The following submission statement was provided by /u/Vucea:

Scientists engineer artificial organs for integration into the human body to replace, duplicate, or augment functional, naturally occurring organs. They pose a solution to organ donor shortages, and can also be used as medical training tools.

Based on the materials researchers use to produce them, artificial organs are divided into three main classes.

Mechanical artificial organs are made exclusively of inanimate polymers such as plastics and metals;

biomechanical organs involve both living materials such as cells and inanimate materials;

and biological or bioartificial organs can be made of living cells and biodegradable polymers.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/10h8o84/artificial_organs_innovating_to_replace_donors/j574jmt/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/filosoful:

More than 2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide is being removed from Earth’s atmosphere each year, according to an analysis of global efforts to capture and store the greenhouse gas.

But this will not be enough to meet the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to less than 2 °C above pre-industrial temperatures, even with pledges from governments worldwide to increase carbon dioxide removal (CDR) rates and invest in new technologies.

The report, called The State of Carbon Dioxide Removal, provides the first global estimates of the total amount of carbon that is being sucked out of the air each year, and predicts how much this will have to increase under various emissions scenarios. It was published on 19 January

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/10h5gkc/carbon_capture_nets_2_billion_tonnes_of_co2_each/j56ize7/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Surur:

Google executives hope to reassert their company’s status as a pioneer of A.I. The company aggressively worked on A.I. over the last decade and already has offered to a small number of people a chatbot that could rival ChatGPT, called LaMDA, or Language Model for Dialogue Applications.

Google’s Advanced Technology Review Council, a panel of executives that includes Jeff Dean, the company’s senior vice president of research and artificial intelligence, and Kent Walker, Google’s president of global affairs and chief legal officer, met less than two weeks after ChatGPT debuted to discuss their company’s initiatives, according to the slide presentation.

They reviewed plans for products that were expected to debut at Google’s company conference in May, including Image Generation Studio, which creates and edits images, and a third version of A.I. Test Kitchen, an experimental app for testing product prototypes.

Other image and video projects in the works included a feature called Shopping Try-on, a YouTube green screen feature to create backgrounds; a wallpaper maker for the Pixel smartphone; an application called Maya that visualizes three-dimensional shoes; and a tool that could summarize videos by generating a new one, according to the slides.

Google has a list of A.I. programs it plans to offer software developers and other companies, including image-creation technology, which could bolster revenue to Google’s Cloud division. There are also tools to help other businesses create their own A.I. prototypes in internet browsers, called MakerSuite, which will have two “Pro” versions, according to the presentation.

In May, Google also expects to announce a tool to make it easier to build apps for Android smartphones, called Colab + Android Studio, that will generate, complete and fix code, according to the presentation. Another code generation and completion tool, called PaLM-Coder 2, has also been in the works.

Google, OpenAI and others develop their A.I. with so-called large language models that rely on online information, so they can sometimes share false statements and show racist, sexist and other biased attitudes.

That had been enough to make companies cautious about offering the technology to the public. But several new companies, including You.com and Perplexity.ai, are already offering online search engines that let you ask questions through an online chatbot, much like ChatGPT. Microsoft is also working on a new version of its Bing search engine that would include similar technology, according to a report from The Information.

Mr. Pichai has tried to accelerate product approval reviews, according to the presentation reviewed by The Times. The company established a fast-track review process called the “Green Lane” initiative, pushing groups of employees who try to ensure that technology is fair and ethical to more quickly approve its upcoming A.I. technology.

The company will also find ways for teams developing A.I. to conduct their own reviews, and it will “recalibrate” the level of risk it is willing to take when releasing the technology, according to the presentation.

Google listed copyright, privacy and antitrust as the primary risks of the technology in the slide presentation. It said that actions, such as filtering answers to weed out copyrighted material and stopping A.I. from sharing personally identifiable information, are needed to reduce those risks.

For the chatbot search demonstration that Google plans for this year, getting facts right, ensuring safety and getting rid of misinformation are priorities. For other upcoming services and products, the company has a lower bar and will try to curb issues relating to hate and toxicity, danger and misinformation rather than preventing them, according to the presentation.

The company intends, for example, to block certain words to avoid hate speech and will try to minimize other potential issues.

The consequences of Google’s more streamlined approach are not yet clear. Its technology has lagged OpenAI’s self-reported metrics when it comes to identifying content that is hateful, toxic, sexual or violent, according to an analysis that Google compiled. In each category, OpenAI bested Google tools, which also fell short of human accuracy in assessing content.

