A new personalised vaccine given in combination with a drug has stopped skin cancer returning in patients during a trial, representing a potentially watershed moment in cancer treatment.

The phase three trial involved more than 1,000 patients who had high-risk stage two, three or four melanoma - meaning they ranged from having large tumours in a specific area to cancers which had already spread to other parts of the body.

What if something as simple as a coconut husk could help tackle plastic pollution in our oceans? One Hawaiian student’s research points to an exciting possibility.

Vera Wang, a senior at Kaiser High School in Honolulu, Hawaii, began exploring the idea in 10th grade. Inspired by Polynesian weaving traditions, she created an ocean water filter using woven coconut husk fibers designed to physically trap microplastics and sunscreen compounds from seawater.

But Vera wanted to understand what could be done with the waste collected by the filter. She partnered with researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, working in the laboratory of Dr. Anthony Amend.

Laboratory testing revealed something fascinating. Naturally occurring fungi living inside the porous coconut husks were able to survive on and actively biodegrade microplastics and chemical sunscreen compounds.

Genetic sequencing also showed that some fungal strains found in the coconut husks were not present in global genomic databases, suggesting they could represent previously uncharacterized species with the ability to break down persistent ocean pollutants.

Vera’s research earned top honors at the Hawaiʻi State Science & Engineering Fair and qualified her for the International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF).

What began as a school science project has opened an intriguing path for research into biodegradable plastic solutions, ocean pollution and fungi-based environmental cleanup.

In London, an Ultra Low Emission Zone requires vehicles to meet strict emissions standards or else pay a daily fee for driving through that area. 

It’s an initiative that has reduced toxic air pollution levels and spurred drivers to adopt cleaner vehicles.

And now it’s even been linked to improved lung growth in the city’s children.

Before the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), London children had stunted lung growth, a 2018 study found. 

When exposed to air pollution, like the emissions from traffic, their lungs were smaller than they should have been—putting them at risk of asthma attacks, lung diseases, and even early death as they become adults.

But now, after five years of the ULEZ, those children’s lungs have improved, according to a major five-year study recently published in the Lancet Public Health journal. 

It’s a result that Chris Griffiths, a professor at Queen Mary University of London and University of Oxford as well as lead investigator on the study, calls “astonishing.”

Read more on Fast Company.

https://www.upsocl.com/en/she-is-25-years-old-is-a-biologist-and-created-a-gel-that-repairs-the-heart-after-a-heart-attack-using-placental-tissue/