• New Liverpool–Manchester rail line unveiled after HS2 link scrapped

    A new rail route connecting Liverpool with Manchester has been unveiled by the government as part of efforts to boost the Northern economy. The two cities were previously planned to be connected as part of HS2, but Phase 2 of the project was cancelled by Rishi Sunak in 2023 as part of a raft of cost-saving measures. The Department for Transport said the new route, dubbed Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR), would help to grow productivity in the North and potentially provide a £40bn uplift to the UK economy annually. The second phase of NPR will include 3 new stations at Manchester Airport, Manchester Piccadilly and Warrington Bank Quay Low Level along the route, with construction beginning in the 2030s. The proposal would also see improvements to busy stations including Liverpool Lime Street…

  • Hinkley Point C receives second nuclear reactor ahead of 2029 opening

    The second nuclear reactor has been delivered to Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant, marking a major milestone before its planned 2029 opening. 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. The delivery of the second ‘reactor pressure vessel’ is a major moment for the identical Unit 2. The pressure vessel harnesses nuclear fission to make heat and steam for the turbines. Each steel cylinder weighs in at 500 tonnes and is just 13 metres long. Work on Unit 1 has moved onto the fitting out of pipes, cables and equipment, while Unit 2 is focused on the completion of its buildings following the lifting of the dome last year. According to EDF, the experience gained by the team from constructing…

  • Thermal battery solution turns heat pumps into home energy storage systems – new study

    Home heat pumps can turn into compact energy storage units through a new system developed by Norwegian and Swiss researchers. Researchers at Norwegian research organisation SINTEF and Swiss company COWA Thermal Solutions have developed a compact thermal battery that allows home heat pumps to store excess heat and release it when needed. Galina Simonsen, a senior research scientist at SINTEF, said: “A heat pump that runs constantly is expensive, energy-consuming and can lead to overloading the power grid. With the new batteries, heat pumps combine storage and smart distribution of heat.” Heat pumps extract energy from the environment – air, soil or water – and transport the heat into the home. However, heat demand in households vary depending on usage patterns, time of day, outdoor temperature…

  • Perovskite solar cells made significantly more stable – new study

    New perovskite solar cells are able to retain around 95% of their performance after extended heat testing, according to a new study. A research team at the University of Manchester has enhanced the stability of perovskite solar cells by fine-tuning the small molecules that coat their surface. These molecules, known as amidinium ligands, effectively ‘glue’ the perovskite structure together. Professor Thomas Anthopoulos, professor of emerging optoelectronics at the University of Manchester, who led the research, said: “This could overcome one of the last major hurdles facing perovskite solar cell technology and ensure it lasts long enough for large-scale deployment.’ Perovskite has long been hailed as a game-changer for the next generation of solar power. Solar cells featuring a perovskite…

  • Traffic light ratings introduced for councils on pothole measures

    Motorists in England are now able to scrutinise how swiftly their local highway authority (LHA) is tackling potholes following the introduction of a traffic light system. A map released by the Department for Transport (DfT) grades 154 LHAs based on current road conditions and gives them a red, amber or green rating for the effectiveness of their pothole-fixing measures. The rating also takes into account how much the LHAs are spending on road repairs and whether they are following best practice. Last year, the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) estimated that the cost of repairs to rid England and Wales of its pothole problems and bring the road network up to ‘ideal’ conditions had reached almost £17bn. The government subsequently committed an additional £7.3bn to local road maintenance…

  • SpaceX granted approval to launch another 7,500 next-gen Starlink satellites

    The US government has approved SpaceX’s plan to launch thousands of next-generation Starlink satellites, significantly expanding the company’s global internet service. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said it had authorised SpaceX to deploy an additional 7,500 second-generation (Gen2) Starlink satellites. This brings the total number of satellites the company will have in orbit to around 15,000. The FCC said the approval marked a “significant milestone in global broadband connectivity” by enabling SpaceX to deliver high-speed, low-latency internet service globally. SpaceX began launching its Starlink satellites in 2019. As of January 2026, the constellation consists of over 9,422 satellites in low-Earth orbit (LEO). The FCC’s decision will allow SpaceX to upgrade its next…

