Sixteen miles off the coast of northern Scotland, the future of green energy is taking shape. The five giant turbines (涡轮机) of the Hywind Scotland wind farm look much like any other off-shore wind project, except one major difference — they’re floating.

While traditional offshore turbines sit on metal and concrete towers fixed into the seabed, Hywind’s turbines rest on floating frames that move up and down with the waves. It proves to be an important development as the world struggles to meet the net zero carbon emission (排放) targets set in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

To cut those emissions, green electricity will need to be at the main source of global energy, according to the International Energy Agency. It says that by 2040, half of the world’s energy needs will have to be met by electricity produced in a net zero way. Projects like Hywind’s floating wind farm offer a picture of what the future could look like.

The reasons for this can be listed as follows. Firstly, unlike fixed units, floating turbines can operate in deep waters far from the shoreline, where winds tend to be stronger. Secondly, it can serve offshore areas that are too deep for bottom-fixed turbines. “In places like Korea, Japan and California, you can only manage a certain amount of offshore wind, or maybe even none at all, so floating turbines are the only option in the longer term,” explains Henrik Steisdal, a Danish inventor at the forefront of floating wind innovation.

While floating turbines overcome some of the problems that make offshore wind farms in deep waters impossible, there are still challenges that have to be overcome. There are some concerns about what effect floating wind turbines might have on the sea environment. The price of floating wind projects is also still high — almost twice as much as that of the bottom-fixed offshore ones. Another problem is how to avoid the risk of a system breakdown when the wind is blowing too hard.

Tired of standing in line? Wait a bit longer, and you may never have to again.

Amazon has opened 24 of its Amazon Go stores, which use cameras and artificial intelligence (AI) to see what you’ve taken off shelves and charge you as you walk out. Some companies are closely copying Amazon’s approach to using AI-powered cameras fixed in ceilings. But others are trying an entirely different way to skip the checkout: smart shopping carts. These companies have added cameras and sensors (传感器) to the carts, and are using AI to tell what you’ve put in them. Customers pay by entering a credit card, or through an online payment system. When a customer exits the store a green light on the shopping cart shows that their order is complete, and they’re charged.

The companies behind the smart carts, including Caper and Veeve, say it’s much easier to add technology to the shopping cart than to an entire store. Amazon’s Go stores rely on hundreds of cameras in the ceiling. The shelves also include sensors to tell when an item is removed. Ahmed Beshry, co-founder of Caper, believes the technology to run Go is too expensive to use in a large-format grocery store. Neither Caper nor Veeve has said how much their smart shopping carts will cost, making it difficult to compare the different formats. Shariq Siddiqui, CEO of Veeve, said, “We’re always happy when Amazon is doing something. They force retailers (零售店) to get out of their old school thinking.”   

Each time a business uses AI and cameras, it raises questions about customers’ privacy and the effect on jobs. Beshry notes that the cameras in his shopping cart point down into the cart, so only a customer’s hand and part of their arm will be captured (拍摄) on camera.

Thanks to the relative anonymity(匿名) the internet presides, it is all to easy to type up something unpleasant if not completely mean and fire it off without really considering the consequence. But what if would be cyberbullies were forced to stop and think about the weight of their words before they hit “send”.

Trisha Prabhu, a 15-year-old high school student from Naperville, Minois is encouraging people to do just that. Two years ago, Prabhu read about an 11-year-old girl from Florida who committed suicide after dealing with a flood of cyber attacks from her classmates. The promising programmer became motivated to use her computer skills for good, and invented a software program called ReThink that recognizes common “bullying phrases” when they are typed into a computer. After a cyberbully types a mean sentence, a pop-up window appears, asking the writer a simple yet effective question: “Are you sure you want to do that?” The bullies end up deleting their words 93 percent of the time. Prabhu’s studies show.

The idea earned Prabhu honours and awards, including a finalist spot in Google Science Fair, a trip to the White House for its annual youth science exhibition, and a spot in Coca-Cola’s “Make It Happy” campaign. ReThink is not the only technology out there that is designed to reduce cyberbullying. Developed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the KnowBullying app gives concerned parents or caregivers lips on how to talk with their children about bullying. Another app, called STOPit, lets children and teenagers safely and secretly report bullying to adults and school administrators.

In 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 14.8 percent of students nationwide say they have been victims of cyberbullying. Considering this shocking statistics mobile apps and anti-bellying computer programmes such as Prabho’s hold the potential to help a lot of people.