This aerial photograph taken in late November 2022 shows the iceberg A81 about to separate from the floating Brunt Ice Shelf. (Image credit: Ian Potten/BAS)
An enormous iceberg in Antarctica — an ice slab that’s so massive, it has a surface area greater than Los Angeles — recently got its first aerial cameo, which showed off its mind blowing size.
The ice slab, named A81, was birthed from the Brunt Ice Shelf on Jan. 22 after a gigantic chasm finally snapped through the 490-foot-thick (150 meters) ice shelf, after having been widening for nearly a decade. A81 covered an area of around 600 square miles (1,550 square kilometers) when it broke free from Antarctica and has since traveled around 93 miles (150 km) into the Weddell Sea.
Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey’s (BAS) Halley Research Station captured the footage of A81 as they flew over the iceberg on their journey home. The video, released March 13, shows the enormous scale of the hefty berg, which looks like its own ice sheet and is birthing tiny icebergs along its coastline.
Related: Massive Antarctic iceberg was ripped in two by powerful ocean currents
The Halley Research Station was previously based on the ice that now makes up A81 but was moved further inland after the chasm was spotted.
“This was a calving [event] we knew was coming,” Oliver Marsh (opens in new tab) , a BAS glaciologist who recently returned from the Halley Research Station, said in a statement (opens in new tab) . The BAS team first noticed the chasm in 2012 and has been expecting the immense chunk of ice to break off ever since, he added. RELATED STORIES—Arctic ‘ghost island’ that vanished may have actually been a dirty iceberg
—Massive iceberg narrowly avoided collision with Antarctic ice shelf
—World’s largest iceberg disintegrates into ‘alphabet soup,’ NASA photo shows
BAS researchers will continue to track A81 to see where it will end up and what impact it may have on sea levels when it finally melts away.
Glaciologists are also keeping a close eye on another giant iceberg, A76A, which broke off from Antarctica’s Ronne Ice Shelf in May 2021. The mammoth slab of ice is the biggest iceberg on the planet and the largest remaining piece of A76, which covered an area of around 1,700 square miles (4,300 square km), or larger than the state of Rhode Island, when it calved from the ice sheet. On Oct. 31, 2022, satellite images revealed A76A had finally started to drift away from Antarctica’s coastline and into the Drake Passage, which will drag the berg toward the equator where it will eventually melt.
Alexander Vlaskamp, the outspoken CEO of MAN Trucks, claims that an electric semi truck can pay for itself in less than three years – but there are a few asterisks in that statement. We’ll try to unpack them all for you here.
The good news is that, in the EU, incentives are plentiful. MAN says those programs, together with Europe’s much higher diesel prices compared to the US (about $6.80/gal compared to $3.70, as I type this), can help the eTruck pay for itself in as little as two and a half years.
And, if you’re not familiar with European incentives for electric semi trucks, hold on to your hats because they are wild:
Advertisement – scroll for more content
up to 80% of vehicle purchase price subsidy in Austria (ENIN)
in Belgium, there’s a subsidy for up to 32% of the price of the truck (up to 2 trucks per company)
in Ireland, government incentives cover 30–60% of the up-front cost difference versus a comparable diesel truck
Norway offers a similar 60% diesel cost difference incentive
“It’s all about the charging infrastructure, that’s the problem,” Vlaskamp told Börsen-Zeitung. “When it comes to investment in charging stations, Europe is lagging far behind … what’s needed now is the political will to reverse this trend,” adding, “We need to act quickly.”
Charging is key
Charging an eTruck; via Man Trucks.
Spanish-language site Motorpasión notes that red tape isn’t the only reason charging lags. Driving investment into new charging infrastructure is lagging, too – but MAN’s CEO thinks there’s a simple fix: take half of annual toll revenues generated by commercial trucks (around €7 billion in Germany, alone) and funnel it directly into DC fast charging.
In addition to the still deficient charging network, another obstacle is the cost of electricity for charging. Vlaskamp proposes a reduced price for commercial truckers, as has traditionally been the case with diesel. Currently, the average price is 45 to 50 cents per kWh, but says the ideal would be, “between €0.20 and €0.30/kWh.”
TL;DR: if charging was cheaper and easier to access and the government was willing to subsidize EVs as much as they’ve subsidized oil with the creating and ongoing support of a globalized military industrial complex, MAN Trucks’ CEO thinks plug-in semis would be a no-brainer.