  • Badenoch calls for under-16 social media ban in UK after Australia crackdown

    Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has called for a ban on all social media for children under the age of 16 a month after Australia enacted similar rules for its citizens. The government has not made any moves towards implementing such a policy despite a range of studies – including from the former US surgeon general Vivek Murthy – that link excessive social media use to negative impacts on children’s mental health. Speaking on BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Badenoch said: “What we are seeing is a lot of children spending so many hours a day on platforms that are profiting from their anxiety, from their distraction, and they are actually designed to be addictive. “So what we want to see is common sense, protection for children and freedom for adults. We want to give parents…

  • Drones capable of lifting people spark security fears in UK prisons

    Criminals are increasingly using sophisticated drones to infiltrate prisons to deliver contraband such as drugs or aid in prison escapes, MPs have warned. In a report, the Justice Committee said that the use of illicit drugs and their trade across prisons has reached “endemic” levels, which is fostering a “dangerous culture of acceptance that must be broken”. But it is the emergence of drones to deliver the drugs that represents a “paradigm shift” in how prisons should be thinking about tackling the drugs trade. As well as being able to bypass traditional perimeter security to deliver packages, the committee also heard about drones that could lift “a moderate-sized person”, which raises the threat that they could be used to aid in prison escapes. Recent data on drone incidents published…

  • O2 and Starlink team up to boost rural UK mobile coverage

    Virgin Media O2 has announced a deal with Elon Musk’s Starlink to bring satellite-based connectivity to rural areas across the UK. The deal will provide coverage in previous rural ‘not spots’ by automatically connecting phones via satellites when no standard mobile signal is available. Scheduled to launch in the first half of 2026, the new service, O2 Satellite, will initially offer messaging, maps and location services, with further improvements, such as voice and video calls, to follow. Virgin Media O2 has said the deal could see over 95% of the UK landmass covered within 12 months of launch. The service will connect to Starlink’s network of around 650 satellites, a satellite-to-mobile constellation in low-Earth orbit (LEO), delivering connectivity directly to compatible devices using…

  • Virgin gets green light to introduce trains on Channel Tunnel route for the first time

    The Virgin Group has announced a “landmark decision” by the rail regulator that allows it to press ahead with plans to launch a rival train service through the Channel Tunnel. Rail regulator the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has approved Virgin’s use of the Temple Mills International depot in East London. Virgin says this “landmark decision” means it can now move ahead with its plans to launch a rival international train service through the Channel Tunnel, introducing competition on the route for the first time. Eurostar has had exclusive use of the Channel Tunnel up to now, with around 400 trains passing through the tunnel each day. Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, said: “The ORR’s decision is the right one for consumers – it’s time to end this 30-year monopoly. …

  • Rolls-Royce successfully tests ‘world first’ methanol engine for carbon-free shipping

    The first high-speed marine engine that runs entirely on methanol has been demonstrated in initial bench tests at Rolls-Royce. Following six years in development, this bench test was a milestone, according to Denise Kurtulus, head of marine business at Rolls-Royce, who said: “We've proven that CO2-free marine propulsion with combustion engines is possible.” The engine manufacturer performed the test at its advanced engineering division in Friedrichshafen, Germany, demonstrating that a 2,000kW engine can run entirely on methanol. Dr Jörg Stratmann, CEO of Rolls-Royce Power Systems, said: “This is a genuine world first. To date, there is no other high-speed engine in this performance class that runs purely on methanol.” Methanol is considered one of the major contenders as a green shipping…

  • Nvidia to invest $1bn in Nokia to bring next-gen AI mobile networks to US

    Nvidia and Nokia have announced a strategic partnership to accelerate next-gen AI mobile networks to enable the US to “regain global telecommunications leadership”. The announcement was made during the tech giant’s annual Nvidia GPU Technology Conference (GTC), a major technology and developer event taking place in Washington DC. During his keynote speech, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang said that while telecommunications was the lifeblood of the US economy, wireless technology around the world was largely today “deployed on foreign technology”. “That has to stop – and we have an opportunity to do that. It’s time to get back into the game,” he said. By joining forces with Nokia, the aim is for the Finnish tech company to use Nvidia’s AI chips and software to build smarter, more…

  • Wind power saves UK consumers more than £100bn on energy bills since 2010, study finds

