• Book review: ‘The Future of Geography’ by Tim Marshall

    From the author of the bestsellers ‘Prisoners of Geography’ and ‘The Power of Geography’, we now have Tim Marshall’s enlightening ‘The Future of Geography’  (Elliott & Thompson, £20, ISBN 9781783966875), extending his geopolitical series not only into an informal trilogy, but also into space. Those still thinking that geography is about capital cities and national flags are invited to visit the brave new world of the next phase of extraterrestrial human exploration, in which engineering and technology are the instruments of propulsion, survival and power. With thousands of satellites already in low-Earth orbit (LEO), we’re used to the idea of mature technology circulating in space. But the 21st century has seen the emergence of private space-tech entrepreneurs who smell money in the stars…

  • Scientists develop wearable system for for deep-tissue monitoring on the go

    The University of California San Diego researchers have made a giant leap forward in wireless ultrasound monitoring for subjects in motion, by developing the  first fully integrated autonomous wearable ultrasound system for deep-tissue monitoring.  Traditional soft ultrasonic sensors all require tethering cables for data and power transmission, which largely constrains the user’s mobility. In contrast, the team's ultrasonic system-on-patch (USoP), can continuously measure central blood pressure, heart rate, cardiac output, and other physiological signals of users on the go, for up to twelve hours at a time.  “This project gives a complete solution to wearable ultrasound technology—not only the wearable sensor, but also the control electronics are made in wearable form factors,” said Muyang…

  • Restructured kerbside recycling schemes could pay for themselves

    Researchers from the University of Florida compared the economic and environmental value of community recycling efforts and compared it to the value of other climate change mitigation practices. They found that recycling provides a return on investment similar to or better than environmentally friendly strategies like transitioning to electric vehicles or electricity from renewable energy sources. “Eliminating recycling squanders one of the easiest opportunities for communities and citizens to help lessen the impact of climate change and reduce our demands on natural resources,” said Timothy Townsend, a professor of environmental engineering sciences at the University of Florida and one of the study’s authors. “Recycling won’t solve the problem alone, but it is part of the puzzle.” In…

  • To ID, or not to ID? How to solve the UK's digital identity dilemma

    In February this year, Sir Tony Blair and Lord William Hague released a report aimed at tackling the UK's productivity and innovation crisis . But they inadvertently dredged up a discussion on ID cards that few were ready to have, serving to underline once again the public's distrust toward government-controlled schemes. People in the UK probably don't realise how many government IDs they already have, including tax returns, benefits, council payments and driving licences. But this doesn't mean the UK is ready for a formal digital identity card. Maybe it is OK that these various forms of ID remain disjointed, even if it is neither convenient nor efficient. The key issue is trust, and the public have to believe there is no overreach when they login to a service. One way to build trust is…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Meta fined a record €1.2bn for GDPR breach

    The record fine was levied by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) after a three-year probe into the social media giant. The DPC said that Meta had breached part of the European GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) rules in the way that it had moved data of Facebook users across borders. It ordered Meta Ireland to “suspend any future transfer of personal data to the US within the period of five months” and also levied a record fine on the business “to sanction the infringement that was found to have occurred”. Meta called the fine “unjustified”. The multi-year process which led to the fine was kicked off by Edward Snowden in 2013 when the National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower revealed that US authorities were surveilling systems run by several US companies. Companies…

  • WMO urges expansion of extreme weather early warning systems

    The WMO has issued the new findings amid efforts to scale up action to ensure that early warning services reach everyone on Earth by the end of 2027. While economic losses have soared, the WMO said that improved early warnings and coordinated disaster management has slashed the human casualty toll over the past half a century. Over 90 per cent of reported deaths worldwide occurred in developing countries. The USA alone incurred $1.7tn, accounting for 39 per cent of economic losses worldwide in the 51 years. Poorer countries suffered a disproportionately high cost in relation to the size of their economies. “The most vulnerable communities unfortunately bear the brunt of weather, climate and water-related hazards,” said WMO secretary-general professor Petteri Taalas. “Extremely severe…

