• Former UK Paralympian could become first disabled astronaut to live in space

    Former Paralympian John McFall could become the first person with a physical disability to live in orbit on the world’s first commercial space station. Haven-1 is a planned space station in low-Earth orbit that is in development by US aerospace company Vast. If launched, it will be the first ever commercial space station and is currently scheduled for a ride on a SpaceX Falcon 9 early next year. The UK Space Agency has signed a deal with Vast to find potential sponsorship opportunities for McFall to live aboard the station and conduct research into human physiology, prosthetics in microgravity and movement in space. The findings could have benefits for disabled people on Earth, such as the design of lighter, more adaptable prosthetics, and an improvement to our understanding of conditions…

  • Faster shift to renewables could save EU billions, study finds

    Accelerating the roll-out of renewable energy could generate up to €600bn in net benefits across the EU, according to a study. An international study, led by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (MPIC) in Germany, has evaluated how different responses to rising and volatile fossil fuel prices could affect Europe’s energy systems, economic development, air quality, climate and public health. The team took a holistic approach with their study, combining a number of established models to evaluate the overall societal and economic impact of different short-term measures and long-term strategies. The results show that a long-term strategy of rapidly shifting to large-scale renewable energy will not only close the energy supply gap but also help mitigate climate change and improve…

  • AI-monitoring system could help tackle overcrowding on UK train network

    An AI-monitoring system that can track passenger numbers on trains to prevent overcrowding has been developed by Loughborough University computer scientists. The technology uses depth-sensing cameras and onboard AI to monitor passenger numbers and movement throughout the network. Rather than recording conventional video footage, it captures depth information only, allowing passenger flow to be monitored without identifying individuals. The researchers, who worked with rail technology company TrainFX on the technology, said the system could help operators better manage capacity, improve passenger information and reduce overcrowding across the network. Currently, operators often rely on delayed or incomplete data, meaning some carriages become overcrowded while others still have space available…

  • Hinkley Point C’s second reactor lifted into place by world’s largest crane

    The world’s largest crane lifted Hinkley Point C’s second nuclear reactor into place before its precision installation inside the reactor building. The crane, known as Big Carl, made lifting the 500-tonne cylinder a simpler process than the installation of the first reactor, which required a bespoke, temporary lifting system. The power station received its first nuclear reactor in 2023, which has subsequently been installed and welded in place on Unit 1 of the power station. Once inside the Unit 2 reactor building, the 13-metre-long reactor pressure vessel was lifted and rotated into a vertical position by the large internal ‘polar’ crane and lowered carefully on to a support ring with just 40mm clearance on either side. Work on Unit 1 has moved on to the fitting-out of pipes, cables…

  • Recycling rare earth magnets from old wind turbines ‘real opportunity’ for UK

    Recycling the UK’s offshore wind turbines when they are decommissioned could produce enough magnets to build a million electric vehicles (EVs) a year, according to a report. The magnets within wind turbines contain a large amount of neodymium, a critical material used in EVs, aircraft systems and wind turbines. Current neodymium supplies are geographically limited, meaning sourcing is expensive and vulnerable to supply shocks. A new report – Windfall: the recovery and remanufacturing of neodymium magnets from UK wind turbines – published by the National Engineering Policy Centre (NEPC) and led by the Royal Academy of Engineering, finds that the UK has a real opportunity to secure a sovereign capability in manufacturing by recycling neodymium. The report features analysis commissioned…

  • Record internet speeds achieved using pre-existing fibre-optic network in London

    Researchers have achieved record-breaking data speeds of 450 terabits per second over a standard fibre-optic network in London. To put that in perspective, the fastest widely available consumer connection in the UK is 1Gbps, which is roughly 450,000 times slower than the connection achieved by the team from the National Institute of Information. The 450Tbps data rates achieved during the experiment surpasses previous records of 402 Tbps and 430 Tbps, set in 2024 and 2025 over laboratory fibres. Unlike those earlier demonstrations, the new experiment used real, already-installed fibres from the UK National Dark Fibre Facility (NDFF) and is therefore the closest demonstration to date of how the full capacity of existing fibre infrastructure could be unlocked, potentially paving the way…

