mRNA Vaccine for Cancer Immunotherapy
- Chinese scientists have created a new vaccine for cancer immunotherapy that works similar to COVID-19 vaccines.
- The new mRNA vaccine activates immune system to attack a protein made by tumour cells, rather than protein made by COVID-19.
- The mRNA is contained in a hydrogel that slowly releases RNA that causes tumours to shrink and prevents them from metastasising.
- The hydrogel is a breakthrough as it allows the mRNA to remain in the body for a long enough peroid to have an effect, rather than being cleared out by the body too quickly.
My view
It is really amazing that during dark times such as the coronavirus pandemic and the research against it, can lead to the discovery of a breakthrough for something entirely different such as cancer, and many times through history it is seen that during dark times, new things and breakthroughs are often found, including inadvertently.
And as can be seen this appears to have happened once again. It has been seen to work on mice, but of course we will still need to see how effective it is on humans, where tests will not often be as effective as they were on mice, but nonetheless the treatment I believe will still be better and something new to go for in the fight against cancer. So it’s really good news.
Heart Transplant Breakthrough
- New transplant technique called ‘donation after circulatory death’ has succesfully expanded the donor pool and also increased number of transplants to children
- The technique includes a machine that keeps the heart alive after a person has died, and it allows more hearts to be used, allows transportation over longer distances, and gives surgeons and nurses more time.
- Breakthrough expected to allow big expansion in donations, reduction of post-operation complications, speed-up of recoveries, increased transplant survival rate, and save hundreds of lives.
My view
This really is like something from a futuristic syfy movie or tv show, a machine that can keep a heart alive for much longer, even allowing doctors to change settings on the machine to slow or increase the beating of the heart to keep it going. Many people would likely have doubted this would ever have been possible decades ago, but it now is a possibility and it means lots of lives will be saved as there will be more hearts for donation, as well as reduced risk factors and all.
Freshwater Fish under Threat
- Almost third of fish in rivers and lakes face extinction due to catastrophic habitat decline.
- 30% of 10,336 fish species assessed which are on the threatened species list are at-risk from extinction.
- Populations of migratory freshwater fish have declined by 76%, and 80 species have become extinct since 1970.
- Much decline in UK itself is due to poor state of habitats, none of England’s rivers met chemical standards for water quality in 2020.
- It is thought agricultural pollution, dams, and sewage are to blame. It is a similar picture globally.
- Other threats include destructive fishing practices, overfishing, impacts of climate change, wildlife crime, mining for sand in habitats, and introduction of non-native species.
- UK Government has been urged to support global recovery plan for freshwater wildlife drawn up by a team of global scientists.
My view
It’s quite scary having read this and seeing the state that freshwater fish and other species in similar habitats are facing and action should certainly be taken by all of us to try and prevent this from becoming irreversible. Wildlife is a bueatiful and precious thing that cannot be lost, and it is so important for the balace of ecosystems and food chains. If too many species of freshwater fish become extinct then it will start having knock-on effects on other animals and eventually on humans.
So it isn’t just in the interest of wildlife we should be fighting against this, although this would be moral if it were just that to still fight for it, but that it is ultimately also a human survival interest as well. Climate change is a real threat and ignoring it hastens our own eventual extinction. It also isn’t just about us, it’s about our future generations. It is important governments, organisations, businesses, and individuals do all they can to fight against climate change and threats of extinction.
Recycling, disposing of waste and rubbish correctly, implementing environmental regulations if you own a business, and much more can be done to fight climate change. And there are also lots of things you can do in your own back garden as well.
Facebook Lifts Australia News Block
- Facebook has decided to lift the news block in Australia after a week-long standoff with government.
- It comes after Australia aimed to pass legislation to make internet companies such as Facebook and Google pay publishers for news links posted on their platforms.
- Facebook argued the measures fundamentally misunderstood Facebook’s relationship with publishers who use it.
- Facebook has lifted the news ban after the Australian Government agreed to amend certain parts of the legislation.
- The legislation came from years of complaints that News companies saw decreased revenue due to practices of Facebook and Google taking large shares of advertising revenue.
- Similar legislation is being considered in countries such as the UK and Canada.
My view
This outcome really goes to show the power that Big Tech companies have if they strongly disagree with government legislation that may heavily impact them and it is both scary and quite dystopian that Facebook went as far as to block news content on its social media as the row deepened, which forced the hand of the Australian government to make a compromise.
I would say that the news block by Facebook went too far, and in many aspects it did, but at the same time it seems to have worked and luckily was resolved in a relatively short period of time, but it is yet more evidence of the growing divide between government and powerful internet conglomerates.
I myself certainly do not like anything to become too large or too powerful, or take up too much of something to the degree that other competition is either severely limited or outright bought out. I do think there needs to be more rules against large conglomerates such as the Big Tech companies, and I think breaking up conglomerates that become too large should also be considered.
At the same time though I also understand that this wasn’t just Big Tech. The large media corporations have their own self interests in being paid as well and such large media corps themselves are very powerful and influential. Anything that becomes too large and too powerful is a worry, as it can begin to impact certain freedoms and fair competition, and limits alternatives.
I am not entirely against media being paid for their content to be displayed on large social media platforms, but it obviously needs to be done in a way where it is fair to both sides and where it doesn’t just favour large corporations, but also other smaller publishers as well should be given a degree of visible priority to help promote competition.
I can see many more of these showdowns coming about in the future and it is important that power and influence on all sides are limited to a fair degree, but how this will happen and when is the big question, the world is a large place and it will likely take a global approach to solve the problem.
We don’t want government to have too much control over Big Tech as that can be detrimental to freedoms and privacy, but we also don’t want Big Tech’s power to go to their heads and completely eliminate any other competition out there. As always there needs to be a balance, too much one way or the other is a bad thing, and that’s what makes it so hard as there are so many different perspectives, views, and arguments over what balance truly is.
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