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Scientists show how climate change boosted Europe's record-breaking heatwave
Fast work by climate scientists has shown that June's record-breaking European heatwave was made far more likely by human-induced climate change (BBC News).
The World Weather Attribution researchers say that under current climate conditions, which saw weather stations in metropolitan France record an all-time high of 45.9 degrees Celsius, the probability of a heatwave was at least five times higher than it would be without human influence upon the climate. Modern heatwaves of this scale – estimated to happen ever 30 years – are also around 4 degrees warmer than they were a century ago and could become much more frequent as our planet heats.
Chinese police are installing spyware on the phones of travellers to Xinjiang
Travellers to China's Xinjiang region are having an app installed on their smartphones by border guards to extract emails, text messages, contact lists and other information from their devices (The Guardian). The region is under heavy state surveillance relating to China's suppression of its Turkic Muslim population.
There are too many fossil fuel plants to meet the 1.5 degree climate change target
A sobering scientific report indicates that the world's current stock of fossil fuel power stations is already too great to allow humanity to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial temperatures without significant changes being put into place (Ars Technica).
Take into account power stations currently in planning or under construction and there's no wiggle room at all, with the most obvious solutions being the decommissioning of fossil fuel infrastructure ahead of obsolescence and carbon capture and storage – a technology that's still profoundly underdeveloped.
We can't switch to zero-carbon energy without nuclear power
When the sun isn’t shining, and the wind isn’t blowing, where can the UK turn for low-carbon sources of energy? (WIRED) For Jim Al-Khalili, a physicist and broadcaster, the answer is simple: nuclear power. “There’s still a role for nuclear power, given the seriousness of the climate crisis,” says Al-Khalili.
Watch a robot with sticks for a body learn to walk
Researchers from the University of Tokyo and Preferred Networks have demonstrated that you can make a (broadly) functional robot out of almost anything (IEEE Spectrum). Inspired by 'found object' art, the team created an Arduino-controlled improvised robot made of three tree branches and a couple of off-the-shelf servo motors that taught itself to move along the ground with surprising finesse, first in a deep reinforcement learning simulation and then in the physical world.
The hunt for an Alzheimer's vaccine
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This article was originally published by WIRED UK
