Optimistic Observer 06/13/24
By Capital Investment Counsel - June 13, 2024
Magical material: Meet Galvorn. A material that is stronger than steel, lighter than aluminum, and has the conductivity of copper. The creator of Galvorn is a company called DexMat, is a Houston-based carbon nanotube startup born at Rice University with $20 million in funding grants from the US Air Force, Department of Energy, NASA and others. The company claims its material, called Galvorn, has the potential to "displace" three gigatons of industrial carbon dioxide emissions annually not only by supporting clean energy additions to the grid but also by reducing the production impact of steel, aluminum and Kevlar. Galvorn is made as tape, yarn, thread, or mesh, among other forms. Potential uses are "lighter and faster vehicles, lighter wind-turbine blades, and higher conductivity in batteries to improve renewable power storage are all advantages Galvorn is set to realize, GreenBiz reports. It is already being used to help de-ice plane wings." Read more here here and here.
Incredible global progress on water, sanitation, and hygiene.
Last week the WHO and UNICEF released a new report on global access to drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene in schools. You need to dig a little - but around halfway through they reveal that between 2015 and 2023, global access to clean drinking water in schools increased from 66% to 77%, basic sanitation increased from 68% to 78%, and basic hygiene rose from 58% to 67%.
This is a staggering achievement. In actual numbers, it means that well over 200 million schoolchildren have gained access to improved water, sanitation, or hygiene services in the last eight years, a period of time which includes the severe disruptions of the pandemic. Read more here and here.
Gene editing your way to lower cholesterol: "For the first time, researchers have produced evidence that gene-editing can cut high cholesterol, a major risk factor for the nation's leading killer. Preliminary results from a study involving 10 patients born with a genetic condition that causes very high cholesterol found that editing a gene inside the liver can significantly reduce levels of 'bad cholesterol.' The experimental treatment needs to be tested on more patients who would be followed for much longer to confirm the approach is safe and effective. But the results are being hailed as a potential landmark proof-of-concept that could eventually provide a powerful new way to prevent heart attacks and strokes." Read more here and here.
Breakthrough allergy drug: For the first time, an asthma drug has been shown to protect people from severe reactions if they ingest a small amount of a food they’re allergic to.
"In a study reported on 25 February in The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers tested a drug called omalizumab in 3 adults and 177 children aged between one and 17 who were severely allergic to peanuts and at least two other foods. After about four months of treatment, 67% of those who received the drug were able to ingest the equivalent of two or three peanuts without it causing a significant reaction, compared with just 7% of those who received a placebo. Omalizumab seemed to be similarly effective at raising participants’ tolerance to other foods they were allergic to, including cashews, milk and eggs.” Read more here.
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