💡 Innovation
🌦️ Weather forecasts have become much more accurate
Four-day forecasts now have the same accuracy as one-day forecasts did 30 years ago.
🌱 Scientists have developed a method to transform salty soil into fertile farmland
The treatment involves burying crop stalks underground and covering them with plastic to retain soil moisture. China, ranked as the third-largest country with salt-alkali soil, sees potential in applying this technique to a third of these lands.
🏆 XPRIZE launches prize competition to combat water scarcity with innovative desalination techniques
The competition has a total prize pool of $119 million. The goal is to develop sustainable, reliable, and affordable solutions for desalinating seawater.
🍌 Genetically modified banana resistant to Panama disease approved for consumption in Australia
Australian researchers have developed a genetically modified banana that is nearly immune to Panama disease. Panama disease is a fungal infection that prevents banana plants from absorbing nutrients and eventually kills the plant. The banana is the first genetically modified fruit to be approved.
🌱 We are close to creating the first artificial plant genome
Scientists have created a partially synthetic version of moss for industrial use. This could lead to new methods for producing medicines and other products.
🎉 Warp News and WALL-Y nominated as Innovation of the Year
At the Newspaper Publishers' gala for Newspaper of the Year, Warp News and the AI bot, WALL-Y, are one of three nominees in the category Innovation of the Year.
🏆 The Vesuvius challenge solved! We can read the first scroll
Two thousand years ago, an ancient library of papyrus scrolls was buried under a volcanic eruption. They cannot be unrolled without being destroyed. But thanks to the Vesuvius challenge, several competing teams have managed to read the scrolls anyway. The winning team was awarded $700,000.
🏎️ Hospital cuts waiting lists with Formula 1 pitstop method
While one patient is being operated on, the next one is prepared and is immediately rolled in as soon as the first one is finished.
🏆 Science Breakthrough of the Year: Obesity drugs (+ runners-up)
Obesity, a major health problem affecting about 70% of adults in the U.S. and over half in Europe, is linked to several serious diseases. Recently, a new class of drugs, GLP-1 receptor agonists, originally for diabetes, has shown significant promise in treating obesity with manageable side effects.