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Ganalay and guli are species of native grasses—used as a food source and ground into a flour—that used to thrive on the black alluvial soil plains of Moree, New South Wales, particularly after heavy rains or flooding.
BAE Systems’ FAST Labs has received a $16 million Phase 2 contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to continue developing autonomous tracking technology under the Oversight program. What Will BAE Systems Do In Phase 2 of the Contract? In Oversight Phase 1, BAE Systems said it tested its software in a modeling and simulation [...]
The thunder of a rifle echoes across the Savannah. Antelope scatter as birds of all feathers take to the air. A dull thud signals that the marksman's shot was true. The horn from the felled rhino will command more money on the black market than the hunter could otherwise make in a year.
France released on Friday a revamped roadmap to become carbon neutral by 2050, with an ambitious plan to phase out oil and gas.
In the wake of a wildfire, a vital micronutrient can become a toxic heavy metal—and could eventually make its way into groundwater.
The Bartels Awards for Custodial Service, held Dec. 10 in Bartels Hall, recognized six staff members for their outstanding work keeping the Ithaca campus a clean, safe learning environment.
"Tis the season to extend social invitations to colleagues—a gesture that may seem simple, but research by an Indiana University Kelley School of Business Indianapolis professor and her colleagues shows these invitations can drive both positive and negative outcomes, shaping emotions and workplace behaviors.
How do intermittent events like hurricanes impact natural selection? How do animals adapt to challenging weather? A University of Rhode Island professor has set out to track natural selection in the Anolis lizard over time to see how the species has weathered hurricanes in the southeastern United States.
The recent discovery could redefine America's role in the global tech race, as reports claim the White House is already excited.
Bolt Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:BOLT – Get Free Report) and Acumen Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ABOS – Get Free Report) are both small-cap medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, risk and analyst recommendations. Institutional & Insider Ownership 86.7% of Bolt [...]
Researchers at University of Tsukuba have developed the Japanese version of the community-based rehabilitation indicators (CBR-Is), originally created by the World Health Organization to assess inclusive social participation among persons with disabilities. After a rigorous process of translation and cultural adaptation, the team confirmed that these indicators are suitable for use in the Japanese context.
Astronauts Could Live in Structures Made from Moon Rocks eos.org
NASA loses contact with Mars orbiter. What to know about MAVEN mission Yahoo News CanadaNASA Teams Work MAVEN Spacecraft Signal Loss NASA Science (.gov)Fresh From Capturing Image Of 3I/ATLAS, NASA's MAVEN Suffers "Anomaly" And Is No Longer Communicating With Earth IFLScienceNasa loses contact with spacecraft orbiting Mars for more than a decade The GuardianA Vital NASA Mars Orbiter Has Gone Dark Gizmodo
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)
What geological features on Earth can be used to better understand unique geological features on Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa? This is what a recent study published in The Planetary Science Journal hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated potential Earth analogs for studying a unique geological feature on Europa scientists identified almost 30 years ago. This study has the potential help scientists gain insights into Europa’s unique geological features, some of which scientists hypothesize are caused by the moon’s internal liquid water ocean.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that the United States has AI as its top scientific priority.
NYU Tandon School of Engineering today announced the launch of its Center for Robotics and Embodied Intelligence, establishing a major new East Coast hub for robotics research and education.
The Mayo Clinic president and CEO is one of three people who will lead the National Academy of Medicine's steering group for its upcoming patient safety and artificial intelligence initiative.
Take a tour of Binghamton University, State University of New York's Fabrication Lab with engineer Vince Brady!
NC State’s team is pushing prosthetic technology forward, combining mechanical assistance with artificial intelligence to create a more responsive, realistic walking experience.
New research reveals a link between rising temperatures and changes in polar bear DNA, which may be helping them adapt and survive in increasingly challenging environments.
Most of the media coverage of the federal government's recent cuts in federal research money for universities has focused on its effects on a handful of elite Ivy League universities, such as Harvard, Columbia and Cornell.
From preserving memory and generating clean water to revolutionizing modern communications, UCLA researchers have transformed nearly every aspect of modern life.
Using a dual-cation substitution approach, researchers at Science Tokyo introduced ferromagnetism into bismuth ferrite, a well-known and promising multiferroic material for next-generation memory technologies. By replacing ions at both the bismuth and iron sites with calcium ions and heavier elements, they modified the spin structure and achieved ferromagnetism at room temperature. Additionally, negative thermal expansion was observed. This ability to engineer magnetism and thermal expansion in a multiferroic material aids in realizing future memory devices.
