• Sodium-based battery could enable cheap mass storage for renewable energy

    Sodium-based battery could enable cheap mass storage for renewable energy

    While molten sodium batteries have been used for many years to store energy from renewable sources such as solar panels and wind turbines, commercially available molten sodium batteries, called sodium-sulphur batteries, typically operate at 270-350°C. This new type of sodium battery operates at a much cooler 110°C, making it much cheaper to operate. “We’ve been working to bring the operating temperature of molten sodium batteries down as low as physically possible,” said Leo Small, lead researcher on the project. “There’s a whole cascading cost saving that comes along with lowering the battery temperature. You can use less expensive materials. The batteries need less insulation and the wiring that connects all the batteries can be a lot thinner.” But the traditional sodium-sulphur battery…

  • Simulator helps robots sharpen cutting skills

    Simulator helps robots sharpen cutting skills

    The system – developed by researchers from the University of Southern California (USC) Department of Computer Science and computing company Nvidia – could also simulate cutting through human tissue, offering potential applications in surgical robotics. Many researchers in the past have had trouble creating intelligent robots that replicate cutting. One challenge, they’ve argued, is that no two objects are the same, and current robotic cutting systems struggle with a variation. To overcome this, the team devised a unique approach to simulate cutting by introducing springs between the two halves of the object being cut, represented by a mesh. These springs are weakened over time in proportion to the force exerted by the knife on the mesh. “What makes ours a special simulator is that it…

  • Paper-thin origami-like artworks wriggle, flutter and bend

    Paper-thin origami-like artworks wriggle, flutter and bend

    Their early creations, which they call Electriflow, include origami cranes with bending necks, wriggling flower petals and fluttering butterflies. “Usually books about butterflies are static,” said Purnendu, a graduate student. “But could you have a butterfly flap its wings within a book? We’ve shown that it’s possible.” Origami-inspired butterly/Pernendu Image credit: Purnendu Purnendu explained that Electriflow designs don't require motors or other traditional machine parts to come to life, allowing them to be soft to the touch. Instead, they use a type of artificial muscle developed at the university which has since been commercialised by Artimus Robotics. These artificial muscles harness hydraulically amplified self-healing electrostatic actuation; they rely…

  • Drone flight algorithm beats all human pilots in test race

    Drone flight algorithm beats all human pilots in test race

    Due to their limited battery, speed is of the essence when drones are completing tasks like searching for survivors on a disaster site, inspecting a building or delivering cargo. The routes they take are sometimes complex and narrow, requiring precision flying. Up to now, the best human drone pilots would always outperform autonomous systems in drone racing, according to researchers at the University of Zurich (UZH) in Switzerland. But they have now created an algorithm that can find the quickest trajectory to guide a quadrotor – specifically a drone with four propellers – through a series of waypoints on a circuit. “Our drone beat the fastest lap of two world-class human pilots on an experimental race track”, said researcher Davide Scaramuzza. “The novelty of the algorithm is that…

  • Smaller chips, bigger packages, even bigger headaches

    Smaller chips, bigger packages, even bigger headaches

    When OpenAI unveiled its GPT-3 engine and showed how its AI model could generate sensible text seemingly out of nothing based on a few cues, it set a new limit in how much processing and memory a language model could use. At 175 billion trainable parameters, GPT-3 is enormous. But it’s time at the top of the supermodels did not last long. Google, which introduced the Transformer concept on which many of today’s AI language models are based, soared past it earlier this year with the 1.6 trillion-parameter Switch. At his company’s Spring Processor Conference in April, analyst Linley Gwennap claimed language models are currently growing at the rate of around 40 times a year. Apparently, the rapid growth is worth it and not just in natural language processing. The results from other areas, such…

  • Tesla’s self-driving software ‘lacks safeguards’, safety experts claim

    Tesla’s self-driving software ‘lacks safeguards’, safety experts claim

    Elon Musk’s electric car firm started rolling out over-the-air updates earlier this month to enable “full self-driving” for eligible owners, albeit in a beta form. Owners are still obliged to be able to take control of the vehicle at a moment’s notice, and Musk admitted on Twitter that there could be “unknown issues” that could need to be addressed in the future. Consumer Reports (CR) said it plans to independently test the software update, known as FSD beta 9, once its in-house vehicle has received it, but its experts have already expressed concern over footage of the car’s behaviour that has emerged online. They saw it scrape against bushes, miss turnings and even head towards parked cars. Tesla’s vehicles already had some level of autonomy when travelling on highways, but the FSD beta…

