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Author: avi maxwel

Climate Change Solution or “Worse Than Coal”? New Research Explores Debate Around Controversial Energy Technology

Climate Change Solution or “Worse Than Coal”? New Research Explores Debate Around Controversial Energy Technology

A new study analyzed public opinion on Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), a divisive energy technology featured in the UK’s net-zero plan for 2050. The study identified eight key storylines in media coverage, ranging from viewing BECCS as a “Necessary mitigation tool” to labeling it “Worse than coal,” and found that the battle for public opinion on BECCS is far from settled.

A recent study delves into the polarizing public discourse surrounding a controversial energy technology. Supporters argue that it’s essential for fighting climate change, while detractors claim it’s even more harmful than coal.

Bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) features heavily in the UK government’s plan to achieve a net-zero economy by 2050. However there is low public awareness of the technology, which has split the opinion of scientists, politicians, and media outlets.

BECCS generates energy by burning plants and trees and captures the resulting carbon

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How to fix the internet

How to fix the internet

It’s also very bad things: 4chan and the Daily Stormer, revenge porn, fake news sites, racism on Reddit, eating disorder inspiration on Instagram, bullying, adults messaging kids on Roblox, harassment, scams, spam, incels.

The internet’s original sin was an insistence on freedom: it was made to be free, in many senses of the word. The internet wasn’t initially set up for profit; it grew out of a communications medium intended for the military and academics (some in the military wanted to limit Arpanet to defense use as late as the early 1980s). When it grew in popularity along with desktop computers, Usenet and other popular early internet applications were still largely used on university campuses with network access. Users would grumble that each September their message boards would be flooded with newbies, until eventually the “eternal September”—a constant flow of new users—arrived in the mid-’90s with the explosion of

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A new Silicon Valley manifesto reveals the bleak, dangerous philosophy driving the tech industry

A new Silicon Valley manifesto reveals the bleak, dangerous philosophy driving the tech industry

In 1993, Marc Andreessen was an undergraduate at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he also worked at the US-government funded National Center for Supercomputing Applications. With a colleague, the young software engineer authored the Mosaic web browser, which set the standard for cruising the information superhighway in the 1990s.

Andreessen went on to cofound Netscape Communications, making a fortune in 1999 when the company was acquired by AOL for US$4.3 billion.

Since then, through his venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, the outspoken billionaire has become one of the most influential wallets in Silicon Valley. His investments – in companies including Facebook, Foursquare, Github, Lyft, Oculus and Twitter – have definitively shaped tech over the past 15 years. (He once described his approach as “funding imperial, will-to-power people”.)

Because of all this, it’s worth paying attention to Andreessen’s recent “techno-optimist manifesto”. Opening with the

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The ancient technology keeping space missions alive

The ancient technology keeping space missions alive

4 June 1996, European space port, French Guiana…

It took more than 10 years to design and build Europe’s four identical Cluster satellites for launch; and just 39 seconds to lose them all in an enormous fireball.

Their remains rained down over the South American jungle as the Ariane 5 rocket veered off course and exploded. VIPs who had been sipping champagne on the outdoor viewing gallery moments earlier were ushered back inside to avoid being injured by the falling debris.

The disaster was one of the European Space Agency’s (Esa) most visible and spectacular failures. But within months, work had begun on a replacement mission, Cluster II.

Designed to fly in formation to investigate the interaction between charged particles from the Sun – the solar wind ­– and the magnetic bubble surrounding the Earth, known as the magnetosphere, Cluster II ranks as one of the most successful and long-lasting

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Tech Firms Once Powered New York’s Economy. Now They’re Scaling Back.

Tech Firms Once Powered New York’s Economy. Now They’re Scaling Back.

For much of the last two decades, including during the pandemic, technology companies were a bright spot in New York’s economy, adding thousands of high-paying jobs and expanding into millions of square feet of office space.

Their growth buoyed tax revenue, set up New York as a credible rival to the San Francisco Bay Area — and provided jobs that helped the city absorb layoffs in other sectors during the pandemic and the 2008 financial crisis.

Now, the technology industry is pulling back hard, clouding the city’s economic future.

Facing many business challenges, large technology companies have laid off more than 386,000 workers worldwide since early 2022, according to layoffs.fyi, which tracks the tech industry. And they have pulled out of millions of square feet of office space because of those job cuts and the shift to working from home.

That retrenchment has hurt lots of tech hubs, and San

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