A new report from the nonprofit Reflective lays out the experiments needed to better understand our ability to dim the sun. A San Francisco nonprofit has published a detailed road map of the experiments, studies, and infrastructure that it says would be needed to make informed decisions about the use of solar geoengineering, can reveal. Scientists have now spent half a century exploring the possibility that we could counteract climate change by releasing reflective particles into the stratosphere, mimicking the cooling effects of volcanic eruptions. But even after at least hundreds of studies on the concept, known as stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI), big gaps remain in the scientific understanding of how well it would work and what else it might do--and there has been no systematic plan for clearing up that uncertainty. Reflective, a research organization that funds studies on solar geoengineering, has today attempted to fill that gap with the release of its SAI Research Roadmap . "Our mission is to equip the world with the data and tools required for informed decision-making about sunlight reflection fast enough to matter," says Dakota Gruener, the organization's cofounder and chief executive.

Is the war entering a new phase? Ukraine launched its deepest-ever attack into Russia, targeting two Arctic gas condensate facilities more than 3,000km (1,865 miles) from its border, on Wednesday, signalling that Ukraine has further developed its military capabilities as the Russia-Ukraine war continues through its fifth year. Unconfirmed videos circulating on social media show large clouds of thick, dark smoke and fire at the Novy Urengoy plant in western Siberia, recorded from a distance. Dmitry Artyukhov, the governor of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug region, wrote on Telegram that the drone attacks had been intercepted and "debris from the drone caused a fire upon impact". There have been no reports of deaths or injuries.

Protests in The Gambia have turned violent after months of power outages that have disrupted essential public services like water supplies during the hot season. Demonstrators are calling on Gambian President Adama Barrow to resign. Why is Iran bombing Jordan's Al-Azraq base? Republicans divided over Trump's economy as RNC begins

The US is hitting records for the rapid growth of its energy storage market. That'll go a long way to shoring up the grid, increasing reliability and also cutting emissions, since batteries can help store energy from intermittent renewables like wind and solar. Crucially, this is all happening with the help of cheap Chinese batteries, though there's been a concerted effort to reduce the US's reliance on them. Most recently, in an executive order in late August, the Trump administration declared a national emergency that essentially bans Chinese batteries from being used in grid-scale energy storage systems.

Is the war entering a new phase? Russian forces have launched attacks across Ukraine, killing at least seven people, according to Ukrainian officials, as Kyiv claimed responsibility for a drone attack that set off a fire at a natural gas plant deep in Russia's Arctic region. Four people were killed in a Russian attack in Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine overnight on Thursday, while three were killed in a drone attack on a shopping centre in the northeastern city of Sumy, according to Ukrainian authorities. At least 19 others were wounded, he said on Telegram. The attack in Sumy left at least 14 people wounded, according to Oleh Hryhorov, head of the Sumy Regional Military Administration.

Google will buy up to half the electricity produced by one of Finland's nuclear power plants as part of a record €13bn (£11bn; $15bn) investment in the country's AI infrastructure, the company announced. The US tech giant said the package would fund three new data centres, expand an existing site and support energy projects to power growing demand for AI services. This is Google's largest single investment in Europe and a testament to Finland's leadership in responsibly building AI infrastructure, the company said on Wednesday. Google's decision is a clear testament to our strengths, Finland's Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said in a statement. As part of the deal, Google signed a 22-year contract with Finnish utility Fortum to buy up to 50% of the output from the Loviisa nuclear power plant.

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What is Iran's Pickaxe Mountain? Did Iran capture a US submarine? Share Did Iran capture a US submarine? Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said its naval forces have captured an unmanned United States submarine near the Strait of Hormuz, as Tehran and Washington continue to exchange tit-for-tat attacks on ships to exert control over the crucial waterway that connects the Gulf and the Arabian Sea. Iranian state media identified the vessel as a Dive-LD - an autonomous underwater vehicle built by California-based defence firm Anduril Industries.

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Battery installations hit a new record in the US in the second quarter of 2026. In total, 20.2 gigawatt-hours of new capacity came online, according to a new report. That's enough to supply the daily electricity needs of about 700,000 homes. The surge is putting the country on a trajectory to see 71 gigawatt-hours of batteries installed in 2026, a 20% increase over last year. This growth is being driven by a combination of cheaper batteries and an urgent need for more energy storage capacity as renewables such as solar and onshore wind power are added to the grid.