Researchers have uncovered an interface layer that may affect the performance of certain superconducting qubits.
McMaster scientists create robust cell sheets in five hours using simple tools, opening new paths for tissue repair and cultivated meat.
The Late Cretaceous apex predator easily grew to the size of a great white shark.The post Mosasaurs may have terrorized rivers as well as oceans appeared first on Popular Science.
In a recently published study in Genome Research, "A map of enhancer regions in primary human neural progenitor cells using capture STARR-seq," a team of researchers looked at regions of human genetic code that are known for harboring risk factors for psychiatric disease.
Most smaller galaxies may not have supermassive black holes in their centers, according to a recent study using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. This contrasts with the common idea that nearly every galaxy has one of these giant black holes within their cores, as NASA leads the world in exploring the secrets of how the universe works.
This issue of The FASEB Journal features studies on aging, organ protection, inflammation, the microbiome, women's health, and new therapeutic targets--offering fresh insights into mechanisms that drive health and disease.
A local mineral company has announced the discovery of rare metals essential to technology creation in a Provo mining site, bearing potentially positive implications for domestic production.
A Rutgers Health-led study, published in BMJ Open Quality, examines potential challenges associated with online qualitative data collection and how to prevent possible fraudulent respondents.
Cities do not always grow in a straight line. Like living organisms, they experience growth, maturity, and sometimes decline. This decline, known as urban shrinkage, is a natural phase in the urban life cycle. It is common in industrialized cities, marked by aging social infrastructure resulting from population decline.
Fireball lights up the North Country sky The Timberjay'Space junk' confirmed to be satellite TBNewsWatch.comStreak of light in night sky believed to be 'space junk' SooToday.comStreak of light in night sky believed to be “space junk” TBNewsWatch.com
The Hjortspring boat carried warriors on an attempted attack of a Danish island over 2,000 years ago. Archaeologists have new clues about where these raiders...
The Hjortspring boat carried warriors on an attempted attack of a Danish island over 2,000 years ago. Archaeologists have new clues about where these raiders came from.
400,000-year-old Neanderthal campfire traces found in UK DWEarliest evidence of making fire NatureNews - 400,000-Year-Old Hearth Identified in England Archaeology MagazineFire-making materials at 400,000-year-old site are the oldest evidence of humans making fire NPRArchaeologists Find Oldest Evidence of Fire-Making The New York Times
With a $5 million investment from New York state, Cornell is building a processing hub and “service center,” where businesses can research, develop and prototype new hemp-based materials.
Manipulating mouse brains during sleep improved their ability to remember new experiences that would normally be forgotten – a finding with important implications for treating Alzheimer’s disease.
We describe how the ESA Comet Interceptor mission, which is due to launch in 2028/29 to a yet-to-be-discovered target, can provide a conceptual basis for a future mission to visit an Interstellar Object. Comet Interceptor will wait in space until a suitable long period comet is discovered, allowing rapid response to perform a fast flyby [...]The post Intercepting Interstellar Objects appeared first on Astrobiology.
Will "Salt-Tolerant Plants" Soon Be Grown in the Lab? New Research Reveals How This Evolutionary Hack Could Happen The DebriefMyosin XI-1: A key molecular target for salt-tolerant crops Phys.orgExclusive: Waseda researchers reveal Myosin XI-1 as novel target for salt-tolerant crops Agro Spectrum India
The search for exomoons, or moons in other star systems, has attracted significant interest in recent years, driven both by advancements in detection sensitivity and by the expanding population of known exoplanets. The β Pictoris system is a particularly favorable target, as its proximity and directly imaged planets allow for precise astrometric monitoring. We present [...]The post First Astrometric Limits On Binary Planets And Exomoons Orbiting β Pictoris b appeared first on Astrobiology.
"The first human landing on Mars will be the most significant moment for human space exploration since we first set foot on the moon over 50 years ago."The post Scientists Say the Time Has Arrived to Land Astronauts on Mars appeared first on Futurism.
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)
The tiny pantheon known as the Asgard archaea bear traits that hint at how plants, animals and fungi emerged on Earth.