“We continue to test our A.I. technology internally to make sure it’s helpful and safe, and we look forward to sharing more experiences externally soon,” Lily Lin, a spokeswoman for Google, said in a statement. She added that A.I. would benefit individuals, businesses and communities and that Google is considering the broader societal effects of the technology.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/10h4h7s/google_to_relax_ai_safety_rules_to_compete_with/j56dolb/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Creepy_Toe2680:

State of lab grown eyes (not part of the article)

Regeneration of eyes as of 2019, June 25

There are still many challenges to address before we can use eyes grown in the lab for transplantation. The retina has a complicated circuitry comprised of nerve cells that are important for processing visual information into a perceived image.

It is not so simple to transplant an eye or individual cells taken from one eye and place them in another, expecting them to connect up perfectly with all the nerves responsible for normal vision.

For example, there are physical barriers that transplanted rods and cones would have to overcome to position themselves in the right place and connect with nerves in the host retina.

The disease processes that lead to blindness in the first place may have led to scarring and remodelling of the host retina, so that transplanted cells have nothing left to connect with.

It is easier to transplant other cell types in the eye that do not have these issues, like retinal pigment epithelial cells (RPE) which can also be grown from hESCs and iPSCs in the lab.

RPE cells are positioned next to the rod and cone photoreceptors, but they are not involved in the complicated circuitry of the retina. Their role is to supply nutrients to the photoreceptors, take away waste products, and recycle light sensitive molecules.

Some common causes of blindness, like age-related macular degeneration, are actually diseases of the RPE – photoreceptors get damaged as bystanders to the inflammation and bleeding that occur.

That is why clinical trials testing the efficacy of stem cell therapies are transplanting RPE cells and not photoreceptors. So far, the results seem promising and the transplantation of RPE cells appears to be safe.

in aug 2021

Scientists have managed to nurture small clumps of the human brain, giving them the ability to grow their own eyes, or at least two functionally integrated optic vesicles that respond to light.

April 13 , 2022

There are still numerous obstacles to overcome before lab-grown eyes may be used for transplantation. The retina comprises a complex circuitry made up of nerve cells that is responsible for converting visual data into perceptible images.

Transplanting an eye or individual cells from one eye into another and expecting them to connect flawlessly with all of the nerves necessary for normal vision is not straightforward.

So far, the results are encouraging, and RPE cell transplantation appears to be a safe procedure. Therefore, it’s not too far away when we may be able to grow “an eye in a dish” and transplant it to restore a blind person’s vision!

As of nov 2022

The focus is on usher syndrome

The genetic condition in question here is Usher syndrome, a rare birth defect that can leave a baby born deaf and with eyesight that degenerates by adulthood. By growing mini eyes from donors with and without Usher syndrome, the team was able to observe differences between the two. This could ultimately lead to clues for new treatments for the disease, as well as others like retinitis pigmentosa.

January 11, 2023 (this article)

"We wanted to use the cells from those organoids as replacement parts for the same types of cells that have been lost in the course of retinal diseases," says Gamm.

"But after being grown in a laboratory dish for months as compact clusters, the question remained – will the cells behave appropriately after we tease them apart? Because that is key to introducing them into a patient's eye."

"We've been quilting this story together in the lab, one piece at a time, to build confidence that we're headed in the right direction," says Gamm, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

"It's all leading, ultimately, to human clinical trials, which are the clear next step."

Further analysis revealed that the cell types that were most commonly forming synapses were the photoreceptors, commonly distinguished as rods and cones. That's encouraging, because these cell types are the ones lost in diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edit: before people ask "why they are focusing on genetic defects rather than entirely focusing on growing eyes in lab?"

My understanding is:

They are trying to fix the smaller problems and then move on to the bigger ones, this makes it more sustainable and proves the technology is safe.

They also need more funds in order to continue their research.

The harder problems you try to fix the more investments are required.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/10h2guk/labgrown_retinas_to_restore_vision_are_a_step/j5602ms/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/ChriAZii:

Submission Statement

One of the challenges for the widespread adoption of green energy is the lack of large-scale, long-term energy storage. While lithium-ion batteries seem like a potential solution, they rely on scarce materials - often mined under poor working conditions. Furthermore, their short effective operating life and sensitivity to extreme hot or cold makes them only a subpar solutions for a green energy future. The introduction of low-price, sand-based batteries, which are able to store heat for months at a time, could offer a promising alternative.

