Scotland

Traversing the width of Scotland in a canoe would be a challenge in and of itself, as would traversing it on a recumbent tricycle. Well, British adventurer Ben Kilner recently canoed the trip in one direction then triked it in the other, using the same amphibious vehicle for both legs of the journey.

Water can hold a huge amount of thermal energy, and a new system to tap into this is being trialed in Scotland. A startup called SeaWarm uses heat stored in bodies of water for buildings, pulling four times more heat out than electricity used.

If you've ever wanted to stay in a hovel that's home to an antisocial green ogre – and, let's face it, who hasn't? – now might finally be your chance. Airbnb has recreated the swampy home from the Shrek movies in the Scottish Highlands.

Scotland's AWS Energy has reported results some 20% better than predicted for its Archimedes Waveswing, a prototype wave energy generator that's been undergoing ocean-based testing at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney for the last 6 months.

Orbex has publicly unveiled the full-scale prototype of its reusable Prime rocket on its pad at Space Hub Sutherland in northern Scotland, where the first-ever vertical launch of a satellite from UK soil is set to be carried out in the coming months.

Fusion Processing has announced that an autonomous public transport project will start on-road testing this week, en route to beginning a new 14-mile pilot service ferrying passengers across a long-span suspension bridge in Scotland later this year.

Scientists have discovered the fossil of what may be the earliest multicellular animal ever found. Dating back a billion years, the microscopic fossil contains two distinct cell types, potentially making it an ancestor to advanced animals.

Scotland's Orbital Marine Power has completed the build on what it claims will be the world's most powerful operational tidal turbine. It's now on its way to the Orkney Islands, where it'll have a chance to prove its worth connected to the grid.

Nova Innovation has announced the installation of the first electric vehicle charge point powered by tidal energy, which is located on the island of Yell in the Shetlands.

UK gas distributor SGN has been given approval to supply hydrogen produced using renewables to around 300 Scottish homes. Participating households should be able to start heating their homes and cooking their meals with the gas from the end of 2022.

Data centers require heavy-duty cooling and maintenance. Microsoft has now finished a two-year test of an unconventional solution – dropping a data center to the bottom of the sea – and found that it was more reliable than land-based facilities.

A Scottish company called Gravitricity has now broken ground on a demonstrator facility for a creative new system that stores energy in the form of “gravity” by lifting and dropping huge weights.