• Letters to the editor: volume 18, issue 7

    Addressing rural ‘not spots’ should take priority over 6G The article in the July 2023 issue of IET Member News  regarding the ‘Why 6G?’ conference held earlier this year got me thinking. As a former chief engineer at Nokia Networks, I am 100 per cent supportive of research and development into mobile communication technologies. What concerns me is the growing gulf between R&D and deployment. Where I have retired to in rural Wiltshire, there are vast areas where the best mobile communications technology available is 3G, not even 4G let alone 5G. The planned switching-off of 3G – indeed, Vodafone has announced it will start switching off 3G from July this year – will leave most of the rural areas I drive through as mobile data ‘not spots’ with only 2G coverage. I’m not counting GPRS and…

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  • Could EV battery health scupper progress to net zero?

    With the residual price of electric vehicles softening recently, due to supply constraints improving for new EV production as well as ongoing concerns about the state of health of on-board batteries, industry leaders and policymakers may need to intervene to reassure motorists that used EVs are worth buying. Without this, the pace of the transition to EVs could start to slow, undermining progress to net zero. The price disparity that exists between battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and their fossil fuel-powered counterparts means that the former are likely to depreciate more quickly, simply because they are more expensive to start with. As the battery unit can account for as much as half of the overall cost of a new BEV, any degradation it may have suffered at the hands of a previous owner…

  • Book review: ‘The Deep Sky’ by Yume Kitasei

    ‘The Deep Sky’ (St Martin’s Press, £25.99, ISBN 9781250875334) is the debut novel from Brooklyn-based author Yume Kitasei. In the near future, Earth is reaching complete climate collapse – mass extinctions, refugee crises, crackling geopolitical tensions – so 80 young people are selected from a competitive programme to travel to a remote habitable planet and establish a new home for humanity. During the journey, a deliberate explosion kills three members of the crew and knocks the spaceship off course. Asuka, who witnessed the explosion, sets out to find the saboteur. ‘The Deep Sky’ presents some fascinating potential conflicts. All 80 members of the crew are expected to bear a child during the mission for the purpose of populating the distant planet, so the crew is female dominated with…

  • Robots could get muscles using a new ferroelectric material

    The team has demonstrated the potential of a  new type of ferroelectric polymer that can convert electrical energy into a mechanical strain with greater efficiency than previous methods. This material could be extremely useful in the development of medical devices, advanced robotics and precision positioning systems. This new polymer could overcome the limitations of traditional piezoelectric polymer composites. In doing so, it would offer a promising avenue for the development of soft actuators, which are materials that change shape when an external force is applied to them. In contrast to rigid actuators, soft actuators are extremely useful in the field of robotics due to  its strength, power and flexibility.  “Potentially we can now have a type of soft robotics that we refer to as…

  • Hands-on review: Imou Versa and Imou Cell Go security cameras

    Whatever your thoughts about the CCTV era, many people want the security of monitoring their own immediate environment. An Englishman's home is his castle, now with cameras. Imou makes a wide range of security cams, for both indoor and outdoor use. We had the Versa already lined up for review when the company announced the Cell Go, so we're taking a look at both cams here. The Versa is a straightforward indoor/outdoor 2K 2MP cam with a 114° diagonal field of view, a 2.8mm lens for focus up to 10m (32.8ft), H.265 video-compression technology, 'Smart Colour Night Vison', IP65 weather resistance, a built-in spotlight, and a deafening 110dB siren. It's also blissfully easy to install, with semi-permanent magnetic or sticker installation options, as well as a much more permanent drilling-and…

  • Book review: ‘The Path to a Sustainable Civilisation’

    Just over a century ago the ocean liner Titanic struck an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean. Within three hours it lay on the seabed, leaving 1500 dead. It’s a story that’s been told so many times that Mark Diesendorf and Rod Taylor don’t need to spend more than a few paragraphs on it. And yet they draw the reader’s attention to one perhaps lesser-known fact: which was that Titanic was going too fast. Today, say the authors at the start of their superb ‘The Path to a Sustainable Civilisation: Technological, Socioeconomic and Political Change’ (Palgrave Macmillan, £22.99, ISBN 9789819906628), planet Earth is much like that doomed ship: “a complex and trusted system capable of spectacular failure.” As with Titanic, warnings are being ignored in order to rush through economic priorities. Little…

