• Pet tech boom: biometrics and AI gain favour among cat and dog owners

    Anyone who’s noted the increased numbers of dog walkers in their neighbourhood will know that the Covid-19 crisis unleashed a pet ownership boom. Millions acquired four-footed companions to help them through the stresses of home isolation. The People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals found that 36% of all current UK owners of dogs, cats and rabbits acquired their pets after March 2020, indicating that 4.1 million dogs and 3.7 million cats have been homed since the onset of the pandemic.  Pet population rises synced with other digital dependencies heightened by lockdown. Our use of connected technology helped to manage routine but essential aspects of daily life, from grocery delivery to virtual medical check-ups. And as more pet food was added to online shopping baskets, it became clear that…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • UK Armed Forces to get £88m sensor upgrade to detect chemical threats in battle

    It will be a first of its kind for the UK Armed Forces, as the wearable sensor will be able to detect threats from both vapours and aerosols. Under the contract, UK firm Smiths Detection will develop three next-generation chemical sensor products for the MoD, to be operational by 2028. This includes a wearable personal chemical agent sensor that continually monitors the environment around the user, a survey chemical agent sensor that can check potentially hazardous areas or surfaces, and a remote chemical sensor for use in fixed locations. As new hazards emerge in the future, the equipment can be continually updated and improved, identifying a greater range of chemical threat coverage, the MoD said. Minister for defence procurement James Cartlidge said: “It’s vital we protect our service…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • US agency sues Elon Musk over $44bn Twitter takeover

    The long-running feud between Musk and the SEC has escalated, as the Tesla owner now faces a lawsuit over the company’s purchase of social media platform Twitter, now rebranded as X . The SEC is investigating w hether Musk broke federal law in 2022 when he bought stock in the platform and the paperwork that he filed in relation to the transaction.   Before the billionaire obtained full control over Twitter, Musk bought a 9.2 per cent stake in the company, becoming its  majority shareholder. The purchase was not disclosed in an SEC filing until the following month and led the company's other shareholders to sue Musk, with no success.  Musk’s purchase of Twitter stocks merely months before his acquisition of the platform could see him facing charges of insider trading, market manipulation…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • MPs call for ‘urgent stop’ to police use of facial recognition tech

    Earlier this week, policing minister Chris Philp proposed giving police access to more than 45 million images stored in the passport photos database for use in facial recognition technology, to help catch criminals like shoplifters and burglars. But a joint statement backed by dozens of MPs and peers, including former Brexit secretary David Davis MP, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, Green MP Caroline Lucas and former shadow attorney-general Shami Chakrabarti, warns of “serious concerns” about the “incompatibility with human rights” and “discriminatory impacts” of facial recognition surveillance. It also said expanded use of the technology lacked sufficient legal basis and a democratic mandate. Governments around the world are considering whether to prohibit or permit the use of live…

  • Government pledges £70m for ‘next-gen’ telecommunications technology

    The UK government has announced a £70m investment into the Future Telecoms UKRI Technology Missions Fund.  In addition to the pledge, the government has also joined the new Global Coalition on Telecommunications (GCOT), a new global coalition to bolster telecoms security, resilience and innovation. Its members include Australia, Canada, Japan and the US.   The announcement has been described as part of an effort to ensure the UK becomes a global leader in 6G technology, improving the capacity and speeds of data transfer.  “Telecommunications networks are the lifeline of global economies, and safeguarding their resilience and security in an evolving, interconnected world is a top priority for our governments,” said Michelle Donelan, secretary of state for science, innovation and technology…

  • Government not doing enough to halt ‘devastating’ wildlife declines, report finds

    According to The Wildlife Trusts’ State of Nature report, most of the important habitats are in “poor condition”, but restoration projects could still help to rehabilitate some of the wildlife that has been lost. The species studied have declined by an average of 19 per cent since monitoring began in 1970. But some groups have fared much worse than others, such as birds (43 per cent), amphibians and reptiles (31 per cent), fungi and lichen (28 per cent) and terrestrial mammals (26 per cent). Species such as the turtle dove, hazel dormouse, lady’s slipper orchid and European eel now face an uncertain future, and there have also been declines in the distributions of more than half (54 per cent) of the UK’s flowering plant species, with species such as heather and harebell significantly at…