  • Engineered fibres are stronger than steel and spider silk

    Engineered fibres are stronger than steel and spider silk

    Spider silk is recognised as one of the strongest, toughest materials on Earth. Now, engineers at Washington University have developed fibres stronger and tougher than some natural spider silks which are produced by engineered bacteria. The amyloid-silk hybrid proteins were developed in the laboratory of Professor Fuzhong Zhang, who has worked extensively with spider silk. In 2018, his lab engineered bacteria to produce a recombinant spider silk on par with its natural counterparts regarding all important mechanical properties. “After our previous work, I wondered if we could create something better than spider silk using our synthetic biology platform,” said Zhang. Zhang and his team modified the amino acid sequence of spider silk proteins to introduce new properties, while maintaining…

  • Poorly designed power lines killing globally threatened birds of prey

    Poorly designed power lines killing globally threatened birds of prey

    Ongoing developments to improve universal access to electricity, while necessary, are unfortunately also undermining conservation work to protect endangered birds of prey and potentially causing population declines in Europe. The widespread threats in Ethiopia are particularly worrying as the country is a global hotspot for vulture conservation. Endangered birds of prey are being killed in Africa and the Middle East through poorly designed power lines, scientists have warned. Two papers, published recently in the journal Bird Conservation International, have highlighted the threats posed to globally threatened birds of prey. Large wintering congregations of steppe eagles in the Saudi Arabian desert and Egyptian vultures in Ethiopia are increasingly being exposed to electricity infrastructure…

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  • EU proposes crackdown on anonymous cryptocurrency payments

    EU proposes crackdown on anonymous cryptocurrency payments

    The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) proposed a law to apply the travel rule to cryptocurrency transactions, rendering them traceable. This rule already applied to conventional wire transfers. It forces the sender and recipient to exchange certain identifying information when funds are transferred between financial institutions. Under the proposal, a company handling cryptocurrency for a customer must note the customer’s name, address, date of birth and account number, and the name of the recipient. The company handling the recipient’s account must then check that all this information is correct and present. Just as anonymous bank accounts are illegal under EU anti-money-laundering rules, anonymous cryptocurrency wallets will also be prohibited. “We shouldn’t have different rules for…

  • UK homes are not sufficiently protected from climate change risk, insurer warns

    UK homes are not sufficiently protected from climate change risk, insurer warns

    A Heriot-Watt University study from earlier this year predicted that flooding across the UK could increase by an average of 15-35 per cent by the year 2080. Areas of West London faced nearly three inches of rain in just 90 minutes last week, causing widespread issues. In its 'Building Future Communities' report, Aviva has called for action from all parties concerned to address the threats climate change poses to UK property and livelihoods. The insurance company said that greater use of “nature-based solutions” should be employed which can help guard against multiple climate risks and called for a strengthening of planning regulations to protect UK properties. New properties should not be being built on floodplains, the report said, while all existing and future properties should have adequate…

  • Enzyme-based plastics recycling more energy efficient, analysis suggests

    Enzyme-based plastics recycling more energy efficient, analysis suggests

    The analysis - conducted by researchers in the Bottle Consortium, including representatives from the US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the University of Portsmouth - identified that using enzymes could be a more sustainable approach for recycling polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a type of plastic commonly used to manufacture single-use beverage bottles, clothing and food packaging, all of which are increasingly relevant in addressing the environmental challenge of plastic pollution. The new research addresses the challenges of plastic recyclability. While images of discarded bottles floating in oceans and other waterways provide a visual reminder of the problems posed by plastic waste, the lesser-seen issue remains of what to do with the PET…

  • Reusable masks could slash pandemic waste

    Reusable masks could slash pandemic waste

    Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, doctors and other healthcare professionals have at times struggled to access enough face masks and other PPE as demand soars for protection capable of filtering SARS-CoV-2. Disposable N95 masks (approximately equivalent to FFF3 masks in Europe) have been in especially high demand, and in the early stages of the pandemic many hospitals reduced use by having healthcare workers wear a mask for a full day rather than switching between patients. Some US hospitals used decontamination systems – which use hydrogen peroxide vapour or UV light – to sterilise masks for reuse, allowing one mask to be worn for several days. All of those masks carry both financial and environmental costs; a new MIT study which analysed the costs of different mask use, has found that…

