Massachusetts Democratic lawmakers have introduced SD.1932, the 100 Percent Renewable Energy Act, which would raise the state's renewable portfolio standard to 100% by 2035 and phase out fossil fuels by 2050. The bill also aims to eliminate fossil fuel use in heating and transportation and includes a provision for clean energy workforce development.
A new ODNI Global Risk Assessment warns that China is expanding military and commercial activity in space, including capabilities to disable or destroy satellites. Director Avril Haines told lawmakers China is focused on achieving space leadership, while China also prepares to build a new orbital station.
UK officials are expected to ask people to send fewer unnecessary emails at next year's COP26 climate summit, citing carbon savings. But the BBC notes that one fewer email per person daily would cut only about 0.0037 percent of the UK's annual greenhouse gas emissions, and an expert says the actual savings are likely far smaller.
Researchers at UC San Diego have developed tiny 3D-printed 'micro-fish' robots that can swim through fluids, remove toxins, and potentially deliver drugs to hard-to-reach areas of the body. The technology, still in development, is backed by grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.
An active-duty US Army soldier, Gannon Ken Van Dyke, has been indicted on charges of using classified information to place over $33,000 in Polymarket bets tied to the US military operation in Venezuela. The case, unsealed in Manhattan federal court, highlights concerns about insider trading on prediction markets.
CBC News obtained hundreds of pages of Canadian military documents showing confusion after Pokémon Go players wandered onto bases following the game's July 2016 launch. Emails reveal officers unfamiliar with the game, with one suggesting hiring a 12-year-old for help, while another noted a possible museum visitor boost.
The EPA has updated its cost-benefit analysis to assign a zero value to human life, eliminating the 'value of a statistical life' metric previously set at $11.7 million. This change is expected to weaken regulations on ozone and fine particulate matter, potentially reversing gains made since the Clean Air Act, according to Fortune and economist Michael Greenstone.
Foundation Robotics Lab's Phantom, a humanoid robot designed for military use, made its public debut as a DJ at San Francisco's Temple Nightclub during the GigaParty event. The robot, which uses he/him pronouns, spun tech house beats for a crowd at an event with tickets priced from $35 to $3,000.
James O'Donoghue, a planetary scientist at JAXA, released an animation illustrating how light's speed appears fast on Earth but slows dramatically across cosmic distances. The visualization follows a light pulse from Earth to the Moon and then to Mars, where the wait stretches to about three minutes.
A Nature commentary by Guillaume Chapron outlines four ways blockchain could improve environmental governance: securing land ownership, tracing supply chains, enabling reliable conservation payments, and reducing corruption. Examples from Ghana, Georgia, Honduras, and corporate adopters like Walmart and Toyota illustrate the technology's broader momentum.
A small fire at the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System on May 9 shut down one of its three towers, leaving the Mojave Desert plant operating on a single unit because a second tower was already offline for maintenance. Fire officials attributed the blaze to misaligned mirrors, and the plant faces a July deadline to meet its power purchase agreement output.
The United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, killing about 80,000 people instantly, with total deaths from the Japan blasts estimated at over 200,000. The United Nations calls nuclear weapons the most dangerous on Earth, and the source asks how far disarmament has come.
NOAA data show the contiguous US averaged 76.89 degrees Fahrenheit in July, hotter than July 1936 during the Dust Bowl, according to the source. Meteorologist Jeff Masters attributes the record to a strong El Niño layered on human-caused climate change, with drought and wildfires compounding the impact.
HP has launched the Jet Fusion 3200 and 4200, its first new 3D printers since entering the market in 2014. The company claims the machines print at half the cost and ten times the speed of rivals, with the 3200 priced at $130,000 and aimed at manufacturers.
The Florida Aquarium is importing a UK-developed technique to induce corals to spawn monthly instead of once a year, aiming to scale up restoration. At current rates, removing Staghorn coral from the endangered species list would take 550 years, and asexual cloning limits genetic diversity needed to survive bleaching and disease.
A Harvard study published in Geophysical Research Letters found that Earth's crust rebounds and warps as ice melts, with deformations larger than previously thought. The effects can influence ecosystems for thousands of years and may create a feedback loop that displaces more ice, according to planetary scientist Sophie Coulson.
Researchers at Kyushu University's OPERA lab have developed an organic glow-in-the-dark material that emits light for over an hour, far surpassing previous organic attempts limited to minutes. Published in Nature, the work could cut costs for large-area applications like glowing roadways, though oxygen and water sensitivity must be addressed before commercial use.