Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu has created ColdHubs, food-storage rooms entirely powered by solar energy, to reduce food spoilage due to the lack of cold storage along Nigeria’s food supply chain. Over 80 million Nigerians face food insecurity, while the country loses and wastes around 40% of its produced food annually. Food waste contributes up to 10% of global greenhouse-gas emissions, which ColdHubs aims to reduce. The service costs around 25 cents per day for farmers and retailers to store a crate of produce, keeping it fresh for up to 21 days. Ikegwuonu created the solution to have social as well as environmental impacts, creating 66 jobs for women, empowering and changing them into agents of change within their households and communities. With 54 ColdHubs in 22 Nigerian states, Ikegwuonu has been able to store 42,042 tons of food, which would have otherwise been thrown away or sold at ridiculous prices, and sign up 5,250 smallholder farmers, retailers, and wholesalers to use the service. The dream is to expand the technology and service to other African countries facing the same food spoilage challenges.

I experienced something strange yesterday. Watching a movie in my room, I heard a noise from downstairs. Nobody but me was in my house. Turning off the movie, I went to the door and yelled, “Hello?” No answer. I went downstairs. Suddenly, I felt cold. I looked up and saw something huge and black moving in the living room! Very scared, I quickly turned the light on. It was already gone. Was it a ghost…?

The COVID-19 vaccine utilizes mRNA, a strand of genetic material that instructs cells to make proteins and prompts the immune system to create antibodies to fight the virus. This technology has the potential to revolutionize medicine, as it can be used to create vaccines for other diseases like cytomegalovirus, rabies, and even cancer.

mRNA flu vaccines could shorten the development timeline to about a month. Pfizer is relying on mRNA’s agility to fight potential new variants of the coronavirus and hopes to develop and provide a new vaccine within three months of each variant’s appearance. The goal is to turn our bodies into vaccine-making machines, allowing us to fight off diseases with our own immune systems.

mRNA technology is versatile and highly specific, making it a promising tool in the fight against cancer. The moment of creating the COVID-19 vaccine was described as a moonshot, an ordinary and extraordinary moment that has the potential to impact medicine for years to come.

Pink Tag and her family, a group of Eurasian beavers, are some of the first wild beavers to live in England in around 400 years.

Beavers were historically hunted for their pelts, but people didn’t realize the vital role they play in regulating water flow, increasing biodiversity, and reducing pollution. Beavers build dams and canals that help them escape from predators and also slow water flow, reducing floods downstream in wet seasons and droughts during dry seasons.

Experts warn that areas like Devon are expected to see more flooding as the climate crisis worsens. However, a recent study in England showed that beaver dams can reduce average floodwaters by up to 60%. The Devon Wildlife Trust is behind reintroducing beavers to Devon, and their effect on the River Otter basin has been dramatic, with a huge increase in biodiversity.

While beavers can cause trouble by waterlogging farmland and eating orchard trees, they are a significant benefit overall, and nations across Europe are working to restore them to their original range.

The critical shortage of silicon-based semiconductors, known as “Chipageddon”, is affecting the auto sector as top chip makers shifted capacity to gadget makers due to the pandemic’s impact on auto sales. This shortage could result in the loss of one million cars in the coming months, leading to about $20 billion to $30 billion in lost revenue.

Automakers such as Subaru, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Ford, and GM have been cutting production due to the chip crunch. This crisis could delay the global recovery in the auto sector, prompting US senators to urge the White House to take action.

To resolve the shortage, the US is working with Taiwan, home to TSMC, the world’s largest contract chip maker. TSMC is reallocating its wafer capacity to support the worldwide automotive industry, but Samsung Electronics warns that the shortage could hit smartphones.

Experts suggest buying now if the item is in stock or waiting three to six months for availability. The shortage of a tiny piece of silicon is causing huge ripple effects across tech, auto manufacturing, and the global economy.