Learn more about brown dwarfs, the cosmic misfits that blur the line between planet and star.
Learn more about how researchers can take evidence from the past to better shape our idea of what Neanderthals looked like.
Over the past decades, engineers have introduced numerous technologies that rely on light and its underlying characteristics. These include photonic and quantum systems that could advance imaging, communication and information processing.
Scientists at the University of Geneva have successfully tested key components of RISTRETTO, a new spectrograph designed to analyse light from Proxima b, the nearest exoplanet to Earth. The instrument uses coronagraphic techniques and extreme adaptive optics to block a star's overwhelming glare and detect planets that shine 10 million times fainter. Simulations suggest RISTRETTO could not only spot Proxima b with just 55 hours of observation time but potentially identify oxygen or water in its atmosphere, offering our first chance to study the conditions on an Earth sized world orbiting our nearest stellar neighbour.
Astronomers have developed a new technique called "X-arithmetic" that reveals the hidden physics inside galaxy clusters. By analysing Chandra X-ray Observatory data at different energy levels and painting the results in vibrant colours, researchers can now distinguish between sound waves, black hole inflated bubbles, and cooling gas, enabling them to classify structures by what they are rather than how they look. The method has already exposed striking differences between galaxy clusters and galaxy groups, showing that supermassive black holes wield dramatically different influence on their surroundings.
Time has named the “Architects of AI” — including Jensen Huang, Elon Musk and Sam Altman — as its 2025 Person of the Year, citing their global influence.
Texas and Gov. Greg Abbott are pouring more semiconductor investment into the University of Texas.
(MENAFN - EIN Presswire) EINPresswire/ -- The global DNA vaccine market is steadily gaining prominence as genetic immunization technologies continue to evolve and demonstrate strong potential in ...
(MENAFN - EIN Presswire) EINPresswire/ -- The Europe Creator Economy Market: A thorough analysis of statistics about the current as well as emerging trends offers clarity regarding the Europe ...
<img src="https://www.newswise.com/legacy/image.php?image=https://now.tufts.edu/sites/default/files/styles/xlarge_1920w_1280h/public/uploaded-assets/images/2025-12/vet_surgery_course.jpg?h=c3635fa2=56n884M4width=100height=150" alt="Newswise image" /Helping veterinary students successfully prepare for their first surgery.
Residents packed up and prepared to flee rising rivers in western Washington state Wednesday as a new wave of heavy rain swept into a region still reeling from a heavy storm a day earlier.
The Wearable Imaging for Transforming Elderly Care (WITEC) collaborative research project aims to develop the world's first wearable ultrasound imaging system for continuous, real-time monitoring and personalised diagnosis of chronic conditions such as hypertension and heart failure.WITEC is a multi-million...
img src="https://www.newswise.com/legacy/image.php?image=/images/uploads/2025/12/10/6939e91763f23_Researchers.jpgwidth=100height=150" alt="Newswise image" /Florida State University researchers have created a new crystalline material with unusual magnetic patterns that could be used for breakthroughs in data storage and quantum technologies. In a study published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the research team showed that when two materials with neighboring chemical compositions but different structure types are combined, they can form a new material that exhibits a third structure type with highly unusual magnetic properties.
Brain-imaging study shows imagined experiences activate the same learning circuits as real ones.
img src="https://www.newswise.com/legacy/image.php?image=/images/uploads/2025/12/10/6939a778e6d51_SM-NR-bannereveland-1.jpgwidth=100height=150" alt="Newswise image" /Andrea Eveland, Ph.D., Principal Investigator and member at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, will lead a multi-institutional project to deepen the understanding of sorghum, a versatile bioenergy crop, and its response to environmental challenges.
Everyday acts of care—tightening a loose hinge, patching up a wall, or simply moving a crate—may seem mundane. But a new study from Ritsumeikan University shows that these small repairs are key to sustaining autonomy and an inclusive social life in a squatted space in Japan.
Recent fieldwork by Griffith University researchers has highlighted an African country that is facing a rapidly escalating environmental crisis as severe gully erosion—locally termed "mega gullies"—advances across valuable agricultural landscapes.
