MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 31, 2023--

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) administrative law judge ruled on Friday that Intuit Inc., the maker of the

A UK startup is close to full-scale commercial production of solar trees that serve as clean energy charging stations for electric cars, according to the company’s chief executive. SolarBotanic Trees, which was founded last year, is developing two different sized versions of the tree, one 5.5 metres tall tree and another 3.5 metres tall, with the first installations planned for early next year in Oxford. “The idea is to put solar panels on a domed surface like the canopy of a tree, and then place a battery storage system into the trunk,” Chris Shelley, CEO of SolarBotanic, told The Independent. “Putting solar cells and batteries into the same structure is very practical, as it allows them to store excess energy without having to solely rely on its backup grid supply.” The number of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in the UK has risen by more than a third over the last year in an effort to keep up with growing demand. There are now more than 25,000 locations as of May 2023, according to EV mapping service Zapmap, though this is still well short of the 325,000 charging points that the UK’s Climate Change Committee claims will be necessary by 2032. SolarBotanic already has deals in place with EV infrastructure suppliers to build trees for several sites in the UK, Mr Shelley said, including an order of 200 trees from the Raw Charging Group. The initial idea was to create a structure capable of harvesting both solar and wind energy, using photovoltaic leaves that flutter in the wind to generate additional power. Preliminary research found that wind harvesting via this method is not sufficiently advanced at present to be commercially viable in the near term, however it remains a prospect fot the future. For now, SolarBotanic’s focus is on entering production later this year in order to deliver the solar trees to UK customers at the start of 2024. From there, the company plans to enter other markets, including Europe and the US, as well as develop customisable structures to suit other applications. These include large trees with integrated seating underneath to be used in town squares or pub gardens, with people able to charge their phones or even warm themselves up from inbuilt infrared heating fixtures. “There are quite alot of variations on the core theme,” Mr Shelley said. “Offgrid versions that don’t need to meet the electricity demands of an electric vehicle could serve as work or social areas in town squares with telephone and laptop charging, seating and shelter. “Beyond commercial and municipal uses, the trees could go in people’s gardens to supplement rooftop solar panel setups, or several of them could even meet the annual electrical requirement of a medium-sized house.” Read More Scientists figure out how to turn rocks into batteries Japan aims to beam solar power from space by 2025 Scientists break world record for solar power window material Electric cars could save more than 100,000 lives, study claims Scientists smash world record for solar power window material Instagram has stopped working properly

