United Kingdom

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• https://feddit.uk/post/15431595

Britain’s plans to create advanced devices based on the mind-bending physics of the quantum world have received a £100m boost, in a move ministers hope will have a transformative impact on healthcare, transport and national security.

Peter Kyle, the science secretary has announced funds to establish five quantum technology hubs across England and Scotland. They will work with industry and government to develop and commercialise devices and ultimately drive a new economy.

“We are at the foothills of where quantum technology is going to take us and that provides a huge opportunity for British science and British research and development,” Kyle told the Guardian from Glasgow before Friday’s announcement. “If we get this right, we can become global leaders, which means not just solving challenges domestically and creating opportunities domestically, but being able to fully exploit the global market as well.”

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The hubs, based in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Oxford and London, will aim to build the next generation of devices, from brain-scanner helmets and gravity sensors that detect underground pipes to quantum-enhanced blood tests that catch diseases early, and global positioning and precision-timing services that do not rely on GPS.

In one project, scientists at UCL are fine-tuning the quantum properties of atomic defects in diamond nanoparticles to develop ultra-sensitive blood tests. The technology allows scientists to draw a blood sample and detect minuscule amounts of proteins or DNA by making them flash like the beam from a lighthouse.

“A whole new generation of quantum sensors is beginning to appear and our hub is going to harness those to transform early diagnosis and treatment, where it has applications across cancer, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s and infectious diseases,” said Prof John Morton at UCL. “We’re really excited about translating these weird and wonderful quantum sensors into practical applications that patients will benefit from.”

At the University of Birmingham, scientists are exploiting a quantum effect known as superposition to build gravity sensors that detect underground infrastructure. Such sensors could alert utilities companies to gas and water mains where they plan to dig, or help them find their own pipes to repair.

“Rather than lots of digging to find things – and lots of holes are dug in the wrong place – we can in principle find the infrastructure quicker,” said Prof Michael Holynski at Birmingham university. “We have already detected tunnels and pipes with the sensor we have in the hub. What we want to do in the next phase is make it something that can move quickly, and more accurately inspect the underground.”

Today, anti-piracy group FACT announced that it has successfully completed yet another sweep. In collaboration with rightsholders, including Sky, the group helped police to identity various ‘sellers’ of so-called pirate streaming devices.

The targets reportedly offered ‘fully loaded’ smart TV devices or Firesticks, which can be used in combination with pirate IPTV subscriptions.

FACT mentions that 40 illegal ‘IPTV operators’ were served with official warnings. They were either notified via mail by FACT and police, or visited at their home, where a cease-and-desist notice was delivered personally.

The term ‘IPTV operator’ isn’t explained in detail but since the 40 seemingly got off with a warning, it’s unlikely that they played a central part in the broader IPTV piracy ecosystem.

These interventions took place across the UK, including in London, South East England, West Midlands, North West, North East, North Wales and Scotland. According to FACT, it’s part of a larger campaign that aims to disrupt piracy operations.

In addition to the warnings, police also executed three warrants, resulting in three arrests and house searches. All three suspects have since been released, but investigations remain ongoing.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/15180564

The number of people mainly using cash for day-to-day spending hit a four year high during the cost of living crisis, research suggests.

Some 1.5 million adults mainly used cash in 2023 - marking the first rise since 2019, according to UK Finance.

UK Finance's head of research Adrian Buckle said: "This is likely to be a reflection of the use of cash to manage a limited budget."

But the data from the banking trade body also showed the majority of young people paid for things using smartphones or watches.

Nearly three-quarters (72%) of 18 to 24-year-olds regularly used their digital wallets to make contactless payments.

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There has been a steady decline in payments using cash over the last decade, particularly as consumers turn to contactless cards for everyday purchases.

A slight rise in 2022 was attributed to the impact of sharply rising prices, squeezed finances and closely-watched budgets.

Cash use dropped again last year to 12% of all payments, according to UK Finance, and 22 million consumers were primarily cashless.

However, the research suggests 1.5 million mainly used cash in 2023, up from 900,000 the previous year, reflecting the ongoing impact of the cost of living on those with limited incomes.

Each year, an estimated two million women and girls – equivalent to one in 12 women in England and Wales – are victims of violence perpetrated by a man, according to first national analysis on the scale of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the UK.

Released today by UK's National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) and College of Policing, it has led officials to declare that such 'staggering' numbers constitute a 'national emergency'.

Key data:

• Violent crime perpetrated by men against women and girls spiked 37% between 2018 and 2023, rising from an estimated 789,703 recorded in 2018-9 to 1,080,157 in 2022-23.
• One in six homicides, or 100 out of the 590 homicides in the year to March 2023, in England and Wales are linked to domestic violence.
• Almost a million violent crimes against women and children were recorded between April 2022 and March 2023, averaging 3000 daily offences in England and Wales, or one in five of all police-recorded crimes, excluding fraud.
• In the year ending March 2023, there were over 2 million cases of sexual harassment, 1.4 million instances of domestic abuse, and 851,000 reports of stalking.
• Child sexual abuse also increased by more than 400% between 2013 and 2022, with the age of suspects averaging just 15.
• An estimated one in 20 adults (2.3 million) in England and Wales will be a perpetrator of VAWG every year (2.3 million perpetrators).