  • How a few basic principles can help protect critical IIoT systems

    How a few basic principles can help protect critical IIoT systems

    The industrial sector is facing a new set of challenges when it comes to securing a converged IT-OT (information technology/operational technology) environment. We’ve seen these growing pains come to light over the past several months in the form of the Solarwinds incident, and through continued attacks on critical infrastructure, including major pipeline operators, food distributors, water and power supply. In the past, cyber security was focused on IT assets like servers and workstations, but the increased connectivity of systems requires that industrial security professionals expand their understanding of what’s in their environment. Bottom line – you can’t protect what you don’t know about. Not to mention, the increase in large-scale ransomware attacks has proven that IT events often…

  • Helium balloon-lifted space telescope could be cheap rival for Hubble

    Helium balloon-lifted space telescope could be cheap rival for Hubble

    Developed by Nasa and the Canadian Space Agency, the 'Superpressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope' (SuperBIT) flies above 99.5 per cent of the Earth’s atmosphere and is carried by a helium balloon the size of a football stadium. While light from distant galaxies can travel for billions of years to reach our telescopes, once it reaches the Earth’s turbulent atmosphere the view becomes blurred. Observatories on the ground are built at high altitude sites to overcome some of this, but until now only placing a telescope in space can escape the effects of the atmosphere completely. The SuperBIT has a 0.5 metre diameter mirror and will be carried to a 40km altitude by a helium balloon with a volume of 532,000 cubic metres, about the size of a football stadium. Its final test flight in 2019…

  • Hands-on review: Zhiyun Smooth-Q3 smartphone gimbal

    Hands-on review: Zhiyun Smooth-Q3 smartphone gimbal

    We looked at this unit's predecessor, the Smooth-Q2 , and were impressed with its feature set, its capabilities and the photo and video results we got with it. What does the Q3 bring to the party? The obvious standout new feature is the 4,300-kelvins warm-toned integrated fill light built into the clamp of the gimbal. This features three levels of brightness adjustment and touch-button control and can be rotated for either 180° front or rear lighting. This soft but powerful light contributes to a warmer, more natural skin tone and is well-suited to day or night-time use. Obviously at night, or in dark spaces indoors, having a dedicated light is immensely useful, making it much easier to capture clear portrait images or moody videos in low-light conditions. It's a little like having your…

  • Crackdown planned for online rip-offs and fake reviews

    Crackdown planned for online rip-offs and fake reviews

    Businesses offering subscriptions will be required to make clear exactly what consumers are signing up for and allow them to cancel easily. The government also said that “consumer catfishes” responsible for fake online reviews would be targeted with rules making it automatically illegal to pay someone to write or host a fake review. Fake reviews are a serious problem for large online marketplaces such as Amazon, Facebook, and Google on which third-party sellers and businesses compete, with dishonest incentives being widely offered for five-star reviews in some areas. Regulators will also be helped to stamp out other dodgy tactics used to manipulate people browsing for goods and services online. These include tactics that manipulate consumers into spending more than they wanted to, and negative…

  • UK government seeks to curb dominance of digital giants

    UK government seeks to curb dominance of digital giants

    The Digital Markets Unit (DMU) was launched within the Competition and Markets Authority in non-statutory form in April, with special responsibility for regulating the digital economy. According to the government’s plans, it will be given the power to designate technology companies with substantial, entrenched market power with 'Strategic Market Status' (SMS). SMS will require them to follow a code of conduct which lays out its responsibilities to competitors and customers. The government hopes that the rules will result in more innovation and fairer terms for UK businesses – especially tech start-ups, news publishers and advertisers – as well as giving consumers real choice to switch to a different service provider. The code of conduct covers acceptable behaviour as it relates to fair…

  • Smart technologies and data posited to future-proof energy supply

    Smart technologies and data posited to future-proof energy supply

    Smart and flexible energy systems will be needed if the UK is to meet its world-leading commitments to tackling climate change by 2050. Meeting the increasing demand for electricity, as fossil fuels are phased out, will require a system that ensures the supply of clean energy from renewable sources is guaranteed even when the wind is not blowing or the Sun is not shining. The 'Smart Systems and Flexibility Plan and Energy Digitalisation Strategy', published jointly by the government and Ofgem, is intended to deliver on the commitments made by the government in its  'Energy White Paper'  and represent a step forward on the path to providing flexibility for the nation’s energy network. According to the joint coalition, unleashing the full potential of smart systems and flexibility in the…

