Supertools is a handy directory of AI tools (built from the great Rundown Newsletter) that tracks the releases of tools during the current Cambrian explosion of LLM based solutions.
Researchers at MIT demonstrated a multiagent trajectory planner anti-collision system for drones. Each drone calculates and broadcasts its trajectory, which the other drones using to generate their own paths. The updated version of the system accounts for communication delays between the drones also.
Researchers at MIT and the University of Michigan have developed fibers with engineered reflectivity that can be woven into fabrics, and scanned under infrared light that act as barcodes to help with sorting and recycling.
This fascinating Shortwave episode describes how American scientists working with Chinese farmers have successfully engineered a strand of perennial rice and harvested it over mutiple crop years. Rice usually has to be planted from seed each year, which is labour intensive and harmful to the health of farm land. This perennial rice regrows each year without having to replanted, while also rejuvenating the land.
A farmer in Armagh is using anaerobic digestion to convert waste from his cattle into methane, which powers electricity generators. He sells the renewably sourced electricity back to the grid when the price is high, and when it's not, he uses it to power a turnkey bitcoin mining container built and maintained by Cork company Scilling Digital Mining.
Geothermal energy company Fervo Energy have discovered a way to utilise a geothermal well as a battery. By drilling cracks into geothermal hard rock, pumping lots of water in and sealing the well, the water can later be released at high pressure, allowing energy to be delivered at high output at times when renewables are generating low output.
The IPCC released its sixth report, a synthesis report of all its previous reports, updated with the latest data on climate change.
It shows that we are currently on track for 3.2°C warming.
It states starkly that "the level of greenhouse gas emission reductions this decade largely determine whether warming can be limited to 1.5°C or 2°C" and "The choices and actions implemented in this decade will have impacts now and for thousands of years".