I originally posted this article in /r/ConstructiveNews.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/10h1z2n/climate_change_sand_battery_could_solve_green/j55x4va/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/DisasterousGiraffe:

ZeroAvia's flight is part of the UK Government-backed HyFlyer II project, which aims to develop a 600kW powertrain to allow zero-emissions flight for 9-19 seater aircraft, and is targeting a 300 nautical mile range. The flight was conducted under a full Part 21 flight permit with the UK Civil Aviation Authority.

The company aims to be serving commercial flights with the technology by 2025. It also aims to scale up the technology to larger 90-seater aircraft, with "further expansion" into narrowbodies in the next decade, they said in a statement. By 2027, they aim to be able to power a 700-mile flight in a 40-80 seater aircraft.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/10h038z/successful_test_flight_of_hydrogenelectric/j55m10m/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/sigul77:

Interesting data presented in this article. The progress towards singularity is definitely faster than I had initially thought.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/10gxx47/how_close_are_we_to_singularity_data_from_mt_says/j55949a/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Surur:

Rio Tinto is scoping out options for up to 4 gigawatts of solar and wind power to supply its Queensland aluminium assets, after soliciting for proposals last June.

In December, the company commissioned a 34 megawatt solar power plant for its Gudai-Darri iron ore mine.

It also pledged $600 million for two 100 MW solar power facilities and a 200 MWh on-grid battery storage plant in the Pilbara iron-ore region, which will be built by 2026.

This forms part of a $3 billion planned investment program to power its Pilbara operations with 1 gigawatt of green energy this decade.

Rio Tinto’s head of technology and development, Mark Davies, told investors in November that it made sense for the company to develop its own renewables in the Pilbara, “as we own much of the infrastructure and operate the grid as part of our integrated operations”.

But elsewhere the company might go for power purchase agreements because “other investors focused on renewables can develop large solutions at a more attractive cost of capital, offering us real operating cost savings”.

Rio Tinto said it was still discussing the 2026 phase-one Pilbara plan, which will involve about 225,000 solar panels, with state and local governments and the traditional landowners.

#"It’s not that easy"

CEO Mr Stausholm raised some issues however, saying Rio Tinto’s effort to shift to large-scale renewable energy sources at its Australian aluminium smelters was “not that easy, and it actually takes a lot of time”.

“People say, ‘Oh Australia, perfect, lots of sun, lots of space’. It’s not that easy,” he said.

“You actually first have to acquire the land, you have to get working with Indigenous people, you have to go through the cultural clearance of sites, etcetera.

“We’re used to big sites in mining, but quite frankly mining sites are small compared to the scale of these parks; and the world has not really done this at scale yet.

“That’s why I think sometimes we’re fooling ourselves a little bit on the timeline. It’s going to take time.”

Mr Stausholm was asked whether governments should try to cut red and green tape to get mining and green energy projects onstream more quickly. His response was cautious.

“We cannot compromise on other things. You’ve got to bring along your local communities, Indigenous populations. It takes the time it takes,” he said.

“There is something about bureaucratic procedure and permitting you can break down. But the whole process of environmental impact assessment is a proven thing, it works well. Obviously, we should try to speed it up.”

Many embodied CO2 studies rely on outdated data which does not acknowledge the constant greening of the supply chain. 1/3 of Gudai-Darri iron ore mine's energy needs for example is met from solar energy. It is likely that the benefits of moving to renewable energy will compound much more rapidly than anticipated.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/10gv1h4/rio_tinto_to_invest_3_billion_in_solar_energy_for/j54slyd/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/FDuquesne:

It's a new hydrogen-diesel hybrid engine affectionately known as "baby number two" that could help to decarbonise some of Australia's heaviest industries.

Engineers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) say they have successfully modified a conventional diesel engine to use a mix of hydrogen and a small amount of diesel, claiming their patented technology has cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by more than 85%.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/10gquk6/the_race_to_make_diesel_engines_run_on_hydrogen/j548yd8/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/nikesh96:

Boeing and NASA, the US space agency, are collaborating to create a carbon-emission-reduced commercial airplane of the future.

The “Sustainable Flight Demonstrator” (SFD) project will receive $425 million from NASA over seven years, while an estimated $725 million spent by Boeing and its partners.

According to NASA administrator Bill Nelson, the objective is to create commercial airplanes that are “more fuel efficient, with advantages to the environment, the commercial aviation sector, and to passengers globally.”

