UK institute to pioneer Web 3.0

The UK government has created a new Institute for Web Science, reports the University of Southampton.

It is designed to make the UK the hub of international research into the next generation of Web and Internet technologies and their commercialisation, and was announced by the prime minister alongside plans for a radical opening up of information and data to put more power in people's hands.

The institute will conduct research, collaborate with businesses, identify opportunities for social and economic benefit, assist in commercialising research and help government stimulate demand through procurement.

EU-funded researchers have created the first three-dimensional invisibility cloak and used it to successfully hide a small bump on a gold surface, according to Cordis.

The findings, by scientists from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany and Imperial College London in the UK, represent a major advance in the field of transformation optics, which uses a special type of material called 'metamaterials' that can guide and control light in new ways.

Previous invisibility cloaks only worked in two dimensions; meaning the concealed object was invisible when the observer attempted to look at it head-on, but became visible when viewed from the side, for example. This study is the first to result in the creation of a device that renders an object invisible in three dimensions.

Chevron has started Project Brightfield, a demonstration of next-generation solar energy technologies in Bakersfield, California, states Market Watch.

The project, created on the site of a former Chevron refinery, will evaluate seven emerging photovoltaic technologies to help determine the potential application of renewable power at other company-owned facilities.

"By bringing together seven emerging solar technologies, Project Brightfield represents one of the most comprehensive solar energy tests of its kind and is an innovative approach to evaluating new technologies," says Des King, president of Chevron Technology Ventures, the division of Chevron USA that identifies, evaluates and demonstrates emerging technologies.