Stanford brief grades AI tutoring by how much human contact it keeps
The phrase "AI tutor" covers four different products, and the AI tutoring evidence behind them is not the same in...
Month: August 2026
UK heat pump grant applications reach 8,150 after oil switch top-up
British households filed 8,150 applications for a heat pump grant in July 2026, the highest monthly total since the Boiler...
Germany heads for its first annual climate target miss, Agora Energiewende says
Germany is on course to break its annual greenhouse gas budget for the first time since the Federal Climate Change...
Renewable energy investment holds at $327.5bn as co-located solar and storage sets a record
Global renewable energy investment reached $327.5 billion in the first half of 2026, level with the preceding six months but...
NYC schools software freeze holds as AI policy misses the start of term
Principals in the largest school district in the United States still cannot buy educational software, eight weeks after Chancellor Kamar...
Australia’s emissions fall to 455.6 Mt as record wind generation displaces gas
Australia emissions for the year to March 2026 are estimated at 455.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, a fall...
University of Chicago bars AI from its Social Sciences Core and makes classes device-free
The University of Chicago's Social Sciences Collegiate Division has barred generative AI from the Social Sciences Core sequences that every...
Spain moves to make data centres back 80% of every hour with new renewables
Spain's Council of Ministers agreed on 25 August 2026 to fast-track a draft royal decree that would tie new data...
Plug-in solar becomes legal across Great Britain from 27 August
Plug-in solar devices became legal to buy and use in England, Wales and Scotland on 27 August 2026, when two...
TerraBlaster raises $12.5m to map soil nutrients in real time with Mars rover laser technology
California-based TerraBlaster announced a $12.5 million seed round on 25 August 2026 to commercialise real-time soil nutrient mapping using laser-induced...
New Jersey proposes a 10-year home battery incentive of up to $200 per kW for 150 MW of storage
Staff at the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities issued a straw proposal on 17 August 2026 targeting up to...
MIT committee reports AI can produce credible solutions to almost any undergraduate assignment
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology published the report of its Ad Hoc Committee on AI Use in Teaching, Learning, and...
US Department of Energy selects seven critical mineral and battery projects for $500 million
The US Department of Energy announced $500 million for seven selected projects to expand critical mineral and material processing, battery...
AWS opens Student Rewards, committing more than $500m to cloud and AI training for university students
Amazon Web Services launched Student Rewards on its AWS Builder Center platform on 20 August 2026, describing the programme as...
AEMO 2026 ESOO: 40 GW pipeline pushes Australia’s first reliability gap out to 2030-31
The Australian Energy Market Operator published its 2026 Electricity Statement of Opportunities on 25 August 2026, reporting a pipeline of...
Natural capital investment sits below 0.2% of institutional portfolios, report finds
Natural capital accounts for 4 to 5 per cent of global GDP but less than 0.2 per cent of institutional...
Mafix raises $5.4m to speed up enhanced rock weathering on farmland
Mafix, a startup built on chemistry developed at Stanford University, announced on 20 August 2026 that it had raised $5.4...
Tropical study maps 7.49 million square kilometres where natural forest regeneration pays off
Researchers led by the University of Queensland have mapped the costs and the carbon and biodiversity gains of natural forest...
Purdue begins AI graduation requirement in every undergraduate degree programme
Purdue University announced on 19 August 2026 that every undergraduate starting this autumn must complete AI-focused coursework to graduate. The...
FERC approves SPP plan to use topology optimization software against grid congestion
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on 19 August 2026 approved tariff revisions allowing the Southwest Power Pool to reconfigure its...
US Department of Education tells schools to judge ed tech by learning, not screen time
The US Department of Education issued education technology guidance on 20 August 2026 telling states and school districts to evaluate...
China’s solar expansion policy is linked to bird diversity loss, Science study finds
Policies that accelerated photovoltaic build-out in China are associated with measurable declines in local bird diversity, according to a study...
Batteries set Australian wholesale power prices 16.3 per cent of the time, regulator finds
Battery storage generation and charging load together set the wholesale price in Australia's National Electricity Market 16.3 per cent of...
Sage Geosystems brings its first geothermal plant online in Texas
Sage Geosystems has run a 3MW enhanced geothermal pilot plant near Christine, Texas for more than 120 days of grid-connected...
Google launches AI study tools across Search and Gemini
Google released a set of Google AI study tools across Search and the Gemini app on 19 August 2026, timed...
Crops adapt their photosynthesis to agrivoltaic shading, Hohenheim study finds
Five arable crops grown under real solar arrays and tree rows in Germany adjusted their leaf physiology to the reduced...
Simple Ways to Unwind After a Stressful Day
Image credit A stressful day can ruin your evenings and subsequent sleep if you are unable to wind down and...
Seven in ten US teens use AI for schoolwork, survey finds
Seventy per cent of American teenagers now use AI tools for schoolwork, but only 30 per cent say a teacher...
Form Energy raises $750m Series G at a lower valuation
Form Energy closed a $750 million Series G financing led by T. Rowe Price, the long-duration storage company announced from...
Ember report says batteries have unlocked anytime solar
Solar supplied just over 10 per cent of the world's electricity in the first half of 2026, and the batteries...