    The UK’s investment in wind power has led to far greater financial benefits for consumers than if the country had stuck with fossil fuels, according to a new study. Researchers at University College London have conducted a study highlighting the longer-term financial benefits wind power has brought to UK consumers, compared with a scenario where the country kept investing in gas instead. The results show that, from 2010 to 2023, wind power delivered a net benefit of £104.3bn to UK consumers – £14.2bn from lower electricity prices and £133.3bn from reduced natural gas prices, partially offset by £43.2bn in government-backed price guarantees. UK wind energy production has escalated significantly since 2010. Then, more than 75% of electricity was generated from fossil fuels. Today, coal…

  • OpenAI reveals data on ChatGPT users showing signs of crisis or suicidal intent

    OpenAI’s conversational AI chatbot ChatGPT has weekly conversations with over one million people exhibiting suicidal thoughts, according to company data. Based on this data, around 0.07% of ChatGPT users active in a given week exhibited possible signs of mental health emergencies related to psychosis or mania. Additionally, around 0.15% of users active in a given week have conversations that include explicit indicators of potential suicidal planning or intent. The use of ChatGPT has exploded in recent years. First released for public use in late 2022, the chatbot quickly garnered attention for its detailed responses and articulate answers across many domains of knowledge. Today its weekly active users are estimated to be around 800 million. So while the percentages above are tiny, considering…

  • India’s cities are sinking as groundwater overuse weakens foundations

    Many of India’s largest cities are sitting on increasingly unstable land that threatens the structural integrity of thousands of buildings and the millions of people who occupy them. Virginia Tech scientists have carried out a study into the country’s groundwater overuse, which is an increasing problem. Unsustainable extraction is often driven by factors such as subsidised electricity for farmers, and results in aquifers being depleted faster than they can be recharged. In 2023, the state of Rajasthan, home to major cities such as Jaipur and Jodhpur, consumed as much as 149% of its annual groundwater recharge – in other words, for every litre of groundwater recharged through rainfall, nearly 1.5 litres of water were extracted. “When cities pump more water from aquifers than nature can…

  • Chip shortages could threaten US and European car production amid China tensions

    US and European automotive supply chains are at risk of chip shortages due to tensions with China-owned chipmaker Nexperia, warn industry lobby groups. The Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (Mema), the largest vehicle supplier association in the US, has said that the car industry’s supply of crucial chips from Nexperia could run dry amid ongoing geopolitical tension between China and the Netherlands. Mema predicts that US auto plants are two to four weeks away from “significant impacts” on vehicle production if no solution is found quickly. Founded in 2017, Nexperia, once part of Dutch electronics group Philips, is headquartered in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, but it is 100%-owned by China’s Wingtech Technology. Nexperia produces legacy or older generation logic chips crucial…

  • Ultra-HD TVs often exceed what the human eye can perceive, study reveals

    Consumers are often getting very few additional visual benefits from buying ultra-HD TVs for their living rooms, scientists at the University of Cambridge and Meta have said. The human eye naturally has a resolution limit beyond which a higher resolution screen offers no discernible benefits. Typically, the distance from the screen determines whether having a higher pixel density is worthwhile or not. While consumers are often bombarded with technical information from manufacturers when buying a new TV – such as whether full HD, 4K or 8K offers them the best viewing experience – the latest study finds that the improved specs often do not yield the claimed benefits. To calculate the resolution limit, the researchers measured participants’ ability to detect specific features in colour and…

  • Japan launches advanced cargo spacecraft to resupply ISS

    Japan’s new HTV-X cargo spacecraft has successfully blasted off on its first-ever mission to the International Space Station (ISS). HTV-X, also known as the New Space Station Resupply Vehicle, is an uncrewed cargo spacecraft developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa). The HTV-X1 is the first demonstration mission of the HTV-X, which launched into space atop the H3 launch vehicle from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center on 26 October 2025. Jaxa reported that the launch went as planned, with HTV-X1 separating from the launch vehicle approximately 14 minutes after lift off. Talking to reporters, Jaxa president Hiroshi Yamakawa called the launch “a major step forward” that demonstrated Japan’s capability of delivering supplies to space, which serves as “the basis of autonomous…