  • Covid economic recovery plans failing to target green energy, IEA report warns

    Covid economic recovery plans failing to target green energy, IEA report warns

    The amount of clean energy spending in the second quarter of this year totalled around $380bn, or just 2 per cent of their total stimulus funds in response to the pandemic. These sums of money, both public and private, currently fall well short of what is needed to reach international climate goals, the report suggests. These shortfalls were particularly pronounced in emerging and developing economies, many of which face financing challenges. Under the current recovery spending plans, global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are set to climb to record levels in 2023 and continue rising in the following years. “Since the Covid-19 crisis erupted, many governments may have talked about the importance of building back better for a cleaner future, but many of them are yet to put their money where…

  • Cyber attack takes Northern Trains’ ticket machines offline

    Cyber attack takes Northern Trains’ ticket machines offline

    The ticketing system has been offline since last week while an investigation is being conducted, but Northern Trains said that these are the only machines affected. The operator installed more than 600 new ticket machines across the network earlier this year as part of a £17m scheme to provide passengers with modern touch-screen machines at over 400 stations across the north of England. The servers that operate these ticket machines have now been impacted by the suspected cyber attack. “This is the subject of an ongoing investigation with our supplier, but indications are that the ticket machine service has been subject to a ransomware cyber attack,” Northern said. It added that no customer or payment data had been compromised and that customers could still buy train tickets online. Flowbird…

  • Scientists develop world’s thinnest magnet

    Scientists develop world’s thinnest magnet

    According to the researchers, the magnet could make advances in next-gen memories, computing, spintronics – such as high-density, compact spintronic memory devices – and quantum physics. It was developed by scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and UC Berkeley. “We’re the first to make a room-temperature 2D magnet that is chemically stable under ambient conditions,” said senior author Jie Yao, a faculty scientist in Berkeley Lab’s Materials Sciences Division and associate professor of materials science and engineering at UC Berkeley. Graduate student at UC Berkeley, Rui Chen, added: “This discovery is exciting because it not only makes 2D magnetism possible at room temperature, but it also uncovers a new mechanism to realise 2D magnetic…

  • UK and allies blame Chinese government for orchestrating Microsoft hack

    UK and allies blame Chinese government for orchestrating Microsoft hack

    The cyber attacks took place in early 2021, targeting Microsoft Exchange (Microsoft’s email software) servers. A group known as Hafnium compromised Microsoft Exchange, allowing it to penetrate into the IT networks of its targets. The attack was so widespread that at the time, the White House National Security Council formed an emergency response group to deal with the attack. Microsoft said that by end of March, 92 per cent of customers had been patched against the vulnerability. Now, according to British officials, the attack was very likely to have been carried out to enable “large-scale espionage”, including stealing personal information and intellectual property. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)  is “almost certain” that the compromise was initiated and exploited by actors…

  • Equinor confirms bid for major offshore wind platform on Scottish coast

    Equinor confirms bid for major offshore wind platform on Scottish coast

    The firm has already floated wind turbines at Hywind, located off the northeast coast of Scotland, that are now generating energy. Equinor's bid follows the closure of the ScotWind Leasing process on Friday, with final offers from all firms expected by no later than 5pm on that day. ScotWind was launched in June 2020 and was the first round of seabed leasing for offshore wind in Scottish waters in over a decade. Scottish Power and Shell put forward their own tender for a floating offshore wind farm last week . The sector is expected to be a significant area of green growth this decade as technology costs fall and the floating tech could prove particularly cost-effective in areas with deep waters where fixed offshore wind is not feasible. The Scottish coast is seen as an ideal location…

  • Covid-19 simulations at cellular level for in silico drug trials

    Covid-19 simulations at cellular level for in silico drug trials

    The applied mathematics researchers are using in silico experiments to replicate in great detail how the human immune system responds to the novel coronavirus. This refers to trials carried out via computer simulations, rather than in vitro or in vivo experiments situated in test tubes or in living organisms; in silico trials are a complement to these real-world trials. “It’s not that in silico trials should replace clinical trials,” said Professor Anita Layton, who holds a chair in mathematical biology and medicine. “A model is a simplification, but it can help us whittle down the drugs for clinical trials. Clinical trials are expensive and can cost human lives. Using models helps narrow the drug candidates to the ones that are best for safety and efficacy.” Their model describes the control…

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