Science and Tech

Phool dev Shahni Phool dev Shahni makes a living harvesting makhana or lotus seeds Like his father and grandfather before him, Phool dev Shahni once made a living by diving to the bottom of 8ft-deep (2.4m), muddy ponds. “I used to dive in 7 to 8ft of water for hours a day – coming to the surface to breathe after …

Hysata Paul Barrett’s firm has developed tech to make cheaper green hydrogen “If you remember being a kid and blowing up a balloon or into a milkshake, your cheeks got sore because there is an energy penalty associated with bubble formation.” Paul Barrett, the Dublin-born chief executive of the Australian green energy firm Hysata, is explaining the plan to create …

As New Yorkers experience flash floods and severe thunderstorms, NYC emergency officials have begun using drones for the first time as an early weather warning system. The drones are an addition to other forms of emergency messaging, including social media and text alerts.

We speak to the BBC journalist who exposed an online con.

Getty Images Climeworks’ Icelandic plant captures CO2 direct from the atmosphere It could be a scene from science fiction. Towering over dark, mossy lava fields are stacks of noisy machines the size of shipping containers, domes, and zig-zagging silver pipes. Found 30km (19 miles) southwest of Iceland’s capital Reykjavik, this is the world’s largest direct air capture (DAC) facility. Called …

A BBC reporter has been given an in-depth insight into how pig butchering scams work after being targeted himself. Scammers refer to their victims as pigs, whom they fatten up to be “butchered” – or conned, out of as much money as possible. Cyber correspondent Joe Tidy was befriended on Instagram by fraudsters pretending to be an attractive 36-year-old woman …

Jacki Thrapp American Jacki Thrapp found that it was cheaper to fly to Europe to see Taylor Swift For Nashville native Jacki Thrapp flying to Europe this summer to see her idol Taylor Swift perform live was a “no brainer”. With the cheapest tickets for the remaining US dates of Swift’s continuing Eras Tour now costing $2,500 (£2,000) on the …

The impact of internet outages in Bangladesh, and power cuts in South Africa and Cuba

Virginia Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton used a artificial intelligence (AI) programme to address the House on Thursday. A year ago, the lawmaker was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy, which makes it difficult for her to speak. The AI programme allowed Wexton to make a clone of her speaking voice using old recordings of appearances and speeches she made in Congress. Wexton …

We’re at the Formula E season finale, exploring how the tech has advanced over 10 years.