Sponsored – latest in science and technology | èƵ /subject/sponsored/ Science news and science articles from èƵ Sun, 12 Jul 2026 11:45:34 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.1 242057827 Inside the science of making medicines pure /article/2533063-inside-the-science-of-making-medicines-pure/?utm_campaign=RSS|NSNS&utm_content=sponsored&utm_medium=RSS&utm_source=NSNS Thu, 09 Jul 2026 00:00:14 +0000 /?post_type=article&p=2533063 Transparent blue water wave with bubbles on white background
Drugs like monoclonal antibodies are becoming more sophisticated — and harder to purify
JULICHKA/ISTOCK

Inside the bodies of a growing number of cancer patients, a remarkable feat of pharmaceutical ingenuity is playing out: an injection of an engineered antibody that targets two different fronts at once — a feat no natural antibody can achieve.

With one of its molecular arms, the engineered antibody seizes a cancer cell and with the other, an immune cell called a killer T cell. By hauling the two together, the antibody allows the T cell to destroy the cancer cell. But without this forced union, the killer T cell would have missed the cancer cell altogether. Such molecules, known as bispecific antibodies, are transforming cancer treatment. Their dual-targeting powers bring enhanced precision, reduced side-effects and the ability to circumvent cancer’s famously inventive resistance mechanisms. They are now being trained on other complex conditions such as autoimmune disease.

Bispecific antibodies are just one of a new generation of protein-based drugs, or biologics, that are shaping the future of precision medicine. èƵs are aiming for ever-more complex therapeutic targets, with a broader range of drug types. For example, trispecific antibodies that can bind to three antigens are in the works, as well as more sophisticated versions of single-target monoclonal antibodies, which have been in clinical use for decades. With AI helping to generate more options, drug candidates are flooding the pipeline.

However, this vast increase in drug candidate diversity has exposed a critical bottleneck: manufacturing technology hasn’t kept up. “Downstream development, manufacturing and some analytical workflows are not scaling at the same rate as what’s happening in discovery,” says Paul Belcher, business leader at global life sciences company Cytiva. “And that is creating bottlenecks.”

In the long and tortuous path from drug candidate to the clinic, a key stumbling block is purification—separating the active ingredient from the environment in which it is made. Unlike “small molecule” drugs, which are wholly or partly synthesised by chemists, biologics are made in living cells, meaning they have to be extracted from a complex mixture of other biomolecules. What’s more, biologics are large and complex molecules, and must retain their intricate three-dimensional structure to work correctly, without unravelling or clumping together. “This requires an expanded toolbox of purification tools,” says Belcher. And companies are finding that purification considerations must be built into their drug discovery process early on.

Increasing complexity

The stakes are high. Fewer than 1 in 10,000 new drug candidates ever make it to the clinic, says Belcher, a statistic that is worsening as researchers train their sights on increasingly complicated targets. These candidates can fail or be delayed for numerous reasons and purification problems are a growing concern. That means biopharma companies risk losing out on a booming sector that is currently showing double-digit annual growth, says Henrik Ihre, distinguished fellow at Cytiva. For patients, it means missing out on potentially transformative new treatments.

Although purification methods exist for “classic” biologics such as monoclonal antibodies, these may not work well for the new generation of biologics, each of which demands a different approach. “People don’t always know how to make the new molecules,” says Ihre. And this often means there is no obvious way to purify them.

The sheer number of new candidates is an issue too. “There are so many that enter the development pipelines each week that companies have a hard time keeping up with developing purification protocols that purify the molecules well enough to do clinical testing,” says Ihre.

Most biologics are purified using chromatography, where molecules are separated based on properties such as size, charge, hydrophobicity or binding affinity. In many cases, this involves a chromatography resin—a material made up of porous beads functionalised with ligands that selectively bind to impurities or to the target molecule before it is released in a later step.

Shared structures

Over the past 20 years, Cytiva has developed 45 resins for purifying new biologics. The ligands on these resins are usually off-the-shelf molecules because, although each biologic is different, it usually belongs to a class of molecules that have key features in common. These can be targets for resin ligands. Classic monoclonal antibodies, for example, share a structure known as the Fc domain, which is targeted by conventional protein A resins. But monoclonal antibodies are getting more varied and complex — some no longer have an Fc domain — and this has transformed purification. “So we need to come up with new resins,” says Ihre.