  • UK to investigate Amazon and Microsoft’s cloud sector dominance

    The investigation will address  the supply of public cloud infrastructure services in the UK. The CMA will look at the market dominance of cloud ‘hyperscalers’, namely Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft’s Azure, which together   hold approximately 60 to 70 per cent of the cloud services market share.   Google is their closest competitor with a share of somewhere between 5 and 10 per cent. “Many businesses now completely rely on cloud services, making effective competition in this market essential,” said CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell. “ The CMA’s independent inquiry group will now carry out an investigation to determine whether competition in this market is working well and, if not, what action should be taken to address any issues it finds.” The watchdog’s probe follows Ofcom…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • The drones and cameras that could keep homes secure

    The pandemic lockdown was not a good time for burglars, who rely on people being out to make a living. But now, with near-normal life returned, the opportunistic thief may soon find that, having wrenched open the back door, they are greeted by a whirring drone shining a torchlight and filming their faces.  Just a few years ago, it was only the wealthy and overly cautious who had security cameras on their property. Today, one in five UK households has a video doorbell to monitor visitors to their home. And with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) and drones, home security devices are about to rise to new heights.  Amazon’s home camera pioneer Ring, based in California, has started consumer trials in the US for its latest product, the ‘Always at Home’ autonomous indoor drone. Expected…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Global power sector emissions may have peaked in 2023, study finds

    According to the Ember think tank, emissions from the sector plateaued in the first half of 2023, with just a slight increase of 0.2 per cent compared to the same period last year. During this time, wind and solar were the only electricity sources that significantly increased both their generation, as well as share in the global power mix. Across the globe, 50 countries set new monthly solar generation records in the first half of 2023. China continues to be the leader in solar generation, providing 43 per cent of global growth, while the EU, US and India accounted for about 12 per cent each. But China also approved more than 50GW of new coal power in the first six months of 2023 – despite commitments to reduce its carbon emissions – and now consumes more than 50 per cent of the world’s…

  • EU opens anti-subsidy probe into Chinese electric car imports

    The EC has published a notice of initiation , officially kickstarting its investigation into possibly illegal Chinese electric car subsidies.  The document states that the EC has found evidence of loans at favourable rates, tax exemptions and components bought very cheaply. Should it consider this enough evidence of unfair practices, the bloc could impose tariffs on Chinese car manufacturers above the standard 10 per cent EU rate. The probe was first announced last month, in EC president Ursula von der Leyen’s State of the European Union address. In the speech, von der Leyen warned that global markets were being “flooded” with cheaper Chinese electric cars. “The EV sector holds huge potential for Europe’s future competitiveness and green industrial leadership,” she said. “EU car manufacturers…

  • Budge up: making space for the next generation

    Society is far from fairly represented in STEM, portraying a false sense of elitism that deters diverse, budding young talent.  The Making Spaces project, led by Professor Louise Archer at University College London, launched in 2020. Funded by Lloyd’s Register Foundation (LRF), the initiative focuses on the growing global phenomenon of ‘makerspaces’ – physical locations designed for people to come together to create and collaborate. The project strives to bridge the inequalities in STEM and to encourage participation from under-represented communities through working in collaboration with practitioners. In 2020, the UK government acknowledged the importance of STEM with £179m of investment in the future of UK science. Funding is vital to fuelling growth and success in STEM but doesn’t directly…

  • Sunak axes northern leg of HS2, but promises billions for transport links

    After weeks of speculation , Sunak confirmed the scrapping of “the rest of the HS2 project” during his closing speech at the Conservative Party conference, held in a former train station in Manchester.  Sunak explained his decision to scrap any HS2 connection that is not in the London–Birmingham leg as a result of changing circumstances and rising costs. The move goes against the warnings of former prime ministers, political allies, regional mayors and businesses.  “I say to those who backed the project in the first place, the facts have changed,” Sunak said. “And the right thing to do when the facts change is to have the courage to change direction. “So I am ending this long-running saga. I am cancelling the rest of the HS2 project.” HS2 was a central part of Boris Johnson’s levelling…

