Incredible 60% of Europe’s Electricity Was Powered by Clean Energy in the First Two Months of 2024

Irish wind turbines – David de la Iglesia Villar, marked CC License.

According to an energy think tank, Europe’s generation of 516.5 terawatt hours of renewable electricity in January and February satisfied 60% of overall power demand. The generation is a year-over-year gain of 12% from the same period in 2023, and was driven by strong year-on-year growth in hydro and wind, and a rebound in nuclear. Coinciding with this was a 12% year-over-year fall in the use of fossil fuels, with a 15% drop in energy from coal-fired power plants, the think tank Ember, reports. Contrary to the assumption that this is the work of solar farms and wind turbines, the two fastest growing sources across Europe, the strong performance was led by nuclear, which grew 4% y-o-y, and hydropower which at 17.2% of total continental power demand was the highest percentage share of hydroelectricity ever generated in Europe. Hydroelectricity use grew 23% y-o-y to 152 terawatt hours, led by Norway, France, Switzerland, and Portugal. This was six times the amount of Europe’s total solar power yield, which topped out at 24 TWh. Wind power generated an impressive 137.5 TWh of electricity during the first two months of 2024, up 14%. Several countries, like Ireland and Portugal, are recording single days or multi-day stretches in which a two-thirds majority or greater of their populations are using renewable energy entirely.Additionally, European countries are coming up with clever as well as ambitious ideas for how to integrate more green energy sources into their communties; epitomized by Liverpool’s steadily advancing plan to build the world’s largest tidal power project across the Mersey river delta.I ncredible 60% of Europe’s Electricity Was Powered by Clean Energy in the First Two Months of 2024: 

Read More........→April 16, 2024

Witness the Glory of the 2024 European Tree of the Year – Growing in Poland for 200 Years

credit – Marcin Kopij

In this year’s edition of the European Tree of the Year contest, the leafy crown was bestowed upon a common beech in the botanical gardens of the University of Wroclaw.

Thought to be 200 years old, The Heart of the Garden is the third Polish tree in a row to win, following up on the Oak Fabrykant with its outrageous 60-foot-long digit in 2023, and the 400-year-old Oak Dunin outside the Białowieża Primeval Forest, in 2022.

“Its majestic appearance impresses us with its unusually shaped and thick trunk, widely spread branches, and purple-colored leaves that shine beautifully in the sun,” the contest organizers wrote.

Known in the UK as a “copper beech” all beech trees seem to have the genetic potential to be purple, though exactly what causes it to happen is unknown. The naturally occurring mutation appears spontaneously, without human interference, and is most commonly seen in either saplings or old trees.

The Heart of the Garden is certainly old, and what a wonderful confluence of character that it should have been grown as the centerpiece in the arboretum, and be 200 years old, and have a copper beech mutation.

The Fagus genus took silver as well, with The Weeping Beech of Bayeux, in France. Popular for its immense weeping canopy and massive twisted branches probably related to whatever genetic mutation is responsible for Verzy’s faux trees, it’s a perfect romantic spot for celebrations and weddings.

Spreading over 120 feet, or 40 meters in width today, the city had to keep on perfecting an incredible supporting structure for the last 100 years.

Held every year, the European Tree of the Year contest is a delightful opportunity for tree photographers to showcase their skills, for nature lovers to connect with the continent’s wild heritage, and for residents to celebrate the old or interesting trees in their area.

Ongoing since 2011, it grew from a similar contest held in Czechia, and as a result, East-Central Europe boasts the largest number of finalists.(CORRECTION: An earlier version described the 200 year old tree as 2,000 years old.) Witness the Glory of the 2024 European Tree of the Year – Growing in Poland for 200 Years

Read More........→April 01, 2024

Scientists Discover Potential HIV Cure that Eliminates Disease from Cells Using CRISPR-Cas Gene Editing

HIV-1 virus particles under electron micrograph with H9 T-cells (in blue) – Credit: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

A new study has unveiled a likely future cure for HIV which uses molecular scissors to ‘cut out’ HIV DNA from infected cells. To cut out this virus, the team used CRISPR-Cas gene editing technology—a groundbreaking method that allows for precise alterations to a patient’s genome, for which its inventors won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2020. One of the significant challenges in HIV treatment is the virus’s ability to integrate its genome into the host’s DNA, making it extremely difficult to eliminate—but the CRISPR-Cas tool provides a new means to isolate and target HIV DNA. Because HIV can infect different types of cells and tissues in the body, each with its own unique environment and characteristics, the researchers are searching for a way to target HIV in all of these situations. In this study, which is to be presented ahead of this year’s European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, the authors used CRISPR-Cas and two guide RNAs against “conserved” HIV sequences. They focused on parts of the virus genome that stay the same across all known HIV strains and infected T cells. Their experiments showed outstanding antiviral performance, managing to completely inactivate HIV with a single guide RNA and cut out the viral DNA with two guide RNAs. “We have developed an efficient combinatorial CRISPR-attack on the HIV virus in various cells and the locations where it can be hidden in reservoirs, and demonstrated that therapeutics can be specifically delivered to the cells of interest,” said Associate professor Elena Herrera Carrillo from the University of Amsterdam AMC. “These findings

