United Kingdom

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• https://feddit.uk/post/15431595

Britain’s plans to create advanced devices based on the mind-bending physics of the quantum world have received a £100m boost, in a move ministers hope will have a transformative impact on healthcare, transport and national security.

Peter Kyle, the science secretary has announced funds to establish five quantum technology hubs across England and Scotland. They will work with industry and government to develop and commercialise devices and ultimately drive a new economy.

“We are at the foothills of where quantum technology is going to take us and that provides a huge opportunity for British science and British research and development,” Kyle told the Guardian from Glasgow before Friday’s announcement. “If we get this right, we can become global leaders, which means not just solving challenges domestically and creating opportunities domestically, but being able to fully exploit the global market as well.”

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The hubs, based in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Oxford and London, will aim to build the next generation of devices, from brain-scanner helmets and gravity sensors that detect underground pipes to quantum-enhanced blood tests that catch diseases early, and global positioning and precision-timing services that do not rely on GPS.

In one project, scientists at UCL are fine-tuning the quantum properties of atomic defects in diamond nanoparticles to develop ultra-sensitive blood tests. The technology allows scientists to draw a blood sample and detect minuscule amounts of proteins or DNA by making them flash like the beam from a lighthouse.

“A whole new generation of quantum sensors is beginning to appear and our hub is going to harness those to transform early diagnosis and treatment, where it has applications across cancer, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s and infectious diseases,” said Prof John Morton at UCL. “We’re really excited about translating these weird and wonderful quantum sensors into practical applications that patients will benefit from.”

At the University of Birmingham, scientists are exploiting a quantum effect known as superposition to build gravity sensors that detect underground infrastructure. Such sensors could alert utilities companies to gas and water mains where they plan to dig, or help them find their own pipes to repair.

“Rather than lots of digging to find things – and lots of holes are dug in the wrong place – we can in principle find the infrastructure quicker,” said Prof Michael Holynski at Birmingham university. “We have already detected tunnels and pipes with the sensor we have in the hub. What we want to do in the next phase is make it something that can move quickly, and more accurately inspect the underground.”

Today, anti-piracy group FACT announced that it has successfully completed yet another sweep. In collaboration with rightsholders, including Sky, the group helped police to identity various ‘sellers’ of so-called pirate streaming devices.

The targets reportedly offered ‘fully loaded’ smart TV devices or Firesticks, which can be used in combination with pirate IPTV subscriptions.

FACT mentions that 40 illegal ‘IPTV operators’ were served with official warnings. They were either notified via mail by FACT and police, or visited at their home, where a cease-and-desist notice was delivered personally.

The term ‘IPTV operator’ isn’t explained in detail but since the 40 seemingly got off with a warning, it’s unlikely that they played a central part in the broader IPTV piracy ecosystem.

These interventions took place across the UK, including in London, South East England, West Midlands, North West, North East, North Wales and Scotland. According to FACT, it’s part of a larger campaign that aims to disrupt piracy operations.

In addition to the warnings, police also executed three warrants, resulting in three arrests and house searches. All three suspects have since been released, but investigations remain ongoing.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/15180564

The number of people mainly using cash for day-to-day spending hit a four year high during the cost of living crisis, research suggests.

Some 1.5 million adults mainly used cash in 2023 - marking the first rise since 2019, according to UK Finance.

UK Finance's head of research Adrian Buckle said: "This is likely to be a reflection of the use of cash to manage a limited budget."

But the data from the banking trade body also showed the majority of young people paid for things using smartphones or watches.

Nearly three-quarters (72%) of 18 to 24-year-olds regularly used their digital wallets to make contactless payments.

...

There has been a steady decline in payments using cash over the last decade, particularly as consumers turn to contactless cards for everyday purchases.

A slight rise in 2022 was attributed to the impact of sharply rising prices, squeezed finances and closely-watched budgets.

Cash use dropped again last year to 12% of all payments, according to UK Finance, and 22 million consumers were primarily cashless.

However, the research suggests 1.5 million mainly used cash in 2023, up from 900,000 the previous year, reflecting the ongoing impact of the cost of living on those with limited incomes.

Each year, an estimated two million women and girls – equivalent to one in 12 women in England and Wales – are victims of violence perpetrated by a man, according to first national analysis on the scale of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the UK.

Released today by UK's National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) and College of Policing, it has led officials to declare that such 'staggering' numbers constitute a 'national emergency'.

Key data:

• Violent crime perpetrated by men against women and girls spiked 37% between 2018 and 2023, rising from an estimated 789,703 recorded in 2018-9 to 1,080,157 in 2022-23.
• One in six homicides, or 100 out of the 590 homicides in the year to March 2023, in England and Wales are linked to domestic violence.
• Almost a million violent crimes against women and children were recorded between April 2022 and March 2023, averaging 3000 daily offences in England and Wales, or one in five of all police-recorded crimes, excluding fraud.
• In the year ending March 2023, there were over 2 million cases of sexual harassment, 1.4 million instances of domestic abuse, and 851,000 reports of stalking.
• Child sexual abuse also increased by more than 400% between 2013 and 2022, with the age of suspects averaging just 15.
• An estimated one in 20 adults (2.3 million) in England and Wales will be a perpetrator of VAWG every year (2.3 million perpetrators).

