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Bricks can be used to store energy ‘like a battery’
Regular house bricks could be used to power electronics after a major breakthrough in energy storage technology. Researchers at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, discovered that the cheap and ubiquitous material could be converted into energy storage units to hold electricity, potentially transforming houses into giant super capacitors.
The researchers achieved the feat by making use of the material that creates the red pigment in bricks: iron oxide, or rust. In order to tap the energy-storage potential, the scientists developed a coating made from a polymer called Pedot. Applying the coating to the bricks turned them into super capacitors, which they then used to power an LED light.
UK-Japan trade deal ‘consensus’ crumbles over stilton
Post-Brexit trade deal talks between the UK and Japan are thought to have hit a stumbling block over stilton – after international trade secretary Liz Truss insisted on making blue cheese part of the negotiations. The two countries had hoped to finalise an agreement by the end of August, having apparently reached “consensus” in all major areas of a prospective deal last week.
However, Ms Truss is reportedly holding out for preferential treatment for British blue cheese makers – keen to get better terms than those agreed in Japan’s recent trade deal with the EU. The terms of the EUJapan deal mean 29 per cent Japanese import tariffs on hard cheeses like cheddar would be phased out by 2033. For blue-veined varieties of cheese, however, there will only be duty-free access by 2033 on an agreed tariff.
Sheep farmer ‘tried to extort’ £1.4m Bitcoin from Tesco
A sheep farmer is accused of trying to extort £1.4m worth of cryptocurrency from Tesco in exchange for revealing in which stores he had planted jars of baby food laced with metal and contaminated products with salmonella. Nigel Wright claimed to be part of a group of disgruntled diary farmers called “Guy Brush and the Dairy Pirates”, who believed they had been underpaid by the supermarket chain.
The farmer allegedly claimed contaminated food had been planted in numerous stores and that he would only reveal where once 200 Bitcoin had been paid to him. Two customers found silver in baby food as they fed their children in 2019. Mr Wright denies two counts of contaminating goods and four counts of blackmail, but admits carrying out various elements of the campaign. The trial, which is expected to last three weeks, continues.
Oldham worst hit area in England as Covid cases surge
Oldham has overtaken nearby Blackburn to become the worst-hit area for coronavirus in England, new government figures show. The surge in cases comes despite the Greater Manchester town being included in the so-called northern lockdown, with households there banned from mixing.
Some 145 new Covid-19 infections were identified in the borough in the seven days up to Sunday, according to Public Health England – the equivalent of 61 cases per 100,000 people. That places Oldham above both Leicester and Blackburn, which had previously been the areas of greatest concern – but which have both now managed to bring their rates down.