A monoclonal antibody (mAb, more rarely called moAb) is an antibody produced from a cell lineage made by cloning a unique white blood cell. All subsequent antibodies derived this way trace back to a unique parent cell.
A monoclonal antibody (mAb, more rarely called moAb) is an antibody produced from a cell lineage made by cloning a unique white blood cell. All subsequent antibodies derived this way trace back to a unique parent cell.
NEMES LASZLO/ISTOCK

Successful purification means knowing your molecule like the back of your hand, says Ihre. This includes its size, form, 3D shape, hydrophobicity, and whether there are any regions that a resin ligand could bind to. “If you don’t understand your target molecule, your likelihood of being able to manufacture it and purify it will be very low,” he adds. Newer approaches can also have more liabilities, such as being aggregation prone, acidic and temperature sensitive.

That’s why planning ahead is so important – because it reveals which molecules are likely to be hard to purify. “We need to identify these liabilities as early as possible,” says Belcher. This allows companies to reduce the risk of failure as early as possible in the drug development process.

Another key consideration is to have purification processes that work at scale. Paradoxically, approaches that work in the lab don’t always translate to large-scale manufacture. For example, size exclusion chromatagraphy is still used in drugdiscovery but rarely in manufacturing because of its low capacity and slow throughput. Some issues are cost and productivity: a new technique could be scalable in theory, but in practice is too expensive or inefficient, says Ihre.

Purification technology

In a field where scientific innovation is accelerating rapidly, success depends not only on discovering new molecules but on understanding how they can be developed, purified and produced at scale. That requires expertise across the full development journey—from early discovery insights through to manufacturing realities.

By anticipating purification challenges earlier and designing molecules with production in mind, researchers and developers can reduce risk, improve scalability and bring therapies to patients faster. For companies working at the intersection of discovery and manufacturing, closing this gap is becoming essential to turning scientific breakthroughs into real-world impact.

For more about Cytiva visit:

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Dementia: Everything you need to know now /article/2525698-dementia-everything-you-need-to-know-now/?utm_campaign=RSS|NSNS&utm_content=sponsored&utm_medium=RSS&utm_source=NSNS Thu, 14 May 2026 07:28:48 +0000 /?post_type=article&p=2525698 A woman looking for something under a bed

How can I tell the difference between normal age-related forgetfulness and something more serious?

Misplacing your keys or struggling to recall a name — these are frustrations most of us encounter as we age. But when does forgetfulness suggest something more serious, such as dementia? Understanding this difference can be reassuring and life-changing. As we get older, small memory lapses become more common. This is normal and not a cause for alarm. Dementia, on the other hand, is a progressive brain disease that goes far beyond everyday forgetfulness and can affect a person’s independence. The main difference lies in whether memory difficulties disrupt daily life. Dr Tim Beanland, Head of Knowledge and Learning at Alzheimer’s Society, explains: “With normal ageing, you might forget whether you parked in row C or D. With dementia, you might forget whether you drove or took the bus. It’s that kind of difference.” Misplacing your phone is a nuisance. Forgetting that you own one or being unable to retrace your steps to find it, may signal something more serious. Normal age-related memory changes tend to be minor and isolated, whereas dementia affects many areas of cognition and worsens over time. Seeking advice If you’re worried about your own memory or that of a loved one, don’t ignore the signs, says Dr Beanland. “Dementia is a disease of the brain. It’s much more serious.” Spotting disruptions early and seeking advice can make a real difference to outcomes and quality of life. A graphic of a brain with cogs coming out the back

What is the difference between Alzheimer’s and dementia?

The terms “Alzheimer’s” and “dementia” are often used interchangeably, but they aren’t the same. Knowing the distinction can help people and their families make sense of a diagnosis and know what to expect. Multiple diseases Dementia is not a single disease — it is an umbrella term for a range of conditions that affect memory and other cognitive functions severely enough to interfere with daily life. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia, but it is far from the only one. According to Dr Beanland, the relationship between the two is straightforward: “Alzheimer’s is just the most common cause of dementia — it’s about two thirds of cases.” Its hallmark is memory loss, which typically appears as an early symptom. Planning ahead Beyond Alzheimer’s, other forms of dementia include vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, and frontotemporal dementia. As Dr Beanland explains, “Symptoms with these are not always with memory — they can involve problems with mood or movement, planning ahead and organising language.” This is why an accurate diagnosis matters: the type of dementia shapes a person’s experience and the support they may need. A close up of an older person's hand holding a baby's hand

Is dementia hereditary?

