Water’s hour of reckoning? Highlights from the Cunliffe review
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The Independent Water Commission (IWC) reported its findings on 21 July, the culmination of an eight-month investigation, billed as the largest review of the water sector in England and Wales since privatisation.1 It has had the unhappy task of figuring out how to restore trust in a system that by all accounts is considered broken. […]
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ICJ: What the world court’s landmark opinion means for climate change
The highest court of the UN has issued a landmark “advisory opinion” stating that nations can be held legally accountable for their greenhouse-gas emissions. Recognising the “urgent and existential threat” facing the world, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concluded that those harmed by human-caused climate change are entitled to “reparations”. Their opinion largely rests […]
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Robot, know thyself: New vision-based system teaches machines to understand their bodies
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In an office at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), a soft robotic hand carefully curls its fingers to grasp a small object. The intriguing part isn’t the mechanical design or embedded sensors — in fact, the hand contains none. Instead, the entire system relies on a single camera that watches the robot’s […]
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Pedestrians now walk faster and linger less, researchers find
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City life is often described as “fast-paced.” A new study suggests that’s more true that ever. The research, co-authored by MIT scholars, shows that the average walking speed of pedestrians in three northeastern U.S. cities increased 15 percent from 1980 to 2010. The number of people lingering in public spaces declined by 14 percent in […]
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New machine-learning application to help researchers predict chemical properties
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One of the shared, fundamental goals of most chemistry researchers is the need to predict a molecule’s properties, such as its boiling or melting point. Once researchers can pinpoint that prediction, they’re able to move forward with their work yielding discoveries that lead to medicines, materials, and more. Historically, however, the traditional methods of unveiling […]
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The ICJ’s Advisory Opinion on Climate Change: An Introduction
“An existential threat” – this is how the International Court of Justice (ICJ) characterized climate change in its long-awaited advisory opinion on the obligations of States with respect to climate change. In the most significant development in international climate law since the adoption of the Paris Agreement, the ICJ outlined numerous obligations that could significantly […]
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China Briefing 24 July 2025: EU-China climate statement; World’s largest megadam; Clean-tech exports
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 New EU-China climate statement CLIMATE STATEMENT: European Council president António Costa and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen signed an EU-China agreement on climate with […]
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Corporations, Climate, and the Court: New Directions for Business and Human Rights in AO-32/25
Corporations, especially those engaged in fossil fuel production, agriculture, construction, and transportation, play a significant role in the climate crisis and in its human rights impacts. Holding businesses responsible for their human rights and environmental harms has been a perennial challenge that has become increasingly acute in the climate crisis. While human rights law conceptualizes […]
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Third of ‘slum residents’ in global south are exposed to ‘disastrous’ flood risks
One in three people in informal settlements in the global south live in floodplains and are at risk of a “disastrous flood”. That is according to a new study published in Nature Cities, which measures the flood risk of global-south populations living in “slums” – as defined by UN-Habitat. Using a combination of machine learning, […]
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With new grid tech, the UK can reduce the likelihood of blackouts and provide smarter energy supply
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The UK has all the ingredients to take advantage of a promising new semiconductor technology that will make our energy grids smarter, more reliable and less prone to blackouts, according to a new report published on 22 July. Solid state-transformers (SSTs) are an advanced type of transformer that use power electronics and high-frequency components to […]
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Climate change is creating ‘new vulnerabilities’ for disease pandemics
Climate change is creating “new vulnerabilities” for pandemics, according to new research. The study, published in Science Advances, investigates nine zoonotic diseases – infections transmitted from animals to people – with high potential to cause severe public-health emergencies. These diseases include the Zika virus, Ebola and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Overall, the research finds […]
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Non-road machinery decarbonisation – operators share perspectives
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The organisers of the Non-Road Powertrain & Fuels conference have published a full programme of presentations for the event, which will take place in Munich from 7 to 8 October 2025. With a focus on the decarbonisation of off-road machinery, four of the speakers have previewed the event in a short YouTube video, providing commentary from […]
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UK demonstration of hydrogen storage using LOHCs is a world-first
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The test involved transporting 400 million litres of LOHC through a 1.3 km pipeline between Exolum’s Immingham East and Immingham West facilities in the Humber. Existing petroleum-based pipeline and tank infrastructure can be repurposed to transport and store hydrogen in the form of liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs), on the evidence of a successful demonstration […]
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Methane Removal Under the Paris Agreement: A New Sabin Center White Paper
In the 2015 Paris Agreement, the international community agreed to “strengthen the global response to climate change” by limiting the “increase in global average temperatures to well below 2oC above pre-industrial levels,” and ideally to 1.5oC. As recognized in the Agreement, to stay within these limits, global greenhouse gas emissions must be rapidly reduced, “so […]
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Building a Plain Seq2Seq Model for Language Translation
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This post is divided into five parts; they are: • Preparing the Dataset for Training • Implementing the Seq2Seq Model with LSTM • Training the Seq2Seq Model • Using the Seq2Seq Model • Improving the Seq2Seq Model In
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School of Architecture and Planning recognizes faculty with academic promotions in 2025
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Seven faculty in the MIT School of Architecture and Planning (SA+P) have been honored for their contributions through promotions, effective July 1. Three faculty promotions are in the Department of Architecture; three are in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning; and one is in the Program in Media Arts and Sciences. “Whether architects, urbanists, […]
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UN: Five reasons why switching to renewables is ‘smart economics’
The global energy transition is now “unstoppable” due to “smart economics”, UN general-secretary António Guterres has said in an online speech titled: “A moment of opportunity.” His comments coincide with two reports released today, one from International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the other from the UN that utilises the former’s research. Between them, the […]
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Protecting Rights in the Anthropocene: How the Inter‑American Court’s Right to a Healthy Climate Pushes the Boundaries of Human Rights Law
On July 3, 2025, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) issued its long-awaited Advisory Opinion No. 32 (AO-32/25) on the “Climate Emergency and Human Rights” (the official English translation can be found here; for an overview of the decision’s key elements, see here). A broad group of States, communities, Indigenous communities, legal practitioners, civil […]