(MENAFN - EIN Presswire) EINPresswire/ -- Understanding Modified Starch:Modified starch refers to starch that has been physically, chemically, or enzymatically altered from its native form to ...
img src="https://www.newswise.com/legacy/image.php?image=/images/uploads/2025/12/10/6939f3870e714_steve-johnson-0iV9LmPDn0-unsplash.jpgwidth=100height=150" alt="Newswise image" /Researchers at UCLA have developed an artificial intelligence tool that can use electronic health records to identify patients with undiagnosed Alzheimer's disease, addressing a critical gap in Alzheimer's care: significant underdiagnosis, particularly among underrepresented communities.
If you're thinking about buying Christmas presents for children, chances are a Lego set isn't too far from your mind. The endless creativity that Lego bricks present means they can be used for far more than following instructions to build the model on the front of the box. They are even used in academic research.
img src="https://www.newswise.com/legacy/image.php?image=/images/uploads/2025/12/10/6939d8870827c_20251210StudyCheapClimateFriendlyHealthyFood.jpgwidth=100height=150" alt="Newswise image" /Healthy diets can be affordable and good for the planet
Susan G. Komen recognized five exceptional leaders in the breast cancer field who have furthered our understanding of the disease, treatment, progression and survival.
Sydney, like many other Australian cities, has a long history of urban farming. Market gardens, oyster fisheries and wineries on urban fringe once supplied fresh food to city markets.
img src="https://www.newswise.com/legacy/image.php?image=/images/uploads/2025/12/10/6939db08a13f7_QuEEN-M-Microscope-Image1600x900.jpgwidth=100height=150" alt="Newswise image" /Scientists at Argonne and UIUC have developed a way to pinpoint and create quantum emitters -- atomic-scale light sources -- in ultrathin materials, advancing quantum computing, secure communication and next-generation sensors.
Free or subsidized school meals lead to modest gains in math and school enrollment, according to a new Cochrane review that examined the global impact of school feeding programs on disadvantaged children in both high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries.
A study from management consulting firm McKinsey says that global spending on data centers could eclipse $6.7 trillion between now and 2030, with most of that spending taking place in the United States, where over 4,000 data centers are already operating or under construction. The boom has thrust ...
Conventional petroleum-based adhesives rely heavily on the petrochemical industry and pose environmental risks due to harmful emissions and limited reusability. In a new study, researchers developed a novel photo-switchable smart adhesive based on materials derived from rose oil. It is both eco-friendly and highly reusable, while exhibiting great adhesion to a variety of surfaces. This innovative adhesive paves the way for more sustainable and smart material technologies.
As drug-resistant infections threaten to undermine decades of medical progress, scientists are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI) for innovative solutions. With its strengths in data mining and pattern recognition, AI is transforming how antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is detected, predicted, and managed.
Imagine a future where quantum computers supercharge machine learning—training models in seconds, extracting insights from massive datasets and powering next-gen AI. That future might be closer than you think, thanks to a breakthrough from researchers at Australia's national research agency, CSIRO, and The University of Melbourne.
SpaceX sent up its second launch in less than 24 hours on the Space Coast on Dec. 9, while also bringing home its booster for the last time on a landing zone it has been leasing for the last 10 years.
New research has given policymakers and aged care providers first-hand insights about how to uphold dignity and meet the unique needs of Forgotten Australians.
What if your conscious experiences were not just the chatter of neurons, but were connected to the hum of the universe? In a paper published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, I present new evidence indicating that conscious states may arise from the brain's capacity to resonate with the quantum vacuum—the zero-point field that permeates all of space.
Astronomers are a step closer to cracking one of the secrets of dark energy—the mysterious force believed to be causing the universe's accelerated expansion.
University of Houston microbiologists discovered that a rare bacterium in NASA clean rooms can “play dead” to survive extreme sterilization conditions.
The Global Radio Explorer telescope is a series of eight terminals being built and tested at Cornell and the California Institute of Technology, and installed at locations around the world.
Neutrinos are one of the most mysterious particles in the universe, often called "ghost particles" because they rarely interact with anything else. Trillions stream through our bodies every second, yet leave no trace. They are produced during nuclear reactions, including those that take place in the core of our sun.
A new study published in Nature Communications details a hybrid robot that combines the wind-driven mobility of tumbleweeds with active quadcopter control, offering a new paradigm for energy-efficient terrestrial exploration.
The post Top Stories: Third-Annual Discovery Days Celebrates Research and Innovation at FSU appeared first on Florida State University News.