  • Delhi to use cloud seeding to induce rain in bid to combat choking smog

    India is set to deploy the country’s first cloud seeding project in a bid to wash away pollution in Delhi, the world’s most polluted city. The Delhi government has announced that the city’s first cloud seeding flight trial has been successfully conducted ahead of a full-scale deployment on 29 October 2025, weather permitting. Rekha Gupta, chief minister of Delhi, said in a statement that the city is “ready to induce artificial rain through cloud seeding for the first time in its history”. She added that this “ambitious pollution-control experiment” represents a major technological milestone to combat Delhi’s worsening air quality. Delhi is ranked as one of the most polluted cities in the world. In November 2021, schools were closed indefinitely and some coal-based power plants shut…

  • UK’s airport expansion plans ‘inconsistent with climate goals’, MPs say

    The recent raft of airport expansion plans is inconsistent with the UK’s climate change goals and puts the delivery of net zero carbon in “serious jeopardy”, MPs on the cross-party Environmental Audit Committee have said. After coming into office last year, Labour approved a raft of airport projects – most prominently the controversial third runway at Heathrow Airport. Since then, Gatwick airport has also been given permission to build a second, £2.2bn runway, which will increase its flight capacity by around 100,000 a year, and Stansted airport was given the green light for a £1.1bn expansion of its terminal. The committee’s inquiry found that government policies are insufficient to deliver a reduction in carbon emissions from the aviation sector in line with carbon budgets. A further…

  • Nissan tests extendable solar roof to cut EVs’ reliance on plug-in charging

    Nissan has unveiled an electric car with an extendable solar roof that allows it recharge on the road without plugging in. Named the Ao-Solar Extender, the system has been installed on Japan’s top-selling EV – the Nissan Sakura – and can generate enough solar electricity in a year to power up to 2,900km of driving. The roof-mounted panel can charge the vehicle both while driving and when parked, but when stationary it extends to get more sun coverage and improve charging speeds. When extended, the power generation potential increases to approximately 500W while also creating shade that helps keep the interior cool. In its retracted state, the panel can generate about 300W in ideal conditions, or 80W during the darkest, rainiest days. Based on the size of the battery and the panel’s output…

  • Tiny pupil-sized screen delivers ‘breakthrough’ in resolution and clarity

    Researchers have developed a retina e-paper that uses tiny pixels to produce a display indistinguishable from reality. A team across three Swedish universities – Chalmers University of Technology, the University of Gothenburg and Uppsala University – has created a tiny, pupil-sized screen with an ultra-high display of over 25,000 pixels per inch. They say this represents the smallest amount of pixels ever achieved on a screen that the human eye can perceive, which could offer a breakthrough for virtual or augmented reality applications. The current issue with such applications is that as the screen moves closer to the eye, the pixels that comprise it need to get smaller and smaller. However, currently pixels cannot be made small enough. For example, on a micro-LED screen, pixels can…

  • Turbine design aims to capture train tunnel winds for clean power

    Researchers are attempting to harness the extreme winds found in railway tunnels for use in renewable energy facilities. A team from the University of Manchester are designing vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) that capture airflow generated by trains moving through tunnels – known as the piston effect. With standard overground trains, airflow typically reaches speeds of around 36–72km/h as the train passes. But with high-speed rail such as the Eurostar or France’s TGV, where trains travel at 250–320km/h, wind speeds can reach up to 180km/h. The project, which begins with the Transpennine Route Upgrade project, will explore how this untapped energy source can be integrated into transport infrastructure, providing clean electricity and supporting the UK’s decarbonisation goals. Because…

  • Airbus, Leonardo and Thales merge space divisions to form European rival to SpaceX

    Airbus, Leonardo and Thales are combining forces to form a new major European player in the space sector designed to compete with the likes of SpaceX, Blue Origin and Boeing. The unnamed new company, which is expected to begin operations in 2027, plans to pool technological expertise around space infrastructure in order to improve its ability to compete against well-funded American rivals. The combined entity estimates it will eventually employ around 25,000 people across Europe with an annual turnover of about €6.5bn based on the existing space activities of the three firms. Ownership of the new company will be shared among the parent companies, with Airbus, Leonardo and Thales owning respectively 35%, 32.5% and 32.5% stakes. While Airbus currently has the biggest standalone presence…

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