HIV AIDS virus (in yellow) infecting a human cell – Credit: National Cancer Institute

represent a pivotal advancement towards designing a cure strategy.” The team has a long way to go before their cure will be available to patients, but said, “These preliminary findings are very encouraging’. Currently, HIV can be kept in check with anti-retroviral medication, but no one has actually been cured—although three patients receiving stem cell transplants for blood cancer were subsequently declared free of the disease when their HIV became undetectable. “We hope to achieve the right balance between efficacy and safety of this CURE strategy,” said Dr. Carrillo. “Only then can we consider clinical trials of ‘cure’ in humans to disable the HIV reservoir.“Our aim is to develop a robust and safe combinatorial CRISPR-Cas regimen, striving for an inclusive ‘HIV cure for all’ that can inactivate diverse HIV strains across various cellular contexts. Scientists Discover Potential HIV Cure that Eliminates Disease from Cells Using CRISPR-Cas Gene Editing

Read More........→March 26, 2024

Bobi, known as the oldest dog in the world, dies aged 31

Bobi, who was this year ordained the oldest dog in the world by Guinness World Records, has died at the ripe old age of 31, Portuguese media reported Monday.

"We have better memories of a long life where he was happy and, above all, where he made a lot of people happy, especially his family," Bobi's owner Leonel Costa told local media from the little village in central Portugal where he lives.

A purebreed Rafeiro, a Portuguese livestock guard dog whose normal life expectancy is between 12 and 14, Bobi was not supposed to make it beyond puppyhood.

He was born on May 11, 1992, along with three other pups in a wood storage shed owned by the Costa family in the village of Conqueiros.

Because the family owned so many animals, the father decided they could not keep the newborn puppies and the parents took them from the shed the next day, while the mother dog Gira was out, said Leonel Costa, who was eight years old at the time.

But they didn't realise they had left one puppy behind, and that puppy became Bobi.

"He died at the age of 31 years and 165 days," according to the Guinness World Records.After he was declared the world's oldest dog in February, media and curious onlookers from around the world paid Bobi a visit. Bobi, known as the oldest dog in the world, dies aged 31

Read More........→March 18, 2024

Walking robot tested in Finnish repository : Corporate

The ANYmal robot walks through Onkalo's underground tunnels (Image: Tapani Karjanlahti / Posiva)

A four-legged robot designed for autonomous operation in challenging environments has been put through its paces at a depth of more than 400 metres in the tunnels of the Onkalo underground used nuclear fuel repository near Olkiluoto, Finland.

A research team led by the Swiss robotics company ANYbotics visited Olkiluoto in June to test the functionality of its ANYmal robot in underground facilities. The test was organised by Euratom - the European Atomic Energy Community - together with Finnish radioactive waste management company Posiva Oy.

‍The ANYmal robot has been under development for many years. The roots of the ANYbotics company go back to the Swiss Institute of Technology, EHT. A group of researchers from the educational institution built the first four-legged robot back in 2009, and ANYbotics was founded for the commercialisation of this technology in 2016.

The ANYmal robot uses laser sensors and cameras to observe the environment and can locate its own position very precisely. By combining observation data with location data - such as a map or area scan data - it can plan its navigation route independently when necessary.

Posiva said Onkalo offered a unique framework for the robot to move, noting that there are tunnels in other parts of the world, but no other underground disposal facility has yet been built.

During the test, the robot - measuring 93cm in length, 53cm in width and 89cm in height and weighing about 50kg - travelled through the tunnels of Onkalo for about 1.5 hours. With a fully-charged battery, the robot can operate for up to 2 hours. The purpose was to test how far the robot can travel in Onkalo conditions with one charge, and whether there are any terrains in the tunnel where the robot would not be able to advance.

For the test, the robot first "walked" the planned route by remote control, and scanned the map into its internal system. In the test itself, the robot moved along the scanned route autonomously, although all the time in the line of sight with the research team. It was also available for remote control at any moment, for example in case of danger. Various safety functions were programmed into the robot. For example, it went around the obstacles on the route from a certain safety distance and stopped when something came into its safety area.

Authorities are interested in the use of robots for the reason that a robot can reach places that are inaccessible to humans, for example for nuclear material protection inspection work. Carrying out nuclear safeguards with the help of a robot is also of interest to Posiva, the company said. Robots can also be used in rescue operations and industry. They can be equipped with different devices for different tasks, such as optical and thermal cameras, microphones, gas or radiation detectors.

A video of the ANYmal robot in Onkalo can be found here.Researched and written by World Nuclear News  Source: - World Nuclear News

Read More........→October 30, 2023