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Feb 3, 2024

Regina steps up, adding 53 electric buses to its public transit fleet

Posted by in categories: sustainability, transportation

Saskatchewan’s capital city is moving forward with plans to electrify its Regina Transit fleet, signing a five-year contract with Nova Bus to acquire 53 battery electric city buses.

A subsidiary of the Volvo Group based in Quebec, Nova Bus manufactures long-range electric bus options with absolutely massive battery packs — up to 564 kWh on its biggest models, with the option of DC fast-charging or charging through overhead wires.

The first installment of its larger order will see seven of its LFSe+ 40-foot, long-range buses delivered to the City of Regina early in 2025 at a cost of $10.8 million (Canadian). The city will follow that with 13 more buses later in 2025 at a cost of $22.4 million, with an additional $21.2 million set to be spent on facility upgrades and infrastructure to support the electric buses.

Feb 3, 2024

BYD EV sales grew nearly 50% in January as exports reached a new high

Posted by in categories: sustainability, transportation

After topping Tesla in the final three months of 2023, BYD is starting the year off strong with EV sales rising another 50% in January.

BYD sold 105,304 fully electric cars last month, up 48% from the 71,338 handed over last year. Production was also up significantly, with 114,365 EVs built last month, up 64% YOY.

Interestingly, BYD’s all-electric vehicles are beginning to outpace its plug-in hybrids (PHEVs). BYD’s PHEV sales were up 21% to 95,715 last month. Production was only up 9% to 90,749 units.

Feb 3, 2024

AMD’s new CPU hits 132fps in Fortnite without a graphics card

Posted by in category: computing

Also get 49fps in BG3119fps in CS2, and 41fps in Cyberpunk 2077 using the new AMD Ryzen 8700G, all without the need for an extra CPU cooler.

Feb 3, 2024

China’s new maglev hyperloop train project crosses 387mph in testing

Posted by in category: transportation

The project, led by a Chinese aerospace defense contractor, aims to build a system capable of propelling a train to speeds of 621 mph within a vacuum tube.

Feb 3, 2024

Automaker will completely abandon gas after unveiling first-ever electric SUV

Posted by in categories: sustainability, transportation

A LUXURY carmaker has confirmed the release of an EV model that’ll replace the original gas version.

The news were shared this week, with the new vehicle expected to enter production in the latter half of 2024.

Porsche has announced their electric Macan SUV.

Feb 3, 2024

Approaching the dream of the alchemist

Posted by in categories: innovation, materials

The EPFL team, using tellurite glass produced by their Tokyo Tech colleagues, applied their expertise in femtosecond laser technology to alter the glass and study the laser’s effect. After etching a simple line pattern onto a 1 cm diameter tellurite glass and exposing it to UV light and the visible spectrum, Torun found it could generate a current consistently for months.

Bellouard expressed his excitement at the breakthrough, saying, “We’re locally turning glass into a semiconductor using light. We’re essentially transforming materials into something else, perhaps approaching the dream of the alchemist!”

This development may pave the way for windows to function as single-material light-harvesting and sensing devices in the future.

Feb 3, 2024

‘Missing link’ that created water in our solar system discovered

Posted by in categories: alien life, evolution

SANTIAGO, Chile — Astronomers have traced the source of Earth’s oceans, rivers, and lakes back to a stellar nursery located 1,300 light years away. They’re describing this finding as the “missing link” in the evolution of life as we know it.

“We can now trace the origins of water in our Solar System to before the formation of the Sun,” says lead author Dr. John Tobin of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

The international team discovered gaseous water in a substantial planet-forming disc around the star V883 Orionis. This star, located in the Orion constellation in the southwestern sky, was studied using the ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) telescope in Chile. Upon examination, researchers found that the disc contained at least 1,200 times the quantity of water found in all of Earth’s oceans. This discovery could potentially aid researchers in identifying planets or moons that are most likely to harbor extraterrestrial life.

Feb 3, 2024

Revoy EV promises to electrify diesel semis in minutes

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, transportation

The Revoy EV concept is deceptively simple. A tractor’s 5th wheel pairs up with the Revoy’s hitch. Then the trailer that the semi is set to haul attaches to the Revoy’s 5th wheel. Some AI embedded in the Revoy’s electronic control units does some number-crunching and the three-part truck, trailer, trailer combo then hauls off down the road, with the Revoy’s high-torque e-axle providing most of the power to accelerate the load and diesel power where it’s most efficient: on the highway.

The best part, according to Revoy? Truckers can add the Revoy EV trailer to their rigs with no up-front costs.

Feb 3, 2024

This new AI-powered iPhone browser trumps Safari by searching the web for you

Posted by in category: mobile phones

Your own search engine butler.

Feb 3, 2024

Ghost in the Cosmos: Almost Invisible Galaxy Challenges Dark Matter Model

Posted by in categories: cosmology, physics

A group of astrophysicists led by Mireia Montes, a researcher at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), has discovered the largest and most diffuse galaxy recorded until now. The study has been published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, and has used data taken with the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) and the Green Bank Radiotelescope (GBT).

Nube is an almost invisible dwarf galaxy discovered by an international research team led by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) in collaboration with the University of La Laguna (ULL) and other institutions.

The name was suggested by the 5-year-old daughter of one of the researchers in the group, and is due to the diffuse appearance of the object. Its surface brightness is so faint that it had passed unnoticed in the various previous surveys of this part of the sky, as if it were some kind of ghost. This is because its stars are so spread out in such a large volume that “Nube” (the Spanish for “Cloud”) was almost undetectable.