Herbal remedies can help to treat neglected tropical diseases
“WHAT DO YOU call traditional medicine that works?” “Medicine.” This old joke contains more than a milligram of truth.
07/01/2021 Economist
2021
Best News of 2021
Despite the ongoing pandemic good things happen every month. Hence in the tradition of the year in review we like to remind you of three randomly selected news articles of each month.
January
February
Airlines can now pick their own routes across the Atlantic. Huge fuel savings could follow
Airlines are poised to reduce their emissions and reap huge fuel savings on transatlantic flights in the coming weeks as air traffic controllers experiment with giving pilots free rein to chart their own paths across skies that have been cleared out…
10/02/2021 CNN
Denmark strikes deal on £25bn artificial wind energy island
Denmark’s government has agreed to take a majority stake in a £25bn artificial “energy island” which is to be built 80km offshore, in the middle of the North Sea. The island to the west of the Jutland peninsula will initially have an area of…
04/02/2021 The Guardian
Why France’s New Tech ‘Repairability Index’ Is a Big Deal
This story originally appeared on Grist and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Our electronic devices take a serious environmental toll, and one of the best ways to mitigate that is to use them for as long as possible before replacing them.
20/02/2021 Wired
March
How Mallorca is setting a new sustainable standard in the Balearic Islands
From extended cycle routes to a plastics ban, the biggest Balearic is serious about getting greener, finds Annie Bennett
11/03/2021 The Independent
April
The deforestation solution that not enough people are talking about
Giving indigenous communities legal title to their land can be more effective at protecting forests than declaring them national parks
01/04/2021 Positive News
The Gambia becomes second African state to end trachoma
The Gambia has become the second country in Africa to eliminate trachoma, one of the leading causes of blindness.
22/04/2021 The Guardian
Google's union of activists highlights the need for ethical engineering
The new Alphabet Workers Union is making clear that changes must be put in place, both in education and on the job, to allow engineers to start taking responsibility for the social impact of their work.
01/04/2021 The Conversation
May
Renewable Energy Capacity Jumped 45% Worldwide In 2020; IEA Sees 'New Normal'
In 2020, renewable power was "the only energy source for which demand increased ... while consumption of all other fuels declined," the International Energy Agency says.
11/05/2021 NPR
Three ways to ensure diversity training actually works
More and more employers are trying to increase the diversity of their staff – and rightly so. A recent report from management consulting firm McKinsey found that greater diversity within an organisation leads to greater productivity and profit, and…
19/05/2021 The Conversation
June
DeepMind uses AI to tackle neglected deadly diseases
The company’s technology maps out the shape of proteins, an otherwise costly and time-consuming process.
23/06/2021 BBC
July
Man v food: is lab-grown meat really going to solve our nasty agriculture problem?
Americans will eat about 2bn chicken nuggets this year, give or take a few hundred million. This deep-fried staple is a way of profiting off the bits that are left after the breast, legs and wings are lopped off the 9 billion or so factory-farmed…
29/07/2021 The Guardian
August
Watch Out, Beyond Burgers—the Fungi Renaissance Is Here
While the popular plant-based meats grab all the headlines, a much more humble foodstuff is poised to lead the next wave of alternative proteins.
08/08/2021 Wired
September
Body composting a 'green' alternative to burial, cremation
A Colorado company is hoping to usher in a new and more environmentally friendly era of mortuary science that includes the natural organic reduction of human remains
16/09/2021 The Independent
Menstrual cups are a cheaper, more sustainable way for women to cope with periods than tampons or pads
Menstruation cups are increasingly being used as an environmentally friendly alternative to tampons and sanitary pads.
15/09/2021 The Conversation
How floating islands can make urban waterways green and clean
Many of the world's cities are built around waterways. Paris and the Seine, Allahabad, India and the Ganges, Cairo and the Nile -- these rivers, at one time the life-force of their city, are now so polluted they're unfit for swimming and host very…
08/09/2021 CNN
October
Lego says it will work to rid its toys of harmful gender bias
The toy company says it will work to make its products and marketing more inclusive, citing new research into how kids and parents gender creativity.
12/10/2021 NPR
First new treatment for sickle cell in 20 years
The hope of reducing health inequalities for black people made it worth recommending, the regulator says.
04/10/2021 BBC
Technological leap for ‘urban mining’ could recover precious metals from electronic waste in seconds
A new process to extract valuable metals from electronic waste could use 500 times less energy than existing methods, lower demand for mined raw materials, and produce eco-friendly waste, scientists have said.
05/10/2021 The Independent
November
We have reusable cups, bags and bottles: so why are our buildings still single use?
Embodied carbon - carbon produced during a building’s construction - urgently needs reducing, and reusing buildings could help.
11/11/2021 The Conversation
Ten ways to confront the climate crisis without losing hope
The world as we knew it is coming to an end, and it’s up to us how it ends and what comes after. It’s the end of the age of fossil fuel, but if the fossil-fuel corporations have their way the ending will be delayed as long as possible, with as…
18/11/2021 The Guardian
‘It’s incredible’: HPV vaccine saves thousands of women from cervical cancer, UK study shows
The NHS vaccination programme to prevent cervical cancer has so far stopped thousands of women from developing the disease and experiencing pre-cancerous changes to cells, a study has found.
04/11/2021 The Guardian
December
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Wind power becomes Spain’s leading energy source for 2021
Renewable sources already cover almost half of the country’s consumption needs – so far this year, they have contributed almost 47% of the total compared to less than 30% a decade ago
14/12/2021 El País
Ketamine therapy swiftly reduces depression and suicidal thoughts
Analysis of 83 research papers by academics at the University of Exeter showed that patients’ symptoms were reduced in just one to four hours.
30/12/2021 The Independent
Tropical forests can recover surprisingly quickly on deforested lands – and letting them regrow naturally is an effective and low-cost way to slow climate change
As governments and corporations pledge to help the planet by planting trillions of trees, a new study spotlights an effective, low-cost alternative: letting tropical forests regrow naturally.
09/12/2021 The Conversation