  • Regulator forces Hitachi to sell train-signalling arm before Thales merger

    The rail arms of both Hitachi and Thales are major global suppliers of signalling systems for mainline and urban tracks. In August 2021, Hitachi announced a €1.7bn deal to acquire the Thales Ground Transportation Business. Last year, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) warned that the merger could lead to higher fares for consumers. The body’s independent inquiry group concluded that if the merger was allowed to go ahead, few credible competitors would remain. In response, Hitachi has offered to sell its signalling business in the UK, France and Germany. The CMA said it would still need to approve the purchase, and Hitachi’s key customers in these countries will also need to agree to the transfer of the relevant signalling contracts. But it said that once this requirement is met…

  • AI designs new robot from scratch in seconds

    T he team tested the system by giving it a simple prompt: “Design a robot that can walk across a flat surface.” The computer started with a block about the size of a bar of soap. Knowing it was unable to walk, as instructed, the AI began making iterations of the design. With each new version, the resulting robot improved on previous flaws. After nine tries, the AI algorithm designed a robot riddled with holes and with three legs, rear fins and a flat face. It generated a robot design that could walk half its body length per second – about half the speed of an average human stride. The entire design process – from a shapeless block with zero movement to a full-on walking robot – took just 26 seconds on a laptop. “We discovered a very fast AI-driven design algorithm that bypasses the…

  • How SF6-free alternatives drive decarbonization

    During this webinar, we will discuss the advantages and benefits of: SF6 ban becoming the new norm and driving a sustainable future for medium voltage Environmental concerns driving the need for SF6-free solutions Comparative use cases between products with and without SF6 Current and incoming regulations related to SF6 How SF6-free solution fits into a Life Cycle Assessment Finally, we will illustrate the application all these key standards and their benefits in different real-life use cases. Register to watch this free live webinar on Tuesday 17 October, 10:00 (CEST).  Register for this webinar

  • Cheap malaria vaccine receives WHO go-ahead for global roll-out

    The  R21/Matrix-M vaccine could help reduce the 500,000 malaria-associated deaths that occur each year. The vaccine was developed by researchers from the University of Oxford, the Serum Institute of India and drugmaker Novavax. It is expected to become available by 2024, at a cost of between $2 and $4 per dose.  R21 is the second malaria vaccine to receive WHO approval. The first one – known as RTS,S – was developed by GSK and has been sold under the brand Mosquirix since 2022. However, the difficulty in producing doses of RTS,S has made pharmaceutical firms unable to meet the high demand for the vaccine – presenting R21 as an equally effective but cheaper alternative. “As a malaria researcher, I used to dream of the day we would have a safe and effective vaccine against malaria. Now…

  • Satellite TV company hit with first-ever space debris fine

    The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued its first space debris enforcement fine, officials have revealed.  The agency has fined DISH $150,000 (£124,000), stating that the company relocated its direct broadcast service EchoStar-7 satellite at the end-of-mission to a disposal orbit “well below the elevation required by the terms of its license”. The move could pose “orbital debris concerns”, according to the regulator.  “This marks a first in space debris enforcement by the Commission, which has stepped up its satellite policy efforts, including establishing the Space Bureau and implementing its Space Innovation Agenda,” the FCC said in a statement. The FCC added that DISH admitted liability and will adhere to a compliance plan. However, the satellite TV has issued a statement…

  • Engineering workforce skill gap threatens UK’s net zero goals

    Bill Drury is a former technical director at Control Techniques, a £300m-turnover engineering company. “I can’t remember a time when there hasn’t been a shortage of engineers,” he says. His reaction is one common among engineers when asked about the sector’s notorious skills problem: it’s par for the course. The industry, for all its problem-solving expertise, has never cracked the skills supply/demand conundrum.  The IET’s most recent survey on skills found that 47% of respondents reported a technical skills gap in their workforce. This is similar to a 2021 report stating that 49% of engineering businesses were experiencing difficulties in the skill-sets available to them when trying to recruit. This is a problem expected to worsen as the UK works towards its legally binding net zero goal…