The findings of a new academic paper suggest that warming winters are causing damage to the DNA of some lizards.
A team of researchers from the University of Zurich and the NCCR PlanetS is challenging our understanding of the solar system planets' interior. The composition of Uranus and Neptune, the two outermost planets, might be more rocky and less icy than previously thought.
Astronomers have employed NASA's Chandra spacecraft to perform X-ray observations of a massive galaxy cluster known as SPT-CL J0217-5014. Results of the observational campaign, published December 4 on the arXiv preprint server, yield important insights into the properties and nature of this cluster.
Dark matter is an elusive type of matter that does not emit, reflect or absorb light, yet is estimated to account for most of the universe's mass. Over the past decades, many physicists worldwide have been trying to detect this type of matter or signals associated with its presence, employing various approaches and technologies.
The plan is not strictly catered to U.S.-based researchers impacted by Trump
How multi-agent AI can strengthen space missions against the unknown SpaceNewsAI is making spacecraft propulsion more efficient – and could even lead to nuclear-powered rockets SpaceAI Could Revolutionize Space Travel: Faster Rockets and More Efficient Propulsion The Daily Galaxy
The power surging through transmission lines over the iconic stone walls of England’s northern countryside is pushing the United Kingdom’s grid to its limits. To the north, Scottish wind farms have doubled their output over the past decade. In the south, where electricity demand is heaviest, electrification and new data centers promise to draw more power, but new generation is falling short. Construction on a new 3,280-megawatt nuclear power plant west of London lags years behind schedule.The result is a lopsided flow of power that’s maxing out transmission corridors from the Highlands to London. That grid strain won’t ease any time soon. New lines linking Scotland to southern England are at least three to four years from operation, and at risk of further delays from fierce local opposition.At the same time, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is bent on installing even more wind power and slashing fossil-fuel generation by 2030. His Labour government says low-carbon power is cheaper and more secure than natural gas, much of which comes from Norway via the world’s longest underwater gas pipeline and is vulnerable to disruption and sabotage. The lack of transmission lines available to move power flowing south from Scottish wind farms has caused grid congestion in England. To better manage it, the U.K. has installed SmartValves at three substations in northern England—Penwortham, Harker, and Saltholme—and is constructing a fourth at South Shields. Chris Philpot The U.K.’s resulting grid congestion prevents transmission operators from delivering some of their cleanest, cheapest generation to all of the consumers who want it. Congestion is a perennial problem whenever power consumption is on the rise. It pushes circuits to their thermal limits and creates grid stability or security constraints.With congestion relief needed now, the U.K.’s grid operators are getting creative, rapidly tapping new cable designs and innovations in power electronics to squeeze more power through existing transmission corridors. These grid-enhancing technologies, or GETs, present a low-cost way to bridge the gap until new lines can be built.“GETs allow us to operate the system harder before an investment arrives, and they save a s***load of money,” says Julian Leslie, chief engineer and director of strategic energy planning at the National Energy System Operator (NESO), the Warwick-based agency that directs U.K. energy markets and infrastructure. Transmission lines running across England’s countryside are maxed out, creating bottlenecks in the grid that prevent some carbon-free power from reaching customers. Vincent Lowe/Alamy The U.K.’s extreme grid challenge has made it ground zero for some of the boldest GETs testing and deployment. Such innovation involves some risk, because an intervention anywhere on the U.K.’s tightly meshed power system can have system-wide impacts. (Grid operators elsewhere are choosing to start with GETs at their systems’ periphery—where there’s less impact if something goes wrong.)The question is how far—and how fast—the U.K.’s grid operators can push GETs capabilities. The new technologies still have a limited track record, so operators are cautiously feeling their way toward heavier investment. Power system experts also have unanswered questions about these advanced grid capabilities. For example, will they create more complexity than grid operators can manage in real time? Might feedback between different devices destabilize the grid?There is no consensus yet as to how to even screen for such risks, let alone protect against them, says Robin Preece, professor in future power systems at the University of Manchester, in England. “We’re at the start of establishing that now, but we’re building at the same time. So it’s kind of this race between the necessity to get this technology installed as quickly as possible, and our ability to fully understand what’s happening.”How is the U.K. Managing Grid