A Southern California company is showing how repurposing EV batteries for solar storage can extend their usefulness for several years. THIS STORY ORIGINALLY appeared on Grist and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. On a 20-acre parcel outside the tiny Southern California town of New Cuyama, a 1.5-megawatt solar farm uses the sun’s rays to slowly charge nearly 600
As Doritos, Walkers and Wotsits speed along a conveyor belt at Coventry’s PepsiCo factory – where some of the UK’s most popular crisps are made – the noise of whirring machinery is almost deafening. But here, it’s not just human workers trying to hear signs of machine failure above the factory fray. Sensors attached to
For centuries, Pakistan’s Wakhi shepherdesses have trekked to remote mountain pastures to graze their flocks. The income they generated has been pivotal in transforming their community, helping to pay for healthcare, education and the first road out of their valley. As their way of life dies out, BBC 100 Women joined them on one of
HSBC has apologised after thousands of UK customers reported they were unable to access mobile and online banking for more than 24 hours. The bank was flooded with complaints on social media, with users saying they have been unable to pay bills or make discounted Black Friday purchases online since Friday morning. One customer told
Fed with a basic prompt, the AI system was able to develop a blueprint for a rudimentary walking robot within seconds. With the public launch of ChatGPT last year, artificial intelligence (AI) and its impressive capabilities exploded into the mainstream. Now, researchers from Northwestern University in the US have built on that momentum by developing
Amidst concerns that Europe has not invested as much as the competition in green tech, the region passed the Net-Zero Industry Act, promoting the manufacture of technologies like wind turbines, solar cells, and technologies from which they derive. The bill is expected to facilitate 40 percent of the region’s clean technology needs and 25% of global
More Americans than ever are dying from fentanyl overdoses as the fourth wave of the opioid epidemic crashes through every community, in every corner of the country. It was six years ago that Kim Blake’s son Sean died from an accidental fentanyl overdose in Burlington, Vermont. He was 27 years old. “Every time I hear
“Long colds” can be a thing in the same way that “long Covid” is, with some people experiencing prolonged symptoms after an initial infection, according to a UK study. Common long cold symptoms included a cough, stomach pain and diarrhoea. The findings come from 10,171 adults who completed questionnaires. More work is needed to understand
China is closing, destroying and repurposing mosques, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has alleged in a new report. The crackdown is part of a “systematic effort” to curb the practice of Islam in China, HRW said. There are about 20 million Muslims in China, which is officially atheist but says it allows religious freedom. Observers, however, say there
The World Health Organization (WHO) has asked China for more information on “clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia” reportedly spreading among children in the north of the country. Reports by non-state media say paediatric hospitals in parts of China are overwhelmed with sick children. Chinese authorities have attributed a spike in flu-like illnesses this winter to the
