The European project PROMICON issues five policy recommendations to support a new method for the production of sustainable bioplastics from microorganisms.

Petrol-based plastics are present in many aspects of our daily lives, from clothing to food packaging. They are often left behind in the environment, where they degrade, breaking into thousands of tiny pieces that harm ecosystems and human health. While biodegradable plastics are seen as a potential solution, their production remains limited, accounting for just 1.3 million tons in 2022 compared to 400 million tons of petrol-based plastics. Many biodegradable plastics also fail to biodegrade efficiently under all environmental conditions such as soil, rivers, and oceans. In this context, researchers from the Horizon 2020 project PROMICON have developed an innovative method that leverages photosynthetic microorganisms (cyanobacteria) to produce polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) – a type of bioplastic that fully degrades in soil, water, and marine environments.

Castelló de la Plana is perceived as a safe city, according to the 1st Survey on the Perception of Safety and Victimisation. Castelló 2023 carried out by the Legal and Criminological Clinic of the Universitat Jaume I, which explains that 11.3% of the people surveyed perceive the city as a totally safe place, with a rating of five out of five, and 46.2% consider it safe with a four. The percentage of insecurity (rating of one and two) is only reported by 10.3%.

To promote the use of quantum sensors in industry, Fraunhofer IAF has developed a virtual application laboratory for quantum sensing. This innovative information platform provides comprehensive technical knowledge about quantum magnetometers, applications, and measurement scenarios. It also allows interested parties from industry and research to interactively perform sample measurements and assess the potential of this groundbreaking technology for their needs. Access is available through the website www.quantensensing.de/en.

In a paper just published in Nature Communications, researchers at the Industrial Sustainable Chemistry group of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) present a solution to the challenging problem of recycling polycotton textile waste. The process, developed in cooperation with the company Avantium, starts with fully removing all cotton from the fabric using superconcentrated hydrochloric acid at room temperature. The cotton is converted into glucose, which can be used as a feedstock for biobased products such as renewable plastics. The remaining polyester fibres can be reprocessed using available polyester recycling methods.

Imagine logging into your cryptocurrency exchange platform one morning only to find the website down, your funds gone, and no one to answer your questions. This nightmare has been a harsh reality for thousands of traders, with nearly 500 cryptocurrency exchanges having already failed. A new study from the University of Vaasa, Finland, sheds light on the risk factors in cryptocurrency exchanges and how to predict them. In his study, published in the valued Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions & Money, Assistant Professor Niranjan Sapkota analyses data from 845 cryptocurrency exchanges. He identifies identifies several key indicators including transparency, centralisation, territorial access, fee structures, coin listings, referral schemes, etc., offering valuable insights into mitigating risks in this evolving market.