After initial consumer confusion and irritation, Ireland’s first-ever deposit return scheme for plastic bottles and cans has finally been embraced by the public, with 111 million containers returned in August – up from 2 million in February when the scheme launched. In the eight months since its launch, 630 million containers have been deposited at reverse vending machines up and down the country.
The Azores, an autonomous Portuguese archipelago, has approved legislation to create the largest marine protected area (MPA) network in the North Atlantic Ocean. Spread across about 110,800 square miles, the new MPA network covers 30% of the ocean surrounding the archipelago. Half of the network is “fully protected,” and half is “highly protected.” In the “fully protected” parts, extractive or destructive activities like fishing are not allowed, while activities such as diving, swimming, and marine tourism are regulated.
For decades, researchers have been working to develop a system that can automatically adjust insulin activity based on the amount of glucose in a person’s blood. Now, Rita Slaaby, a principal scientist at pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk in Bagsværd, Denmark, and her colleagues engineered an insulin molecule with a switch that turns its activity on and off in response to glucose levels in the blood. In animals, this ‘smart’ insulin reduces high blood-sugar concentrations effectively while preventing levels from dropping too low.
New research from Amsterdam University Medical Center introduces a promising new treatment approach for type 2 diabetes (T2D) that has the potential to greatly reduce or even eliminate the need for insulin therapy. This innovative approach, which combines a novel procedure known as ReCET (Re-Cellularization via Electroporation Therapy) with semaglutide, resulted in the elimination of insulin therapy for 86% of the 14 patients participating in initial trials. Globally, T2D affects 422 million people. While insulin therapy is commonly used to manage blood sugar levels in T2D patients, it can result in side effects such as weight gain and further complicate diabetes management.
Doctors are hailing a “remarkable” new treatment regime for cervical cancer developed by researchers at University College London that reduces the risk of dying by 40%, in the biggest advance against the disease in 25 years. The new treatment plan was tested in patients recruited over 10 years from the UK, Mexico, India, Italy, and Brazil. Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women globally, with about 660,000 new cases and 350,000 deaths every year, according to the World Health Organization.
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that member states must recognize legal documents from other countries that reflect a person’s changed name and gender identity, regardless of the member state’s own laws on changing one’s name and identity. Marie-Hélène Ludwig, senior strategic litigator with the LGBTQ+ rights organization ILGA-Europe, said in a statement, “This judgement will have an immensely positive impact, increasing legal protection for all trans people in the E.U…”
Researchers at the University of Oxford are working on the world’s first ovarian cancer vaccine, aiming to prevent the disease that kills nearly 26,000 women in the European Union every year. The vaccine, called OvarianVax, would train the immune system to recognize and fight back against the earliest stages of ovarian cancer, one of the most common forms of cancer among women which often isn’t detected until a later stage when it’s harder to treat. Cancer Research U.K. will fund the OvarianVax research with up to £600,000 for the effort.
From Spain in the west to Cyprus in the east, the Mediterranean has witnessed a record rise in sea turtle nesting – testimony to the painstaking efforts of environmentalists determined to save an ancient mariner that not that long ago was on the verge of extinction. In Greece, which hosts 60% of Caretta caretta nests, the rebound has been phenomenal: from an average of 5,000 to 7,000 nests per year, since 2023 over 10,000 nests have been recorded annually, according to Archelon, the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece.
Dutch bank ING will dump large clients it believes are not making sufficient progress on reducing their climate impact, in the latest sign of divergence between European and US banks over the risks of global warming. Chief executive Steven van Rijswijk said ING had put its clients on notice that it would either restrict or stop providing finance to companies that fail to address their carbon footprint on a case-by-case basis. Van Rijswijk said ING had assessed 2,000 of its largest clients based on their publicly available climate transition plans and other data. Companies had until 2026 to make sufficient progress, he said.
Norway has long been a standout, with the highest level of EV market share of any country and an aspiration to end sales of new gas cars by 2025. And now, sometime in September 2024, Norway will have more electric cars on its roads than petrol-only vehicles, according to an analysis of Norwegian government data. It set another world record with 94% EV new car market share in August.
