On algorithms, life, and learning

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Carbon Neutral Regulation in AI Training

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From enhancing international business logistics to freeing up more hospital beds to helping farmers, MIT Professor Dimitris Bertsimas SM ’87, PhD ’88 summarized how his work in operations research has helped drive real-world improvements, while delivering the 54th annual James R. Killian Faculty Achievement Award Lecture at MIT on Thursday, March 19. Bertsimas also described […]

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Flavie Lowres. Lighting circularity expert Recolight has appointed Flavie Lowres as Environmental Metrics Manager. The group said she will play a pivotal role in supporting the lighting industry in the adoption of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). Flavie joins Recolight with a distinguished track record in Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs), EPDs, and the circular economy of […]

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A speaker from the 2023 event. Two international marine science conferences will create a keynote talk with a difference by simultaneously involving speakers on either side of the Atlantic Ocean. The Environmental Interactions of Marine Renewables (EIMR2026) conference in Oban, Scotland and the Pan American Marine Energy Conference (PAMEC) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil will […]

Emissions from the new data centres set to drive the UK’s AI “revolution” could be hundreds of times higher than government estimates, according to analysis by Carbon Brief. There are dozens of data centres being developed across the country, potentially driving a surge in electricity demand. Amid uncertainty about the scale and pace of this […]

Around 300 scientists, civil servants, journalists and climate experts took part in the 11th annual Carbon Brief quiz on Wednesday 18 March 2026. For the second time, this year’s quiz was hosted by Octopus Energy at its headquarters in central London. In total, 39 teams participated – 25 teams in person and 14 teams joining […]

Welcome to Carbon Brief’s DeBriefed. An essential guide to the week’s key developments relating to climate change. This week Iran war fallout continues WORK FROM HOME: The International Energy Agency has advised its member countries to take 10 steps in response to the ongoing energy crisis fuelled by the Iran war, including reducing highway speeds and […]

Just 1% of England’s land will be needed for renewables to help meet the UK’s climate goals by 2050, according to a first-of-its-kind framework. There is enough land in England to meet climate and nature goals, while also producing more food and building new homes, according to the UK government’s new “land-use framework”. Speaking at […]

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Who benefits from artificial intelligence? This basic question, which has been especially salient during the AI surge of the last few years, was front and center at a conference at MIT on Wednesday, as speakers and audience members grappled with the many dimensions of AI’s impact. In one of the conferences’s keynote talks, journalist Karen […]

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The following is a joint announcement from the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, Hasso Plattner Institute, and Hasso Plattner Foundation. The MIT Morningside Academy for Design (MAD), MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI), and Hasso Plattner Foundation celebrated the launch of the MIT and HPI AI […]

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Everyone’s
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Sustainability in manufacturing usually gets brought up in terms of energy use, emissions and recycling, but let’s be clear – all that matters too – although a lot of waste is actually locked in right from the get-go, during the design phase. Before a system so much as gets built, turned on or put into […]
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Most people think of waste as something physical. Plastic packaging. Food scraps. Old electronics. Piles of paper that should have been recycled weeks ago. Digital waste feels different because it is harder to see. A bloated video file does not sit on the kitchen counter. Ten duplicate exports do not spill out of a bin. […]

Welcome to Carbon Brief’s China Briefing. China Briefing handpicks and explains the most important climate and energy stories from China over the past fortnight. Subscribe for free here. Key developments Carbon target locked into final five-year plan FEW CHANGES: The final version of China’s 15th five-year plan, published on 13 March, placed renewable energy “centre stage” […]

Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is responsible for about 30% of the global temperature increase observed since the industrial revolution. China accounts for more than 10% of annual global human methane emissions, in large part due to unintended releases – known as “fugitive” emissions – from its energy sector. In a recently published study, we take […]

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Large language models (LLMs) can generate credible but inaccurate responses, so researchers have developed uncertainty quantification methods to check the reliability of predictions. One popular method involves submitting the same prompt multiple times to see if the model generates the same answer. But this method measures self-confidence, and even the most impressive LLM might be […]

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MIT researchers have spent more than a decade studying techniques that enable robots to find and manipulate hidden objects by “seeing” through obstacles. Their methods utilize surface-penetrating wireless signals that reflect off concealed items. Now, the researchers are leveraging generative artificial intelligence models to overcome a longstanding bottleneck that limited the precision of prior approaches. […]

All answers will need to be submitted via the Google form by the end of the half-time break The post Carbon Brief Quiz 2026: Picture Round 1 and 2 appeared first on Carbon Brief.

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National Gas has outlined early-stage plans for a 300-mile hydrogen pipeline along England’s east coast, marking what seems a significant step towards a national hydrogen network. In what’s presented as a major step forward for Britain’s hydrogen ambitions, the operator of the UK’s national gas transmission system has unveiled plans for the first phase of […]