NEWSROOM
Toddler has hearing restored in groundbreaking gene therapy trial
An 18-month-old girl has had her hearing restored following a surgery that lasted just 16 minutes. Opal Sandy from Oxfordshire, UK was born with auditory neuropathy, which disrupts nerve impulses from the ear to the brain, leaving her completely unable to hear. Following her treatment at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, however, she now has near-perfect hearing. The surgery sends a working copy of the faulty gene into the ear, restarting the production of otoferlin, a protein that enables communication between the ear and the hearing nerve. The treatment is now being rolled out in further trials in the UK, Spain and US over the next five years.
National Trust announces mass-planting scheme in bid to save rare UK butterfly
The small pearl-bordered fritillary once dotted the UK countryside. Now, it has been officially classed as vulnerable and faces extinction following a population decrease of 71% since the mid-1970s. The National Trust is on an urgent mission to reverse this trend with a mass-planting project across the Shropshire hills. The scheme will see 20,000 marsh violets planted over the coming year, providing key areas in which the butterflies can lay their eggs. Until the 1950s, populations were helped by the practice of coppicing – felling trees to provide areas in which marsh violets can grow. The scheme hopes to see eggs hatched by next summer at the latest, with other rare species of butterfly also expected to thrive in the new ecosystem.
World’s biggest carbon capture plant opens
A giant carbon-capture machine is turning CO2 into rock. Swiss firm Climeworks has turned on the world’s largest direct air capture and storage unit, following on from the success of Orca, the previous iteration of the project. The new plant – named Mammoth – is ten times bigger and is designed for a capture capacity of 36,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. Climeworks uses renewable energy in its capture process, provided by geothermal company ON Power. Captured CO2 will be transported underground by Carbfix, where it will react with basalt to transform into stone. Speaking to Edie, Climeworks co-founder and co-CEO Dr. Jan Wurzbacher explained the company’s ambitions to reach megaton capacity in 2030, and gigaton by 2050. Climeworks plans to expand the technology globally, and is currently exploring sites in Kenya, Norway and Canada.
AstraZeneca calls time on COVID-19 vaccine after three billion doses worldwide
Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has announced the withdrawal of its highly successful Vaxzevria vaccine, as an expanding repertoire of vaccines has led to a decline in demand. Since the first dose was administered in the UK on 4 January 2021, in the height of the pandemic, Vaxzevria been administered over three billion times – saving an estimated 6.3 million lives in the first year of use. However, as newer, more sophisticated mRNA vaccines have been developed, the company hasn’t made a profit on the product since April 2023. Despite many lives saved, and an estimated $4 billion of profit generated in the first year of deployment, Vaxzeveria leaves behind a complex legacy: AstraZeneca is currently facing a group action lawsuit from 51 claimants who report injuries allegedly caused by the vaccine.
Ways to change the world every week
