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MIT’s Water Harvester Extracts Water from Air Passively

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There are plenty of ways to suck water out of the air, whether you need a little or a lot. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers may have just hit upon one of the best ways to do it, with a device that doesn’t need power, or even a filter, to deliver drinking water.

The team’s passive atmospheric water harvester uses a vertical panel of hydrogel that absorbs water vapor from the air. This isn’t entirely new: there have been other contraptions that use hydrogels for the same task.

The MIT engineers had a couple of clever tricks up their sleeve for this one. For starters, the hydrogel is molded to resemble a sheet of bubble wrap, with little ‘domes’ that swell up when they absorb water. That allows for increased surface area and a larger capacity for absorbing water vapor. This material is enclosed in a glass layer coated with a cooling polymer film.

As the captured vapor evaporates, the hydrogel domes shrink back down in an origami-like transformation. The evaporated vapor then condenses on the glass, and flows down through a tube as potable water.

A close-up of the origami-inspired hydrogel material that swells to absorb water from the air

Image courtesy of the researchers

According to the team, micro- or nano-porous hydrogels in other water harvester designs are embedded with salts to increase the materials’ absorption capabilities. These salts can leak out with the collected water, making for an unpalatable drink.

The researchers’ solution to this involves using a hydrogel with a microstructure that lacks nanoscale pores that salt can escape from. Next, they added liquid glycerol to the hydrogel to stabilize the salt, and prevent it from crystallizing and leaking out when water flowed down the tubes.

As a result, the water collected from this device contained less salt than you’d see at the standard threshold for safe drinking water – without an additional filter. With all these features, the MIT team might just have one of the most compelling designs for a passive water harvester out there.

The group tested its window-sized device in California’s arid Death Valley, where it produced between 1.9 and 5.46 fl oz (57 and 161.5 ml) of drinking water per day across a range of humidities. The researchers noted that their invention harvested more water than other passive and even some actively powered designs in the driest conditions they encountered in the valley.

Researchers Shucong Li, “Will” Chang Liu, and Xiao-Yun Yan, with two water harvesters
Researchers Shucong Li, “Will” Chang Liu, and Xiao-Yun Yan, with two water harvesters

Image courtesy of the researchers

Now, those quantities aren’t going to go a long way towards quenching anyone’s thirst – so the team believes an array of these vertically hydrogel panels could be deployed in water-scarce regions to deliver larger amounts that could support an entire household.

The researchers conducted this test back in November 2023, and their results appeared in the journal Nature Water earlier this week. They’re now working on improving the material to improve its intrinsic properties.

If you’re curious about other ways to pull water out of thin air, check out this powered option that runs off batteries or solar, this contraption with copper fins, this spongy material made from inexpensive balsa wood, and this coffee maker that has a water harvester built in for some reason.

Source: MIT News

Brittney Griner Admits Guilt in Russia, Receives Note from President Biden

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Basketball star Brittney Griner pleaded guilty to drug charges in a Russian courtroom on Thursday, but not before she was handed a note from President Joe Biden.

With the hope that a guilty plea might be her best shot at a lenient sentence in what experts fear is a sham trial, the WBNA player admitted to taking hashish oil into Russia by accident because she had been in a hurry when she packed.

“Brittney sets an example of being brave. She decided to take full responsibility for her actions as she knows that she is a role model for many people,” read a statement from Griner’s Russian legal team, Maria Blagovolina from the firm Rybalkin Gortsunyan Dyakin and Alexander Boykov from the Moscow Legal Center.

“Considering the nature of her case, the insignificant amount of the substance and BG’s personality and history of positive contributions to global and Russian sport, the defense hopes that the plea will be considered by the court as a mitigating factor and there will be no severe sentence,” the lawyers said.

The attorneys said they expected Griner’s trial to conclude around the start of August.

Griner has been detained in Russia for more than four months after authorities said they found small amounts of hash oil in vape pens in her luggage.

