• Why humans will always be an enduring element of the supply chain

    What may be the world’s most famous prehistoric monument has left its impact on history way beyond stones, paying testament to the power of the human supply chain. Stonehenge, when viewed in this context, is proof that even as we move towards fully autonomous, AI-driven supply chains, humans will always play an integral role. Energy crises, global labour shortages and transport bottlenecks have all sharpened the focus on how automation can accelerate processes and streamline operations. However, lessons of the past clearly show that humans remain a vital component of supply chains today. The planning involved in the construction of Stonehenge was momentous, and it was through a combination of strategy and innovative technology that humans were able to carry out the work successfully. Because…

  • Quantum computing errors reduced by factor of 25

    Q-CTRL is an Australian start-up that builds quantum control infrastructure software, with a focus on developing tools and techniques for error suppression. Q-CTRL’s approach applies the principles of control engineering to accelerate quantum computing technology. This is a particular obstacle in quantum computing. While there is considerable excitement about the possibilities of quantum information and quantum computing applications – spurring billions of dollars of investment around the world – many technical hurdles have yet to be crossed. Most quantum computers are so prone to error that only the shortest, simplest algorithms can be run. When Q-CTRL experimented with algorithmic hardware systems, building on recent benchmarking experiments from the US Quantum Economic Development Consortium…

  • Younger people more likely to fall victim to cyber crime, survey finds

    While elderly individuals are usually thought to be the ones who have less experience with modern technologies and are therefore more vulnerable to cyber crime online, new data based on the National Cybersecurity Alliance survey suggests otherwise. Two thousand participants in the UK and US took part in the survey and provided information online in response to questions about their cyber security behaviours. Generation Z, or those aged 18 to 24, and Millennials (25 to 40) were found to be less likely to report cyber crime than other generations and become victims to it. Gen Z in particular were found to be the least likely to report cyber crime, with only 21 per cent informing authorities. Nearly one-third (32 per cent) of Millennials have reported a cyber crime. Following up, some…

  • ‘End of coal in sight’ with COP26 pledge, but progress too slow

    A series of major initiatives are being announced today (4 November) at COP26 to encourage the phase out of coal for electricity generation. Coal accounts for more than 35 per cent of the world’s power. In the biggest victory so far for COP26 regarding the critical need to keep fossil fuels in the ground, dozens of countries – including many major coal-burning economies – have pledged to phase out coal for electricity generation. “Today, I think we can say that the end of coal is in sight,” said COP26 President Alok Sharma. “Who’d have thought, [in 2019], that today we are able to say we are choking off international coal financing or that we would see a shift away from domestic coal power?” His comments were echoed by Leo Roberts of climate think tank E3G, who said: “The past few days…

  • Aviation could consume one-sixth of remaining ‘temperature budget’

    The study suggests that emissions produced by the aviation industry must be reduced every year if the sector’s emissions are not to aggravate warming further. Aviation is widely recognised as a hard to abate sector , along with shipping, construction and steelmaking. Although research efforts are underway to develop sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs), hydrogen-powered aircraft and electric aircraft, these all remain in early stages and it is highly unlikely that the sector will be able to reduce emissions as quickly as other sectors. The study set out to inform the discussion about aviation’s 'fair share' of future warming. Researchers from the University of Oxford, Manchester Metropolitan University and the NERC National Centre for Earth Observation developed a simple technique for quantifying…

  • Manufacturers will struggle to adapt to UK’s green energy transition, study finds

    A study led by the University of Leeds suggests that governments should strengthen international carbon reporting standards for energy-intensive industries in order to ensure that firms using more expensive and less carbon-intensive options aren’t outcompeted by those relying on older, more polluting, but typically cheaper technologies. It suggests that total levels of CO2 production during the manufacture and lifetime of materials should be measured more transparently as part of assessment looking at the progress towards national net zero targets. The carbon price also needs to rise to make it economically viable to introduce new manufacturing technologies with low CO2 emissions. Lead author of the study Dr Alan Grainger calls on the UK Government to set out a revised Industrial Decarbonisation…