Head on down to the comments and let us know if you agree.
If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — New quarterback Tommy Castellanos led a punishing rushing attack for Florida State with 78 yards and a touchdown as the Seminoles stunned No. 8 Alabama 31-17 on Saturday, ending the Crimson Tide’s streak of 23 straight wins in season openers.
Coming off a 2-10 season, Florida State handed a crushing setback to Alabama, which was viewed as a College Football Playoff contender under second-year coach Kalen DeBoer.
Castellanos, a transfer from Boston College, made headlines over the summer after saying legendary Alabama coach Nick Saban wasn’t there to “save” the Tide vs. Florida State in their Week 1 matchup and that he doesn’t “see them stopping me.” He backed up that jab by spearheading FSU’s dominant ground attack while staying efficient through the air, finishing 9 of 14 passing for 152 yards.
Students and fans swarmed the field at Doak Campbell Stadium to celebrate the upset by the Seminoles, who closed as 13 1/2-point underdogs at ESPN BET.
Under new offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn — who spent eight seasons as Auburn’s head coach — Florida State was physical from the start, finishing with 230 rushing yards and averaging 4.7 yards per carry. The Seminoles averaged just 89.9 yards during their disastrous 2024 season.
The Crimson Tide had not dropped a season opener since losing 20-17 to UCLA in 2001 under Dennis Franchione, and this defeat will ratchet up the pressure on DeBoer from the demanding Tuscaloosa faithful. His predecessor, Nick Saban, led Alabama to six national titles.
Jake Trotter is a senior writer at ESPN. Trotter covers college football. He also writes about other college sports, including men’s and women’s basketball. Trotter resides in the Cleveland area with his wife and three kids and is a fan of his hometown Oklahoma City Thunder. He covered the Cleveland Browns and NFL for ESPN for five years, moving back to college football in 2024. Previously, Trotter worked for the Middletown (Ohio) Journal, Austin American-Statesman and Oklahoman newspapers before joining ESPN in 2011. He’s a 2004 graduate of Washington and Lee University. You can reach out to Trotter at jake.trotter@espn.com and follow him on X at @Jake_Trotter.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State opened its national title defense by playing dominant defense.
The third-ranked Buckeyes rattled quarterback Arch Manning and stuffed top-ranked Texas four times on fourth down on the way to a 14-7 victory Saturday at the Horseshoe.
Two of those fourth-down stops came inside the Ohio State 10-yard line.
Another came on Texas’ final possession. Manning found tight end Jack Endries on fourth-and-5. But Buckeyes star safety Caleb Downs wrapped Endries up two yards short of the first down to seal the win.
“The story of the game was the defense,” said Ohio State coach Ryan Day. “Those fourth-down stops were big.”
The Buckeyes defeated Texas with a fourth-down stop in last year’s CFP semifinal. Jack Sawyer stripped Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers on fourth-and-goal and scooped up the fumble for the game-clinching touchdown at the Cotton Bowl, propelling Ohio State to the national championship game.
On Saturday, the Buckeyes defense — featuring eight new starters and a new coordinator in Matt Patricia — came up big on fourth down again.
In the first half, Ohio State stopped Manning on a fourth-and-goal quarterback sneak from the 1-yard line.
Midway through the fourth quarter, Texas finally got back inside the Ohio State 10. But cornerback Davison Igbinosun swatted away Manning’s fourth-down attempt in the end zone.
Texas scored a touchdown with 3:28 left to avoid being shut out for the first time in nine years, then got the ball back with just over two minutes remaining with a chance to tie. But after Texas pushed the ball to midfield, the Ohio State defense ended the threat with Downs’ one-on-one tackle of Endries.
“He was unbelievable back there as a field general,” Patricia said of Downs, one of three returning starters along with Igbinosun and linebacker Sonny Styles. “Guys stepped up to the challenge all the way across the board.”
This offseason, Patricia replaced Jim Knowles, who left the Buckeyes following the national championship to become defensive coordinator for rival Penn State. Patricia had won three Super Bowls with New England, including two as the Patriots’ defensive coordinator, but had never coached a college game until Saturday.
According to ESPN Research, Texas’ four turnovers on downs were the most in the game since a 2017 season-opening loss to Maryland.
“I thought the game plan was excellent,” Day said of the defense, “but the buy-in is what’s most important. What matters is the guys and warriors on the field believing in it. … The grittiness of our guys running around, there’s a lot we can build on.”