transform | Common News Update

Feb182021 by adminNo Comments

Smart materials could ‘transform our lives’

Science

SPLImagine concrete bridges that can heal cracks without human intervention, or tiny machines that can be injected into the body to treat disease.These are just two applications for a category of smart materials that change and adapt to their environment.Inspired by living things, they have the potential to transform the way we live, according to a new report.But they might also need regulation to avoid unintended consequences, says the document from the UK's Royal Society.Some "animate" materials are already here: self-repairing paint and concrete that can patch itself up have made it into commercial products. But more applications are on their way."This is a really important century for us. We are going from an inanimate view of materials, where we make them, they are sophisticated but t...

Jul312020 by adminNo Comments

Army culture, strategy need to transform for 21st century, Gen. James McConville says

Business

The Army is fighting institutionalized racism and needs to see troops as individuals with distinct experiences instead of as a homogeneous unit, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville said Friday. The Army doesn't have a problem with diversity, but inclusion, McConville said at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event. Advertisement The service branch is already relatively diverse -- the Army is 39% minority, while only 24% of the country is minority. But diversity drops off in higher ranks; 71% of officers are white. In addition to the Army's overt efforts to combat racism, such as effectively banning Confederate flags, promotion boards no longer see photos of candidates to prevent implicit bias, he said. The Air Force has also been discussing race and diversity this su...

Apr32020 by adminNo Comments

Coronavirus will transform UK work and travel, says AA

Science

The aftermath of the Covid-19 crisis will transform the way we live, work and travel in the UK, the AA says.It predicts a permanent reduction in the demand for travel because people have learned during the crisis to use home-working technology. The implications are profound for commuters and for government finances.The chancellor currently plans to spend £27bn to curb congestion on roads and £100bn on HS2 – but if demand falls, that may not be needed.AA President Edmund King says anecdotal evidence from people lucky enough to be working during the coronavirus-enforced lockdown suggests that infrastructure funds might be better spent on broadband to support home working. What if your job is bad for the planet? HS2 costs 'got carri...

Feb52020 by adminNo Comments

Landmark study to transform cancer treatment

Health

More than a thousand scientists have built the most detailed picture of cancer ever in a landmark study. They said cancer was like a 100,000-piece jigsaw, and that until today, 99% of the pieces were missing. Their studies, published in the journal Nature, provide an almost complete picture of all cancers.They could allow treatment to be tailored to each patient's unique tumour, or develop ways of finding cancer earlier.The Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Consortium analysed the whole genetic code of 2,658 cancers.The 1%A cancer is a corrupted version of our own healthy cells - mutations to our DNA change our cells until eventually they grow and divide uncontrollably. Most of our understanding of this process comes from the sets of genetic instruct...

Nov12019 by adminNo Comments

Climate policies ‘will transform UK landscape’

Science

Britain's countryside will be transformed by policies to combat climate change, the government's former chief environment scientist says.Professor Sir Ian Boyd said climate policies after Brexit will alter the landscape more than most people expect.There will be many more trees and hedges but far fewer grazing animals as people eat less red meat, he said.The farmers' union, the NFU, rejected his analysis and forecast that there may be more grazing animals, not fewer.It said the UK's well-watered pastures are ideal for producing low-carbon livestock and exporting it to places where growing conditions are less favourable.This is the first public eruption of a long-running conflict between Professor Boyd, the former adviser to the Department for Environment,...