  • Algorithm predicts suicidal thoughts in teenagers

    The team, comprising of university researchers at Brigham Young University (BYU), Johns Hopkins and Harvard, outlined their machine learning approach in the journal PLOS One . The paper also details risk factors that are leading predictors of suicidal ideation and behaviour among adolescents: online harassment and bullying. “Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents in the US,” said Michael Barnes, study co-author and associate dean of the BYU College of Life Sciences. “We must have a better understanding of the risk factors – and the protective factors – associated with this heartbreaking issue.” The study results show researchers can predict with high accuracy which adolescents will exhibit suicidal thoughts (consideration or planning) or suicidal behaviour (attempting…

  • Sixty companies from FTSE 100 commit to net-zero by 2050

    By Thursday (4 November), 60 of the FTSE 100 – with a combined market value of over £1tn – had committed to a net-zero target as part of the United Nations Race to Zero campaign. They are part of the 5,200 companies which have joined up to the UN pledge. Nearly half of these companies are British. “Businesses both large and small, across all sectors of the global economy, have a crucial role to play in both reducing their environmental impact and developing the green technologies that will set us on the path to net-zero,” said business and industry minister Lee Rowley. “With over 2,500 UK companies joining the Race to Zero, including the majority of our largest firms, the UK is leading the way in showing how going green doesn’t just make sense for the planet, it makes business sense, too…

  • ‘World’s first’ flying car drag race takes place in South Australian desert

    The race was part of a testing session for EXA, Airspeeder’s first electric flying car racing season, created by Alauda Aeronautics ahead of a proposed international competition that will take place next year. The racing series sees remote pilots take control of full-scale electric flying cars and serves as technical demonstrators for the new vehicles. According to a report this year from IDTechEx, the market for eVTOLs (electric vertical take-off and landing) is predicted to be worth $14.7bn by 2041. In September, UK start-up Urban-Air announced it was partnering with automaker Hyundai to build 65 mini airports worldwide that are designed for the new generation of vehicles. Upcoming race events using eVTOLs will see a grid of full-scale electric flying cars known as 'Speeders…

  • Meta days ahead: Facebook shuts down face-recognition system

    Jerome Pesenti, vice president of artificial intelligence for Facebook’s new parent company Meta, said in a blog post: “This change will represent one of the largest shifts in facial-recognition usage in the technology’s history. “More than a third of Facebook’s daily active users have opted in to our 'Face Recognition' setting and are able to be recognised and its removal will result in the deletion of more than a billion people’s individual facial-recognition templates.” Pesenti said the company was trying to weigh the positive use cases for the technology “against growing societal concerns, especially as regulators have yet to provide clear rules”. However, it appears that Facebook is not abandoning facial-recognition entirely and will continue working on the technology, possibly with…

  • Microbes engineered to produce carbon-neutral fuel

    Biologists and engineers worked together to modify a microbe, Rhodopseudomonas palustris TIE-1, to produce biofuel using carbon dioxide, solar panel-generated electricity and light. R. palustris is a bacterium found in all sorts of environments and notable for its ability to change between four different metabolic modes, giving it potentially useful biotechnology applications. In particular, R. palustris TIE-1 has been shown to obtain energy through extracellular electron transfer. Previous work from Professor Arpita Bose’s laboratory at Washington University revealed how they use electrons to 'fix' CO2 and could be used to create sustainable bioplastics. In the latest project from the Bose lab, researchers have used R. palustris TIE-1 to create a biofuel, n-butanol. This is a carbon-neutral…

  • Electric soot collector negates air quality impact of residential fireplaces

    The air pollution emitted by residential biomass combustion is a known cause of adverse health effects, such as respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, as well as adverse climate effects. It has been cited as a major source of air pollution almost everywhere in the world, causing particularly high emissions of fine particulate matter, black carbon and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Manufacturers of stoves and fireplaces must soon comply with tightening emission regulations, such as the Ecodesign Directive entering into force in the European Union in 2022, spurring demand for new emission control solutions. Researchers at the University of Eastern Finland believe their invention presents a novel method to reduce particulate emissions. HiTESC is an electrically insulated high…