  • Tactile tech could change how we experience the world

    NHS England estimates that around 250,000 people in the UK have had part or all of a limb removed. Prosthetics have improved significantly in recent decades, yet around a fifth of these amputees refuse to wear them and, of those who do, many are dissatisfied. At least one reason for this dissatisfaction is that prosthetic limbs don’t give the wearer any ‘feedback’ about the things with which they come into contact. US company Atom Limbs is trying to address this issue with the Atom Touch, a ‘mind-controlled’ prosthetic limb slated for release in 2024. When someone’s arm is removed, the neurons that once connected to their hands may still be in place and can still send signals from the stump to the brain. The Atom Touch has movement sensors in its hand, and these transmit electrical signals…

  • UK and EU approach a deal on Horizon programme membership, reports say

    The two powers have already drawn up a deal that could be signed in the following days, a Whitehall source has confirmed to the PA news agency.  The UK’s associate membership of the €95bn (£81bn) Horizon Europe programme was foreseen in the 2020 Brexit agreement. However, the EU   has been delaying the UK’s membership   due to the dispute over the Northern Ireland Protocol. Nonetheless, the signing of the Windsor Protocol in February has seemed to solve the disagreements.  The new draft would reportedly allow the UK to join the research programme. However, sources have pointed out that the cost of the membership could be a point of contention, and delay or even block negotiations.  “The EU have moved a little on the money but not nearly as much as the PM wants,” a source told PA. …

  • A vision for the future

    Recent technological advances are having a transformative impact on a variety of retinal conditions including age-related macular degeneration (AMD) – the leading cause of permanent loss of sight in the adult population, affecting 200 million people worldwide. In this disease, photoreceptors in the central retina gradually degenerate, resulting in the loss of high-resolution central vision, which impairs patients’ ability to read and recognise faces. An innovative implant developed in the US by researchers at Stanford University promises to help by replacing the lost photoreceptors with photovoltaic pixels. These convert light into electric current to stimulate the second-order neurons in the retina, thereby restoring the flow of information in the visual system. “The implant is completely…

  • Blasting lava with lasers could help predict volcanic eruptions, scientists say

    A team of international collaborators have trialled a new application to analyse volcanic lava and better understand volcanic eruptions. The new technique relies on an approach known as laser ablation inductively coupled plasma quadruple mass spectrometry. “It’s a mouthful, but this high-resolution technique offers clearer data on what’s chemically occurring within a volcano’s magma, which is fundamental to forecasting eruption patterns and changes,” said Dr Teresa Ubide from the University of Queensland’s School of the Environment. Ubide described magma as the "computer code" of volcanoes, providing information on the eruption style and lava flow.  “The chemical changes that occur within the liquid portion of the magma during a volcanic eruption are quite incredible,” Ubide said. “The…

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  • A dummies’ guide to the five basic senses

    Touch Touch is, in many ways, our most important sense. Deprive an infant of sight or hearing, and it will still develop normally. According to ‘Touch’, a book by neuroscientist David Linden, a baby deprived of physical contact in its early years will face a life of high stress levels, anxiety and fear. It doesn’t only help us understand our physical surroundings. We use it to express emotional contact, to ease loneliness and to share in joys and sorrows. The sense that we call touch is a variety of complex systems which work in unison to transmit information from our skin, our muscles and even our internal organs to the brain. Different kinds of nerve endings detect different kinds of information in specific ways. And this complexity makes designing technologies to enhance, augment or mimic…

