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A factory will soon start making green food from air and electricity

28 December 2022

Solar Foods will grow bacteria using carbon dioxide from the air and hydrogen produced by renewable energy, a process more efficient than growing plants

People queue up to receive the Medigen and Moderna vaccines for the Covid-19 coronavirus at Taipei's main train station on April 29, 2022. (Photo by Sam Yeh / AFP) (Photo by SAM YEH/AFP via Getty Images)

Why we probably won't get new covid-19 vaccines in 2023

28 December 2022

Any new covid-19 vaccine must be better than the ones we already have, setting a high bar for approval that is not expected to be met in 2023

SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant. Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM). Here the delta variant is shown budding (cyan dots) from an apoptotic Caco-2 human gut epithelial cell 24 hours after infection. SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant took over globally from the alpha variant in 2021. The delta variant has evolved to better replicate in its new human host allowing it to spread between people more efficiently. The coronaviruses take their name from their crown (corona) of surface proteins, which are used to attach and penetrate their host cells. As of mid-September 2021 226, 130, 821 cases and 4, 653, 230 deaths have been recorded world- wide. Magnification x 8000 at 10cm wide. Specimen courtesy of Greg Towers, UCL

2022 preview: What will the coronavirus do next?

29 December 2021

The coronavirus will continue to evolve and could trigger further waves of infections, requiring more vaccinations and boosters

MARBURG, GERMANY - MARCH 29: Employees in special suits test the procedures for the manufacturing of the messenger RNA (mRNA) for the Covid-19 vaccine in German company BioNTech, in Marburg, Germany on March 29, 2021. BioNTech Marburg's coronavirus vaccine production target will be 2.5 billion doses for 2021, up from 2.3 billion as it is considered as one of the largest manufacturing facilities producing mRNA vaccines in the world. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was developed by Ozlem Tureci and Ugur Sahin, a couple who are children of Turkish immigrants in Germany. (Photo by Abdulhamid Hosbas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

2022 preview: mRNA tech behind covid-19 vaccines could get new uses

29 December 2021

Once seen as experimental, the mRNA tech that has enabled us to quickly develop covid-19 vaccines could also be used to tackle other stubborn diseases