  • Comment: Supporting Gen Z with talent training

    Gen Z are the next generation of tech talent. They are increasingly taking up roles in the workforce, with data showing that people under the age of 25 will make up over a quarter (27 per cent) of entry level roles within just a few years. With this new influx of talent comes great potential to transform and disrupt the technology workplace. It is crucial that we give these young workers attention, and invest in their development to champion the skills of the future.  But despite being known as “tech-savvy”, the generation who didn’t know life before technology may actually be less equipped for a technical future than we would expect. Traditionally, we see Gen Z attending university to build their skills in technical areas, but university alone won’t meet the market demand for tech skills…

  • Birmingham to Manchester leg of HS2 expected to be scrapped

    Sky News announced the rumour minutes before Chancellor Jeremy Hunt took to the stage at the Conservative Party Conference. Speculation about the future of the project has been circulating for weeks, but both Hunt and Sunak have refused to comment on the future of this section of the high-speed rail link a number of times. HS2 was given the go-ahead in 2020, despite a decade of sharply rising costs and repeated delays to the original project timeframe. The cost of completing the project has ballooned from £33bn a decade ago to an estimated £100bn today. The Independent recently reported that ministers were considering shelving the northern phase amid concerns about increasing costs and severe delays. It said a cost estimate it had seen revealed that the government has already spent £2…

  • Extreme weather: the technologies used to combat climate change

    At the end of last year, the United Nations Foundation reflected that 2022 was a “split screen” in terms of climate change. The world, it said, had taken “several important steps to curb the climate crisis while its impacts continued to worsen”, reminding us of the “increasingly severe and irreversible consequences” of an increase in temperature with floods, record-breaking heatwaves, severe drought in Africa, forest fires and cyclones throughout the year. Cyclones  Cyclones are tropical rainstorms with strong, rotating winds, formed when low pressure is created in the oceans near the equator.  Thunderstorms move across the surface of the ocean and if the surface water is warm (i.e. 27°C/80°F), the storm sucks up the heat energy from the water and carries it in the converging winds. The…

  • Meta’s AI chatbot to feature over 25 personalities

    Speaking at the tech giant’s annual Meta Connect conference, the company’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, pictured, announced its AI chatbots will have “personality” and be played by celebrities and influencers.  Kendall Jenner, Charli D’Amelio, Dwyane Wade,  MrBeast, Naomi Osaka, Paris Hilton, Snoop Dogg and Tom Brady are some of the celebrities who have partnered with Meta to play the AI characters, which will all have specific identities and hobbies. Paris Hilton’s Amber is “a detective partner for solving whodunnits”, while Tom Brady’s Bru is described as a “wisecracking sports debater who pulls no punches”.  The goal is for the Meta AI virtual assistants to be able to answer queries or craft responses in a fashion similar to ChatGPT and other programmes. The personalities will be…

  • MoD approves £4bn in contracts to build UK’s next-gen submarines

    The submarines will be built under the AUKUS pact – a trilateral security agreement between Australia, the UK and the US, designed to assist Australia in acquiring nuclear-powered submarines. The pact also includes cooperation on artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, undersea capabilities and electronic warfare. The UK’s next-generation nuclear-powered attack submarine programme, known as SSN-AUKUS, will see the construction of the largest and most powerful attack submarines the Royal Navy has ever operated, which will replace the Astute class currently in operation. BAE Systems started early design work in 2021, but the £3.95bn funding will cover development work up to 2028. It will enable the defence firm to move into the detailed design phase of the programme and begin to…

  • Water firms propose billpayers fund a £96bn plan to improve infrastructure

    “This investment is essential to maintain the highest-quality drinking water for a growing population, ensure the security of our water supply in the future and significantly reduce the amount of sewage entering rivers and seas,” said Water UK, which represents the sector. The House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee recently warned that continued underinvestment would have serious consequences for the environment and the security of water supplies. It also found that Ofwat needed to go further to hold water companies to account for environmental pollution as well as ensure that companies invest sufficiently in infrastructure. Water UK said that under its proposed £96bn investment regime, for the 2025-30 funding period, the number of households receiving support with bills would…

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