  • Hydrogen cheaply produced from wastewater with new technique

    Wastewater treatment is vital to remove pathogens, but is typically incredibly energy intensive – responsible for around 3 per cent of energy use in the UK, equivalent to 13 billion kilowatt hours. The researchers managed to cut the energy used in the purification process by using microbial electrolysis cells that use electromagnetic microorganisms to break down organic pollutants in waste water, producing clean water and hydrogen gas. The ability to produce hydrogen gas is valuable in itself, as it can be sold to chemical and plastics industry or used in hydrogen fuel cells for energy storage or electric vehicles. Although the research sounds promising, it hasn’t yet been developed on an industrial scale, as the anode materials - which are used in the reaction to breakdown the organic…

  • UK will be ‘first net-zero aligned’ financial centre, says Sunak

    Chancellor Rishi Sunak has spoken at COP26, using the platform to promise to turn the UK into “the world’s first net-zero aligned financial centre”. This involves requiring listed companies in the UK to publish their plans for transitioning to low-carbon business by 2023. These plans must include targets to mitigate climate risk; detail interim goals to 2050, and the measures necessary to meet them. The ministry said: “There will be new requirements for UK financial institutions and listed companies to publish net-zero transition plans that detail how they will adapt and decarbonise as the UK moves towards a net-zero economy by 2050.” A notable omission from Sunak’s plan is any mandatory commitment to net zero for companies or a ban on investment in carbon-intensive activities. Investors…

  • Consumption of G20 nations responsible for premature deaths of 78,000 infants

    While most countries acknowledge that they contribute to global levels of PM2.5 – fine particulate matter – there is little agreement on how much and thus the extent of their financial responsibility. In particular, far harder to measure than the direct production of PM2.5 by factories and cars is the amount caused by consumption. Their very small size is what makes PM2.5 so dangerous. Easily inhalable, they accumulate inside the lungs, where they severely increase the risk of cancer and other deadly diseases. Yet it is the poor that are especially vulnerable to PM2.5 and die prematurely. To emphasise the impact that PM2.5 levels from consumption alone have on human health, the study – from the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) in Japan – concluded that the lifetime consumption…

  • UK and India launch plan for global connected green grids

    The ‘Green Grids Initiative – One Sun One World One Grid’ was announced at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow and was also slated to include mini-grids and off-grid solutions to ensure no one is left without access to energy. Moving to energy systems that are heavily reliant on renewable sources like wind and solar power will require development of infrastructure that is capable of coping with far greater shares of variable energy while meeting growing power demands. Cross-continental energy grids will make it easier to transport energy from one area to another depending on where it is most needed. For example, an area that has surplus renewable generation from high wind speeds could supply demand in another location that does not have the same ability to generate low-carbon energy…

  • Artificial material senses and adapts to surroundings

    The artificial material (metamaterial) can sense its environment, independently make a decision based on this information, and perform an action, all without being directed by a human operator. For instance, a delivery drone may evaluate its environment – such as wind direction, wind speed and the presence of wildlife – and automatically change course in order to complete its delivery safely. The mechanical design of the material incorporates three main functions also shown by materials in nature: sensing, information processing and actuation (movement). Co-author Professor Guoliang Huang of the University of Missouri said that examples of these functions in nature include the rapid reaction of a Venus fly trap’s jaws to capture insects, chameleons changing their colours to camouflage themselves…

  • Hands-on: Razer Kraken BT Kitty Edition

    These kawaii cans might look cute but they’re actually a serious Bluetooth headset for gamers. If you’re not a lover of pink (they call it ‘quartz’ – it’s pink), they’re also available in Razer’s trademark black and green. They have gamer-friendly sound specs and work with Razer Chroma RGB for incredible, custom-coloured lighting that syncs with your other Razer kit. But they also do a good job as wireless headphones for music and more. Unboxing is beautiful and ‘By gamers for gamers’ is emphasised on the packaging. I loved the attention to detail: the USB cable is the same shade of pink, even the elastic band holding it is the same shade of pink. You won’t want to lose that elastic band then. I called them in to test on my kawaii-mad teenager but then I didn’t want to let go of them… They…

  • How much of a security risk does right to repair really pose?

