Scientists at Bristol University tested lab-grown brain organoids by feeding them tactile signals from Braille letters via a connected sensor, then decoding the organoids' output. Single organoids produced accurately decodable signals 61% of the time, but groups of three organoids achieved 83% accuracy and were better than the raw sensor signal at filtering out noise. The study, led by PhD candidate Tianyi Liu, was published in Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence.
frontiersin.org
· 2026-10-22
Fusion startup Helion announced it received $175 million in Department of Commerce CHIPS Act funding to research, develop and manufacture advanced semiconductors and power electronics for its fusion power plants. The company also disclosed a separate $50 million private investment. The funds will build an automated semiconductor production line in Washington State to supply Helion's Orion power plant, currently under construction.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-22
President Trump posted on Truth Social that AI data center operators and hyperscalers will be required to generate their own electricity and share or sell surplus power back to local communities. He framed this as a way to offset rising electricity costs and other burdens these facilities impose on nearby residents.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-10-21
Germany's government has amended its 2023 Energy Efficiency Act to drop a requirement that new data centers recycle waste heat into municipal heating systems, replacing it with an obligation merely to study the possibility. The move follows industry complaints, including from the German Data Center Association, that the original rule made building data centers in the country nearly impossible. The amended bill is expected to go before the German parliament for ratification soon.
wired.com
· 2026-10-21
A 1kW residential wind turbine's rated output is a peak figure, not a guaranteed yield; real-world production depends heavily on local wind conditions. In an optimal location with average wind speeds above 14 mph, such a turbine could generate roughly 200 kWh per month, or about 2,400 kWh annually — under a quarter of a typical US household's yearly electricity use.
engadget.com
· 2026-10-21
The Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan, the Crane Clean Energy Center at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, and the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Iowa are being brought back online after years of shutdown, together expected to add 2.25 GW to the grid. Palisades, which had begun decommissioning, is furthest along and is projected to generate 800 MW by March 2027, while Crane's Unit 1 is expected to add 835 MW in 2027 under a 20-year supply deal with Microsoft. Each project relied on Department of Energy loans, with Palisades funded under a 2024 Biden-era program and the others under a 2025 Trump administration initiative.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-10-20
Amazon and American Electric Power announced plans for a 960-megawatt nuclear facility near Terre Haute, Indiana, built on the site of a demolished coal plant. X-energy will supply 12 of its Xe-100 small modular reactors, AEP will operate the plant, and Amazon will be the first buyer of its power. The deal is three times larger than a similar agreement the two companies struck two years ago.
hardware.slashdot.org
· 2026-10-20
Researchers led by Haiwei Zhou at the University of Melbourne estimate that emissions from manufacturing lithium-ion batteries currently make up about 0.18 percent of global annual greenhouse gas output. Using International Energy Agency demand scenarios for electric vehicles and energy storage, they project this figure could grow more than tenfold by 2050 as battery use expands. The study compares demand-side strategies, such as reducing the number of batteries built, against supply-side fixes like efficient manufacturing, recycling, and sourcing less energy-intensive materials.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-10-19
Seattle startup Endurance Energy tested a 3-ton prototype geothermal power plant nearly a mile underwater near the Axial Seamount volcano in September, generating under 10 seconds of net-positive electricity during a three-week deployment. The plant drilled two holes about 5,000 feet deep using a subsea lander launched from the ship Ocean Guardian, demonstrating the concept's technical feasibility rather than sustained power generation.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-10-19
A new report from the Environmental Defense Fund and Atlas Public Policy finds that planned fossil fuel power capacity jumped from 5% of new US electricity projects in 2024 to 30% by mid-2026, even as electricity demand rises due to data centers, factories and EVs. The report notes solar and wind still generate more power than coal and that solar was the fastest-growing source added in 2024, but warns gas development could reach 68 gigawatts by 2030 if current trends hold.
theverge.com
· 2026-10-19
Amazon, American Electric Power and X-energy announced plans to build a 960-megawatt nuclear facility using 12 Xe-100 small modular reactors at the site of a demolished coal plant near Terre Haute, Indiana. Amazon will be the first buyer of the plant's power, which AEP will operate, and it marks Amazon's second, and three-times-larger, commercial deal with X-energy following a 2022 agreement.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-19
Designer Stefan Sagmeister has created a line of shoes whose patterns double as infographics, displaying statistics on topics such as renewable energy adoption and homelessness rates across six countries. The visual designs translate numerical data into graphic patterns printed directly onto the footwear.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-10-19
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