A diagnosis of dementia in a parent or grandparent can raise an unsettling question: could the same thing happen to me? It’s a common concern — and the answer is more reassuring than many expect. Dementia is not inherited in the simple way some other conditions are. While genetics can play a role, the link between family history and dementia risk is nuanced and largely within your control. Most dementia cases have no direct genetic cause. Fewer than 1 per cent are passed down directly from parent to child. Some people have “risk genes” — variants that can increase your likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s disease, but there is no certainty. Dr Beanland, explains: “Risk genes, if you’ve got them, increase your chance of getting something like Alzheimer’s — but it’s not a guarantee.” Lifestyle and environment play a big role in shaping your risk. Regular activity, healthy diet, not smoking and staying socially engaged can all reduce the likelihood of developing dementia. Family history “There’s a lot you can do to reduce your risk of dementia, even if you’ve got those risk genes,” says Dr Beanland. While family history is worth being aware of, having a parent with dementia doesn’t mean that you’ll get it. How we live matters more than our genes alone. Graphic of head shaped tree with leaves blowing away at the back

Are memory problems always a symptom of dementia?

Memory loss is widely seen as the defining sign of dementia — but the reality is more nuanced. While problems with memory are often the first and most prominent symptom, they don’t tell the whole story. Dementia is not a single condition. It is an umbrella term for different diseases, each affecting the brain in distinct ways. Understanding those differences matters, because the symptoms and experience can vary greatly. Early signs In Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form, short-term memory loss is typically the earliest sign. “You might be told something and not remember it three minutes later,” explains Dr Beanland. Even in Alzheimer’s, memory is not the only issue — difficulties with planning, organising, language and concentration are also common. Other forms of dementia may not even centre on memory problems. Vascular dementia often affects executive function first — the ability to plan and think ahead. Dementia with Lewy bodies can present with visual hallucinations, disrupted sleep or problems with balance. Frontotemporal dementia, which tends to affect younger people, often shows up as changes in behaviour or difficulty regulating emotions, with memory relatively intact early on. This is why recognising the full spectrum of dementia symptoms is important. A change in personality, unexplained falls or difficulties following a conversation can all be early warning signs — even when memory seems fine. Person looking at an x-ray of brains

Are blood tests available to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease?

An early and accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease typically relies on brain scans and other tests that can be expensive and time-consuming. But a simpler, faster alternative may be on the horizon, potentially enabling earlier intervention and better outcomes. Finger-prick test Blood-based biomarkers – measurable substances in the blood linked to Alzheimer’s – have emerged as a promising tool for diagnosing the disease. A simple blood sample, or even a finger-prick test, could one day replace costly imaging, making diagnosis more accessible for patients and healthcare systems alike. So where do things stand? Blood tests for Alzheimer’s are currently available – but only within for research. Dr Beanland, explains: “In research studies, we can take a blood sample and use that to help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease.” Ongoing research But the test is not yet available through the NHS. Bringing blood-based diagnostics into routine clinical use is a key research goal. Alzheimer’s Society is co-funding studies to determine whether these tests can be introduced into standard NHS care. Dr Beanland is cautiously optimistic: “Watch out for this – it might be coming in the next few years.” Graphic of a brain with a jigsaw piece missing and drugs capsules scattered about

What new treatments are on the horizon?

For the first time in two decades, there is genuine cause for optimism about new treatments for dementia. A wave of scientific progress is transforming what’s possible — and for people living with Alzheimer’s, the outlook is more hopeful than it has been in a generation. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, caused in part by a build-up of a protein called amyloid in the brain. Until recently, no drug had been shown to meaningfully slow this process. That has now changed. Amyloid stripping Two new drugs — lecanemab and donanemab — work by stripping amyloid from the brain. In clinical trials, both have been shown to have a modest clinical benefit by delaying the progression of symptoms by around four to six months. Dr Beanland, describes it as a landmark moment: “It’s a really exciting time for dementia treatments, particularly for Alzheimer’s.” Neither drug is yet available on the NHS. The medicines watchdog NICE is currently reviewing them, but Dr Beanland is cautiously optimistic: “They may be available, or something like them, in the next three or four years — fingers crossed.” Treatment pipelines And the pipeline behind them is substantial. There are currently over 100 trials of new dementia drugs at various stages of development. Researchers are confident that better versions of these treatments will follow. What’s clear is that science is starting to catching up with the scale of the challenge. Doctor looking at a brain-scan on a computer

What kind of cutting-edge research does Alzheimer’s Society support?

