U.K. scientists discover method to reduce steelmaking’s CO2 emissions by 90%
The iron and steel industry is a major cause of greenhouse gasses, accounting for 9% of global emissions.
Technology & innovation
This archive covers technology and innovation breakthroughs that improve lives, protect the environment, and expand human possibility. From medical devices to clean energy tools, the stories here focus on what’s working and who’s making it happen.
Five U.S. states are repaving roads with unrecyclable plastic waste
Pilot programs are ongoing in Missouri, Pennsylvania, Virginia, California, and Hawai’i are already seeing promising results.
In a world first, Japenese scientists use artificial DNA to kill cancer cells
Artificial DNA that turns cancer’s own biology against itself marks a genuine conceptual leap in oncology. Japanese researchers at the University of Tokyo engineered synthetic molecules that lie dormant until they detect a chemical cancer cells overproduce — then restructure themselves into a signal the immune system reads as a threat, destroying the tumor from within. Early tests spanned multiple cancer types, suggesting broad potential. This kind of precision — working with the body’s existing defenses rather than overwhelming them — is exactly the direction cancer medicine has been reaching toward, and this research moves that goal meaningfully closer.
Denmark reverses the direction of an oil rig for bulk carbon storage
Denmark is moving forward with an initiative that will take huge quantities of captured carbon out to an oil rig in the North Sea, and pump it down to sequester it in the sandstone formations that once held oil and gas.
University of Houston researchers create “game-changer” vaccine for deadly street drug
In a study published in Pharmaceutics, scientists tested their vaccine on 60 rats. The immunized animals could produce antibodies that stop the deadly drug’s effects.
New blood cancer therapy successful in three-quarters of trial patients
The Phase 1/2 trial data from Janssen Research & Development covered hundreds of myeloma patients. Based on preliminary trial data, the FDA has granted it “Breakthrough Therapy” designation.
American fusion scientists claim net energy gain, in potentially huge renewables breakthrough
Fusion energy just cleared a barrier scientists have been chasing since the 1950s — producing more energy from a reaction than was needed to trigger it. Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory achieved this by blasting tiny hydrogen fuel capsules with lasers until they released roughly 20 percent more energy than the lasers delivered. The result doesn’t mean fusion power plants are imminent; enormous engineering challenges remain between this laboratory milestone and a working grid. But it does confirm that fusion’s central promise is physically real — and that gives scientists, investors, and policymakers something genuinely new to build on.
Heat pump sales are soaring around the world
Sales of the climate-friendly heating technology are set to hit record levels, especially in Europe where some countries are seeing sales double in the first half of 2022 compared with the same period last year.
World’s first solar car goes into production
Solar-powered cars have moved from moonshot idea to manufacturing reality — and that shift matters more than any single vehicle rolling off the line. Lightyear’s debut model uses curved solar arrays across its roof and hood, harvesting enough sunlight to cover up to 40 miles daily — matching most people’s actual driving habits. At $255,000, it targets early adopters, though with solar panel costs having dropped over 99% since the 1970s, wider accessibility may follow. A car that generates its own fuel from sunlight quietly answers one of the strongest critiques of electric vehicles.
Vaccine prolongs life of patients with aggressive brain cancer in new trial
Glioblastoma patients now have the most promising new treatment in nearly three decades, after a personalised vaccine more than doubled five-year survival rates in a large international trial. The vaccine works by extracting proteins from a patient’s own tumour and combining them with their white blood cells, training the immune system to recognise and destroy the cancer — with benefits seen even among those traditionally considered hardest to treat. If regulators approve it, this could signal a new era of personalised immunotherapy for cancers that have long resisted every available option.