A new way to increase the capabilities of large language models
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Most languages use word position and sentence structure to extract meaning. For example, “The cat sat on the box,” is not the same as “The box was on the cat.” Over a long text, like a financial document or a novel, the syntax of these words likely evolves. Similarly, a person might be tracking variables […]
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Cropped 17 December 2025: ‘Deadly’ Asia floods; Boosting London’s water birds; UN headwinds
We handpick and explain the most important stories at the intersection of climate, land, food and nature over the past fortnight. This is an online version of Carbon Brief’s fortnightly Cropped email newsletter. Subscribe for free here. This is the last edition of Cropped for 2025. The newsletter will return on 14 January 2026. Key developments […]
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US groups demonstrate commerical scale PFAS destruction of high-flow industrial wastewater
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The chemicals industry is one of a number of sources of wastewater heavily contaminated with PFAS. US firm Claros Technologies has completed a commercial-scale run of its proprietary UV-photochemical PFAS destruction method, reportedly achieving over 99.99% destruction across long, short, and ultra-short chain PFAS while treating more than 170,000 gallons of industrial wastewater at high […]
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BNG reforms not as drastic as feared, but still significantly weaken nature protections
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“A nightmare before Xmas for nature” was one take on the changes to rules on Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) announced by Housing Secretary Matthew Pennycook during a debate on planning reform and housing policy in the House of Commons on Tuesday 16 December. The Wildlife Trusts’ response was one of many from conservation groups that […]
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Water Jetting Association streamlines membership structure
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The Water Jetting Association (JTA) has launched a simplified its membership structure so more businesses and organisations can take advantage of being members. The move is designed to support an exciting membership growth plan for 2026 and focus attention on the many advantages of being part of the UK’s representative body for the water jetting […]
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York Minster’s solar upgrade prioritises safety
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The solar switch-on at York Minster. An advanced rooftop solar system has been installed on the world-famous Gothic cathedral at the heart of York, York Minster, achieving significant energy and cost savings. Safety – and the avoidance of fire – was a vital consideration in the project, as well as maximising energy efficiency, explains SolarEdge, […]
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Comment: the five waste stories that shaped 2025
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Waste collection in England: The Birmingham bin strike was a reminder of the sector’s critical reliance on people 2025 has been a turbulent year for the UK’s waste sector, with developments including the implementation of the Simpler Recycling for Businesses legislation, and a wave of closures in the plastics recycling sector. Waste Management firm BusinessWaste.co.uk […]
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Greenwashing on Trial: The Paris Tribunal Finds TotalEnergies Misled Consumers with Its Carbon Neutrality Claims
Introduction On October 23, 2025, the Judicial Tribunal of Paris (Tribunal judiciaire de Paris) found in Greenpeace France and Others v. TotalEnergies SE and TotalEnergies Electricité et Gaz France that TotalEnergies and its French subsidiary engaged in misleading environmental advertising. For the first time, a court has held a major oil and gas company accountable […]
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New Article on Climate Science and Natural Resource Litigation
Credit: Neal Herbert, Department of Interior Climate change has major implications for the sustainable use and conservation of natural resources. Rapid and unprecedented changes in bioclimatic conditions can significantly affect the integrity, productivity, and carrying capacity of ecological systems that provide essential resources such as food, timber, and fresh water. Many natural systems are […]
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Bittersweet
I write with a bittersweet announcement. I am moving on from Climate Generation at the end of December. It has been an honor to share my thoughts with you each month here. For 19 years, Climate Generation has been supporting educators, young people and communities to build climate change literacy and ignite action to arrive […]
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Businesses and experts back Biodiversity Net Gain for small sites
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Image credit: Jun Huang / Shutterstock.com. Businesses and experts from across the construction and built environment sector have published an open letter asking the Government to retain Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) requirements for small sites and adopt a more proportionate approach to reform. Coordinated by the Green Construction Board (GCB) and UK Green Building Council […]
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New report sizes up EV brake and tyre emissions
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A newly published report by consultancy firm Ricardo, for the UK Department of Transport (DfT), has found that levels of PM2.5 from tyre wear and brake wear, are significantly reduced through a simple switch to (often inexpensive) brake pads and new braking technology. With electric vehicles (EVs) being heavier than internal combustion engine vehicles, it […]
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High-resolution assessment can overcome rooftop deployment bottlenecks, says new report
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Draper Tools installed 904 of Absolar’s solar panels across a roof containing more than 700 skylights. A new set of reports appears to highlight a significant opportunity for the vast untapped rooftop potential that exists in the UK. University of Southampton spin-off company Absolar has published a nationwide set of Solar Performance Wrap Reports for […]
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UV-readable recycling labels launch
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Label manufacturing firm Interket UK has partnered with Polytag in the project. A UV-readable label solution allows brands and retailers to verify recycling at barcode level. This kind of functionality was already provided by Polytag’s UV tags, which could be attached to product packaging, but now the solution is embedded directly into the label artwork. […]
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“Robot, make me a chair”
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Computer-aided design (CAD) systems are tried-and-true tools used to design many of the physical objects we use each day. But CAD software requires extensive expertise to master, and many tools incorporate such a high level of detail they don’t lend themselves to brainstorming or rapid prototyping. In an effort to make design faster and more […]
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3 Questions: Using computation to study the world’s best single-celled chemists
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Today, out of an estimated 1 trillion species on Earth, 99.999 percent are considered microbial — bacteria, archaea, viruses, and single-celled eukaryotes. For much of our planet’s history, microbes ruled the Earth, able to live and thrive in the most extreme of environments. Researchers have only just begun in the last few decades to contend […]
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Working to eliminate barriers to adopting nuclear energy
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What if there were a way to solve one of the most significant obstacles to the use of nuclear energy — the disposal of high-level nuclear waste (HLW)? Dauren Sarsenbayev, a third-year doctoral student at the MIT Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE), is addressing the challenge as part of his research. Sarsenbayev focuses on […]
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Guest post: How the Greenland ice sheet fared in 2025
Greenland is closing in on three decades of continuous annual ice loss, with 1995-96 being the last year in which the giant ice sheet grew in size. With another melt season over, Greenland lost 105bn tonnes of ice in 2024-25. The past year has seen some notable events, including ongoing ice melt into the month […]