Are mushrooms plants?
Sometimes. At least, that is the answer to the question posed in this feature headline, according to a new court ruling. The ruling recently emerged from the new Unified Patent Court (UPC) opened in June 2023. It concerns a provisional injunction by US headquartered mushroom producer Amycel against an individual in Poland alleged to have infringed Amycel’s patent EP 1993350 concerning mushroom strain BR06 marketed by Amycel under the name Heirloom [1]. According to the UPC’s decision, Heirloom is currently the number one selling brown mushroom strain in the world.
A safer workplace?
British Safety Council recently commissioned a YouGov survey, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Health and Safety at Work Act, considering what lies ahead for health, safety and wellbeing, and the impact new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) might have on their workplace.
Sustainable concrete
Cement currently ranks as the third largest source of human-generated CO2 – after power and transport. It accounts for roughly 7% of all anthropogenic emissions . Globally, we produce over 4bn t of cement per year, which equates to around 560kg for every person on earth – with demand for concrete rising faster than demand for steel or timber.
Demand for helium to double
Helium is a finite resource that plays a critical role across several industries including medical imaging, thermal management systems for batteries, aerospace engineering, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, semiconductor manufacturing and fibre optics. Helium’s high thermal conductivity, chemical inertness and cryogenic properties uniquely lend themselves to applications with limited or no available alternatives in some cases.
Diversity sparks creativity
Diversity and inclusion are important for any business. Increasingly, employers are recognising that recruiting a workforce from different cultures and backgrounds is not only progressive, but also makes good business sense.
Highways to hell
Every time it rains, a toxic cocktail of pollutants runs off the UK’s road network and into our rivers and water sources. The pollution comes from tyre particles, fuel spills and other vehicle fluids, road surface fragments, sediment and herbicides. These contain heavy metals and toxic chemicals such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), known to be carcinogenic and hormone disrupting to aquatic life.
Sustainable packaging
Plastic packaging waste is a problem that isn’t getting smaller. Despite the many initiatives, targets and corporate ESG commitments, plastic packaging on the market in the UK totals 2.3m t, according to charity WRAP, with plastic packaging now accounting for nearly 70% of the UK’s plastic waste. This figure is unsustainable and doing untold damage to the environment.
Personalised QR codes
Technology should be a means of easing frustration and confusion, but in today’s digital world consumers increasingly report feeling overwhelmed and exhausted by their digital lives and turned off by all but the most seamless digital interactions.
Bioprinted stents
If you discovered your country was losing up to £78bn a year, you would want to do something about it, right? Well, that is how much the UK loses to workplace sickness and ill-health each year.
Manifesto for wellbeing
If you discovered your country was losing up to £78bn a year, you would want to do something about it, right? Well, that is how much the UK loses to workplace sickness and ill-health each year.