  • Kuwait gives go-ahead to high-speed rail link to Saudi Arabia

    Kuwait’s Municipal Council has approved the route corridor for a high-speed railway linking the country with Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh. The approval designates the land required for the railway project within Kuwait, a section that extends about 85km from the country’s south-western border with Saudi Arabia to the Shadadiya area near Kuwait’s new university campus. The railway line forms part of a broader 500km Saudi-Kuwait high-speed railway project designed to link Kuwait City and Riyadh. With the right-of-way approval granted, implementation works are expected to begin later this year, with the railway expected to become operational by 2030. According to Gulf News, trains are expected to operate at speeds of up to 300km/h, reducing journey times between Riyadh and Kuwait to under…

  • China’s largest offshore shallow oilfield now fully operational

    China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) has announced that Phase I of the Kenli 10-2 oilfield, China’s largest offshore lithologic oilfield, has entered full production. Located in the south Bohai Sea, offshore of northern China, the Kenli 10-2 oilfield holds over 100 million tonnes of proven reserves. According to CNOOC, China’s biggest offshore oil producer, the field is producing more than 2,800 tonnes of crude per day, or roughly 20,000 barrels, following full operational deployment. Kenli 10-2 has an average water depth of 20 metres. It is what is known as a shallow-lithologic oilfield, meaning the oil is trapped within relatively shallow rock formations. It’s a highly complex geology that makes extraction more challenging than conventional reservoirs as the oil and gas are…

  • New Glenn destroyed in test blast, raising uncertainty over Artemis programme

    A New Glenn rocket made by Blue Origin has exploded on a Florida launchpad during a hotfire test. The cause of the explosion is not yet clear, with Jeff Bezos’ firm simply saying there was an “anomaly” during the test and that all employees have been accounted for. “It’s too early to know the root cause but we’re already working to find it,” Blue Origin said on X. “Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it.” The rocket was being prepared for its fourth flight, scheduled for next week, that would have deployed 48 Amazon Leo internet satellites into low-Earth orbit. The satellites themselves were not on the rocket during the test. Initial reports show that severe damage was inflicted on Launch Complex 36, which is Blue Origin’s only…

  • Chinese firm’s sodium battery rivals Tesla’s lithium-ion design, researchers find

    A sodium-ion battery made by Chinese firm Hina has been found to be broadly comparable to lithium-ion batteries used by Tesla in its electric vehicles (EV). Long-term forecasts suggest that lithium demand will continue to outstrip supply globally for the foreseeable future as it underpins many of the technologies needed for decarbonisation including EVs and renewable technology. Since sodium is much more abundant and widely available than lithium, using it for batteries could cut raw material costs for manufacturers and reduce long-term supply chain risks. Sodium-ion batteries also perform well under load at low temperatures, making them an appealing option for both stationary power storage and mobile applications in cold climates. Moritz Schütte, a researcher at RWTH Aachen University…

  • New method of moving heat could transform electronic devices – new study

    Carefully engineered metamaterials boost heat transfer between objects by as much as four times, according to a new study. Led by Carnegie Mellon University, researchers have been able to confirm that heat transfer can be actively designed and enhanced. At the core of the discovery is a phenomenon called near-field radiative heat transfer. When two objects are brought extremely close together – just a few hundred nanometers apart – heat doesn’t simply radiate away in the usual sense. Instead, it can tunnel across the gap through electromagnetic waves, dramatically increasing how much energy flows between them. While this effect has been known about for years, scientists haven’t been able to show it experimentally. Using metamaterials, this new study has been able to. “Unlike conventional…

  • GCHQ unveils AI cyber security system as UK enters ‘moment of consequence’

    GCHQ has introduced a blueprint for a national cyber defence capability amid increased threats from adversaries. Anne Keast-Butler, director of GCHQ, the UK’s intelligence, cyber and security agency, has delivered the first annual lecture at Bletchley Park. Her speech marked the 80th anniversary of the UKUSA intelligence agreement, which later evolved into the Five Eyes security alliance between the UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. “It’s rare for any head of an intelligence agency to speak in public, but I’m doing so to you today because we are at a moment of consequence – where the actions we take and the partnerships we build are ever more critical given the threats we face,” said Keast-Butler at the start of her lecture. She emphasised the importance of international partnerships…