In a statement on Wednesday, Nelson added, “If we are successful, we may see these technologies in planes that the public takes to the skies in the 2030s.”

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/10gqb28/loweremissions_aircraft_developed_by_nasa_team/j546cim/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/symmetry_seeking:

Combining sonic printing with 3D scanning could create a tool to allow field medics to repair subdermal injuries on scene. How many loves would be saved from stopping internal bleeding?

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/10gcfp0/researchers_successfully_print_an_onject_under/j51vxfu/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Gari_305:

From the Article

>While commercial quantum computers are still some years away, public and private entities around the world are already investing heavily in the race for a quantum advantage. ​​As of January 2021, 17 countries have a national initiative or strategy to support quantum technology research and development; 3 have strategies under development while 12 other countries have significant government-funded or -endorsed initiatives. But more than 150 countries do not yet have a quantum strategy.

Also from the article

>Disparities in access to existing technologies have already created a digital divide: 2.9 billion people are still offline and do not benefit from the digital economy. Unequal access to quantum technology has negative geopolitical implications, putting those countries whose quantum programs are less developed in danger of falling further behind.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/10g0v2j/the_world_is_heading_for_a_quantum_divide_heres/j4zwau0/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/filosoful:

By engineering structures out of DNA, scientists could potentially prevent larger viruses, like coronaviruses and influenza viruses, from interacting with cells

Using a technique called “DNA origami,” researchers created traps that encase large viruses—such as SARS-CoV-2, influenza A, and Zika—in hopes of preventing them from infecting cells.

A study published today (18 January) in Cell Reports Physical Science details how researchers used DNA origami to engineer strands of genetic material into Lego-like structures that form a cage around large pathogens.

While the study only looked at how effectively the structures bound to viruses in vitro, the traps could one day help clear viruses from the body.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/10fk0by/origami_dna_traps_could_keep_large_viruses_from/j4x94wk/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/lughnasadh:

Submission Statement

It's starting to feel like AI development is now happening so quickly human institutions are floundering in its wake. Universities in particular, now look like many of their practices are outdated. This is yet another example that almost all their current methods of testing and assessment can be gamed by students using AI.

It's worth considering that AI's growth is exponential. As amazing as this looks in early 2023. The AI that will exist by the end of this decade will be hundreds of times more powerful than today.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/10fhy4c/claude_an_ai_some_consider_superior_to_chatgpt_3/j4wux2i/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/BernieEcclestoned:

>University of Michigan scientists developed a new kind of solar panel achieving 9% efficiency in converting water into hydrogen and oxygen – mimicking a crucial step in natural photosynthesis. Outdoors, it represents a major leap in the technology, nearly 10 times more efficient than solar water-splitting experiments of its kind.

>But the biggest benefit is driving down the cost of sustainable hydrogen. This is enabled by shrinking the semiconductor, typically the most expensive part of the device. The team’s self-healing semiconductor withstands concentrated light equivalent to 160 suns

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/10fhdg3/scientists_make_major_breakthrough_in_sustainable/j4wr50b/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Gari_305:

From the article

>Boston Dynamics never disappoints when it releases a video showing new capabilities for its robots. And it just released a video, “Atlas Gets a Grip,” in which the humanoid performs a slew of new moves at a simulated construction site.
>
>A “construction worker” atop a scaffold conveniently forgot some tools down on the ground. Instead of hopping down to get the tools himself, Atlas brings the tools to him. And this is where the magic happens.
>
>Atlas, using a claw gripper, picks up and manipulates a wooden plank to create a bridge for itself onto the scaffold. It then picks up a toolbag, runs onto the scaffold, spins around and throws the toolbag up to the construction worker. Atlas then pushes a wooden box off the scaffold and flips and twists its way to the ground.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/10fev3o/watch_boston_dynamics_atlas_humanoid_work_at_a/j4wb7de/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/filosoful:

Hugely technically challenging and costly goals have been touted, not least the aim of people living and working on other worlds, possibly within ten years - but in a divided world where international good will is scarce, are they realistic?