  • China says Micron chips pose ‘major security risk’

    China has made its first major move in the IT trade war between Washington and Beijing by telling its operators not to use Micron chips in certain infrastructure projects, due to national security concerns. The decision was announced in a six-sentence statement by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) on Sunday, although the agency provided no further details regarding the security concerns or the specific products affected.  Nonetheless, the decision could affect a broad swathe of sectors in China, including telecommunications, transport and finance. "The review found that Micron's products have serious network security risks, which pose significant security risks to China's critical information infrastructure supply chain, affecting China's national security," the CAC said. …

  • Volcanic eruptions shown to disrupt satellite comms links

    The ionosphere is the region of the Earth’s upper atmosphere where molecules and atoms are ionised by solar radiation, creating positively charged ions. The area with the highest concentration of ionised particles is called the F-region, an area 150 to 800km above the Earth’s surface. This region plays a crucial role in long-distance radio communication, reflecting and refracting radio waves used by satellite and GPS tracking systems back to the Earth’s surface. But according to scientists at Nagoya University in Japan, these transmissions can be disrupted by irregularities in the F-region. During the day, the ionosphere is ionised by the sun’s ultraviolet radiation, creating a density gradient of electrons with the highest density near the equator. However, disruptions to this, which…

  • G7 nations create working group to establish common AI standards

    During the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, representatives of the G7 nations stressed the need to establish global rules for generative AI tools "in line with our shared democratic values". All members of the G7 group - the US, Japan, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Canada and the EU - agreed that tech governance had not kept up with the rapid pace at which the technology has developed, and called on all nations to asses its impact.  "We recognise the need to immediately take stock of the opportunities and challenges of generative AI, which is increasingly prominent across countries and sectors," the G7 statement said. "We task relevant ministers to establish the Hiroshima AI process, through a G7 working group, in an inclusive manner... for discussions on generative AI by the end of this…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • View from India: IT hardware producers get market support

    The Union Cabinet has set aside a budgetary outlay of 17,000 crore rupees (£1.65bn) for the second iteration of the scheme for this sector. IT hardware includes laptops, tablets, all-in-one PCs, servers and ultra-small form factor devices. Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Union Minister for IT and Telecom, has announced that the PLI 2.0 is expected to create 75,000 direct jobs along with over 2,00,000 indirect jobs, significantly increasing employment opportunities in the sector. Vaishnaw has indicated that companies like Dell, HP, Acer and Asus are looking at India. Announced last week, the PLI scheme 2.0 could also generate exports and contribute towards forex (foreign exchange). A multiplier effect is that allied industries such as software development, e-commerce and logistics-supply chain-vendors…

  • Great British Railways project at risk, reports suggest

    The creation of Great British Railways (GBR) - former prime minister Boris Johnson's plan to simplify the British rail network - may not be included in the King's speech this year, leading to the formation of a diminished body with only a fraction of the powers included in the original proposal.  Officials at the Department for Transport reportedly revealed this information to The Times, stating that the project was not a priority for current prime minister Rishi Sunak's government.  First announced in 2021, Great British Railways was meant to absorb the state-owned infrastructure management company Network Rail and take on many functions from the DfT, including issuing passenger service contracts to private companies to run trains. In March this year, Derby was revealed as the winner…

  • Most methane emissions unregulated despite climate impact, study finds

    A team from Queen Mary University of London (QMU) found that little is known about the effectiveness of the policies that exist, with potentially unrepresentative methane emission estimations used rather than actual measurements. Inaccurate estimations can also mean the issue is taken less seriously by decision-makers by masking its severity. The researchers argue that the lack of regulation and clarity into their impact must urgently be addressed if the world is going to meet climate targets. Another study from 2022 found that global methane emissions from the energy sector are about 70 per cent greater than the amount national governments have officially reported. Enhanced monitoring efforts and stronger policy action were called for to drive down emissions of the greenhouse gas which…

