CRISPR doubles lifespan of mice with rapid ageing disease progeria
CRISPR gene editing in mice has been used to correct a mutation that can cause rapid ageing, dramatically improving the animals' health and lifespan
06/01/2021 NewScientist
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
German scientists make paralyzed mice walk again
German researchers have enabled mice paralyzed after spinal cord injuries to walk again, re-establishing a neural link hitherto considered irreparable in mammals by using a designer protein injected into the brain.
23/01/2021 Reuters
Seeding the Ocean: Inside a Michelin-Starred Chef’s Revolutionary Quest to Harvest Rice From the Sea
In 2008, as a young, unknown chef, he took a loin from one fish and attached it to the loin of another, using collagen to bind the two proteins together. He called them hybrids and served them to unsuspecting diners at Aponiente, his restaurant in…
09/01/2021 Time Magazine
February
Ocean energy about to ride a wave
Tidal and wave energy is a greatly underutilized renewable power source that could be the missing link in the bid for a carbon free future.
09/02/2021 Deutsche Welle
How businesses could cut plastic waste with a track and trace system
While many businesses ground to a halt at the start of the pandemic, the market for disposable packaging was forecast to grow by 5.5% as the demand for single-use plastics soared. Before COVID-19, the market was already projected to grow by 4% a…
16/02/2021 The Conversation
March
‘It's radical’: the Ugandan city built on solar, shea butter and people power
The village of Okere Mom-Kok was in ruins by the end of more than a decade of war in northern Uganda.
03/03/2021 The Guardian
April
The 'elite controllers' who can naturally suppress HIV
The year was 1998 when Joel Blankson encountered a patient he would never forget. Blankson was working in the HIV clinic at John Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, when an HIV-positive woman in her mid-40s arrived for some routine tests.
04/04/2021 The Guardian
Barcelona installs Spain’s first solar energy pavement
Barcelona city council has installed Spain’s first photovoltaic pavement as part of the city’s drive to become carbon neutral by 2050.
29/04/2021 The Guardian
How the world’s biggest wind farm may help South Korea’s net-zero dream
The end of generations of fishermen off the coast of South Korea could be contentious but many are coming to terms with it, knowing carbon neutrality is absolutely necessary, writes Heesu Lee and Will Mathis
09/04/2021 The Independent
May
Welcome to United Arab Emirates’ ‘City of Future’, the world’s first zero-carbon city
The words ‘sustainable’ and ‘UAE’ rarely go hand-in-hand, but all that could be about to change with the Gulf’s latest tourist attraction, writes Rahma Khan
14/05/2021 The Independent
Europe takes on cheap flights and landlords in race to net zero emissions
Trains instead of flights, fossil fuel ad bans and charging landlords for tenant’s heating emissions will be legislated in parts of Europe.
23/05/2021 Sydney Morning Herald
Acid test: scientists show how LSD opens doors of perception
When Aldous Huxley emerged from a mescaline trip that veered from an obsession with the folds in his trousers to wonder at the “miraculous” tubularity of the bamboo legs on his garden chairs, he offered an opinion on how the drug worked.
19/05/2021 The Guardian
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
Vegan 'spider silk' created by Cambridge scientists could replace single-use plastic
A novel material, dubbed 'vegan spider silk', has been created by researchers at the University of Cambridge and may be a long-term replacement for single-use plastic.
10/06/2021 Telegraph
‘This isn’t ideological’: reluctant activists behind Exxon coup
The activist hedge fund behind ExxonMobil’s boardroom coup last week has claimed another seat from the oil giant’s board, to take the number of new directors who will push for climate action from within the company to three.
04/06/2021 The Guardian
July
Device taps brain waves to help paralyzed man communicate
In a medical first, researchers have harnessed the brain waves of a paralyzed man unable to speak to help him communicate better
14/07/2021 The Independent
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August
A Plan to Slow the Creep of the Sahara—by Planting Gardens
People along the desert’s border are building a kind of circular plot called a tolou keur to keep the soil fertile and to slow desertification.
21/08/2021 Wired
The future of flying? Hybrid plane takes to the skies in landmark UK flight
The hybrid aircraft is an important step in the race to decarbonise aviation, but net-zero flights remains some way off yet
25/08/2021 Positive News
California considers human composting as a greener death option
Is there a greener way to honor those who have died? Humans have caused unprecedented and irreversible changes to the climate in our time on Earth – pollution that continues even in death. But, across the US, some are posing an alternative: human…
12/08/2021 The Guardian
September
This Software Aims to Smooth Your Flight—and Help the Planet
Airplanes taxiing isn't just annoying—it's a big source of emissions. The FAA and NASA created a new system to save time and fuel.
28/09/2021 Wired
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
‘It’s not as carbon-hungry’: UK’s largest sunlit vertical farm begins harvest
The largest naturally lit vertical farm in Britain has begun harvesting and the creators plan to build 40 more. It looks nothing like a traditional farm, with bright white towers of leafy green vegetables stacked as high as the eye can see.
18/10/2021 The Guardian
November
Hallucinogen in 'magic mushrooms' relieves depression in largest clinical trial to date
Psilocybin, the hallucinogen found in "magic mushrooms," helped to relieve symptoms in people with hard-to-treat depression in the largest clinical trial of its kind to date, the trial's organizers announced Tuesday (Nov. 9). Earlier this year, a…
11/11/2021 LiveScience
December
Lab-grown meats and cow-free dairy can meet the demand for protein and help address climate change
Technological advancements in food production have created new ways to meet the growing demand for protein. Canada’s investment in this industry may create jobs and reduce carbon emissions.
15/12/2021 The Conversation
A simple Israeli invention could help 2.5 billion people – and NASA
Prof. Moran Bercovici and Dr. Valeri Frumkin developed cheap technology for making optic lenses, with the potential to produce glasses for developing nations where many have no access to them. Now, NASA says it could be used to make space telescopes
11/12/2021 Haaretz
