AI helps find formula for paint to keep buildings cooler
AI-engineered paint could reduce the sweltering urban heat island effect in cities and cut air-conditioning bills, scientists have claimed, as machine learning accelerates the creation of new materials for everything from electric motors to carbon capture.Materials experts have used artificial intelligence to formulate new coatings that can keep buildings between 5C and 20C cooler than normal paint after exposure to midday sun.They could also be applied to cars, trains, electrical equipment and other objects that will require more cooling in a world that is heating up.Using machine learning, researchers at universities in the US, China, Singapore and Sweden designed new paint formulas tuned to best reflect the sun’s rays and emit heat, according to a peer-reviewed study published in the science journal Nature.It is the latest example of AI being used to leapfrog traditional trial-and-error approaches to scientific advances.
Last year the British company MatNex used AI to create a new kind of permanent magnet used in electric vehicle motors to avoid the use of rare earth metals, whose mining is carbon-intensive.Microsoft has released AI tools to help researchers rapidly design new inorganic materials – often crystalline structures used in solar panels and medical implants.And there are hopes for new materials to better capture carbon in the atmosphere and to make more efficient batteries.The paint research was carried out by academics at the University of Texas in Austin, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, the National University of Singapore and Umeå University in Sweden.It found that applying one of several new AI-enabled paints to the roof of a four-storey apartment block could save electricity equivalent to 15,800 kilowatt hours a year in a hot climate such as Rio de Janeiro’s or Bangkok’s.
If the paint were applied to 1,000 blocks, that could save enough electricity to power more than 10,000 air conditioning units for a year.Yuebing Zheng, a professor at the University of Texas and co-leader of the study, said: “Our machine learning framework represents a significant leap forward in the design of thermal meta-emitters.By automating the process and expanding the design space, we can create materials with superior performance that were previously unimaginable.”He said a month’s work designing a new material was being done in a few days using AI and that new materials that may never have been discovered through trial and error were being created.“Now, we follow the machine learning output, [its instructions for] the structure and what kind of materials we should use, and we can get it right without going through many, many design and fabrication testing cycles.
”Dr Alex Ganose, a chemistry lecturer at Imperial College London who also uses machine learning to design new materials, said: “Things are moving very fast in this space.In the last year or so there have been so many startups trying to use generative AI for materials.”He said the process of designing a new material could require the calculation of millions of potential combinations.AI allows material scientists to push through previous restrictions in computational power.It also means the traditional process of creating a material and then testing its properties can be reversed, with scientists able to tell the AI what properties they want upfront.
Iga Swiatek glides past Collins to become live Wimbeldon contender
One positive consequence from Iga Swiatek’s relatively poor clay court run has been the benefit of added time. Instead of arriving for the grass court season exhausted from her efforts, for once she had additional time to train, work and adapt her game to the one surface she has yet to conquer.Swiatek’s growing comfort was reflected in an efficient performance as she dismantled the dangerous Danielle Collins 6-2, 6-3 to reach the fourth round.Swiatek will face Clara Tauson. The 23rd seed upset the 2022 Wimbledon champion, Elena Rybakina, the 11th seed, 7-6 (6), 6-3
Crawley, Duckett and Root fall cheaply after India set England colossal 608
At 5.35pm on the fourth day of what can already be dubbed Shubman Gill’s Test match, the raucous Hollies Stand at Edgbaston broke out into a chant of “stand up if you still believe”. England were 30 for one, having been set a fanciful 608 to win, and General Melchett’s pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face sprung to mind.Not that they were stood up for long. Within moments Ben Duckett was the second English batter trudging back to the pavilion, eyes down, after his stumps had been rearranged by Akash Deep
Ryan Moore guides Delacroix to Eclipse win and puts Oisin Murphy in the shade
It was a frustrating and winless return to action for Oisin Murphy after a drink-driving conviction two days ago. The reigning champion jockey on the Flat and four more of the best riders in the business were confounded by the split-second brilliance of Ryan Moore aboard Delacroix, the 3-1 second-favourite, in the Group One Eclipse Stakes.Moore said afterwards that he had flipped through four different plans in the course of the 10-furlong Eclipse, and Delacroix was last and trading at three-figure odds in running as Camille Pissarro, a stable companion of Delacroix at the Aidan O’Brien yard, cruised past on his outside, keeping Moore in a pocket as he did so.Moore had two options with a quarter of a mile to run, neither particularly appealing. He could stay patient and hope for a gap, or pull around the field and surrender vital momentum and ground
Tour de France 2025: Philipsen wins stage one and takes yellow on chaotic day – as it happened
That’s all for today … Thanks for joining me and for all the emails. It’s been great seeing your message, hearing where you’re watching the Tour from and seeing your pictures. The Tour de France 2025 is officially under way and that was a fun first stage to cover.The Guardian’s live coverage of the Tour is back tomorrow, so please join then. I will be back on the TdF blog on Monday, so also come back and see me
Tour de France 2025: Philipsen wins chaotic first stage as Evenepoel and Roglic suffer
Crosswinds, crashes and chaos characterised a frenzied opening stage of the 2025 Tour de France, won by Jasper Philipsen in Lille Métropole, where the 27-year-old also took the first yellow jersey of his career.The Belgian sprinter, winner of three stages in the 2024 Tour, was given an armchair ride by his Alpecin-Deceuninck teammates into the long finishing straight of the Boulevard Vauban, where he expertly dispatched rivals, Biniam Girmay, of Intermarché Wanty, and Søren Wærenskjold, racing for Uno-X Mobility.Philipsen has now won 10 Tour stages in four years and with other sprint opportunities expected in coming days, looks in the mood to add to his tally.“Ten wins is something I will never forget,” he said, “and the team performance was incredible. We were in the front all day, we were there in the split, and in the end, we could use our strength to finish it off
Jannik Sinner barely breaks sweat to cruise through Martínez mismatch
The most vivid sequence, perhaps the only real piece of content in this 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 third round victory for Jannik Sinner against a semi-fit Pedro Martínez, came midway through the second set on Centre Court.To that point the entire contest had felt like the tennis equivalent of watching an injured lemur being run down, idly, by a slightly bored big cat. Martínez had come into this match with an injured shoulder. Hmm. How’s that going to work out? And pretty much from the start each break saw the Spaniard’s shirt off, shoulder pounded furiously by medical orderlies, eyes boggled, chest hair damp with sweat, while a few yards away Sinner sat completely still and unmoved, a neat man in a cap, thinking
‘We promised change but people aren’t feeling it yet’: Labour rues poor first year
Reform councillor’s boast about removing ‘trans-ideological’ books from children’s library sections falls flat
Sultana’s alliance with Corbyn shows Starmer there is life in the Labour left yet
Ban on Palestine Action to take effect after legal challenge fails
Jeremy Corbyn confirms talks about forming new party with Zarah Sultana
Jeremy Corbyn says ‘discussions are ongoing’ after Zarah Sultana claimed she would ‘co-lead new party’ with him – as it happened