Congestion?One of the most innovative and high-stakes tricks in the U.K.’s toolbox employs electronic power-flow controllers, devices that shift electricity from jammed circuits to those with spare capacity. These devices have been able to finesse enough additional wind power through grid bottlenecks to replace an entire gas-fired generator. Installed in northern England four years ago by Smart Wires, based in Durham, N.C., these SmartValves are expected to help even more as NESO installs more of them and masters their capabilities.Warwick-based National Grid Electricity Transmission, the grid operator for England and Wales, is adding SmartValves and also replacing several thousand kilometers of overhead wire with advanced conductors that can carry more current. And it’s using a technique called dynamic line rating, whereby sensors and models work together to predict when weather conditions will allow lines to carry extra current.Other kinds of GETs are also being used globally. Advanced conductors are the most widely deployed. Dynamic line rating is increasingly common in European countries, and U.S. utilities are beginning to take it seriously. Europe also leads the world in topology-optimization software, which reconfigures power routes to alleviate congestion, and advanced power-flow-control devices like SmartValves. Engineers install dynamic line rating technology from the Boston-based company LineVision on National Grid’s transmission network. National Grid Electricity Transmission SmartValves’ chops stand out at the Penwortham substation in Lancashire, England, one of two National Grid sites where the device made its U.K. debut in 2021. Penwortham substation is a major transmission hub, whose spokes desperately need congestion relief. Auditory evidence of heavy power flows was clear during my visit to the substation, which buzzes loudly. The sound is due to the electromechanical stresses on the substation’s massive transformers, explains my guide, National Grid commissioned engineer Paul Lloyd.Penwortham’s transformers, circuits, and protective relays are spread over 15 hectares, sandwiched between pastureland and suburban homes near Preston, a small city north of Manchester. Power arrives from the north on two pairs of 400-kilovolt AC lines, and most of it exits southward via 400-kV and 275-kV double-circuit wires. Transmission lines lead to the congested Penwortham substation, which has become a test-bed for GETs such as SmartValves and dynamic line rating. Peter Fairley What makes the substation a strategic test-bed for GETs is its position just north of the U.K. grid’s biggest bottleneck, known as Boundary B7a, which runs east to west across the island. Nine circuits traverse the B7a: the four AC lines headed south from Penwortham, four AC lines closer to Yorkshire’s North Sea coast, and a high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) link offshore. In theory, those circuits can collectively carry 13.6 gigawatts across the B7a. But NESO caps its flow at several gigawatts lower to ensure that no circuits overload if any two lines turn off.Such limits are necessary for grid reliability, but they are leaving terawatt-hours of wind power stranded in Scotland and increasing consumers’ energy costs: an extra £196 million (US $265 million) in 2024 alone. The costs stem from NESO having to ramp up gas-fired generators to meet demand down south while simultaneously compensating wind-farm operators for curtailing their output, as required under U.K. policy.So National Grid keeps tweaking Penwortham. In 2011 the substation got its first big GET: phase-shifting transformers (PSTs), a type of analog flow controller. PSTs adjust power flow by creating an AC waveform whose alternating voltage leads or lags its alternating current. They do so by each PST using a pair of connected transformers to selectively combine power from an AC transmission circuit’s three phases. Motors reposition electrical connections on the transformer coils to adjust flows. Phase-shifting transformers (PSTs) were installed in 2012 at the Penwortham substation and are the analog predecessor to SmartValves. They’re powerful but also bulky and relatively inflexible. It can take 10 minutes or more for the PST’s motorized actuators at Penwortham to tap their full range of flow control, whereas SmartValves can shift within milliseconds.National Grid Electricity Transmission Penwortham’s pair of 540-tonne PSTs occupy the entire south end of the substation, along with their dedicated chillers, relays, and power supplies. Delivering all that hardware required extensive road closures and floating a huge barge up the adjacent River Ribble, an event that made national news.The SmartValves at Penwortham stand in stark contrast to the PSTs’ heft, complexity, and mechanics. SmartValves are a type of static synchronous series compensator, or SSSC—a solid-state alternative to PSTs that employs power electronics to tweak power flows in milliseconds. I saw two sets of them tucked into a corner of the substation, occupying a quarter of the area of the PSTs. The SmartValve V103 design [above] experienced some teething and reliability issues that were ironed out with the technology’s next iteration, the V104. National Grid Electricity Transmission/Smart Wires The SmartValves are first and foremost