  • AI predicts crystal orientation to improve manufacturing of electronic devices

    Crystals are a vital component of many machines. Familiar materials used in industry contain polycrystalline components, including metal alloys, ceramics and semiconductors. As polycrystals are made up of many crystals, they have a complex microstructure and their properties vary greatly depending on how the crystal grains are orientated. This is especially important for the silicon crystals used in solar cells, smartphones and computers. “To obtain a polycrystalline material that can be used effectively in industry, control and measurement of grain orientation distribution is required,” said Professor Noritaka Usami, of Nagoya University. “However, this is hindered by the expensive equipment and time current techniques need to measure large-area samples.” A Nagoya University team consisting…

  • UAE unveils plans to triple its energy resources by 2030

    The National Energy Strategy announced by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the UAE's vice president and ruler of Dubai, also includes investments in hydrogen fuel and developing infrastructure for electric vehicles (EV). The ambitious plan is part of the country's roadmap to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 and comes months before the COP28 climate conference, which will be hosted by the country in November. “The UAE presents a shining example for adopting policies and strategies that contribute to shaping a more sustainable future at home and globally,” said Suhail bin Mohammed Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure  in a press briefing . UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid provided more details of the strategy in a tweet.  ترأست اليوم اجتماعاً لمجلس…

  • Biden officials should restrict contact with social media firms, judge rules

    In a 155-page ruling, Judge Terry Doughty barred Biden officials from contacting social media platforms over "content containing protected free speech". The decision was the result of a lawsuit brought by former Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, who accused US government officials of going too far in efforts to encourage social media companies to address posts that contained misinformation regarding the Covid-19 pandemic. The case has sparked a debate over the government's role in moderating content published on online platforms. The ruling said certain government agencies could not talk to social media companies for "the purpose of urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction…

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  • AI could boost the British economy by £400bn by 2030, Google says

    The report states that the rise of OpenAI's ChatGPT and rival solutions such as Google's Bard would mark  the “most profound” technology shift in our lifetimes. It estimates that the economic boost from AI would be equivalent to annual growth of 2.6 per cent, creating £200bn in additional revenues for public services and “turning around the recent growth stagnation”. The report was produced alongside public policy research agency Public First and estimates that generative AI could save the average UK worker more than 100 hours a year, with this number amounting to 700,000 hours a year in administrative work for UK GPs and teachers. However, the report did not take into account the loss of some jobs and businesses that could come with the transition to an AI-powered economy. Moreover,…

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  • The bigger picture: Wearable robotic arms

    The Jizai Arms system consists of a backpack-like base unit with sockets for up to six arms, and interchangeable hand modules depending on the task. The arms can be controlled by the user, or remotely. The team from the University of Tokyo says the system “has been designed to facilitate social interaction among multiple users”, who can even exchange arms. In a research paper, they write: “Through our role-playing sessions, we observed that our bodies were able to accurately perceive the attachment/detachment of the arms, and we particularly felt a significant impact when detaching or reducing the number of robotic arms worn.” Image credit: Cover Images

  • Meta teases Threads, a new text app to rival Twitter

    Although the physical fight between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg has never materialised, the Facebook owner has posed a new challenge to the Tesla founder in the form of a new social media application.  Described as " Instagram’s text-based conversation app", Threads is currently available for pre-sale in the Apple store.  The app has been described by Meta as a platform " where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow". “Whatever it is you’re interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favorite creators and others who love the same things — or build a loyal following of your own to share your ideas, opinions and creativity with the world”, the Apple Store description reads. Meta has also launched…

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  • Science and technology top the bill at Edinburgh Fringe 2023

    The Edinburgh Fringe is back with a blast this summer. But the annual explosion of creativity has a new element. Gone are gloomy stage sets with heavy red curtains and an antique writing desk. At this first full-scale Fringe since Covid-19, digital screens make up the scenery and petri dishes the props. From experimental theatre addressing the climate crisis to the story of medical fraudster Elizabeth Holmes, there are more than 50 science and technology shows exerting their force of attraction. This year, science is topping the bill. Why has this collision of arts and science happened? Neil Harris, who’s performing his comedy Codebreaker (14-26 August, Greenside) about cracking the Enigma cipher, says science brings new chemistry. “There are hundreds of traditional shows by some exceptionally…

