Technology
Science and technology
Tech showcase: devices from the desk to the stage
From laptops to smartwatches, mixing desks to drones, the technology of everyday life.
Solar farms: rows of panels across the fields
From hillsides to plains, from sheep grazing beneath the panels to the view from the air.
Search-and-rescue robot tackles a stepped obstacle course
A tracked robot used its cameras and lights to pick its way across a field of uneven wooden blocks.
Tidal turbine prototype starts generating in the channel off Fenwick Point
The 500-kilowatt machine sits on the seabed and turns with the incoming and outgoing tides, and engineers will spend two years testing how it copes with strong currents.
A 3D model of a Mars rover, seen from every angle
The animation shows the six-wheeled rover’s robotic arm, cameras and chassis in detail.
Night launch: a sounding rocket climbs through the clouds
Fired from a pad ringed by trees, the rocket left a trail of flame before vanishing into cloud.
University switches on new supercomputer for local weather forecasts
The machine can model the weather over the Wrenhaven coast in squares just 500 metres across, which forecasters say should improve warnings of flash floods and coastal gales.
Eastmoor data centre waste heat to warm 2,000 homes in district heating pilot
Heat pumped from the cooling systems of the data centre on the Eastmoor industrial estate will be piped to nearby homes and a school, in a pilot the council hopes could later cover much of the east of the city.
University spin-out designs a tiny low-power chip to run coastal flood sensors for years
A start-up founded by researchers at the University of Wrenhaven says its new sensor chip can run for a decade on one small battery, making dense networks of flood gauges far cheaper to maintain.
Wrenhaven-made app predicts queues at public car chargers across the region
Built on open data from charge-point operators and the council, the free app tells drivers how long they are likely to wait at each charger and has grown to about 19,000 regular users.
Our notifications are renting out our attention
Each buzz of the phone looks harmless, but our scattered attention has become the raw material of someone else's business model.
Artemis I launch in slow motion turns night into day
Slow-motion footage shows NASA's SLS rocket lifting off in 2022 as its exhaust lights up the sky.
Solar panels raised above crops: first results from an Asher Valley trial
A two-hectare trial near Bramley Cross that grows vegetables and soft fruit beneath raised solar panels has produced its first full season of data, with some crops doing better in partial shade.
Robots for rent: small bakeries and food makers lease automation by the month
A Wrenhaven firm is renting out robot arms to small food producers on monthly contracts, letting bakeries and kitchens automate heavy, repetitive jobs without paying tens of thousands of euros upfront.
Eastmoor plant to recover lithium and cobalt from used batteries
The facility will shred and process up to 8,000 tonnes of spent batteries a year, recovering metals that can be sold back to battery makers.
Drones begin carrying blood samples from Tarnmere to Wrenhaven General
A six-month trial cuts the journey for test samples from the village health centre to the hospital laboratory from over an hour by road to about 18 minutes.
Libraries lend laptops and run digital skills classes for older residents
Residents can now borrow a laptop for up to three weeks and join small weekly classes on everything from video calls to spotting online scams.
Night sky and space: from the stars to Earth's lights
The Milky Way, star trails and auroras photographed from the International Space Station.
Volunteer-built app maps step-free routes for wheelchair users
More than 300 volunteers have surveyed kerbs, ramps and slopes across central Wrenhaven, and the free app now plans routes that avoid steps and steep hills.