“Brittney has admitted to making a mistake, and I hope the Russian authorities recognize that humbling act and respond with compassion,” Rev. Al Sharpton said in a statement passed on by Griner’s team.

Sharpton, Britney’s wife Cherelle, and WNBA players will rally on Friday in Chicago to call for her release.

They fear that Griner, who faces a maximum sentence of 10 years, is being used as a bargaining chip by Moscow against Washington amid the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“She is in the fight of her life right now, which is why we’ll be in Chicago to show our support for Brittney and for the Administration and their efforts to bring her home as soon as possible,” Sharpton said. “We must all continue to pray she finds strength through this challenging time.”

Griner’s guilty plea came a day after Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris called Cherelle Griner to offer assurances that his administration is working to free the basketball star.

That call came after Cherelle Griner criticized Biden for not meeting with her to discuss the case.

As she arrived in court on Thursday, Brittney Griner was given a note from Biden which he had earlier read to her wife over the phone.

The message was in response to one the basketball player had written to the president on July 4, begging for freedom.

“As I sit here in a Russian prison, alone with my thoughts and without the protection of my wife, family, friends, Olympic jersey, or any accomplishments, I’m terrified I might be here forever,” Griner wrote.

Criteo and Dentsu announce global partnership in commerce media

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Criteo and dentsu form global commerce media partnershi

Scheffler and McIlroy face challenges on opening day of US Open | Golf News

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Scottie Scheffler has kept coming back to the same answer when asked in different ways about how a day that began with optimism at the United States Open turned into a five-and-a-half-hour slog that left him well off the front page of the leaderboard.

“I’ve probably got to give myself a few more looks,” the world’s top-ranked player said Thursday after a 3-over 73 left him seven shots behind frontrunner JJ Spaun.

Scheffler was talking about looks for reasonable birdie putts. Those didn’t happen nearly enough during those often arduous hours at the Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania. As for plain old “looks”, however, well, the three-time major winner had those in abundance.

Looks of frustration, like when his drive on the par-5 12th landed in the middle of a fairway that slopes massively from left to right and kept rolling, and rolling, and rolling until it was in the first cut of the course’s signature ankle-deep rough.

Looks of bafflement, like when his 1.8-metre (6ft) par putt at the par-3 13th slid by, causing him to put his hand over his mouth and turn to caddie Ted Scott as if to say, “What just happened?”

Looks of anger, like when his wedge from 76 metres (83 yards) on the easy (by Oakmont standards) par-4 14th landed 12 metres (40ft) past the hole. Scheffler slammed the club into the ground before collecting himself to two-putt.

Looks of annoyance, when his 3.7-metre (12ft) birdie attempt at the par-4 17th lipped out. Scheffler bent over, pressed his hands on his knees and appeared to sigh before standing back up.

That doesn’t even include what he described as “sloppy” bogeys on the par-4 third and par-5 fourth when he found the sand off the tee.

Caddie Ted Scott, left, hands a ball to Scottie Scheffler on the first green during the first round of the US Open [Gene J Puskar/AP]

It added up to tying his worst opening round in a major ever. He did that at the 2021 Masters, a year before he began a run of dominance not seen since Tiger Woods’s prime two decades ago. Heck, he even managed a 1-under 69 at Oakmont as a 19-year-old amateur in 2016.

Nine years later, Scheffler’s life is very different. When he walked out of the scoring area in the late spring twilight, his toddler son, Bennett, and wife, Meredith, and other members of his family were waiting.

The course, however, remains the same physically and mentally draining task it has always been.

There’s a reason Scheffler teed off at 1:25pm and didn’t tap in for par on 18 until 6:52pm even though there wasn’t a hint of rain or wind or any other external factors to gum up the works. There was only Oakmont being Oakmont.

The fairways that Spaun navigated to a 4-under 66 in the morning dried up throughout the kind of muggy, sun-baked day that’s been uncommon during Western Pennsylvania’s cool, wet spring.

