Lifeboat Foundation

RPTU University of Kaiserslautern-Landau has shown for the first time, in a joint study with BOKU University, that permaculture brings about a significant improvement in biodiversity, soil quality and carbon storage.

In view of the challenges of climate change and species extinction, this type of agriculture proved to be a real alternative to conventional cultivation—and reconcile environmental protection and high yields.

Permaculture uses natural cycles and ecosystems as blueprint. Food is produced in an agricultural ecosystem that is as self-regulating, natural and diverse as possible. For example, livestock farming is integrated into the cultivation of crops or the diversity of beneficial organisms is promoted in order to avoid the use of mineral fertilizers or pesticides.

Hyundai opened the first EV battery cell plant in Indonesia with LG Energy Solution as it builds out its global supply chain. The plant will supply cells for over 150,000 competitively-priced Hyundai and Kia EVs, starting with the new Kona Electric.

In March 2021, Hyundai teamed up with LG to build a new EV battery cell plant near the capital of Indonesia.

Hyundai and LG invested $1.1 billion for a 50/50 stake in the factory. The partnership, “HLI Green Power,” will secure a “steady supply of EV batteries at a competitive price for upcoming BEVs,” according to Hyundai.

Tesla Energy is no longer a sleeping giant. During the second quarter of 2024, Tesla Energy was able to deploy 9.4 GWh of energy storage products. This represents the highest quarter deployment of energy storage products in Tesla’s history to date.

Tesla Energy was already a standout in the company’s Q1 2024 Update Letter. In the document, Tesla highlighted that Q1’s energy deployments were a new record at 4.1 GWh. As could be seen in Tesla’s Q2 2024 production and delivery report, Q1’s already impressive 4.1 GWh of energy storage deployments grew an astounding 132% quarter-over-quarter and 157% year-over-year.

$TSLA BREAKING: Tesla distributed 9.4 GWh of energy storage in the second quarter of 2024.

Scientists have found three new species that are close relatives to the plant from which chocolate is produced—a discovery that could pave the way for climate-proof chocolate. The team’s research has been published in the journal Kew Bulletin.

The new species, discovered in the rain forests of South America, are closely related to Theobroma cacao, the tree that bears cocoa beans which are of tremendous economic importance.

The research team comprising scientists from University College Cork (UCC), the University of São Paulo and New York Botanical Garden say their finding is significant as it indicates that there is much work still to be done in characterizing Earth’s biodiversity.

It resembles a malevolent robot from 1980s sci-fi but West Japan Railway’s new humanoid employee was designed with nothing more sinister than a spot of painting and gardening in mind.

Starting this month, the machine with a crude head and coke-bottle eyes mounted on a truck—which can drive on rails—will be put to use for maintenance work on the firm’s network.

Its operator sits in a cockpit on the truck, “seeing” through the robot’s eyes via cameras and operating its powerful limbs and hands remotely.

Tesla is set to bring the Optimus and Cybertruck to China for the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in China this week.

Ways to interact with virtual versions of our deceased loved ones are now a possibility – but there’s a raft of ethical and emotional challenges involved.

A new microscopy method has allowed researchers to detect tiny changes in the atomic-level architecture of crystalline materials like advanced steels for ship hulls and custom silicon for electronics. It could advance our ability to understand the fundamental origins of materials properties and behaviour.

In a paper published today in Nature Materials, researchers from the University of Sydney’s School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering introduced a new way to decode the atomic relationships within materials.

The breakthrough could assist in the development of stronger and lighter alloys for the aerospace industry, new generation semiconductors for electronics, and improved magnets for electric motors. It could also enable the creation of sustainable, efficient and cost-effective products.

One of the challenges of cramming smarter and more powerful electronics into ever-shrinking devices is developing the tools and techniques to analyze the materials that make them up with increasingly intimate precision.

Physicists at Michigan State University have taken a long-awaited step on that front with an approach that combines high-resolution microscopy with ultrafast lasers.

The technique, described in the journal Nature Photonics (“Atomic-scale terahertz time-domain spectroscopy”), enables researchers to spot misfit atoms in semiconductors with unparalleled precision. Semiconductor physics labels these atoms as “defects,” which sounds negative, but they’re usually added to materials on purpose and are critically important to the performance of semiconductors in today’s — and tomorrow’s — devices.