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Category: climatology – Page 5

A new analysis reveals complex linkages among the United Nations’ (UN’s) 17 Sustainable Development Goals—which include such objectives as gender equality and quality education—and finds that no country is on track to meet all 17 goals by the target year of 2030.

Alberto García-Rodríguez of Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One.

In 2015, UN member countries adopted the Sustainable Development Goals with the aim of achieving “peace and prosperity for people and the planet.” However, setbacks such as the COVID-19 pandemic, , and have slowed progress, and more research is needed to clarify the underlying obstacles so they can be effectively addressed.

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Scientists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), have developed an innovative solar-powered method to transform sewage sludge—a by-product of wastewater treatment—into green hydrogen for clean energy and single-cell protein for animal feed.

Published in Nature Water, the sludge-to-food-and-fuel method tackles two pressing global challenges: managing waste and generating sustainable resources. This aligns with NTU’s goal of addressing humanity’s greatest challenges, such as climate change and sustainability.

The United Nations estimates that about 2.5 billion more people will be living in cities by 2050. Along with the growth of cities and industries comes an increase in , which is notoriously difficult to process and dispose of due to its complex structure, composition, and contaminants such as and pathogens.

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A team from Princeton University has successfully used artificial intelligence (AI) to solve equations that control the quantum behavior of individual atoms and molecules to replicate the early stages of ice formation. The simulation shows how water molecules transition into solid ice with quantum accuracy.

Roberto Car, Princeton’s Ralph W. *31 Dornte Professor in Chemistry, who co-pioneered the approach of simulating molecular behaviors based on the underlying quantum laws more than 35 years ago, said, “In a sense, this is like a dream come true. Our hope then was that eventually, we would be able to study systems like this one. Still, it was impossible without further conceptual development, and that development came via a completely different field, that of artificial intelligence and data science.”

Modeling the early stages of freezing water, the ice nucleation process could increase the precision of climate and weather modeling and other processes like flash-freezing food. The new approach could help track the activity of hundreds of thousands of atoms over thousands of times longer periods, albeit still just fractions of a second, than in early studies.

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This Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, SDG11 Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG12 Responsible Consumption and Production, and SDG 13 Climate Action.

As the global construction industry strives to reduce its environmental footprint, sustainable processes and materials are becoming increasingly vital. Innovation in cement and concrete technologies plays a key role in minimizing resource consumption, lowering carbon emissions, and enhancing long-term resilience. This collection highlights research that advances both sustainable development and application of cement and concrete for the building sector.

Topics of interest include the development of low-carbon cement alternatives, recycling and reuse of concrete materials, 3D concrete printing, and other energy-efficient construction techniques. We welcome contributions from fundamental material research, to applied solutions and large-scale real-world demonstrations.

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Can Tesla REALLY Build Millions of Optimus Bots? ## Tesla is poised to revolutionize robotics and sustainable energy by leveraging its innovative manufacturing capabilities and vertical integration to produce millions of Optimus bots efficiently and cost-effectively ## Questions to inspire discussion ## Manufacturing and Production.

S low model count strategy benefit their production? A: Tesla s speed of innovation and ability to build millions of robots quickly gives them a key advantage in mass producing and scaling manufacturing for humanoid robots like Optimus. + s factory design strategies support rapid production scaling? A: Tesla## Cost and Efficiency.

S vertical integration impact their cost structure? A: Tesla s AI brain in-house, Tesla can avoid paying high margins to external suppliers like Nvidia for the training portion of the brain. +## Technology and Innovation.

S experience in other industries benefit Optimus development? A: Tesla s own supercomputer, Cortex, and AI training cluster are crucial for developing and training the Optimus bot## Quality and Reliability.

S manufacturing experience contribute to Optimus quality? A: Tesla## Market Strategy.

S focus on vehicle appeal relate to Optimus production? A: Tesla## Scaling and Demand.

Continue reading “Tesla Will DOUBLE US Production over the next 2 years” | >

Researchers at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) have developed the world’s first kilowatt-scale elastocaloric cooling device. The device can stabilize indoor temperatures at a comfortable 21°C–22°C in just 15 minutes, even when outdoor temperatures reach between 30°C and 31°C, marking a significant breakthrough toward the commercial application of elastocaloric solid-state cooling technology.

The research findings have been published in the journal Nature, offering a promising solution to combat climate change and accelerate the low-carbon transformation of the global cooling industry.

As global warming intensifies, the demand for and cooling has been growing, with cooling already accounting for 20% of global electricity consumption. Mainstream vapor compression cooling technology relies on refrigerants with high global warming potential (GWP).

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Researchers from Japan and Taiwan have made a groundbreaking discovery, demonstrating for the first time that helium—long considered chemically inert—can bond with iron under extreme pressure. Using a laser-heated diamond anvil cell, they observed this unexpected interaction, suggesting that vast amounts of helium may be present in the Earth’s core. This finding challenges long-held theories about the planet’s internal structure and history and could provide new insights into the primordial nebula from which our solar system originated.

Volcanic eruptions primarily release rocks and minerals, but they can also emit traces of a rare gas known as primordial helium. Unlike the more common isotope, helium-4 (⁴He), which consists of two protons and two neutrons and is continuously produced by radioactive decay, primordial helium—helium-3 (³He)—contains only one neutron and is not formed on Earth. Its presence offers valuable clues about the planet’s deep interior and its connection to cosmic origins.

Given the occasionally high 3 He/4He ratios found in volcanic rocks, especially in Hawaii, researchers have long believed there are primordial materials containing 3 He deep within the mantle. However, graduate student Haruki Takezawa and members of Professor Kei Hirose’s group from the University of Tokyo’s Department of Earth and Planetary Science have now challenged this view with a new take on a familiar experiment — crushing things.

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Researchers from Würzburg have experimentally demonstrated a quantum tornado for the first time by refining an established method. In the quantum semimetal tantalum arsenide (TaAs), electrons in momentum space behave like a swirling vortex. This quantum phenomenon was first predicted eight years ago by a Dresden-based founding member of the Cluster of Excellence ct.qmat.

The discovery, a collaborative effort between ct.qmat, the research network of the Universities of Würzburg and Dresden, and international partners, has now been published in Physical Review X.

Scientists have long known that electrons can form vortices in quantum materials. What’s new is the proof that these tiny particles create tornado-like structures in momentum space—a finding that has now been confirmed experimentally. This achievement was led by Dr. Maximilian Ünzelmann, a group leader at ct.qmat—Complexity and Topology in Quantum Matter—at the Universities of Würzburg and Dresden.

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Unlocking New Data for Earth Observation

Reliable data is one of the most valuable tools in scientific research. The more data sources scientists can access, the more accurate their findings become. Until recently, researchers in navigation and satellite geodesy saw a major missed opportunity — while thousands of satellites in mega-constellations orbited Earth for communication purposes, their signals couldn’t be used for positioning or Earth observation.

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