A new ComRes poll of 2,045 British adults reveals that 64% now accept climate change is happening and primarily caused by human activity, up from 57% in 2014 and 59% in 2015. The survey, commissioned by the Energy and Climate Information Unit, also shows widespread concern about impacts on wildlife and flooding.
Apple's annual climate disclosure to CDP suggests the company could gain customer loyalty as extreme weather events become more frequent. The tech giant's filing highlights the iPhone's role in emergencies and the potential for increased brand value, despite the broader environmental crisis.
First Light, a UK-based startup, says it has demonstrated a novel fusion approach using a high-speed projectile to compress fuel targets, a method that could lead to affordable, clean energy. The company claims a viable route to commercial fusion, though it has yet to achieve net energy gain, a milestone that remains elusive for the field.
A new study warns that a major blackout during a severe heat wave in a U.S. city could kill thousands and send hundreds of thousands to hospitals. Phoenix faces the highest risk due to its extreme temperatures and heavy reliance on air conditioning. Experts call for urgent infrastructure upgrades to prevent a 'Katrina of extreme heat.'
Marine archaeologists have uncovered a 400-foot-long stone wall submerged off Brittany, dating to around 5,000 BC. The structure, possibly a fish trap or flood defense, offers rare insight into prehistoric coastal life. Its parallels to modern climate-driven sea-level rise make the find particularly resonant.
Researchers from Oak Ridge and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories and General Atomics published simulations in Nuclear Fusion showing a compact tokamak could produce 200 MW of net electricity, enough for 40,000 homes. The design compresses plasma to achieve a net energy gain, though a working reactor remains at least a decade away.
Hurricane Milton, a historic Category 5 storm, is barreling toward Florida's west coast, prompting mass evacuations. Radar images show the storm as a massive red blob, indicating extreme rainfall and intensity. Although it may weaken to a Category 3 before landfall, officials warn of life-threatening conditions.
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and Princeton University have developed a general theory of plasmoid instability, explaining the explosive acceleration of magnetic reconnection. This advance could sharpen predictions of solar flares and space weather, and it offers a pathway to strengthening magnetic barriers in tokamak fusion reactors, moving fusion energy closer to practical reality.
A MinutePhysics video explains why perfect cloning is mathematically impossible at the quantum level, using Schrodinger's cat to illustrate superposition. The no-cloning theorem, proven decades ago, means any attempt to copy a quantum state inevitably alters it, a principle with deep implications for quantum computing and cryptography.
Researchers grew a high-quality rubrene film on a hexagonal boron nitride substrate, achieving record charge transport performance. The interface between substrate and film is key to nucleation, and graphene contacts enabled a field-effect transistor structure for testing.
Researchers at the City University of New York have found that stacking exactly two layers of graphene creates a material that hardens to diamond-like stiffness upon impact. The discovery, published in Nature Nanotechnology, could lead to thinner, lighter armor and wear-resistant coatings.
A microscopic animal, a bdelloid rotifer, was revived after spending 24,000 years frozen in Siberian permafrost, setting a record for multicellular organisms surviving cryptobiosis. The research, published in Current Biology, shows that complex lifeforms can endure extreme cold and return to life, offering insights into long-term preservation.
Climeworks, a Swiss company, is set to open the world's first commercial carbon capture plant near Zurich by late 2025, filtering CO2 from the air and selling it to agricultural and beverage industries. The facility will extract 900 tonnes of CO2 annually, equivalent to the emissions of about 200 cars, though skeptics question the technology's scalability and cost.
South Australia's grid demand hit a new minimum of 587.8 MW on September 17, driven by strong rooftop solar output. This marks the second record low in a week, with solar now meeting nearly half of the state's electricity needs. The trend signals a shift in grid management and peak-time definitions.
A new study from the Dolphin Research Center in the Florida Keys shows that dolphins exposed to underwater drilling noise lengthen and amplify their calls to be heard, but often fail. The research, published in Current Biology, found that at the loudest noise levels, the dolphins' communication success dropped to 62.5 percent.
A new study from Oxford and Harvard suggests that tardigrades, also known as water bears, could survive catastrophic cosmic events like asteroid impacts and supernovae, potentially outlasting all other life on Earth until the Sun's death. This research not only highlights the resilience of these microscopic creatures but also informs the search for life beyond our planet.
Researchers at RMIT University have developed a rechargeable proton battery using carbon and water, offering a potential alternative to lithium-ion cells. The prototype stores energy by splitting water molecules and could be commercially available within a decade.
Scientists are increasingly turning to genetically modified organisms—from heat-tolerant corals to engineered crops—as a strategy to buffer ecosystems against climate change. Known as facilitated adaptation, this approach leverages gene-editing tools to bolster species resilience, though ethical questions remain.
During the recent total solar eclipse, astronauts aboard the International Space Station captured the Moon's shadow moving across the United States. NASA shared footage of the event, which also plunged cities like Dallas and Cleveland into darkness. The eclipse was notable for its path crossing densely populated areas.
Scientists propose resurrecting woolly mammoths to restore Arctic grasslands and slow permafrost thaw, but the scale of the challenge is immense. With only 17,000 suitable elephant surrogates, artificial wombs may be the only path to the 80,000 animals needed. Ethical and logistical hurdles remain, yet the potential climate benefits drive the research forward.
