$303 billion…The amount of money invested in the US green-energy transition in 2023, a record.
SUSTAINABILITY
Temperatures broke a 64-year-old record in China's far western region of Xinjiang, plunging to a bone-chilling minus 52.3 degrees Celsius (minus 63.4 degrees Fahrenheit) amid a cold spell and traffic disruptions following the Lunar New Year holiday. DETAIL
Severe droughts and heatwaves in Spain could have a persisting impact on domestic lenders' solvency by slowing down the economy and leading to more loan losses, Bank of Spain Governor Pablo Hernandez de Cos said. DETAIL
The yellow-crested helmetshrike was considered lost after going unseen for nearly 20 years – now an expedition has rediscovered what appears to be a healthy population in central Africa. DETAIL
In 2017, Walmart launched a bold initiative called Project Gigaton, aiming to work with suppliers to reduce, avoid, or sequester 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in product value chains by 2030. The company announced that suppliers have surpassed that goal six years early, exceeding expectations and demonstrating the power of collaborative climate action. DETAIL
More green taxis will take to the UK’s roads thanks to an extension to the Plug-in Taxi Grant announced, following its initial success. Cab drivers will be able to keep up momentum through extended funding until 5 April 2025 at a rate of £6,000 per vehicle, providing certainty to those who are looking to make the switch to electric in the next year. DETAIL
A paper in Environmental Research Letters found that increasing population density could raise the carbon emissions from mangrove forest degradation by 50,000% by the end of the century. DETAIL
HEALTH
The World Health Organization has warned that measles is spreading rapidly around the world, with nearly 307,000 cases reported last year, an increase of 79 percent in one year, and called for increased vaccination. DETAIL
Pet dogs of various breeds can be trained to detect scents linked to Parkinson’s disease with nearly 90 per cent accuracy. With further research, this may be a relatively conclusive and inexpensive way of diagnosing the condition that enables earlier access to treatments. DETAIL
DIGITAL / TECHNOLOGY / SCIENCE /AI
Researchers at the University of Trento, Italy, have developed a novel approach for prime factorization via quantum annealing, leveraging a compact modular encoding paradigm and enabling the factorization of large numbers using D-Wave quantum devices. DETAIL
A small American company's robotic spacecraft has brought the United States back to the surface of the moon for the first time in more than a half-century. Intuitive Machines, a Houston-based space company, landed on Thursday, becoming the first commercial company to reach the moon intact. DETAIL
A ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court last week that frozen embryos count as children is sending “shock waves” through the fertility industry and stoking fears that in vitro fertilization is getting swept up into the abortion debate. The Alabama legal ruling is clearly animated by religion. But what hasn’t gotten much notice is the court’s specific argument that an embryo is a child “regardless of its location.” This could have implications for future technologies in development, such as artificial wombs or synthetic embryos made from stem cells. DETAIL
Amidst a cache of glittering golden treasures from the Iberian Bronze Age, a pair of corroded objects might be the most precious of all. A dull bracelet and a rusted hollow hemisphere decorated with gold are forged, researchers have found, not out of metal from beneath the ground, but with iron from meteorites that fell from the sky. DETAIL
ENERGY / TRANSPORTATION
Travellers will need to bear the cost of the transition towards green jet fuel, Singapore's transport minister said as he announced the city state's plans for a levy on flight ticket prices as the aviation industry seeks a viable funding model. DETAIL
A European consortium led by the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology is working on thermal management in electric vehicles as part of the MINDED research project. It is looking primarily at innovative infrared heating panels as a heat source. DETAIL
Batteries based on water are one step closer to being commercially viable, thanks to a new design that drastically extends their lifespan. The first application could be in powering e-scooters, say researchers. DETAIL
CYBERSECURITY
An international law enforcement operation led by Britain's National Crime Agency and the FBI has arrested and indicted members of the Lockbit ransomware gang, in an unprecedented police operation that has struck one of the world's most notorious cybercrime gangs. DETAIL
LockBit cartel was humiliated with law enforcement agencies from the UK, USA, and Europol issuing official an announcement on the gangs' bust via LockBit's leak site. Data samples that authorities provided suggest the cartel has been penetrated to its very core. DETAIL