Last year marked a “turning point in the history of energy” as the world received more than 30% of its electricity from renewable sources, according to climate thinktank Ember. The share of renewables was sufficient to allow “a new era of falling power sector emissions”. Global demand for electricity rose last year, however, this was more than offset by new wind and solar installations, led by China. Ember’s Dave Jones said that while solar power was expanding faster than expected, countries such as the UK needed to maintain renewables targets.
Gene therapy has restored the hearing of a girl who was born deaf. Oxfordshire-based Opal Sandy has a genetic condition called auditory neuropathy, associated with a variation in the OTOF gene which produces otoferlin, an essential protein for communication between ear hair cells and the hearing nerve. Opal is the first patient to be treated in a global gene therapy trial expected to provide an era of gene therapies for the inner ear and hearing loss, according to trial leader, Prof Manohar Bance. Opal’s mother, Jo Sandy, said that when her daughter first heard unaided “it was mind-blowing – we were so happy”.
Pioneering oral immunotherapy trials in the UK are “transforming” the lives of children with milk and peanut allergies, according to Prof Hasan Arshad of the University of Southampton. The £2.5m trial is using everyday food products in strictly controlled daily doses to build up resistance to allergens, with early results already seeing increased tolerance to previously dangerous foods. The aim of the trial is for sufferers to be able to eat foods they have had to avoid, and to reduce the need for adrenaline injections caused by accidental exposure to allergens.
A “lifechanging” daily pill has been approved by the UK’s health watchdog, NHS England, for people with sickle cell disease. The treatment, Voxelotor, reduces disease symptoms and the need for blood transfusions for those with the condition. Many of the 17,000 people living with sickle cell disease in England are of Caribbean or African heritage. The approval was called “great news” by Helen Knight, Director of Medicines Evaluation at National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
For the second time, the UK government’s climate plan has been ruled inadequate by the High Court. The latest ruling means that the government is obliged to deliver stronger measures to reduce greenhouse emissions. Climate campaigners Friends of the Earth, the Good Law Project and Client Earth, brought the case, which demonstrates the force of the Climate Change Act, created in 2008 to hold governments to account. Client Earth’s Sam Hunter Jones said that with the crisis came the “golden opportunity” for government to take actions that would reduce emissions, create jobs, improve services and lower household bills
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