telecommunications

In 2050, the total volume of waste electrical and electronic equipment in Europe will reach between 12.5 and 19 million tonnes, compared to 10.7 million tonnes – around 20 kilograms per person – in 2022, according to the report 2050 Critical Raw Materials Outlook for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment. Of this volume, only 54% was collected and treated correctly in 2022. Furthermore, of the one million metric tonnes of critical raw materials such as copper, aluminium and silicon present in this waste, less than half was successfully recovered, according to the report's estimates.

Between 2021 and 2024, the Android Earthquake Alerts system detected an average of 312 earthquakes per month and sent alerts in 98 countries associated with 60 events of magnitude greater than 4.5, according to a study published in the journal Science. The study also includes comments from users who received the alerts: 85% said they felt tremors, 36% received the alert before noticing them, 28% during the event and 23% after they occurred. In addition, 84% said they would trust the system more next time, according to the research team from Google and the universities of California - Berkeley and Harvard (USA).

Power shortages left millions of people in the Iberian peninsula and parts of southern France without electricity on Monday. The situation was exacerbated by the failure of telecommunications, which were vulnerable to the power failure.