In January 2023, the Norwegian Climate Investment Fund announced plans to invest over $62m in Indian waste-to-energy company SAEL.
Some 29.8m Indians will suffer from cancer by 2025, up from 26.7m in 2021. With the country’s cancer burden expected to rise, India’s parliamentary panel has recommended free cancer treatment for middle-class households through a government-run programme.
As C&I went to press, there was further news on Britishvolt, the company planning to build the first UK gigafactory to make electric car batteries. The company went into administration in January after months of financial struggles. Now, administators EY have announced Scale Facilitation Partners and its Australian subsidiary Reliance Industries as the preferred bidder, according to Reuters.
An international team believes they have discovered how Romans managed to build such long-lasting concrete structures. The work could improve durability in novel 3D-printed concrete formulations.
Africa has the potential to produce 30 to 60m t of green hydrogen by 2050 – enough to meet 5% to 10% of the global demand. As well as creating 3.7m new jobs, harnessing this untapped potential could add more than $120bn to Africa’s economy, a report by renewable energy company Masdar says.
Researchers have achieved what they claim is the first computational reconstruction of a virus that includes its complete native genome. A breakthrough that could aid research into alternatives to antibiotics, they note. Although similar reconstructions are known, the team report this is the first to produce the exact chemical and 3D structure of a ‘live’ virus.
Researchers in the UK have simultaneously converted CO2 and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) – the plastic commonly used for bottles – into two valued chemical products. Their reactor uses catalysts and solar energy to drive conversion of the greenhouse gas into carbon monoxide, syngas or formate, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics into glycolate, a starter chemical used by the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.
A voice-activated system to enable hands-free extraction and pre-treatment of bacterial DNA could help scientists avoid accidental infection when working with pathogens, according to its inventors. The approach may also prove useful to those with visual or other physical impairments who may find it difficult to manipulate tiny samples using complex instruments.
A new five-year biosecurity strategy to protect plants in the UK includes tackling threats such as pests, diseases and climate change as well as boosting science and technology capabilities.
Prostate cancer can be treated by lowering levels of testosterone and other male sex hormones, but roughly 10–20% of cases resist treatment within five years. Now, researchers have discovered that prostate cancer can be killed by targeting a single enzyme, PI5P4Kα.