies, is one of the carbon-neutral energy sources that could become an effective alternative to fossil fuels. However, transporting and storing this highly explosive gas is difficult, and researchers worldwide are looking for chemical and biological solutions. A team of microbiologists from Goethe University Frankfurt has found an enzyme in bacteria that live in the absence of air and bind hydrogen directly to CO2, producing formic acid in the process. The process is completely reversible – a basic requirement for hydrogen storage.…

  • Internet infrastructure in developing countries highly vulnerable to attack

    A sweeping, large-scale study was conducted by computer scientists at the University of California San Diego, who surveyed 75 countries. “We wanted to study the topology of the Internet to find weak links that, if compromised, would expose an entire nation’s traffic,” said Alexander Gamero-Garrido, the paper’s first author. The study finds that a wider array of internet providers reduces the risk that any one attack would have a significantly disruptive impact upon a country’s internet infrastructure. It cites the US as an example where a large number of firms compete to provide services for a large number of users. These networks are directly connected to one another and exchange content in a process known as direct peering. All the providers can also plug directly into the world’s internet…

  • The deep uncertainties that are stalling energy transition

    Climate change is one of the planet’s most pressing issues. Whether its impact is on the places we inhabit, the air we breathe or civilisation itself, it is clear that climate change is having a disastrous effect on the world in which we live. Something must be done to reverse its detrimental effects, and there are a number of industries in particular where change could drastically improve the environment. The energy sector is one, contributing to much of the carbon dioxide emissions that are affecting the planet. That is why the global energy sector must transition to clean energy - a fossil-based carbon-zero structure. In principle, this switch sounds relatively simple, given we have the fossil-based fuels to make this transition. But not only is substantial investment needed to do so…

  • Musk sued for ‘manipulating’ Twitter takeover bid

    More unknowns continue to circle Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter. A lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California claims the Tesla CEO has attempted to drive down Twitter's stock price by expressing doubts over his decision to buy the company. The shareholders claim Musk wants to pressure Twitter to negotiate a substantially lower purchase price. The   lawsuit seeks class-action status as well as compensation for damages. This is only the latest row in Musk’s journey to buy Twitter. The billionaire made an offer last month to purchase the company for $ 44bn (£35bn). However, he later backed down from the deal, stating that the acquisition could not go forward until the company provided information about how many accounts on the platform are spam or bots…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

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