During a US Senate Commerce Committee hearing, CEOs of Google, Facebook, and Twitter defended a law that shields them from liability for questionable content on their platforms. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act 1996, which protects companies from liability over content posted by users on their platforms (declaring that the company is not a … Read more
The EU Commission will “certainly not stand in [the] way” of governments which plan to decarbonise by building new nuclear power stations, said Frans Timmermans, the EU Commissioner for Climate Action. Nuclear power accounts for 27 per cent of electricity generated across the EU and approximately half of low-carbon electricity. Member states have varying attitudes … Read more
Prime Minister of Japan Yoshihide Suga has announced that the country will aim to achieve zero-carbon emissions by 2050, framing decarbonisation as an economic opportunity rather than as a burden. Suga announced the target in his first policy speech to Parliament since taking office in September. Previously, Japan was aiming to cut its carbon emissions … Read more
Under the governing Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s next five-year plan, China will promote “scientific and technological self-reliance” and a sustainable, low-carbon future. The key strategic pillars of the five-year plan for 2021-2015 were published this week, following four days of private meetings between President Xi Jinping and the CCP’s top decision-making body, the Central Committee. … Read more
Scientists have 3D-printed synthetic, soft surfaces with tongue-like textures that could be used to test the oral processing properties of food, nutritional technologies, pharmaceutics and dry mouth therapies. The highly sophisticated surface design of a human tongue has been replicated with a synthetic silicone structure that mimics the topology, elasticity and wettability of the tongue’s … Read more
Ofcom has said it will ban mobile networks from selling ‘locked’ handsets to consumers, as part of a new set of rules intended to make switching simpler. Currently, firms including EE, Tesco Mobile and Vodafone sell mobile phones that cannot be used on other networks unless they are unlocked. The potentially complicated process can cost … Read more
PayPal has been granted a licence by the New York State Department of Financial Services, allowing it to roll out cryptocurrency payments via PayPal accounts from early 2021. The Department granted PayPal a Bitlicense, which regulates any company or individual based in New York which uses virtual currencies. A limited number of companies have been … Read more
Ericsson has signed a deal with BT to supply equipment for the non-core parts of its 5G network across UK cities, replacing equipment provided by Huawei. In July, the UK government announced that it would ban Huawei equipment from any part of the UK’s 5G network. Operators were given until 2027 to remove any existing equipment and … Read more
Intel has entered a deal to sell its NAND flash memory business to South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix for $9bn in cash over almost five years. Under the terms of the deal, Intel would sell all of its NAND business, including its solid-state drive business, NAND component and wafer operation, and its factory in Dalian, … Read more
Researchers have found that altering 2D materials could improve the capabilities of optical and electronic devices. The research, led by Shengxi Huang, assistant professor of electrical engineering and biomedical engineering at Penn State University, found that altering the material in two different ways – atomically and physically – could enhance light emission and increase signal strength in many devices that … Read more