  • Hands-on review: Majority Tru 2 ANC Bluetooth earbuds

    Having already covered practically every audio product angle in the consumer technology sphere - from headphones and soundbars to DAB radios and streaming players - noise-cancelling earbuds were almost inevitable from Cambridge, UK-based company Majority. Naturally, the Tru 1 earbuds came first, as a true wireless set. There's also the Earth-friendly Tru Bio , also true wireless. Now there's the Tru 2 pair, true wireless and noise-cancelling earbuds. With the Tru 2, Majority has taken the black yin approach to Apple's white yang, with the only available colourway being black. A dark and moody classic. The finish is a satin matte on the buds themselves with more of a gloss elsewhere on the body, which helps create a subtle two-tone effect in the light. The USB-C charging case also has the…

  • UK to boost semiconductor industry with £1bn plan to reduce reliance on China

    The 20-year plan sets out how the UK will safeguard supply chains for the technology and protect it against national security risks. The investment, which will be spread over the next decade and includes up to £200m over the next two years, should improve access to infrastructure, power more research and development, and facilitate greater international cooperation for firms in the sector. It will look at whether better access to prototyping facilities for chip firms is needed to tackle barriers to innovation and grow the industry. It will also explore opportunities to make specialist software tools more available for start-ups. It comes as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visits the G7 leaders’ Summit in Japan for discussions on strengthening technology ties with the country. Over a trillion…

  • Sunak vows to establish AI ‘guardrails’

    The Prime Minister has travelled to Hiroshima, Japan, where he is expected to speak to the countries present at the G7 summit about the need for a global approach to regulating AI technologies.  Speaking with journalists on the plane to Tokyo, Sunak said that AI is beneficial to the UK but must be introduced “safely and securely with guardrails in place”. “We have taken a deliberately iterative approach because the technology is evolving quickly and we want to make sure that our regulation can evolve as it does as well,” he said. “I think that the UK has a track record of being in a leadership position and bringing people together, particularly in regard to technological regulation in the online safety bill … And again, the companies themselves, in that instance as well, have worked with…

  • ‘Funding gap’ in crucial plan to protect London from flooding

    In the updated plan, which was consulted on over the autumn, the EA said defences upstream of the Thames Barrier in inner London will need to be raised 15 years earlier than had originally been planned. The regulator's new and improved climate models had illustrated the “heightened risk of flooding from a warming climate and rising sea levels” and that these defences would therefore need to be raised in 2050. The plan, known as 'Thames Estuary 2100', sets out how the EA aims to protect more than 1.4 million people and £321bn of property until the end of the century. It is estimated the plan will cost £16bn to implement.   There is a network of more than 330km of walls and embankments, nine major barriers and gates - including the Thames Barrier - and over 400 other structures including…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Britain awards first 20 offshore carbon storage licences

    Once the storage sites are in operation, they are expected to store up to 30 million tonnes of CO 2 per year by 2030, approximately 10 per cent of the UK's annual emissions.  The licences cover an area of around 12,000 square kilometres in size, located near Aberdeen, Teesside, Liverpool and Lincolnshire. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology involves filtering carbon from industrial smokestacks before it hits the atmosphere and storing it underground, to avoid it being held in the atmosphere and contributing to global warming.  According to the NSTA, the licences include a range of geological store types and were selected following a process that considered attributes such as geology, proximity to existing infrastructure and links to industrial clusters that are expecting carbon…

  • Government expected to miss target for installations of rapid EV chargers

    Less than a quarter of 119 motorway services reviewed by the RAC on Zapmap currently have the target number of chargers to serve the UK’s estimated 760,000 battery electric vehicles. The RAC’s research found there are around 400 high-powered charging units situated at motorway services capable of charging 682 electric cars at one time. This means there is currently an average of just over three rapid or ultra-rapid chargers at motorway services. There are currently fewer than 43,000 public charge points in the whole of the UK. A study from 2021 found that the installation of chargers needs to increase by five times the current rate if the plan to phase out petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030 is to be achieved. Last year, the government published a plan to accelerate the roll-out of high…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Amputees able to feel warmth again in phantom hand with new device

