🖥️ Light-powered chip makes AI one hundred times more efficient
Researchers at the University of Florida have developed a chip that uses light to perform calculations in AI systems. The chip drastically reduces energy consumption while maintaining 98 percent accuracy.
⛰️ New technology can extract lithium with a tenth of the water consumption
The first commercial facility will produce 5,000 tons of lithium per year from 2027, which doubles US annual production.
🚗 Battery-electric cars gain market share in the EU
Battery-electric cars increased their market share to 15.8 percent during the first eight months of 2025, compared to 12.6 percent in the same period the previous year.
🚭 Number of tobacco users has dropped by 180 million since 2000
This represents a decrease of 27 percent in relative terms.
💉 Gavi's vaccines saved 1.7 million lives in 2024
Over 1.2 billion unique children have been vaccinated against a range of deadly diseases through routine vaccination since 2000.
🦿 Robot ballet AI enables robots to collaborate in factories
Google DeepMind's AI system RoboBallet automatically plans how industrial robots should perform their tasks, a process that previously required hundreds to thousands of hours of manual programming.
🤗 Record high safety worldwide – more people feel secure than ever
73 percent of the world's adults feel safe walking alone at night in 2024, the highest figure since measurements began in 2006.
🧯 The number of deadly fires in the U.S. has decreased by two-thirds
The total number of reported fires has been halved during the same period, and the number of injured has decreased by more than half.
☀️ Renewable energy surpasses coal in the global electricity mix - for the first time ever
Renewable energy overtook coal in the global electricity mix for the first time in history during the first half of 2025.