When it comes to dementia, progress depends on research and development — and Alzheimer’s Society is one of the leading forces driving that science forward. The charity invests in a broad and ambitious portfolio of work that spans the full spectrum of the disease. Dementia remains one of the most complex conditions facing medicine today, with no cure and limited treatments available. Research is therefore not a luxury — it is a necessity. Alzheimer’s Society funds scientists at every stage of their career, from early-career researchers to established centres of excellence. Its research portfolio covers four broad areas: the underlying biological causes of dementia; new drug treatments; advances in diagnosis, including promising blood biomarker tests that could detect the disease earlier; and care research focused on helping people live better with dementia. That last category is especially wide-ranging. Care research includes exploring how technology can help people maintain their independence, as well as developing new non-drug interventions to improve quality of life and support memory. Huge commitment Dr Beanland says the breadth of this commitment is huge.From laboratory discoveries to practical care solutions, Alzheimer’s Society’s research funding is helping to build a future where dementia can be better understood, detected, treated — and ultimately, prevented. Graphic of brain doing weights drawn on a chalk board

How can you reduce your risk of getting dementia?

A diagnosis of dementia can feel over-whelming, but many cases may never need to happen. The science of dementia prevention has advanced rapidly and simple lifestyle changes could make all the difference. Dementia affects nearly one million people in the UK. Yet many cases are not inevitable. A growing body of evidence suggests the choices we make every day can reduce our risk, from how much we exercise to whether we get our hearing checked. Lifestyle changes Dr Beanland, says: “45 per cent of dementia globally could be prevented.”What does that look like in practice? Dr Beanland points to two broad areas: looking after your heart and looking after your brain. On the cardiovascular side, keeping blood pressure under control, maintaining a healthy weight and staying physically active all play an important role. These factors influence blood flow to the brain, which is critical to its long-term health. Brain exercises Brain health matters just as much. Dr Beanland highlights hearing loss as an often-overlooked risk factor — getting your hearing checked and treating any problems early, can make a difference. Avoiding head injuries is also important. “And keep yourself stimulated through puzzles, languages, hobbies, things like that,” he says. The message is clear: small, consistent steps could significantly reduce your risk.

To find out more visit:

Listen to the Change your Mind podcast

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Can we teach self-driving cars to see through snowstorms? /article/2520692-can-we-teach-self-driving-cars-to-see-through-snowstorms/?utm_campaign=RSS|NSNS&utm_content=sponsored&utm_medium=RSS&utm_source=NSNS Thu, 26 Mar 2026 10:32:47 +0000 /?post_type=article&p=2520692

Self-driving cars struggle when the weather turns bad. That’s because they are trained largely on data gathered when driving conditions are good and because similar data for hazardous driving conditions is difficult to collect on real roads.

In this video, we visit the German test track where researchers are collecting real-world vehicle data to help solve this problem. We then travel to London to find out how UK scientists are using this data to simulate the effect of fog, snow and rain. The film focuses on the unique contributions each partner makes and shows how together the teams generate results that are greater than the sum of the parts.

The research is part of a €10 million project funded by the EU’s flagship Horizon Europe innovation programme.

This is a èƵ CoLab production, .

Read more about the UK-German partnership solving the toughest challenges for driverless cars

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Can humanity find a place in the rewired world? /article/2517346-can-humanity-find-a-place-in-the-rewired-world/?utm_campaign=RSS|NSNS&utm_content=sponsored&utm_medium=RSS&utm_source=NSNS Thu, 05 Mar 2026 09:30:58 +0000 /?post_type=article&p=2517346

At first glance, things look bad: attention spans are shrinking, loneliness is on the rise, trusting news reports is harder than ever and far too much of our life’s infrastructure is in the hands of just a few multi-billion dollar companies.

This overwhelming onslaught raises a crucial question: is this techno-enslavement society’s destiny or can humanity fight back with clever, creative, socially-aware innovation? The signs are that it can and the green shoots of a brighter future are beginning to emerge. “I am optimistic that we will course-correct,” says psychologist Gloria Mark of the University of California, Irvine.

These green shoots take the form of people shifting news consumption towards audio and influencer-led content over traditional text. A federated internet or “fediverse” is emerging in the form of a decentralised network of servers designed to reduce reliance on tech behemoths and enhance data rights. And there is a growing sense that technology can be designed from the bottom up to benefit broad swathes of society rather than a narrow set of wealthy individuals and investors.

Transmission stamps

One of the major shifts of recent years has been the growing proportion of people who are listening to, rather than reading, news and other factual content, for instance. This significantly influences their impressions because listeners engage more strongly with negative aspects of a story than readers. “People tend to walk away with an understanding of news that is less nuanced and more negatively biased after listening to it versus reading it,” says Shiri Melumad of the University of Pennsylvania.