an insurance policy to guard against a potentially crippling event: the sudden loss of one of the B7a’s 400-kV lines. If that were to happen, gigawatts of power would instantly seek another route over neighboring lines. And if it happened on a windy day, when lots of power is streaming in from the north, the resulting surge could overload the 275-kV circuits headed from Penwortham to Liverpool. The SmartValves’ job is to save the day.They do this by adding impedance to the 275-kV lines, thus acting to divert more power to the remaining 400-kV lines. This rerouting of power prevents a blackout that could potentially cascade through the grid. The upside to that protection is that NESO can safely schedule an additional 350 MW over the B7a.The savings add up. “That’s 350 MW of wind you’re no longer curtailing from wind farms. So that’s 350 times £100 a megawatt-hour,” says Leslie, at NESO. “That’s also 350 MW of gas-fired power that you don’t need to replace the wind. So that’s 350 times £120 a megawatt-hour. The numbers get big quickly.”Mark Osborne, the National Grid lead asset life-cycle engineer managing its SmartValve projects, estimates the devices are saving U.K. customers over £100 million (US $132 million) a year. At that rate, they’ll pay for themselves “within a few years,” Osborne says. By utility standards, where investments are normally amortized over decades, that’s “almost immediately,” he adds.How Do Grid-Enhancing Technologies Work?The way Smart Wires’ SSSC devices adjust power flow is based on emulating impedance, which is a strange beast created by AC power. An AC flow’s changing magnetic field induces an additional voltage in the line’s conductor, which then acts as a drag on the initial field. Smart Wires’ SSSC devices alter power flow by emulating that natural process, effectively adding or subtracting impedance by adding their own voltage wave to the line. Adding a wave that leads the original voltage wave will boost flow, while adding a lagging wave will reduce flow.The SSSC’s submodules of capacitors and high-speed insulated-gate bipolar transistors operate in sequence to absorb power from a line and synthesize its novel impedance-altering waves. And thanks to its digital controls and switches, the device can within milliseconds flip from maximum power push to maximum pull.You can trace the development of SSSCs to the advent of HVDC transmission in the 1950s. HVDC converters take power from an AC grid and efficiently convert it and transfer it over a DC line to another point in the same grid, or to a neighboring AC grid. In 1985, Narain Hingorani, an HVDC expert at the Palo Alto–based Electric Power Research Institute, showed that similar converters could modulate the flow of an AC line. Four years later, Westinghouse engineer Laszlo Gyugyi proposed SSSCs, which became the basis for Smart Wires’ boxes.Major power-equipment manufacturers tried to commercialize SSSCs in the early 2000s. But utilities had little need for flow control back then because they had plenty of conventional power plants that could meet local demand when transmission lines were full.The picture changed as solar and wind generation exploded and conventional plants began shutting down. In years past, grid operators addressed grid congestion by turning power plants on or off in strategic locations. But as of 2024, the U.K. had shut down all of its coal-fired power plants—save one, which now burns wood—and it has vowed to slash gas-fired generation from about a quarter of electricity supply in 2024 to at most 5 percent in 2030.The U.K.’s extreme grid challenge has made it ground zero for some of the boldest GETs testing and deployment.To seize the emerging market opportunity presented by changing grid operations, Smart Wires had to make a crucial technology upgrade: ditching transformers. The company’s first SSSC, and those from other suppliers, relied on a transformer to absorb lightning, voltage surges, and every other grid assault that could fry their power electronics. This made them bulky and added cost. So Smart Wires engineers set to work in 2017 to see if they could live without the transformer, says Frank Kreikebaum, Smart Wires’s interim chief of engineering. Two years later the company had assembled a transformerless electronic shield. It consisted of a suite of filters and diverters, along with a control system to activate them. Ditching the transformer produced a trim, standardized product—a modular system-in-a-box.SmartValves work at any voltage and are generally ganged together to achieve a desired level of flow control. They can be delivered fast, and they fit in the kinds of tight spaces that are common in substations. “It’s not about cost, even though we’re competitive there. It’s about ‘how quick’ and ‘can it fit,’” says Kreikebaum.And if the grid’s pinch point shifts? The devices can be quickly moved to another substation. “It’s a Lego-brick build,” says Owen Wilkes, National Grid’s director of network design. Wilkes’s team decides where to add equipment based on today’s best projections, but he appreciates the flexibility to respond to unexpected changes.National Grid’s deployments in 2021 were the highest-voltage installation of SSSCs at the time, and success there is fueling expansion. National Grid now has packs of SmartValves installed at three