GoKawiilA sand battery can keep Pornainen, Finland, toasty for up to a week in winter. Plus, UK physics facilities face a funding threat and examine MAHA health claims under the microscope.
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Amid overhauls to UK public research funding, physics facilities run by the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) have been told to obtain commercial funding to continue their operations, or risk closure. The UK government’s funding plan sees STFC’s core budget remain flat up to 2030, but with cuts to the funding of individual institutions within that to free up money for the rising costs, such as grants, for postdoctoral researchers. STFC has received a one-off injection of £135 million to enable facilities to stay open long enough to find extra income to cover the shortfalls. Among the sites at risk looks to be the UK’s Jodrell Bank Observatory and its iconic Lovell radio telescope.
Nature | 7 min read & Research Professional News
An unusual CRISPR enzyme can cause cancer cells to self-destruct by shredding their DNA. The protein — Cas12a2, a variant of the usual Cas protein found in CRISPR systems — can be ‘trained’ to recognize a specific RNA sequence made by cancer cells. Once the enzyme finds its partner, it begins to slash the cell’s genome to pieces. Researchers hope that this seek-and-destroy approach could be used to kill tumours that express mutant proteins that have been difficult to target using conventional medicines. “This is basically a programmable chemotherapy,” says molecular biologist Yang Liu.
Nature | 6 min read
Reference: Nature paper 1 & paper 2
The small town of Pornainen, in Finland, is now heated by the world’s largest commercial ‘sand battery’ — in this case, a 13-metre-tall silo filled with 2,000 tonnes of crushed soapstone. The battery is warmed up with electricity that is generated by renewable sources when they are plentiful. A full charge of the battery could heat the town for a week in winter or up to a month in summer. “You don’t need rare earths, critical raw materials and the beauty is you can also charge up the battery when the electricity is cheap,” says energy-policy researcher Jan Rosenow. “And you can store it for long periods, not just two hours or four hours like lithium-ion batteries, but potentially for days and maybe even weeks.”
CNBC | 9 min read
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