Denmark Strikes Deal On Artificial Wind Energy Island

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Denmark’s government has agreed to take a majority stake in a 25 billion euro artificial “energy island,” which is to be built 50 miles (80km) offshore, in the middle of the North Sea. The island to the west of the Jutland peninsula will initially have an area of 120,000 sq meters –…

Global Sales of Electric Cars Accelerate Fast In 2020 Despite Pandemic

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Global sales of electric cars accelerated fast in 2020, rising by 43% to more than 3 million, despite overall car sales slumping by a fifth during the coronavirus pandemic. Tesla was the brand selling the most electric cars, delivering almost 500,000, followed by Volkswagen. Sales of electric cars more than doubled in…

Venice, Italy Plans to Watch Every Move of Its 30 Million Tourists

Here’s some news from CNN for the 30 million tourists visiting Venice, Italy each year: They’re watching you, wherever you walk. They know exactly where you pause, when you slow down and speed up, and they count you in and out of the city. What’s more, they’re tracking your phone, so they can tell exactly how many people from your country…

More Than 500,000 Full Electric Cars Sold So Far This Year In Europe

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Carmakers have sold more than 500,000 battery electric cars in Europe during 2020, a milestone in the automotive industry’s move away from fossil fuels. Sales of all plug-in cars, including hybrids, have surpassed 1m during the year in the UK and the largest 17 European markets, according to data collated by Schmidt…

UK Mathematician Wins Richest Prize in Academia For His Work On Stochastic Analysis

Lanodonal writes: A mathematician who tamed a nightmarish family of equations that behave so badly they make no sense has won the most lucrative prize in academia. Martin Hairer, an Austrian-British researcher at Imperial College London, is the winner of the 2021 Breakthrough prize for mathematics, an annual $3m award that has come to rival the Nobels in terms of kudos…

What the Heroin Industry Can Teach Us About Solar Power

ljw1004 writes: Helmand Province in Afghanistan produces two thirds of the world’s opium. Its opium production has more than doubled in the past eight years, due mostly to solar power. “Solar is by far the most significant technological change” in the region for decades, says Dr. Mansfield, author of the report (PDF). The first solar panels were introduced there in 2013….

Source Code of Covid Tracker Ireland App Goes Global With Linux Project

The Linux Foundation Public Health initiative has chosen the Covid Tracker Ireland app as one of its first two open-source Covid-19 projects. From a report: Since its launch, more than 1.3m people have downloaded the Covid Tracker Ireland app, which was developed to help track the future spread of the coronavirus. Now, the app has been chosen as one of the…

Two Steps for L&D to Drive Digital Transformation Post-COVID

By Vinod Bakthavachalam, Senior Data Scientist and Adam Lewis, Skills Transformation Consultant With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing companies to transition to remote work, employees are adapting to new realities. Trying to balance work with life responsibilities during shelter-in-place has led to a decline in productivity for many and uncertainty about the future. Anxiety has risen, […]
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Ford, 3M, GE and the UAW To Build Respirators, Ventilators and Face Shields For Coronavirus Fight

Ford announced today that it’s partnering with 3M and GE to build respirators, ventilators and face shields for front-line healthcare workers and COVID-19 patients. TechCrunch reports: Its efforts include building Powered Air-Purifying Respirators (PAPRs) with partner 3M, including a new design that employs existing parts from both partners to deliver effectiveness and highly scalable production capacity. Ford says that it’s also…

Scientists Invent a Lithium-Ion Battery That Works Even When It’s On Fire

A team of scientists led by Yi Cui, a materials scientist at Stanford, have created a new “fireproof” solid-state electrolyte for use in lithium-ion batteries. IEEE Spectrum reports: They used a flame-retardant material called decabromodiphenyl ethane, or DBDPE for short. To make their new solid-state electrolyte, the team first created a thin film by combining DBDPE with polyimide, a mechanical enforcer….