substations in northern England and under construction at another, with five more installations planned in that area. Smart Wires has also commissioned commercial projects at transmission substations in Australia, Brazil, Colombia, and the United States.Dynamic Line Rating Boosts Grid EfficiencyIn addition to SSSCs, National Grid has deployed lidar that senses sag on Penwortham’s 275-kV lines—an indication that they’re starting to overheat. The sensors are part of a dynamic line rating system and help grid operators maximize the amount of current that high-voltage lines can carry based on near-real-time weather conditions. (Cooler weather means more capacity.) Now the same technology is being deployed across the B7a—a £1 million investment that is projected to save consumers £33 million annually, says Corin Ireland, a National Grid optimization engineer with the task of seizing GETs opportunities.There’s also a lot of old conductor wires being swapped out for those that can carry more power. National Grid’s business plan calls for 2,416 kilometers of such reconductoring over the coming five years, which is about 20 percent of its system. Scotland’s transmission operators are busy with their own big swaps. Scottish wind farms have doubled their power output over the past decade, but it often gets stranded due to grid congestion in England. Andreas Berthold/Alamy But while National Grid and NESO are making some of the boldest deployments of GETs in the world, they’re not fully tapping the technologies’ capabilities. That’s partly due to the conservative nature of power utilities, and partly because grid operators already have plenty to keep their eyes on. It also stems from the unknowns that still surround GETs, like whether they might take the grid in unforeseen directions if allowed to respond automatically, or get stuck in a feedback loop responding to each other. Imagine SmartValve controllers at different substations fighting, with one substation jumping to remove impedance that the other just added, causing fluctuating power flows.“These technologies operate very quickly, but the computers in the control room are still very reliant on people making decisions,” says Ireland. “So there are time scales that we have to take into consideration when planning and operating the network.”This kind of conservative dispatching leaves value on the table. For example, the dynamic line rating models can spit out new line ratings every 15 minutes, but grid operators get updates only every 24 hours. Fewer updates means fewer opportunities to tap the system’s ability to boost capacity. Similarly, for SmartValves, NESO activates installations at only one substation at a time. And control-room operators turn them on manually, even though the devices could automatically respond to faults within milliseconds. National Grid is upgrading transmission lines dating as far back as the 1960s. This includes installing conductors that retain their strength at higher temperatures, allowing them to carry more power. National Grid Electricity Transmission Modeling by Smart Wires and National Grid shows a significant capacity boost across Boundary B7a if Penwortham’s SmartValves were to work in tandem with another set further up the line. For example, when Penwortham is adding impedance to push megawatts off the 275-kV lines, a set closer to Scotland could simultaneously pull the power north, nudging the sum over to the B7a’s eastern circuits. Simulations by Andy Hiorns, a former National Grid planning director who consults for Smart Wires, suggest that this kind of cooperative action should increase the B7a circuits’ usable capacity by another 250 to 300 MW. “You double the effectiveness by using them as pairs,” he says.Operating multiple flow controllers may become necessary for unlocking the next boundary en route to London, south of the B7a, called Boundary B8. As dynamic line rating, beefier conductors, and SmartValves send more power across the B7a, lines traversing B8 are reaching their limits. Eventually, every boundary along the route will have to be upgraded.Meanwhile, back at its U.S. headquarters, Smart Wires is developing other applications for its SSSCs, such as filtering out power oscillations that can destabilize grids and reduce allowable transfers. That capability could be unlocked remotely with firmware.The company is also working on a test program that could turn on pairs of SmartValve installations during slack moments when there isn’t much going on in the control rooms. That would give National Grid and NESO operators an opportunity to observe the impacts, and to get more comfortable with the technology.National Grid and Smart Wires are also hard at work developing industry-first optimization software for coordinating flow-control devices. “It’s possible to extend the technology from how we’re using it today,” says Ireland at National Grid. “That’s the exciting bit.”NESO’s Julian Leslie shares that excitement and says he expects SmartValves to begin working together to ease power through the grid—once the operators have the modeling right and get a little more comfortable with the technology. “It’s a great innovation that has the potential to be really transformational,” he says. “We’re just not quite there yet.”
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