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/10felqd/can_humanitys_new_giant_leap_into_space_succeed/j4w9j51/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Portalrules123:

SS:

I think this is an important finding to discuss, as we need to be able to objectively determine what measures are effective and which are not when it comes to combatting climate change on a global scale. It seems that several studies are now showing that the carbon offsetting touted by the concept's largest provider is largely just an example of "greenwashing" that is hardly doing anything relatively speaking. It seems pretty evident that offsetting, at least in this format, isn't gonna be much of a help going into the future in terms of effectively helping the environment. More empirical solutions rather than this seemingly indirect/ineffective movement of money to offsetting projects are the answer, if anything I am suspecting that carbon offsetting is largely just PR to try and deflect attention away from the systemic issues of the capitalist system, a way to keep on producing and producing and growing without making the systemic changes required.

​

>The two studies from the international group of researchers found just eight out of 29 Verra-approved projects where further analysis was possible showed evidence of meaningful deforestation reductions.
>
>The journalists were able to do further analysis on those projects, comparing the estimates made by the offsetting projects with the results obtained by the scientists. The analysis indicated about 94% of the credits the projects produced should not have been approved.
>
>Credits from 21 projects had no climate benefit, seven had between 98% and 52% fewer than claimed using Verra’s system, and one had 80% more impact, the investigation found.
>
>Separately, the study by the University of Cambridge team of 40 Verra projects found that while a number had stopped some deforestation, the areas were extremely small. Just four projects were responsible for three-quarters of the total forest that was protected.
>
>The journalists again analysed these results more closely and found that, in 32 projects where it was possible to compare Verra’s claims with the study finding, baseline scenarios of forest loss appeared to be overstated by about 400%. Three projects in Madagascar have achieved excellent results and have a significant impact on the figures. If those projects are not included, the average inflation is about 950%.
>
>The studies used different methods and time periods, looked at different ranges of projects, and the researchers said no modelling approach is ever perfect, acknowledging limitations in each study. However, the data showed broad agreement on the lack of effectiveness of the projects compared with the Verra-approved predictions.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/10fchak/revealed_more_than_90_of_rainforest_carbon/j4vww3g/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Gari_305:

From the article

>The first experimental demonstration of quantum energy teleportation on real quantum hardware has been observed, according to new research that also cites observations of negative energy.
>
>Kazuki Ikeda, a researcher with the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Stony Brook University, New York, says that the breakthrough was achieved with the help of a series of IBM superconducting quantum computers.

Also in the article

>“The methods we have established can be applied to any system capable of [quantum energy transfer]”, Ikeda writes, adding that such methods of energy teleportation can be applied universally, “just as quantum teleportation is a universal means of quantum information transfer.”
>
>In addition to the successful transfer of energy observed in real quantum hardware, Ikeda also reports the observation of negative energy, which he calls the “most significant achievement in this study”, given its potential applications in the study of gravitational field and quantum field phenomena.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/10f7wzy/energy_teleportation_and_negative_energy_observed/j4v3spj/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/lughnasadh:

Submission Statement

This is a rare bit of good news for the European space industry. ESA currently has no independent launch capability. It's in between shutting down production of old models, and waiting for the next-gen ones to arrive. Meanwhile, the stopgap Vega 5s are out of action over safety fears, and the Soyuz backups to those can't be used because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Problems run deeper. ESA has spoken about the urgent need to pivot to reusable rockets, but is it being realistic about how to get there? The USA has a vast publicly funded military budget to support its space industry. Europe's spending is tiny in comparison. It can't expect European capital markets to support a European SpaceX if that company doesn't have the likelihood of 10's or 100's of billions of € in government (military) support the way Space X does.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/10eha3b/sweden_opens_mainland_europes_first_spaceport_esa/j4qty8x/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/cartoonzi:

Last week, The Information reported that Microsoft and OpenAI are working on a ChatGPT-powered version of Bing. A use case that raised eyebrows was ChatGPT's ability to answer questions in concise and straightforward language, which seemed like a much better experience than the one we’re used to on Google.

ChatGPT was alarming enough for Google to declare a "code red" and prioritize the release of its own AI products. Google has been building similar large language models (LLMs) but has been much more secretive and cautious about them. You may recall last summer's controversy when a Google engineer claimed that LaMDA, Google's chatbot, was sentient. And Google even built one of the core technologies powering ChatGPT. We don’t know how powerful Google’s chatbot and other AI products they’ve created are, but we know they have the talent and funds to compete.

Currently, Google commands 85% of the global search market, while Bing only accounts for 9%. So Microsoft doesn’t have as much to lose as Google, which explains its higher risk tolerance in releasing a first-of-its-kind product that could be less reliable and provide false information.

