Guided learning lets “untrainable” neural networks realize their potential
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Even networks long considered “untrainable” can learn effectively with a bit of a helping hand. Researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have shown that a brief period of alignment between neural networks, a method they call guidance, can dramatically improve the performance of architectures previously thought unsuitable for modern tasks. Their […]
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Guest post: How to steer EVs towards the road of ‘mass adoption’
Electric vehicles (EVs) now account for more than one-in-four car sales around the world, but the next phase is likely to depend on government action – not just technological change. That is the conclusion of a new report from the Centre for Net Zero, the Rocky Mountain Institute and the University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute. […]
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£490k peatlands restoration to proceed in Falkirk and North Lanarkshire
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SP Energy Networks has committed £490,000 to a major peatland restoration project on Scotland’s Slamannan Plateau. Working with Buglife Scotland, the initiative aims to bring over 114 hectares of rare bog habitat back to life across Falkirk and North Lanarkshire – protecting unique wildlife and helping fight climate change. Peatlands are one of Scotland’s natural […]
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Royal Academy of Engineering awards £39 million funding to 13 high-impact climate innovations
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“The Royal Academy of Engineering’s Green Future Fellowships provide academics, entrepreneurs, innovators and engineers, the space and time to transform their cutting-edge ideas into scalable, commercially viable, technologies to secure a greener, fairer future.” New technologies to store renewable energy, power data centres and computers more efficiently and multiply the power of batteries four-fold are […]
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Marine Recovery Fund aims to boost nature and offshore wind development
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The Government announced its Marine Recovery Fund on Wednesday 17 December, an initiative intended to to safeguard Britain’s marine biodiversity and energy security. By means of the fund, offshore wind developers will be able to pay into a government operated funding pot delivering meaningful environmental compensatory measures to restore and protect marine habitats. “Britain’s seas […]
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A “scientific sandbox” lets researchers explore the evolution of vision systems
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Why did humans evolve the eyes we have today? While scientists can’t go back in time to study the environmental pressures that shaped the evolution of the diverse vision systems that exist in nature, a new computational framework developed by MIT researchers allows them to explore this evolution in artificial intelligence agents. The framework they […]
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IEA: Declining coal demand in China set to outweigh Trump’s pro-coal policies
China’s coal demand is set to drop by 2027, more than cancelling out the effects of the Trump administration’s coal-friendly policies in the US, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). Global coal demand is due to grow by 0.5% year-on-year to reach record levels in 2025, according to the latest figures in the IEA’s […]
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Hydrogen emissions are ‘supercharging’ the warming impact of methane
The warming impact of hydrogen has been “overlooked” in projections of climate change, according to authors of the latest “global hydrogen budget”. The study, published in Nature, is the most comprehensive analysis yet of the global hydrogen cycle, showing how the gas moves between the atmosphere, land and ocean. Hydrogen has long been recognised as […]
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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 […]