Joanna Roberts

Five things you need to know about: mRNA vaccines

April 1, 2020 by Joanna Roberts

According to Prof. Bekeredjian-Ding, an approved mRNA coronavirus vaccine would be easier and faster to produce and thus deploy worldwide than a conventional vaccine. Image credit - Unsplash/Liliya Lisa

The race for a vaccine against the novel coronavirus, or SARS-CoV-2, is on, with 54 different vaccines under development, two of which are already being tested in humans, according to the World Health Organization. And among the different candidates is a new player on the scene – mRNA vaccines. One mRNA vaccine developed by US company … Read more

Q&A: To protect the Atlantic, we first need to understand it

February 6, 2020 by Joanna Roberts

The open ocean is outside national jurisdictions so researchers are working internationally to understand the health of the ecosystem and how to protect it. Image credit - Pxfuel/licensed under CC0

The Atlantic Ocean is under threat from fishing, fossil fuel extraction and deep-sea mining, and the onus should be on these industries to prove that their exploitation is sustainable rather than requiring scientists to come up with reasons to protect it, says Professor J Murray Roberts, a marine biologist at the University of Edinburgh, UK. … Read more

Basic research to world-changing applications can take 6 months – or 50 years

September 26, 2019 by Joanna Roberts

The science that made smartphones possible was done in the 1940s and 1950s. Image credit - Pixabay/ 7721622, licensed under Pixabay license

All technology and innovation have a science base but to get there requires patience, as the journey from curiosity-driven basic research to a world-changing technology can take six months or 50 years, a panel of Nobel and Kavli prize laureates has said. Professor Ben Feringa, who won a Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2016 for his … Read more

‘The biggest threat to our oceans is that we’ve taken them for granted’

September 25, 2019 by Joanna Roberts

There is still uncertainty around the knock-on effects of abrupt ocean changes. Image credit - Pixnio, CC0

‘The biggest threat to our oceans is that we’ve taken them for granted’ IPCC report and oceans take centre stage at EU research event in Brussels. by Joanna Roberts People need to be persuaded that the ocean is not a problem or dangerous for humans, but that we are a problem for the oceans, according to former … Read more

‘I would like people to panic’ – Top scientist unveils equation showing world in climate emergency

September 24, 2019 by Joanna Roberts

‘As Greta Thunberg would say, I would like people to panic and take action,' said Prof. Schellnhuber. Image credit - PlanetMallika/ Pixabay

A new equation showing that the world is ‘deep in a climate emergency’ was unveiled on 24 September by Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, one of the world’s leading authorities on climate change, who said that people still don’t want to see the truth about the state we’re in. ‘Based on sober scientific analysis, we are … Read more

Shoe-mounted laser to ‘unfreeze’ people with Parkinson’s scoops €1 million prize

September 24, 2019 by Joanna Roberts

Having an external visual cue such as a line has been shown to reduce the number of freezing episodes in Parkinson's patients. Image credit - Walk With Path

A shoe-mounted laser beam that helps people with Parkinson’s disease ‘unfreeze’ by shining a green line in front of their feet has been awarded the EU’s €1 million Horizon Prize for Social Innovation. The Path Finder device was invented in 2014 by Danish entrepreneur Lise Pape, whose father suffers from Parkinson’s disease. It aims to help people overcome … Read more