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  • China to curb exports of certain semiconductor materials

    The move has been justified as a decision by the Chinese government to "protect national security and interests", but experts have interpreted it as a retaliation measure against restrictions on the exportation of US and European semiconductor technology to China.  The eight gallium and six germanium products affected by the curbs are widely used in the production of semiconductors, electric vehicles and military equipment, and could cause a  disruption to global supply chains. The export controls will begin on 1 August, China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement. From that date on, exporters of gallium and germanium will be required to apply for “special permission from the state” to ship them out of China, the government added.  China is currently the biggest producer of gallium…

  • First UN meeting on the threats of artificial intelligence to be held in the UK

    The United Nations Security Council meeting will be held in the United Kingdom, and it has been presented as a centrepiece of the UK's presidency of the council.  The summit will focus on the major risks that would arise from governments using AI to develop autonomous weapons or control nuclear weapons. With this goal, it will include briefings by international AI experts and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Guterres has been known for speaking up against the risks of new technologies such as AI and has revealed plans to appoint a scientific advisory board with expertise in this area. He also said he would react favourably to the creation of a new UN agency on AI with some regulatory powers, similar to the International Atomic Energy Agency. “These scientists and experts have called…

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  • Amazon dolphin numbers threatened by proposed dams and dredging

    Amazon river dolphins are under threat from fishing and proposed new dams and dredging, research shows. Through the satellite tags, the team at the University of Exeter and Peruvian conservation organisation Pro Delphinus found that 89 per cent of the area the dolphins live in is currently being used for fishing. “It’s clear that the Amazon river dolphin is facing increasing threats from humans,” said Dr Elizabeth Campbell , a researcher on the study. “Fishing can deplete populations of the dolphins’ prey, and dolphins are also at risk from intentional killing and bycatch (accidental catching). “Bycatch has been known to be a threat to these dolphins for the last 30 years, but there’s no real data on how many dolphins are caught per year.” In the research, the river dolphins were found…

  • Twitter restricts number of tweets people can see; facing legal action over unpaid bills

    The news of the lawsuit broke one day after Twitter owner Elon Musk revealed its plan to begin restricting the number of tweets people can see in a day to 6,000 , sparking criticism from users and advertisers. Musk said Twitter had imposed the “temporary limit” to “address extreme levels of data scraping & system manipulation”. The announcement followed complaints of users being unable to access the site  from 12pm onwards on Saturday, only seeing a message that read “Rate limit exceeded. Please wait a few moments then try again”, which led to ' #Twitterdown' and 'RIP Twitter' to begin trending on the platform. Adam Leon Smith of BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, said it is “very odd to start rate-limiting the reading of a social network”, as limiting users’ scroll time “will affect…

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  • UK sets new limits on energy, industry and aviation carbon emissions

    The new limits have been announced in a package of reforms presented by the UK Emissions Trading Scheme Authority (UK ETS), the joint body comprising the UK Government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland.  The scheme has been in place since 2021 to replace the UK's participation in the European Union's ETS. It puts a limit on the total amount of greenhouse gases aviation, power and other energy-intensive industries can emit. However, from next year, the limits will be tightened to ensure industries bring their emissions down at the rate needed to reach net zero goals. The programme incentivises decarbonisation through a process of buying and selling emissions allowances, which companies must obtain for…

  • View from India: Technology ties to bind US partnership

    Technology could well play a defining role in deepening the India-US partnership. A number of collaborations support this view. A beginning may be the 'Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology' (iCET) that happened in January 2023. The strategic technology partnership involves both governments, businesses and academic institutions to realise their shared vision to take the alliance forward. To that effect, policies and regulations could be adapted to facilitate technology sharing, co-development and co-production opportunities. Then, in June 2023, the 'Strategic Trade Dialogue' was flagged with the intent of enabling greater technology transfer between both nations. This was one of the many outcomes of Modi’s recent visit to the US at Biden's invitation. Both leaders have issued joint…

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