The University of Essex’s Sustainable smArt Robotic Agriculture initiative won the best research project (industry collaboration) prize at the AI & Robotics Research Awards 2026 for its strawberry-picking robots. Developed by the university’s robotics team and first demonstrated in October 2024, the prototype is capable of picking, weighing and packaging strawberries in seconds. The machines are already deployed commercially by Wilkin & Sons, the Tiptree-based jam producer, and by grower JEPCO at a farm in Thorrington near the Essex campus. The award citation highlighted use of artificial intelligence to automate repetitive, labour-intensive tasks while increasing yield, reducing waste and lowering carbon footprint to support local production. Co-designer Dr Vishwanathan Mohan said the honour recognises the project’s potential to transform food production amid modern farming challenges. The recognition underlines growing industry interest in robotics solutions to address labour shortages and efficiency pressures in horticulture.

The Trump administration on March 23 struck an agreement with France’s TotalEnergies under which the company will relinquish two U.S. offshore wind leases — in the New York Bight and Carolina Long Bay — in exchange for roughly $928m (commonly reported as about $1 billion) in reimbursements, the Department of the Interior said. Announced at the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum alongside TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné, the deal requires the company to commit the equivalent funds to U.S. oil, gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects — including investment in the Rio Grande LNG plant in Texas — before being reimbursed dollar-for-dollar. TotalEnergies pledged not to pursue further U.S. offshore wind development. The move follows the administration’s earlier stop-work orders for several East Coast projects that were later allowed to resume by courts; one targeted farm, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, began sending power to the grid this week. State officials and environmental and industry groups condemned the agreement as a misuse of taxpayer money that threatens planned clean-power capacity, while the administration framed it as advancing affordable, reliable domestic energy and bolstering LNG exports amid global supply strains.

Scotland has become the first part of the UK to begin screening newborn babies for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a rare inherited condition that can cause severe muscle weakness, breathing problems and, without treatment, a life expectancy of around two years in the most serious cases. Under a two-year pilot, all babies born in Scotland from 23 March will receive the test as part of the existing heel-prick blood spot screening programme, which already checks for 10 other serious rare diseases. The Scottish Newborn Screening Laboratory in Glasgow processes about 50,000 samples a year, and officials said the new test is intended to identify babies before symptoms appear so they can start treatment sooner. Health Secretary Neil Gray said the pilot will help inform the UK screening committee on wider rollout. The move has drawn attention from campaigners and from former Little Mix singer Jesy Nelson, whose twin daughters were diagnosed with SMA type 1 earlier this year. Nelson has urged England and the rest of the UK to follow Scotland’s lead after launching a petition that passed 100,000 signatures and will be considered for a Commons debate.

NASA has rolled its 98-meter Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft back to Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center after completing repairs to a helium-system issue that forced a previous launch attempt to be scrubbed. The agency is now targeting an early-April window, with the first opportunity set for 1 April, following delays caused earlier in March by the helium problem and in February by a hydrogen fuel leak. The Artemis II crew — NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen — have entered preflight quarantine and are preparing for a 10-day mission around the Moon and back. The flight will not land on the lunar surface. Instead, it will use a free-return trajectory that loops around the far side of the Moon, giving NASA its first crewed deep-space mission since Apollo 17 in 1972 and the first human lunar vicinity mission in more than 50 years. The mission is intended to verify Orion, life-support systems, communications, and heat-shield performance before later landing attempts.

Local resistance to major solar farm proposals across England has intensified in March 2026, raising questions about the pace and siting of renewable deployment. A planning inquiry has been set for 12 May into Exagen’s rejected Highfield Energy Park near Whittonstall, Northumberland — a 110-hectare scheme of more than 90,000 panels refused by the county council over visual impact and harm to two listed heritage assets. In Norfolk, sculptor Antony Gormley and other residents have objected to Island Green Power’s 2,800‑acre Droves project, which would generate up to 500 megawatts (about 115,000 homes) and is being examined by the Planning Inspectorate after public comment. In Wiltshire, villagers continue a three‑year campaign against ABEI Energy’s 24MW Whistlemead proposal on 64 acres, which developers say could power about 5,000 homes. Developers argue the schemes deliver clean, domestic electricity, storage and grid stability; opponents cite landscape, heritage and community impacts. The government retains final authority for very large projects, underscoring centralised planning decisions as friction grows between national net‑zero goals and local preservation concerns.