Canadian carbon removal company Deep Sky has announced plans to build the world’s first carbon removal innovation and commercialization center. It's set to be built in Innisfail, a town about an hour north of Calgary, Alberta.The quest for net zero needs to be fought on many fronts. You have your vanguard offense: simply reducing the carbon footprint of the things we already do. Then there’s the field medics: tactics like planting more trees and restoring peatlands – not to mention just protecting the ones we already have. But what if we could add another line of attack? Well, with this announcement from Deep Sky, we might soon be doing precisely that. They claim that the center will have the capacity to capture 3,000 tons of CO2 per year. Now, to be fair, that’s not really that much – it’s enough to offset the annual carbon footprint of about 227 individual Canadians, or 218 USians – but the firm is keen to stress that this is only the beginning.“This project represents a world first,” Deep Sky CEO Damien Steel said in a statement on the company’s blog, “and serves as a testing ground from which the nascent industry can grow into Canada’s multi-trillion-dollar enterprise.”The company plans for the facility to not only act as a carbon capture center, but also as a place for new ideas and future tech to be developed. “Labs makes it possible for many different Direct Air Capture (DAC) concepts to be tested simultaneously,” the statement notes, explaining that this technique should solve "the delivery delays that have plagued past global carbon removal projects.” Eight different DAC technologies are already slated to be deployed at the center, which is expected to be operational before the end of next year. Currently, that still leaves space for two more potential carbon-capture technologies: “Labs is purpose-built with space for 10 different DAC technologies,” the statement confirms, “with room to expand.”The company’s mission, it says, includes the goal of producing "high integrity carbon credits” – a global scheme that has come under fire recently after investigations discovered that more than 90 percent of certain types of carbon credits are completely worthless. In fact, they likely make the problem of industrial carbon emissions worse.Part of the reason for that is the inability to prove – or even reasonably estimate – how effective emission reduction methods actually are. “The big problem with these projects is setting the baseline. When you measure the impact of your project, what are you comparing it to?” Gilles Dufrasne, global carbon markets lead at the independent watchdog Carbon Market Watch, told Carbon Brief.“You’re comparing it to what would have happened in the absence of your project,” he explained. “That counterfactual is quite difficult.”In that respect, however, Deep Sky has an advantage. “Carbon removal credits produced by Deep Sky projects are traced end-to-end with digital Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV),” the statement points out, “and are validated against the most rigorous carbon standards to ensure complete additionality and durability.” All of this means that, while it may be a small first step in terms of raw volume, the facility “represents a giant step forward for the health of our planet and our economy,” according to Steel.“I cannot overstate the significance of the world’s first carbon removal innovation and commercialization center, and what this means for Canada and our planet at large,” he said.“Prioritizing quality and speed, we’re proud that this facility went from concept to construction in less than a year.”

A group of bats that fly as if they’re very proud of their feet have been vindicated with the discovery that their toes have a remarkable talent. When under ultraviolet (UV) light, the fluffy feet of a certain bat in Mexico glow a spooky hue of green and blue, and it’s possible it could be a way of communicating with other members of their species. A bat signal, if you please.Some mammals glow. That’s just a fact you’re going to have to make peace with. We’ve seen it in koalas, Tasmanian devils, echidnas, wombats, zebras, and platypuses – and now we can add bats to the roster. That’s not to say that on a dark night you’ll be faced with a bat glowing like Mr Burns – it’s a specific kind of photoluminescence that’s revealed by UV light. The bat species in question is the Mexican free-tailed bat, Tadarida brasiliensis, and it has to be said that its extremely fluffy toes are pretty remarkable even before they glow.Other bats in the region didn't share the glowing toes phenomenon.Image courtesy of F. Gual SuárezWhen 24 wild bats were captured and given the UV treatment with a special light, it was discovered that the tips of their toes and the many bristles on them glow blue-green. This curious trait was seen among several bats from one region, and another Mexican free-tailed bat captured around 700 kilometers (435 miles) away.Furthermore, the twinkle toes aren’t seen in all bat species. The team also looked at the feet of Myotis velifer and saw no evidence of glowing bristles under UV light, proving it’s not a feature in all bat species.As for what Mexican free-tailed bats are doing with their fluffy feets, one suggestion is that they may be using them for communication. The authors say that ultraviolet vision has been experimentally confirmed in bats, and the flying position of these animals certainly seems to place their fluffy toes front and center. With just enough UV radiation in the environment at twilight, it could make it a visible and informative signal to other bats in the area, but more evidence is needed to know if this is really the case.They say put your best foot forward, and for these bats, that means both.Image credit: Poetra.RH / Shutterstock.comFor now, it adds a fluffy air of mystery to these remarkable creatures who can claim a world-first for their talents among this group of bats.“This is the first molossid bat for which a photoluminescent structure has been described,” concluded the authors. “It remains to be seen whether any function exists, such as intraspecific communication.”The paper is published in the journal Mammalian Biology.

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We're only a few weeks from the iPhone 16 launch event, where Apple will introduce several other products. We'll surely see Apple introduce the Apple Watch Series 10, Apple Watch Ultra 3, and Apple Watch SE 3. But we might also get the AirPods 4 refresh so many people might be looking forward to. In case you're considering buying the AirPods Pro 2 right now, you'd better hold off buying Apple's best wireless earbuds until mid-September. The upgraded AirPods 4 might be a better choice for some people, especially the higher-priced option. That model should feature Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), a staple feature of the Pro. Continue reading... The post Don’t buy the AirPods Pro 2 right now: Cheaper AirPods 4 are on the way appeared first on BGR. Today's Top Deals Best deals: Tech, laptops, TVs, and more sales Today’s deals: Rare Nintendo Switch discount, $75 WiFi 6 router, $139 AirPods 3, $260 Vitamix blender, more Today’s deals: $699 Apple Watch Ultra 2, $529 iPad mini, $249 Bose QuietComfort headphones, more Today’s deals: Pixel 9 preorder offers, $400 off Narwal Freo X Ultra, $500 off Sony OLED TV, more

The House's three-committee impeachment inquiry released a report Monday morning finding President Joe Biden has "engaged in impeachable conduct," including an "abuse of power" when he was vice president and "obstruction of justice" as president to cover his family's...