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Print article Share Article Contents Expand menu Close ‘Brazil is back’ New Jersey-sized forest Election significance ‘Greenest’ policies Soy moratorium and Brazilian congress An area of Amazon forest roughly the size of the US state of New Jersey has remained standing due to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s leadership of Brazil, according to Carbon Brief […]
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Scrutinizing the Achievement of Climate Targets, Part I: The Widening Reach of Implementation Litigation
As temperatures continue to rise at alarming rates, it is undeniable that current climate policies are not enough to meet the 1.5°C temperature limit of the Paris Agreement. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, global warming is currently on track to reach 2.8°C above preindustrial levels by 2100. However, if governments fully implement their […]
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Who we become when we talk to machines
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Brian, a middle-aged financial consultant, spends his day sitting in front of three screens. Two of them involve his job. The third features a chatbot, which he has given a woman’s name and frequently uses. Brian spent years on the road for work earlier in his career, has never married, and recently broke up with […]
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The effects of an “algorithmic monoculture” depend on the details
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AI tools are increasingly replacing human judgements in some settings. For instance, resume screening algorithms are often used in hiring, where they may improve efficiency and consistency in decision-making. But some scholars have raised concerns that the adoption of automated systems could eventually result in one algorithm being used to make all decisions in a […]
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Weather and climate monitoring frequencies face growing interference risk, UN groups warn
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Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary-General of the ITU, and Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General of the WMO, at the Global ITU-WMO Seminar on Spectrum Use for Meteorology in Geneva. (Image credit: © ITU/D. Woldu) Growing demand for radio spectrum from wireless communications and satellite services could interfere with frequencies needed for weather forecasting, climate monitoring and environmental observations, two […]
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Maidstone trials textile waste in pothole repairs
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The textile-derived material is being tested at Mote Park and Penenden Heath. Old clothes are being used to fix potholes in Maidstone’s parks in a trial involving Maidstone Borough Council and sustainable materials company RECOOL. The council is testing a pothole repair material made from recycled textile waste at Mote Park and Penenden Heath. The […]
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New formulation helps RNA vaccines withstand high temperatures
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RNA vaccines, which have been proven effective against Covid-19, are now being developed for many other diseases, including cancer. One of the drawbacks to these vaccines is that they require ultracold storage, but researchers from MIT have found a promising way to overcome that limitation. With help from an AI algorithm, the researchers tweaked the […]
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‘Concerning’ low sea ice persists as Antarctic hits third-lowest winter peak
Print article Share Antarctic sea ice has recorded its third-smallest winter peak extent since satellite records began 48 years ago, new data reveals. Provisional data from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) shows that Antarctic sea ice hit its annual winter peak on 14 September, with an extent of 17.59m square kilometres […]
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MIT students gain a humanist lens on technical innovation in Tulsa, Oklahoma
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When MIT mechanical engineering student Daphne Wang arrived for her internship at the Muscogee Creek Nation Department of Health in Tulsa, Oklahoma last summer, she expected to be writing code. To her surprise, she found herself analyzing tribal history and the implications for technical innovation. “I learned so much that I think should be required […]
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Analysis: EVs are now nine times cheaper than petrol or diesel to drive in the UK
Print article Share The latest surge in fossil-fuel prices means it is now up to nine times cheaper in the UK to drive an electric vehicle (EV) than a petrol or diesel car, shows Carbon Brief analysis. Since February, when the US first attacked Iran, the average price of diesel has increased by 38% to […]
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Interactive: What China’s dozens of ‘five-year plans’ say about climate and energy
Almost three-quarters of the 72 five-year plans published by China this year include policies or targets related to climate change and energy, according to Carbon Brief analysis. Five-year plans are an important part of China’s policymaking process, signalling key priorities and setting targets for the coming years. The post Interactive: What China’s dozens of ‘five-year […]
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RAG vs. Fine-Tuning for Domain Adaptation: When to Use Which
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In this article, you will learn the mechanical difference between retrieval-augmented generation and fine-tuning, when each technique is the right tool, and how to decide…
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Agent or Workflow? A Practical Test for Knowing When You Actually Need an AI Agent
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In this article, you will learn the key differences between AI workflows and agents, and how to decide which approach is right for your use…
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Estimating suicide risk from text
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When people reach out during a mental health crisis, a top priority for counselors is identifying those with a high risk of suicide. The distressed person’s language holds critical clues, and a new tool developed by scientists at MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research is designed to pick up on and rapidly evaluate those signals. […]
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BNG credits to fund 240-acre nature restoration at Herstmonceux
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Herstmonceux Castle (image credit: Michael Coppins, CC BY-SA 4.0 license). A 240-acre area of farmland at the Herstmonceux Castle Estate in East Sussex is to be restored as wood pasture, grassland and scrub under a long-term project financed through the sale of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) units. Nature restoration company Nattergal will manage the project […]
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Fibre network enlisted to detect Southern Water leaks
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Leakage from ageing water mains remains a major focus for water companies as they face tighter reduction targets and growing pressure on supplies. Southern Water is to trial technology that turns Openreach’s fibre-optic telecoms network into a distributed sensor for detecting leaks in nearby water mains. The water company is working with UK technology firm […]
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Project explores virtual power plant approach for Antigua and Barbuda
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Gaston Browne, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda and Zoisa North-Bond, CEO of Octopus Energy Generation sign the Memorandum of Understanding. UK renewable energy firm Octopus Energy and the Government of Antigua and Barbuda are to explore how solar power, battery storage, electric vehicles and flexible electricity demand could be coordinated to reduce the island […]
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MIT welcomes David Siegel SM ’86, PhD ’91 as its next Innovation Fellow
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David Siegel SM ’86, PhD ’91, a computer scientist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, will serve as the next MIT Innovation Fellow during the 2026-27 academic year. Working with the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, Siegel will explore how artificial intelligence can accelerate scientific discovery at the Institute and beyond. “From the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing […]
Carbon Neutral Regulation in AI Training