NSW launches $1.4 million Smart Farming Program for Central-West growers
The New South Wales government announced a AU$1.4 million Smart Farming Program on August 11, 2026, offering grants to farmers...
KAIST and MIT convert seawater CO2 into stone for permanent storage
Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) published a...
Survey finds parents and educators want stronger data literacy education for the AI era
Data Science 4 Everyone (DS4E), a K-12 data science coalition based at the University of Chicago, and the policy research...
Turnitin data show US students lead peers in offloading writing to AI
Turnitin released its Q2 2026 "Learning Integrity Insights Report" on July 7, 2026, finding that AI writing in higher education...
Sonnedix secures 730 million euros to expand solar and storage in Southern Europe
London-based renewable energy company Sonnedix announced on August 4, 2026 that it secured 730 million euros (roughly 840 million US...
Mitti Labs raises $9.5 million to scale AI rice farming platform
Deep-tech company Mitti Labs announced a $9.5 million Series A funding round on August 5, 2026, led by Aramco Ventures,...
Students from all 50 states pass the STUDENTS FIRST Act on AI in schools
Student delegates representing all 50 states passed a national policy framework for artificial intelligence use in K-12 schools, called the...
Hitachi, MOL, and JAL launch Japan’s first direct ocean capture pilot
Hitachi, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), and Japan Airlines (JAL) signed a memorandum of understanding on August 4, 2026 to run...
EarthOptics and Cquester partner to verify soil carbon at scale
EarthOptics, a U.S. soil intelligence company, and Cquester Analytics, a soil-science laboratory based in Fort Collins, Colorado, announced a strategic...
SA-H2 green hydrogen fund reaches R3 billion first close for Southern Africa
Climate Fund Managers announced the first close of its SA-H2 Fund, also known as Climate Investor Three South Africa, at...
Amazon deforestation alerts fall to lowest level since 2013, Brazilian data show
Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE) recorded 2,874 square kilometers (1,110 square miles) of Amazon deforestation alerts between August...
AI-driven Alpha School opens two Boston campuses, charging up to $65,000 a year
Alpha School, a national network of private schools where students complete core academics using AI software rather than through lessons...
World Bank report ties AI’s promise for education to power and internet gaps in rural schools
The World Bank Group released its "World Development Report 2026: The Promise of Artificial Intelligence" on August 4, 2026, arguing...
BioScout raises $4.8 million to expand AI early-warning system for crop fungal disease
BioScout, a Sydney-based startup, has raised an A$6.75 million ($4.8 million) seed round to expand its AI crop disease early...
Mombak delivers first Amazon reforestation carbon credits to Google, McKinsey, two years early
Brazilian reforestation company Mombak delivered more than 21,000 verified carbon removal credits to corporate buyers including Google, McKinsey & Company,...
Fraunhofer IPA and Polysecure build AI robot to sort mixed textile waste
The Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (Fraunhofer IPA) in Stuttgart and Karlsruhe-based Polysecure GmbH have started a two-year...
Aldi and Arla launch UV tagging pilot to track milk bottle recycling
Aldi UK and dairy cooperative Arla have started a new pilot with recycling traceability company Polytag that prints invisible UV...
Meta awards nearly $2 million in AI Glasses Impact Grants to 30 US organizations
Meta announced the recipients of its AI Glasses Impact Grants on July 27, 2026, awarding nearly $2 million to 30...
Imperial College London launches UK’s first AI, economics and policy master’s degree
Imperial Business School and Imperial College London's Department of Computing launched the MSc AI, Economics and Policy on July 28,...
Commonwealth Fusion Systems raises $1 billion, taking total funding to $4 billion
Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) raised $1 billion in additional equity financing, the Devens, Massachusetts-based company announced on July 30, 2026....
Schneider Electric and BRPL deploy India’s first SF6-free smart grid pilot in Delhi
Schneider Electric has partnered with BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd (BRPL) to deploy what the companies describe as India's first RM...
Harvard researchers build an AI toy to study how it changes children’s play
Researchers at the Harvard Child-Centered AI Lab have built their own AI-enabled toy and started testing it with children in...
FAO and Smart Africa launch third Innovate Africa Challenge for AI farming tools
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Smart Africa Secretariat opened the third edition of...
Schneider Electric to acquire grid-resilience AI startup AiDASH for $350 million
Schneider Electric disclosed on July 31, 2026 that it has agreed to acquire AiDASH, a satellite- and AI-powered grid-risk monitoring...
FSU researchers build GridFusionX AI model to forecast power grids across regions
Researchers at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and Florida State University's Center for Advanced Power Systems published a new AI...
EU AI Act’s education deadline arrives, but Digital Omnibus defers most rules to 2027
August 2, 2026 was the date the EU AI Act originally set for high-risk AI obligations to take effect, including...
Eolian breaks ground on Ohio’s largest battery storage project for AI data center hub
Developer Eolian announced on July 29, 2026 that it has broken ground on Flint Grid, a 200-megawatt, 1.06-gigawatt-hour battery energy...
Antora Energy closes $550 million thermal battery funding round to scale US production
California-based Antora Energy said on July 30, 2026 that it has closed a $550 million Series C thermal battery funding...
University of Chicago study finds sustainability reports swapped data for “puffery”
A working paper by University of Chicago Law School assistant professor Hajin Kim, published June 30, 2026 with co-authors Ningzi...
Osceola County schools give students Microsoft Copilot access, launch AI Fellows Program
The School District of Osceola County, Florida, will give students aged 13 and older access to Microsoft Copilot as the...