Scheffler made only two putts over 3 metres (10ft), none over the final seven holes and three-putted the par-3 13th. How? He has no idea. Yet he also knows one middling round doesn’t necessarily ruin his chances of winning the third leg of the grand slam.

Play a little “sharper” in the second round, and he thinks he might be in a better position come the weekend.

“When you’re playing these types of tests that are this challenging, there’s usually still a way to score,” he said.

He might find them sooner rather than later. In each of Scheffler’s 16 PGA Tour victories, he found himself inside the top 30 after 18 holes. He’ll be outside that number when he puts his tee in the ground at No 10 on Friday morning to start his second round.

“I’ll clean up some of those mistakes, a couple three putts and stuff like that,” he said on Thursday. “And I think tomorrow will be a better day.”

Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, prepares to hit from the tall grass on the fourth hole during the first round of the U.S. Open
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland prepares to hit from the tall grass on the fourth hole during the first round of the US Open [Seth Wenig/AP]

Rory McIlroy, still looking to regain the form that helped him complete a career Grand Slam at the Masters in April, started on the back nine and made two early birdies to reach the turn just two shots back of Spaun before a wayward second nine.

World number two McIlroy made four bogeys over a seven-hole stretch out of the turn, followed by a double bogey at the par-3 eighth, where he left his tee shot in the thick rough and failed to get out on his first attempt. He signed for a 74.

Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau, one of 14 LIV Golf players in the field and looking to become the first repeat US Open winner since Brooks Koepka in 2018, spent too much time in Oakmont’s penal rough and opened with a 73.

“It was a brutal test of golf. But one that I’m excited for tomorrow,” DeChambeau said.

Novo Nordisk surpasses SAP to become Europe’s top-valued company

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Novo Nordisk A/S reclaimed its position as Europe’s most valuable public company, overtaking software developer SAP SE. 

Shares in the Danish drugmaker climbed as much as 2.3% on Friday after Novo said it plans to advance its experimental weight management treatment amycretin into late-stage development following feedback from regulatory authorities. 

Novo’s market capitalization stood at $365 billion as of 10:20 a.m. in Copenhagen. That compares with $364.3 billion for SAP, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Novo has suffered a series of setbacks since reaching a record high in June of last year, including disappointing clinical trial results for its experimental obesity treatments and mounting competition from US rival Eli Lilly & Co. The drugmaker last month decided to replace Chief Executive Officer Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen.

The shares have been boosted this week following a Financial Times report about activist hedge fund Parvus Asset Management building a stake in Novo, hoping to influence the appointment of the drugmaker’s new CEO. 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

Video footage captures explosions and buildings on fire in Tehran, Iran

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Israel says it has carried out strikes on Iran’s nuclear programme, with explosions seen in the capital city of Tehran.

Security cameras captured the moment a large, bright blast hit the city.

Iran’s state media also showed footage of fires burning in buildings and plumes of smoke rising from the city’s skyline.

People can be seen gathering on streets littered with debris.

Follow our live coverage here.

In 2024, US music publishing revenue spiked by 13.4% to reach $7 billion, surpassing the growth rate of recorded music.

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MBW’s Stat Of The Week is a series in which we highlight a data point that deserves the attention of the global music industry. Stat Of the Week is supported by music data analytics firm Chartmetric.


 

Given the lacklustre growth in US recorded music revenues last year, it wouldn’t have been a surprise if music publishing revenues also showed signs of weakening.

But that hasn’t happened. New numbers from the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) show that publishing revenue growth actually accelerated in 2024, compared to the year before, rising 13.41% to $7.039 billion.

That marks a notable increase from the 10.7% growth rate seen in 2023, and it marks the 10th consecutive year of double-digit music publishing revenue growth in the US, NMPA President and CEO David Israelite told the audience at the trade organization’s annual general meeting on Wednesday (June 11).

“To put that in perspective, consider this: Just 10 years ago, the recorded music industry was 220% larger than the music publishing industry. Today, it’s just 60% larger,” Israelite said.



