The secretive government unit planning to dim the sun
Plans to block sunlight to fight global warming have inadvertently shone a light on Aria, the Government's opaque research arm.
The Advanced Research and Invention Agency was set up in 2021 by Kwasi Kwarteng, the ex-Tory business secretary, and was originally the brainchild of Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson's former chief aide.
Yet few people on the street know what it is, what it does, or how much taxpayer cash is flowing into its well-financed coffers.
Sure, it has a shiny website stocked with techno-waffle promising to help scientists 'reach for the edge of the possible' and foster 'opportunity spaces' but there has been little clarity on its day-to-day operations.
This week, we learnt it will spend £56.8 million on 21 'climate cooling' projects, which include looking into the logistics of building a 'sun shade' in space and injecting plumes of salt water into the sky to reflect sunlight away from Earth.
'We're not trying to dim the sun,' representatives from Aria said rather disingenuously at a press briefing, knowing full well that should experiments prove successful, that is their ultimate aim.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
28 minutes ago
- BBC News
World Environment Day 2025: What is plastic pollution and why is it a problem?
It's World Environment Day on 5 June, a day organised by the United Nations where campaigners aim to inspire people to take action to protect our planet from climate change and raise awareness of issues around the year's theme is all about plastic pollution and what we can do to tackle it.A recent study by an ocean charity found that the amount of plastic rubbish found on beaches in the UK had increased by nearly 10%.The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) said that their volunteers had picked up three quarters of a million pieces of litter across beaches in the UK in what is plastic pollution and why is it a problem? Keep reading to find you or your school doing anything for World Environment Day? Let us know in the comments below. What is plastic? Plastic is in lots of things we use from clothing to crisp packets, and bottles to things from plastic is popular because there are many different types - and it can be made in to all sorts of shapes, colours and can be coloured or clear, thick or thin, strong or you look around your home or school, you'll find most things have plastic in them, including your pencil case, games consoles, and even are man-made and can be produced from natural materials like coal and oil. What is plastic pollution and why is it a problem? Plastic pollution is when plastic waste ends up in the environment, and it can damage our oceans, rivers, lakes and main problem with plastic is that most of it isn't biodegradable. That means it doesn't break down in the environment like paper or food, so instead it can hang around for hundreds of year, 400 million tonnes of plastic is produced and 40% of that is single-use - plastic we'll only use once before it's of single-use plastic are carrier bags, drinks bottles and crisp packets. Millions of tonnes of plastic enters the world's oceans each year and most of that escapes from bits of plastic, called microplastics, have also been found in things like the food we eat and soil in the ground and even in the air we can be blown into the sea from ships and beaches, or carried there by river. Some also gets flushed down the issue is that not all plastic can be might be because of the way it is made up or because it is too expensive or difficult to do. What's already being done about plastic pollution? In March 2022, nearly 200 UN countries agreed to start negotiations on an international plan on how to deal with plastic leaders are trying to agree the plastic pollution treaty - setting rules on how plastic is made, used and thrown away - and how the treaty is paid year's World Environment Day comes exactly two months before countries meet in Switzerland to continue negotiating a global agreement to end plastic UN Environment Programme (Unep) aims to bringing countries together to try to work on issues that affect the to the programme, plastic pollution is one of the defining environmental challenges of our time.
The Independent
31 minutes ago
- The Independent
Anti-Brexit newspaper changes name to reflect ‘reality' of global politics
The New European, a 'Remainer' magazine launched in response to the Brexit referendum, is being renamed to reflect the changing picture of global politics. The rebrand to The New World is a nod to the 'the global unravelling' which started with Britain leaving the EU but is now being seen worldwide in countries such as the US, according to founder and editor in chief Matt Kelly. 'The New European was conceived as a pop-up provocation; a defiant middle finger to the rising tide of right wing populism that brought us Brexit,' said Mr Kelly. 'Nine years later, the world and The New European has changed dramatically. This is a reflection of that new reality. 'We know there is enormous appetite for our style of journalism - vibrant, constructive, witty and full of ideas and great reads that make sense of this extraordinary moment in world politics and culture.' The New European, which has published more than 400 editions, had 35,000 paying subscribers and claim revenues have trebled since the business moved independent three years ago. Tony Blair's former spin doctor Alastair Campbell, who is editor-at-large of The New European newspaper, said themes that underpinned Brexit are playing out around the world, including a political shift to the right in many nations. 'We're always going to be very passionately anti-Brexit, very pro internationalism, liberal democracy,' said Mr Campbell. 'When we started the paper, you could never have predicted [where we are]. Just to look at United States alone. You wouldn't have predicted that Ukraine and Russia were going to be fighting a war on the edge of Europe. Lots has happened - it's a reflection of that.' Mr Campbell said he will 'never resile from the view that Brexit is the biggest act of self harm that we've inflicted upon ourselves', but added: 'I'm hoping this will be the next chapter of a story that we're going to keep telling, which is that liberal democracy is the way forward, that nationalism is not the answer to the challenges that we face, that populism is doomed to fail, and there's a better way that involves people with an optimistic, internationalist outlook.' New contributing editors slated to join The New World include Sonia Sodha, formerly of The Observer, The Revenge of Power author Moises Naim and Tom Baldwin, Keir Starmer's biographer and former senior advisor to Labour.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Hungarian minister calls for safeguards in contested transparency bill
BUDAPEST, June 5 (Reuters) - A Hungarian government minister said on Thursday that a new transparency bill targeting foreign-funded groups must not be used for political prosecution and should contain safeguards, highlighting differences within the ruling party over the plan. Prime Minister Viktor Orban, in power since 2010, pledged in March to crack down on foreign funding of independent media, opposition politicians and NGOs. The bill, submitted to parliament by Orban's nationalist Fidesz party on May 14, would draft a list of organisations that get foreign funding and restrict or even shut them down if deemed to threaten Hungary's sovereignty and its culture. Critics say the bill aims to stifle political dissent ahead of a national election due in 2026 when Orban faces an unprecedented challenge from a new opposition party. The bill has prompted street protests, while scores of editors from leading European news outlets signed a petition last month calling on Hungary to scrap the bill. On Wednesday Fidesz unexpectedly postponed a parliamentary debate on the legislation and said a vote would not take place before the summer recess. Regional Development Minister Tibor Navracsics said he backed the original purpose of the legislation to create transparency over the finances of groups influencing public discourse but voiced opposition to some provisions. "If we must be drawing up a list (of organisations), then that must be as specific as possible, or the possibility of judicial recourse must be provided," Navracsics, a former justice minister, told the Otpontban political podcast. Navracsics, a former European Commissioner, said he also opposed a proposal to strip targeted organisations of the right to receive voluntary income tax donations from the public. Navracsics dismissed speculation that Orban would not contest the upcoming election as prime minister but he said the lavish lifestyle of some ruling party politicians and businessmen around Fidesz was "harmful". "I do not know if this will be a decisive factor (in the election). However, from my own constituency I know there are indeed people irritated by such levels of wealth inequality," he said.