But the bigger news is that Microsoft intends to add OpenAI's chatbot technology to its Office apps. Microsoft Office accounts for 23% of the company's revenue, compared to only 6% from Bing ads.

Having generative AI capabilities built into these Office apps will become a competitive advantage for companies that use them. And every company will end up paying for the premium tier of AI-powered Office apps so they can keep up with their competition.

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The integration of generative AI into Office apps will completely change the way we work. I can't wait to see how all of this unfolds...

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/10eb8wq/chatgpt_wont_kill_google_it_will_help_it/j4puelx/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/Semifreak:

>Researchers have developed a way to use laser light to pull a macroscopic object. Although microscopic optical tractor beams have been demonstrated before, this is one of the first times that laser pulling has been used on larger objects.
>
>Light contains both energy and momentum that can be used for various types of optical manipulation such as levitation and rotation. Optical tweezers, for example, are commonly used scientific instruments that use laser light to hold and manipulate tiny objects such as atoms or cells. For the last ten years, scientists have been working on a new type of optical manipulation: using laser light to create an optical tractor beam that could pull objects.
>
>"In previous studies, the light pulling force was too small to pull a macroscopical object," said research team member Lei Wang from QingDao University of Science and Technology in China. "With our new approach, the light pulling force has a much larger amplitude. In fact, it is more than three orders of magnitudes larger than the light pressure used to drive a solar sail, which uses the momentum of photons to exert a small pushing force."

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/10e7ngs/researchers_create_an_optical_tractor_beam_that/j4pcuqk/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/vpuetf:

The French biotech company Ÿnsect plans to open 15 mealworm factories by 2030. The world must decarbonize, and unfortunately human food is one of the biggest sources of carbon pollution. Insect protein is one of the most sustainable proteins for human consumption, and very low in carbon emissions. The world needs to transition to such low carbon proteins for a sustainable, equitable and inclusive planet.

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/10dy0q7/inside_an_insect_farm_are_mealworms_a_sustainable/j4ntnsa/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/otvortex:

Traditional battery technology such as lithium-ion is susceptible to breakage of nanowires in the batteries through repeated charging and discharging.

>The UCI researchers have solved this problem by coating a gold nanowire in a manganese dioxide shell and wrapping the assembly in an electrolyte made of a Plexiglas-like gel. The combination is reliable and resistant to failure. With the technique Mya Le Thai has invented, the team developed a prototype that endured nearly 200,000 recharge cycles over the course of three months.

If this technology can be scaled to modern battery capacities, power ratings, and form factors, this could revolutionize how sustainable going to electric can truly be. Do you think this is a discovery that can scale to the market?

Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/10dpmoz/uci_researchers_discover_nanowire_coating/j4mlrf7/

The following submission statement was provided by /u/ObtainSustainability:

The latest analysis from Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) energy expert Kingsmill Bond showed that fossil fuel demand in the electricity sector has already reached its peak in demand. Driven by lowered costs, clean energy goals, and a gravitational shift in global capital toward renewables, solar and wind energy are expected to carry the torch left behind by coal, oil, and gas.

Bond said that this has already happened for fossil fuels in the electricity sector. In fact, his analysis shows that fossil fuels in the electricity sector reached peak demand and is now bouncing along a plateau before its inevitable decline in the back half of the decade.

According to RMI research, fossil fuel demand for electricity has peaked in 95 % of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries and 31% of the non-OECD countries excluding China. China is on track to reach its 2030 solar and wind deployment targets by 2025, meaning the nation has also likely approached its peak in fossil fuel demand.

RMI said OECD demand for fossil fuels peaked in 2007, coal demand in 2013, industrial demand for fossil fuels as energy peaked in 2014, and internal combusion engine car demand in 2017. By 2019, 58% of the world experienced peak fossil fuel demand. In 2019, renewables met 85% of the growth in energy demand.

The report demonstrates how change increases over time, often leading to exponential growth. In 2011, the world struggled to sell 29 GW of expensive solar panels, in 2021 it deployed 182 GW, and by 2031 the industry is gearing up to sell 1,000 GW, said RMI.

“The stone age did not end for want of stones, nor the horse age for lack of horses,” said Bond. “The fossil fuel age of hunting for finite fossil stocks is giving way to the renewable age of farming infinite renewable flows. Superior renewable technology is winning the battle for the future of energy, and it is time to recognize this key turning point. Countries, companies, and investors that accept and embrace the energy transition will prosper, while those that deny and resist will struggle and eventually fall.”

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