Scientists have developed a simple test in the search for alien life, they claim. The breakthrough helps the search for the “holy grail” of astrobiology: a reliable test that will determine whether there is or was life on other planets. The discovery uses artificial intelligence to determine with 90 per cent accuracy whether a sample is biological or not. And it could be used on existing samples, researchers say. That might mean, for instance, that we already have gathered the samples that could tell us whether there is life on Mars. Scientists hope that their test could be used on samples already collected by the Mars Curiosity rover’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument. The rover has an instrument on board to analyse those samples, and that data could be used in the test. The findings could also help tell us more about our own planet, revealing the history of mysterious and ancient rocks found on Earth. “The search for extraterrestrial life remains one of the most tantalizing endeavors in modern science,” said lead author Jim Cleaves of the Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC. “The implications of this new research are many, but there are three big takeaways: First, at some deep level, biochemistry differs from abiotic organic chemistry; second, we can look at Mars and ancient Earth samples to tell if they were once alive; and third, it is likely this new method could distinguish alternative biospheres from those of Earth, with significant implications for future astrobiology missions.” The technique does not look for specific molecules or compounds that could be indicative of life, as much previous work has done. Instead, it looks for small differences in the molecular patterns of samples using different kinds of analysis. It was built by giving an artificial intelligent system data about 134 known samples, with information about whether they are biotic or abiotic. To test it, it was then given new samples – including those from living things, remnants of ancient life and other abiotic samples that did not point to life, such as pure chemicals – and identified them with 90 per cent accuracy. The system also started predicting another kind of sample type, dividing the biotic ones into “living” and “fossils”. That means it could tell the difference between a freshly harvested leaf and something else that died long ago, for instance. Scientists hope that with time it could eventually be able to distinguish other hints in the data, such as signs of photosynthesis or cells that have a nucleus. Previous research has struggled because organic molecules tend t degrade over time. But the new method works even when the samples have decayed and changed significantly, the researchers behind it said. “This routine analytical method has the potential to revolutionize the search for extraterrestrial life and deepen our understanding of both the origin and chemistry of the earliest life on Earth,” said Robert Hazen, of the Carnegie Institution for Science, one of the leaders of the research. “It opens the way to using smart sensors on robotic spacecraft, landers and rovers to search for signs of life before the samples return to Earth.” The findings could also help solve mysteries on life. Many ancient rocks on Earth are at the middle of argument over whether they hold the oldest fossil microbes in life, while others say they do not have any life – and researchers are already feeding data about those rocks from Australia, Canada and elsewhere into the tool. “We’re applying our methods right now to address these long-standing questions about the biogenicity of the organic material in these rocks,” Hazen says. A paper describing the work, ‘A robust, agnostic biosignature based on machine learning’, is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Read More Nasa has gathered a large piece of a distant asteroid. What now? Nasa spots shocking number of galaxies like our own Nasa just delivered a piece of a distant asteroid to Earth Nasa has gathered a large piece of a distant asteroid. What now? Nasa spots shocking number of galaxies like our own Nasa just delivered a piece of a distant asteroid to Earth

The streamer and social media influencer Kai Cenat is at the centre of mayhem that erupted in New York City's Union Square on Friday after he announced that he would be giving away Playstation 5 consoles. Cenat and fellow streamer Fanum had teased the giveaway to their millions of followers on Instagram, that it was scheduled to take place at 4pm. However, a mass crowd, estimated to be around 2000 people arrived on the scene leading to unsavoury scenes which resulted in the injuries of a reported 12 people. Fighting and the throwing of fire extinguishers were also reported with two people being arrested. Some revelers also climbed on the roof of Union Square station. On a live stream at the event, Cenat could be heard saying: "Look at this! hey standing like in f*****g unity, bro." Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter He also added: "Everybody for themselves, it's a war out there man." Cenat had also teased that items such as gaming PCs, gift cards and gaming Chairs would be given away at the event. Amid the chaos it has been reported that Cenat was placed into law enforcement custody as confirmed by the New York Police Department. Who is Kai Cenat? 21-year-old Cenat, real name Kai Carlo Cenat III, was born in New York in December 2001. He is one of the most popular streamers and influencers on the internet today. He is the most subscribed to Twitch streamer ever with more than 300,000 at his peak in February 2023. He also has more than 6 million followers on Instagram and more than 4 million subscribers on YouTube. Most of his content revolves around video games, comedy and pranks. He is said to have a net worth of around $12 million. In May he was named as one of Rolling Stone magazine's most influential people on social media. In the prior month he was temporarily banned from Twitch for reportedly violating the platform's rules. Also in May, he and fellow streamer iShowSpeed signed a lucrative deal with rival platform Rumble to produce a handful of livestreams a month. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

In the new BMW 5-series sedan, unveiled Wednesday by the German luxury automaker, drivers will be able to change lanes on the highway just by looking to the side.

By Stamos Prousalis and Lefteris Papadimas ATHENS (Reuters) -Wildfires burned for a third day west of the Greek capital Athens

China’s Guangdong province will accept bids this month to construct 23 gigawatts of offshore wind power as one

BURLINGTON, Mass. & REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 26, 2023--

As he vies for the Republican presidential nomination, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is touting a series of measures he has pushed that have led to an upswing in banned or restricted books — not just in Florida schools but in an increasing number of other conservative states

Only Up! released on May 24. Here's how long it might take for you to beat the game.

Apple Inc. is looking to stave off a crisis in China just days before the launch of its