According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), recorded music wholesale revenues rose 2.7% YoY in 2024, to $11.3 billion – a growth rate that was actually lower than the US’s inflation rate of 2.9% for 2024 – pulled down by declining advertising payouts. Music publishing’s growth rate just about quintupled the growth in recorded music.

(The wholesale figure for recorded music – that is, the money that actually ended up with artists, labels, and distributors – is lower than the headline $17.67 billion that RIAA reported, but it’s the appropriate comparison to the NMPA’s music publishing numbers, as the NMPA reports wholesale publishing revenues.)



So what’s behind publishing’s banner year? Israelite pointed to one key factor: Accelerated efforts at collecting unpaid royalties.

“Just last year, 27% of the total revenue paid to songwriters and music publishers came from sources that originally claimed they did not have to license or pay for songs,” Israelite said.

“We fought, we won, and now nearly $2 billion of our revenue last year came from these sources.”

The double-digit growth came despite a hit to publishers’ and songwriters’ mechanical royalty revenue when Spotify last year reclassified its paid US music subscriptions as “bundles” with audiobooks.

The streaming giant took advantage of a rule in the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB)’s Phonorecords IV regulations that allows digital service providers to pay out a lower mechanical royalty rate from bundled subscriptions than they would from a standalone music subscription. Amazon Music followed suit, shifting its own paying music subscriber base to a bundled service.

NMPA Executive Vice President and General Counsel Danielle Aguirre said Spotify’s move resulted in a loss of $230 million in mechanical royalties in its first year, and could end up costing $3.1 billion by 2032.

That assumes the bundling rule won’t be removed in the CRB’s next rate regulation, Phonorecords V, which has yet to be negotiated and will set mechanical royalty rates for the 2028-2032 period.

“This incredible [revenue] growth story is in spite of the fact that 72% of our revenue is under oppressive government price controls which have denied songwriters and music publishers the true value of their intellectual property.”

David Israelite, NMPA

In the wake of Spotify’s move, the NMPA has been calling on Congress to let music publishers opt out of the Copyright Royalty Board’s mandatory mechanism, and negotiate royalty rates with streaming services “in a free market.”

At the annual general meeting on Wednesday, Israelite renewed his call for a loosening of the regulations that govern music publishing royalties in the US.

“This incredible [revenue] growth story is in spite of the fact that 72% of our revenue is under oppressive government price controls which have denied songwriters and music publishers the true value of their intellectual property,” he said.

As a potential remedy, Israelite urged collective action – not in the sense of songwriters unionizing, but in the sense of rights holders sticking together when negotiating.

“When GMR stands up to the bullies of big radio, we should all stand behind them. When CSAC fights for better rates from Google – one of the largest companies in the history of the planet – we should all stand behind them.

“And while ASCAP and BMI don’t have the power to say no under their consent decrees when they go to rate court to fight for better rates from broadcast radio or satellite radio or live music venues, we should all stand behind them as we continue the fight to get more of your rights in a free market,” he said.

“There is an opportunity to make a meaningful difference in songwriter income if we all stand together, and all of us need to do a better job articulating why we are in these disputes, so that songwriters are armed with the information they need to help themselves… The rates achieved where we are in a free market have a ripple effect on those rates under government control.”


Chartmetric is the all-in-one platform for artists and music industry professionals, providing comprehensive streaming, social, and audience data for everyone to create successful careers in music.Music Business Worldwide

Our Current Understanding of the L.A. Protests

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The Trump administration is facing legal challenges to its deployment of Marines and National Guard troops to Los Angeles. Shawn Hubler, the Los Angeles bureau chief for The New York Times, talks with Katrin Bennhold, a senior writer, about what she’s seen on the ground in the city.

Oil prices spike following Israel’s strike on Iran

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Oil prices surged on Friday in the biggest move in more than three years as Israel’s air strikes against Iran threaten supplies across the region and sparked a rush to safe haven assets.