Archive

GB Energy will be headquartered in Scotland and have £8.3bn in capital to invest – and [I] understands that among its first commitments will be a pledge to order a cluster of nuclear plants called small modular reactors (SMRs).
[…]
Asked about the timeline last week, Mr Miliband told Sheffield MP Clive Betts: “Our manifesto made it clear that we support new nuclear, including at Sizewell, and we also support the SMR programme.

“Part of our challenge is to examine the legacy left to us by the last government, but he [Mr Betts] should be in no doubt about my absolute support for the SMR programme. It is important, and we will strive to keep to the timetable set out.”

While renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and tidal will have their place in meeting the UK’s future demand, the nuclear sector appears to have won the argument that the 24/7 power it provides must be in the mix in order to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050.
[…]
Proponents argue these mini-reactors are cheaper, easier to manage and safer than a much larger site such as Sizewell in Suffolk or Hinckley Point in Somerset.

In theory, once the first SMR proves to be a success, they can be prefabricated at scale, driving down cost. Future governments would then have the flexibilty [sic] to have them dotted all over the country in their hundreds, or even thousands, in order to meet their energy needs.

Rolls-Royce has said it hopes to build its first SMR for around £2bn and then subsequent reactors could cost as little as £1bn.

By comparison, the final cost for Hinckley Point could be as much as £46bn.

[I] understands Mr Miliband is set to order two sets of three SMRs, though they will not be operational until 2030 at their earliest.

Rolls-Royce also has memorandums of understanding in place with Estonia, Turkey and the Czech Republic.

“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a real turning point in how nuclear was seen for the positive,” said Mr Evans, [Rolls-Royce director of corporate and government affairs.] “I spend a lot of time talking to overseas governments, who are all looking to do SMRs.

“The energy security argument is really strong at the minute, I’ve definitely seen a shift and a change.”

Challenges remain, however. Nuclear plants have often gone way over budget and faced years of delays, while critics remain unconvinced that concerns over safety and disposal of nuclear material have been overcome.
[…]
A new report shared exclusively with [I] by lobby group the Northern Powerhouse Partnership (NPP) claims that every £1 in public investment in the net zero transition will be worth £2.65 from the private sector and create an extra 168,000 jobs.

NPP argues that the North of England, which produces nearly half of the UK’s electricity, and is home to half the country’s most carbon-intensive clusters, is “uniquely vulnerable” to a botched transition to net zero.

"How do the algorithms of Facebook and Instagram affect what you see in your news feed? To find out, Guardian Australia unleashed them on a completely blank smartphone linked to a new, unused email address.

Three months later, without any input, they were riddled with sexist and misogynistic content..."

Lab-grown pet food is to hit UK shelves as Britain becomes the first country in Europe to approve cultivated meat.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have approved the product from the company Meatly.

It is thought there will be demand for cultivated pet food, as animal lovers face a dilemma about feeding their pets meat from slaughtered livestock.

Research suggests the pet food industry has a climate impact similar to that of the Philippines, the 13th most populous country in the world. A study by the University of Winchester found that 50% of surveyed pet owners would feed their pets cultivated meat, while 32% would eat it themselves.

The Meatly product is cultivated chicken. It is made by taking a small sample from a chicken egg, cultivating it with vitamins and amino acids in a lab, then growing cells in a container similar to those in which beer is fermented. The result is a paté-like paste.

A World War Two veteran has finally received his medals, nearly 80 years late.

Now 98 and living in Watchet, Somerset, George Lewis served with the Royal Tank Regiment from 1944 to 1947.

But he never received his medals, with Mr Lewis suggesting they may have been lost in the post.

Presented with the medals on Saturday afternoon, he said: "After all this time, to get those two medals, that was wonderful."

The journey towards Saturday's ceremony began when neighbour Valerie Norman contacted her brother, who served in the same regiment as Mr Lewis.

Her brother passed on the story to the Regimental Association, which provided the medals.

He was finally presented with the War Medal 1939-45 and the France and Germany Star at an event at the Royal British Legion Club in Watchet by the deputy lieutenant of Somerset Brigadier Richard Toomey.

Mr Lewis said: “It was a shock as much as anything. You imagine after all this time that they wouldn’t be able to find anything about you but they had a complete record.

“It seems like an awful lot of fuss to go to when what I did doesn’t seem like much, but it is nice to know that they respect what we did for people.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/25421967

The first “multibank” in London, distributing everything from basic foods to baby products and toiletries, will be officially launched this week, amid continued concerns about levels of poverty as the school summer holidays begin.

The opening of Felix’s Multibank, which has the backing of former prime minister Gordon Brown and London mayor Sadiq Khan, is the latest in a growing network of multibanks.

Brown said the new project was opening at a time when the country’s approach to the problem of destitution would change. There have been continued calls from within Labour for Keir Starmer to take stronger action on child poverty.

Brown said: “The London Felix Multibank is the fourth of six that will be opened by the end of this year across Britain. It is opening at a time of transition from a Britain where child poverty has risen dramatically to one where we wish to see child poverty falling.