How Portugal became the country with the most fully vaccinated people in the world. — As of September 4th, Portugal became the country with the highest share of people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in the world. Back in the winter of 2020, Portugal faced the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic surprisingly well. Despite having the second highest percentage of citizens aged over 65 in…

Singapore makes history as the first country ever to approve sales of lab-grown meat. — In the past years, several problems have been raised with the animal farming industry. To begin with, we have become increasingly aware of its large environmental impact. According to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the livestock sector is responsible for an estimate of 14.5% of human-induced greenhouse…

Greens and Socialists rejected ETS Reform Bill after it was watered down by the Right. — On June 8th, the European Parliament rejected a climate bill, which sought to reform the EU’s Emission Trading System (ETS), due to last-minute disagreements between political groups. The new bill aimed to limit the emissions produced by road transport and buildings. Established in 2005, the EU’s Emission Trading System is…

“How Bad is Ebola?” in 4 Minutes — On April 23rd, health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo declared a new Ebola outbreak in the Mbandaka city of the Equateur Province. There have been only three reported deaths so far, but already over four hundred contacts were identified and are being monitored by local responders. …

How the Iberian Lynx is clawing its way back from the brink of extinction. — In 1984, there was an outbreak of a new infectious disease among domestic rabbits in the Jiangsu Province of China. It was something never seen before; infected animals succumbed in the span of three days of the onset of fever with liver failure and internal bleeding. …

Who will be the largest lithium producer in the European Union? Mining lithium in Europe has been a controversial topic over the past few years, with the European Union pushing to expand the industry and the public fighting against it. Lithium is a soft silver metal with multiple applications, which…

How profit-seeking by pharmaceutical companies undermines science — The development of the COVID-19 vaccines is one of the most impressive scientific achievements in recent years. Unfortunately, it has been significantly undermined by corporate greed. Due to a number of successive malpractice scandals, the public image of biopharmaceutical companies has grown increasingly negative over the past few years. Among…

“It was either die or do this transplant.” — On January 7th, scientists and clinicians in Maryland, United States, performed the first successful transplant of a genetically modified pig’s heart into an adult human. David Bennett of Maryland was hospitalized late last year, at the University of Maryland Medical Center, due to a life-threatening heart arrhythmia. …

“How Bad is Omicron?” in 3 Minutes — Since Omicron was first detected in southern Africa late November — prompting widespread travel restrictions on the region —information on the new variant has been lacking. But as cases rise data grows and the the first large-scale study on Omicron has just been released. On December 14th, Discovery Health —…