  • Uber reconsiders AI usage as cost of tokens mount

    Ridesharing firm Uber has struggled to justify the high cost of AI versus reducing headcount, the firm’s COO Andrew Macdonald has admitted. The Information previously reported that Uber blew through its entire 2026 AI budget by April after encouraging its 5,000-strong engineering team to utilise Anthropic’s Claude Code to speed up their workflows. But in an interview with the Rapid Response podcast, Macdonald said the spend has made the firm reconsider whether the high cost of AI tools is always worth it. “We’re going to have to start talking about token consumption and the associated cost versus headcount and making trades on that as an engineering organisation,” he said. “If you’re not actually able to draw a direct line to how many useful features and functionality you’re shipping…

  • Taiwan opens world’s longest single-mast bridge equipped with anti-earthquake tech

    Taiwan’s 920-metre-long Danjiang Bridge has opened to the public and now holds the world record for the longest single-mast cable-stayed bridge. The main section of the bridge, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, is around 30 metres longer than the Yugra Bridge in Surgut, Russia, which had held the record since 2000. Danjiang Bridge spans the mouth of the Tamsui, the major river flowing through Taiwan’s capital Taipei, and will provide a direct link with Bali District in New Taipei City. Its installation will also reduce traffic congestion on local roads by connecting several highways and expressways on both sides of the river. Taiwan is prone to earthquakes because of its location on the boundary of active tectonic plates. As a result, Danjiang has been built to withstand earthquakes…

  • Fusion simulations run 50 times faster with new method

    Researchers have been able to accelerate fusion energy simulations by up to 50 times while preserving critical physical detail. A team at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), a major German research facility, have developed a new method to speed up complex simulations of how matter behaves under extreme conditions, reducing the computational demands on supercomputers. For instance, fusion energy is being researched around the world as a potential source of almost limitless, clean energy. However, before it is anywhere near deployable, researchers need to fully understand what temperatures and pressures are present in such extreme states of matter. To understand what happens, researchers use X-ray scattering. Essentially, a high-intensity X-ray beam penetrates the sample and…

  • Nasa details trio of missions to prepare the lunar surface for future Moon base

    Nasa has detailed a series of lunar rovers, drones and equipment that it plans to send to the Moon as part of plans for a crewed landing and eventual Moon base. The agency also outlined plans to send the Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies (SCALPSS) instrument to the Moon later this year. This will study how rocket exhaust displaces lunar soil during a spacecraft’s descent and landing. As the Artemis programme shifts to launching larger, heavier payloads and building sustained structures at the lunar south pole, engineers must predict how thruster plumes interact with the ground prior to the manned landing that will take place in 2028. In addition to SCALPSS, Nasa plans to deploy an instrument called the Laser Retroreflective Array, which helps orbiting spacecraft determine a…

  • Miniature ground station achieves laser data link with satellite

    Oxford-based laser communications company Archangel Lightworks has successfully completed field trials of the TERRA-M, the world's smallest deployable operational optical ground station. The trials were funded by the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and saw the ground station, which is approximately the size of a mini-fridge, securely and rapidly transfer data between itself and a satellite in low-Earth orbit (LEO). The TERRA-M was placed in an unspecified location in the Mediterranean and, during a 90-second satellite pass, many gigabytes of data were downloaded, proving the capability of its laser communications technology. Laser communications transmit information using very low power, non-visible light instead of radio waves. As light has a much shorter wavelength…

  • Recycling push could slash Europe’s reliance on Chinese rare earths

    More than half of Europe’s demand for critical minerals (CRM) could be met within the continent itself if a robust recycling system is implemented, researchers have said. Europe is currently facing difficulties in sourcing enough CRMs to fuel its green, digital and defence sectors. With many countries around the world decarbonising their energy grids and moving towards electric vehicles (EVs), global demand for the elements is expected to increase. China has long been the dominant player in the market, accounting for around 70% of global mining production and over 90% of global processing of rare earth metals – a key subset of CRMs. While the elements can be found outside of China, decades of investment in supply chains mean the country has by far the most robust production pipeline. …