In early afternoon in Asia Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose about 8 per cent to $74.88 and US marker West Texas Intermediate rose more than 8 per cent to $73.67, with traders concerned the conflict could hit energy supplies in one of the world’s most important oil and gas producing regions.

Michael Alfaro, chief investment officer at Gallo Partners, a hedge fund focused on energy and industrials, said the attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities marked a “seismic escalation” in the conflict.

“We’re staring down the barrel of a prolonged conflict that’s almost certain to keep oil prices elevated,” he said.

Gold, an asset seen as a haven, rose by roughly 1.2 per cent during Asian trading hours to $3,427 per ounce.

There are multiple risks for the energy sector from a renewed conflict.

The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway separating Iran from the Gulf states, is a conduit for around a third of the world’s seaborne oil supplies. Iran has repeatedly threatened to close it in the event of an attack. 

Some of the world’s largest oilfields, including in Saudi Arabia and Iraq, are also within reach of Iran’s missiles and drones. In 2019 Iran was widely believed to be behind an attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities that briefly pushed the price of crude.

Qatar is also one of the world’s largest suppliers of liquefied natural gas (LNG), and its shipments must traverse Hormuz to reach international markets at a time of tight global supplies. 

Helima Croft, a former CIA analyst who is now at RBC Capital Markets, questioned whether the latest strike was a limited military engagement, as occurred in autumn, or if Iran would target regional energy supplies.

“The key question is whether Iran seeks to internationalise the cost of tonight’s action by targeting regional energy infrastructure,” Croft said.

US President Donald Trump has previously pledged to keep oil prices low to help tame inflation.

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine the Biden administration released around 300mn barrels of crude from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), the world’s largest emergency stockpile, to help keep prices in check.

If the oil price surge is prolonged or supplies are disrupted from the Middle East, Trump could utilise the SPR, but in the past he has criticised former President Joe Biden for draining the reserve to its lowest level in 40 years. The SPR currently has around 400mn barrels, well below its 727mn barrel capacity.

Traders will also look for any response from the Opec+ group of oil producers. Saudi Arabia, one of the group’s most powerful members, condemned Israel’s attack on Friday. 

The group, of which Iran is a member, has been raising production in recent months but may face additional pressure from the Trump administration to tap it’s additional capacity to keep markets well supplied.

Stocks in the benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell by around 1.3 per cent. South Korea’s Kospi and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 1.28 per cent and 0.7 per cent respectively.

The price of Bitcoin fell as much as 3 per cent on Friday in Asia hours, matching a broad sell-off of risk assets across the region.

The price of one Bitcoin dropped briefly to the $103,000 level, before rallying slightly to $104,000.

Judge rules that Mail on Sunday article is defamatory

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The High Court judge agreed with this interpretation, writing that the story could lead readers to believe that Harry had purposefully tried to bamboozle the public about the truth of his legal proceedings against the government.

“It may be possible to ‘spin’ facts in a way that does not mislead, but the allegation being made in the article was very much that the object was to mislead the public,” the judge wrote. “That supplies the necessary element to make the meanings defamatory at common law.”

Nicklin also determined that the story’s description of how Harry and his lawyers had attempted to keep his effort to secure police protection from the Home Office confidential met the threshold for defamation.

The “natural and ordinary” meaning of the Mail on Sunday article, Nicklin wrote, was that Harry “had initially sought confidentiality restrictions that were far-reaching and unjustifiably wide and were rightly challenged by the Home Office on the grounds of transparency and open justice.”

The High Court justice wrote that “the message that comes across clearly, in the headlines and [specific] paragraphs” of the Mail on Sunday story met the common law requirements for defamation.

Throughout the judgment, Nicklin emphasized that his decision was “very much the first phase in a libel claim.”

“The next step will be for the defendant to file a defense to the claim. It will be a matter for determination later in the proceedings whether the claim succeeds or fails, and on what basis,” Nicklin wrote.