    ‘Right to repair’ legislation proposed by both the EU and the US government is yet another shot across the bows of big tech firms. The reforms would force device manufacturers to build their products in a way that allows consumers to fix and replace parts themselves, while also requiring companies to make spare parts more readily available. A number of large vendors have unsurprisingly come out against these proposals, citing device security concerns as one of the major risks. But are these issues real, or is this just big tech trying to retain its current control over the lifecycles of its products? The concerns raised – that independent repair could affect the security and safety of devices – are understandable. Manufacturers argue that spare parts and third-party vendors may not live…

  • Robots avoid dead ends using lidar and AR

    The ability of humans to avoid blind alleys is thanks to our sensing of appropriate signs and assessing distances. Our perception allows us to move back onto the correct path with little time wasted turning back – a skill that cannot be taken for granted in robots. However, this is exactly the behaviour programmed into robots by researchers from Nicolaus Copernicus University’s Institute of Engineering and Technology. Despite robots being largely used in predictable, organised environments such as warehouses and factories, they can still find their path blocked. According to Professor Tomasz Tarczewski, their main problem is running into dead ends, causing them to enter and exit unhelpful paths, wasting energy and time. One way to solve this problem is to implement local path-planning algorithms…

  • Nearly 12,000 Tesla vehicles recalled in the US over faulty driverless software

    The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) found that 11,704 vehicles - distributed across Tesla’s Model S, X, 3 and Y range - were estimated to have the defect. The glitch was actually introduced by Tesla itself after it released a firmware update to the vehicles (2021.36.5.2) on October 23 2021 that gave drivers limited early access to its version 10.3 'Full-Self Driving' (FSD) beta software. However, the update introduced a software communication disconnect between the two onboard chips; specifically, when the vehicle is waking up from 'Sentry Mode' or 'Summon Standby Mode'. This communication disconnect could result in the video neural networks that operate on that chip running less consistently than expected, the NHTSA said. The rollout of the new software was quickly…

  • Ofcom granted ‘rights to keep big tech in check’ via Online Safety Bill

    Ofcom CEO Dame Melanie Dawes acknowledged that keeping social networks in check will be “really challenging” and suggested some areas of the proposed laws go tougher. The Online Safety Bill, of which a long-delayed draft was published in May , is intended to make tech firms accountable for harmful third-party content hosted on their platforms, ranging from illegal content such as terrorist propaganda to abusive content that falls below the threshold of criminality, such as bullying of minors. It will be enforced by Ofcom, which could block access to their sites ; fine them either up to 10 per cent of annual turnover or £18m (whichever is higher); and hold senior managers criminally liable for failures of duty of care. Speaking on the Online Safety Bill during its committee stage, Dawes…

  • India commits to net zero by 2070; calls for $1tn climate aid

    In order to retain global average temperature rises to within 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and thus avert the most catastrophic climate change impacts, the world’s net greenhouse gas emissions must reach zero no later than 2050. Speaking at COP26, Modi has set the considerably later date of 2070 as the target for India. Modi defended the late target date as India holding to its climate pledges “in spirit and letter”. The net zero target date was one of five pledges he made at the summit. Other pledges attracted a warmer reception, such as a promise to increase the share of renewables in India’s energy mix to half (minimum 500GW) by 2030 and to reduce the CO2 intensity of its economy by 45 per cent. He also called for a worldwide push to adopt sustainable lifestyles “instead of mindless…

  • Suspend smart motorway rollout until safety is certain, MPs say

    The committee said that there is insufficient safety and economic data to justify the continuation of the project, which has resulted in at least 38 fatalities in vehicle collisions between 2014 and 2019. A 'smart motorway' is intended to alleviate road congestion by utilising live traffic management, such as by opening up the hard shoulder as a live traffic lane. Sections of the M1, M4-6, M25, M42 and M62 can operate as smart motorways. However, serious safety concerns have been raised following fatal incidents involving broken-down vehicles being stranded in live lanes and subsequently struck from behind by a fast-moving vehicle. Radar-based 'Stopped Vehicle Detection' systems have been installed at roadsides to detect stranded vehicles and alert operators to dispatch personnel and activate…

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