  • New heat-resistant material could help astronauts build on the Moon

    Researchers at Nasa have discovered a new material with extreme heat resistance that could be used in future lunar structures and vehicles. Nasa is researching ways in which future lunar astronauts could harness resources on the Moon to support life, such as using materials to build infrastructure. A team at its Glenn Research Centre in Cleveland has studied how various materials interact with melted Moon rocks, which are highly corrosive, quickly wearing through a lot of materials. They combined simulated lunar dust with a compound called scandium oxide. Following heat treatment using a furnace that can reach around 1,590°C, the mixture had formed into a completely new material – one that did not match any of the more than one million substances in their X-ray analysis database. To…

  • Interview: Why Pablos Holman believes AI and nuclear can transform the future

    Don’t worry, be happy: meet Pablos Holman, the tech evangelist who’s (mostly) optimistic about a global future centred on AI and nuclear energy. Intellectuals in the public eye are different from what they used to be. Once they were venerable Oxbridge dons who might risk their reputations by stepping out from their ivory towers to explain the complexities of the modern world in what they imagined to be the common tongue. Now, they’re technology’s rock stars. They wear black leather jackets and funky eyewear, and sprinkle their lectures with unprintable vocabulary (for E+T, at least). They also express their ideas in broad brush strokes that seem to imply the outline of the message is more important than the detail. When Pablos Holman bounds onto the stage to deliver his keynote at the…

  • Fighting the fog of war with AI and satellite communications

    Ahead of the IET’s annual International Satcoms Conference in June, we look at how technology can help deal with the battlefield’s biggest imponderable: friction. In May 2025, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced £1bn of investment in technology to speed up battlefield decision-making. Technology, military planners hope, will help overcome battlefield friction, a phrase coined by 19th-century German philosopher of war Carl von Clausewitz to describe unforeseen circumstances and challenges that occur on the battlefield to disrupt or delay operations. In Clausewitz’s seminal work On War, he surmised that friction could be caused by logistical and supply issues, equipment malfunction, environmental factors such as weather and terrain, communication breakdowns, or unexpected actions taken…

  • Ferrari unveils the Luce, its first all-electric vehicle

    Italian luxury sports car maker Ferrari has unveiled the Luce, a €550,000 electric vehicle (EV) with a top speed of 310km/h and a 530km range. Unveiled at an event in Rome, the brand said its launch marks “the beginning of a new chapter in Ferrari’s storied history of engineering excellence and innovation”. Drawing on in-house electric technology developed through its World Endurance Championship programme and ocean-racing yacht Hypersail project, the Italian marque has showcased its EV ambitions while rival brands such as Porsche and Lamborghini are scaling back. Like its predecessors, the Luce’s main components are engineered, developed and manufactured in-house at its facility in Maranello, Italy, from the electric engines to the battery pack. As such, the project includes more than…

  • IBM and US government plan US-based $2bn quantum wafer foundry

    IBM and the US Department of Commerce have announced plans for a US-based quantum chip foundry aimed at scaling quantum computing from laboratory research towards industrial-scale manufacturing. The quantum foundry will be built by a standalone IBM company called Anderon, which will see $1bn in funding from the US Department of Commerce under the CHIPS and Science Act and a further $1bn from IBM itself. The US tech giant will also invest intellectual property, assets and a skilled workforce to the initiative. Based in Albany, New York, the project aims to create a purpose-built quantum fabrication platform to manufacture wafers for multiple quantum technology companies across the globe. Anderon’s facility is expected to support 300mm wafer processing for quantum hardware including superconducting…

  • Modular micro-refineries to extract rare earths from waste streams at source

    A UK tech firm has developed modular micro-refineries to extract and process rare earth elements from industrial waste at source, reducing reliance on China. Silex World, a spin-out from the University of Leeds, has launched a modular micro-refinery that can recover and recycle rare earth elements and other metals locally from waste streams, instead of sending the waste away to large centralised refineries. Rare earth elements feature in a vast array of high-tech and everyday products, from electronics and medical equipment to clean energy and defence systems. While these elements are primarily extracted through mining, there is also a growing market to extract these elements from end-of-life products or electronics waste and refine them so they can be reused. Currently, China is a dominant…

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