    The MiniTouch wearable device consists of a small sensor placed on an amputee’s prosthetic finger and electrodes that mimic sensations on the residual arm. The electrodes on the amputated arm are able to relay the temperature of the object being touched by the finger sensor, giving “the illusion that we are cooling down, or warming up, missing fingers”. The researchers said their findings could allow amputees to have temperature-sensing technology built into their prosthetic limbs, without the need for invasive technology. The team said they developed MiniTouch after unexpectedly discovering that amputees somehow are able to feel temperatures in their missing hand. Dr Solaiman Shokur, a neuroengineer and scientist at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, said…

  • Back Story: Sarah Chapman, ‘Role models who are less perfect have greater impact’

    Shini Somara: What do you do as an application engineering technical manager? Sarah Chapman: My company, 3M, makes a variety of products including industrial adhesives. My job is to manage a team of engineers who continue to develop sealing and bonding solutions for trains, planes and cars. It’s fascinating how widely used our products are. Before this job, I never appreciated this. I assumed, for example, that most vehicles were either screwed or welded together, but often adhesives can be used to keep weight to a minimum and help reduce component fatigue. Despite leading my team, I am constantly learning from their expertise. SS: In addition to your job, why are you so passionate about being a STEM Ambassador? SC: Originally a chemist, I feel it is my responsibility to help to improve…

  • Why ducted fuel-injection might be a game changer for heavy vehicles

    A 2016 New York Times article recounting the history of our relationship with diesel, from its invention in the 1800s to Volkswagen’s ‘Dieselgate’ scandal, concluded that the notion of clean diesel was “an oxymoron” . Exhaust from diesel engines contains harmful pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and soot particles. Although governments from the late 1990s onwards encouraged their uptake, in the belief that they were more environmentally friendly than petrol/gasoline equivalents, it has since been argued that diesel cars produce more than four times as much pollution . For the automotive sector, the solution was the introduction of regulations to discourage the use of diesel vehicles, while accelerating the uptake of electric alternatives. For commercial vehicles, however, it is not so…

  • The eccentric engineer: America’s most unlikely measurement

    Few things matter more in engineering than measurement. A 20-metre bridge over a 30-metre canyon has obvious drawbacks. And the peak of measurement recognition may be to have a unit named after you. To achieve this you generally need two things: to have been a scientific giant in your era, and be dead. That is unless you’re Oliver Reed Smoot. When Smoot became a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he had no idea he was going to, quite literally, become a unit of measurement. As a junior member, or ‘Pledge’, of the Lambda Zeta (MIT) chapter of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, he knew he would have to do his pledgemaster’s bidding and, as it happened, his pledgemaster had an interesting job for him. The fraternity were minded to measure the distance across the Harvard Bridge…

  • View from India: Navigate through green mobility as water metro makes waves

    Operated by Kochi Metro Rail Ltd, the Kochi Water Metro (KWM) connects 10 islands. In all, the KWM is spread across 78km and has a fleet of 78 electrically propelled hybrid ferries. This is a first of its kind project in India, and probably the first integrated water transport system of this size in Asia. Waterways form the backdrop of Kochi, which is bordered by the Arabian Sea. The KWM goes beyond the visual appeal of the waterways – it has a purpose. The aim is to develop an integrated water transport system with 15 identified routes. This integrated water transport project could provide intermodal connectivity between the bus terminal and the metro network. Increased connectivity and accessibility can lead to economic development. Kochi is considered the commercial capital of Kerala,…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Face unlock systems on smartphones tricked with printed face picture

    Since August 2022, the consumer firm has tested 48 new smartphones of which 19 (40 per cent) can be easily spoofed with a photo to get past the phone’s lock screen and gain access to the data on the device. The testers said that photos of the user, whose real-life image was registered with the device, were not even particularly high-resolution and were printed on a standard office printer on normal, rather than photo, paper. The flaw could be exploited by criminals to unlock the screen and steal personal information, the research concluded. The majority of the phones that failed the test were at the cheaper to mid-range end of the market, with prices from £89.99 for the Motorola Moto E13. Prices go up to much more expensive handsets, too, such as the Motorola Razr 2022, which launched…

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