Lucy Hughes, a UK-based student has developed MarinaTex, a substitute for single-use plastic, which is capable of biodegrading in six weeks. The new material has the potential to replace plastic used in bakery bags, sandwich packs and tissue boxes.

Areas of high HIV prevalence are often targeted for intense HIV control interventions, including treatment and prevention, to maximize their effect and reach the people in greatest need first. Researches now found that these ‘hotspots’, do not necessarily fuel the epidemic in the wider population.

A new technique developed by researchers at the University of Warwick uses the latest findings of Artificial Intelligence to detect hypoglycaemic events from raw ECG signals, via wearable sensors.

A disordered network that is capable of detecting ordered patterns: it sounds contradictory, but it comes close to the way our brain works. Researchers of the University of Twente developed a brain-inspired network like this. A big step forward is that is based on silicon technology and can be operated at room temperature.

With a new imaging technique researchers were able to observe single neuron in the brains of zebrafish larvae. They used this to discover how decisions unfold in a zebrafish brain.

Engineered ingestible molecular traps created from mesoporous silica particles (MSPs) introduced to the gut can have an effect on food efficiency and metabolic risk factors. The results from studies on mice, published in Nanomedicine, demonstrate the potential to reduce the energy uptake into the body and could lead to new treatments for obesity and diabetes

The Drysyn Scholar Kit from Asynt has been designed to meet the safety requirements required in academic laboratories for the heating and stirring of round bottom flasks, whilst maintaining ease of set up and use.

The Minivap Nitrogen Blowdown evaporator from Porvair Sciences is purpose designed for research and development departments where low numbers of individual microplates or vials need drying.

Instruments of the new Dyneo series from Julabo have what it takes to handle challenging temperature-control tasks. With their high heating and cooling capacities and forward-facing control, Dyneo DD units are designed for modern laboratories, the company states.

The pharmaceutical industry is mixed on the factors that will have the greatest positive impact on the industry in 2020. Patent expiry of biologics and vertical integration highlighted are as some of the key areas of interest, says data and analytics company, Global Data.