Melumad’s research also shows that when news gets passed between peers by verbal report rather than by forwarding a piece of text, the transmitter puts their own stamp on the story. “Retellings contain increasingly fewer original details from the story but more personal opinions and negativity,” she says.

But Dominic Guitard, an applied psychologist at Cardiff University, thinks humans can find alternative ways to check their sources. “People may adapt by developing new strategies for evaluating information, particularly if audio content is paired with searchable transcripts, summaries or visual records,” he says.

And technology itself is playing a part here, by making our news sources more personal and accessible. According to Pew Research, 21 per cent of adults in the US and 37 per cent of under-30s regularly get news content from creators and influencers, rather than traditional outlets. For some, that means the news becomes less trustworthy.

But that doesn’t have to be the case. According to research published in Nature Scientific Reports last year, adopting the right technologies can significantly increase the credibility and authenticity of collected data. Incorporating Global Navigation Satellite Systems data and Android location flags, for instance, allows users to verify that the news source is where it claims to be. Additionally, blockchains can protect information from manipulation or modification.

Enter the fediverse

The evolving infrastructure behind our online lives also has the potential to make it easier to trust content. Take the growth of the “federated internet”, which is more resistant to interruption, disruption and censorship.

It also gives users greater flexibility in terms of data rights and the ability to connect with like-minded people without being tied to one platform. The microblogging social media service, Bluesky, for instance, is built on an open source protocol with a standardised format for identity and data. The aim is that social apps are able to
interact – although this is happening to highly varying degrees.

Not that the “fediverse” is a utopia. As numerous researchers have pointed out, bots populate the federated internet too. What’s more, as Samantha Lai and Yoel Roth of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace wrote in 2024, “federated platforms remain ill-equipped to meet the threats of abuse, harassment, coordinated manipulation, and spam that have plagued social media for years.” Ironically, they suggest that the answer might lie in some form of centralised moderation that builds safety and trust in decentralised social media platforms.

Such ideas are slowly being implemented, but the sluggish pace is due to technical and commercial challenges rather than reluctance. Indeed, many of the new companies building and evolving the internet and its deployment actively want to do things better. They campaign on a number of fronts: for more human-centred development, stronger regulation and legislation that limits the power and reach of algorithms, for instance.

Technology for good

One example is the DAIR Institute in California, whose founder, Timnit Gebru, will be speaking at SXSW London 2026. DAIR seeks to make sure AI develops in ways that benefit humanity. It uses measures such as assisting technology developers to remain within existing communities rather than working from Silicon Valley’s silos.

Other organisations are building on our new power to connect with each other. The charity Chapter One, for instance, uses AI and other tech to source one-to-one support for children learning to read. Over 200 global corporations now partner with Chapter One to enable their employees to be online reading buddies.

Even though in-person reading buddies would probably be better, this is the shape of 21st century society: we just aren’t as physically close to each other in the way we used to be. Mark reckons people are finding ways to adapt to this new normal. “One clear adaptation to loneliness is seen in the rise of synthetic companions: people turn to AI for friendship and relationships,” she says. According to her research, the top six AI companies have around 52 million users of synthetic companions.

Mark will be discussing her research findings at SXSW London 2026 in the Society Rewired Track. She remains optimistic that we can make sure emerging technologies serve humanity, not the other way around. “I’m not a Luddite: I’m not about throwing away technology,” she says. “I think instead we have to figure out how we can integrate technology into our lives – but on our terms.”

Speak, Meet, Thrive

Graphic image with text saying: the algorithm won't give you anything

Are you tired of doom-scrolling your way through AI-generated content slop? Leave your algorithm behind and shape the future in person at SXSW London. Taking place across six days in Shoreditch and encompassing future-shaping conference speakers, cutting-edge live music and fresh-from-the-edit film premieres, SXSW London is the place to discover what’s next.

This year’s tracks include examinations of the emerging experience with AI, how we will rewire society to make the most of emerging tech; what future cities might look and feel like, and how new technologies are impacting health, medicine and longevity. Join speakers, decision makers and participants from around the world from 1-6 June 2026.

Find out more at:

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How UK-Spanish scientists are reimagining the future of green pharma /article/2516298-how-uk-spanish-scientists-are-reimagining-the-future-of-green-pharma/?utm_campaign=RSS|NSNS&utm_content=sponsored&utm_medium=RSS&utm_source=NSNS Thu, 19 Feb 2026 10:56:59 +0000 /?post_type=article&p=2516298 In this episode, we explore how some of the UK and Europe’s premier research institutes and pharmaceutical companies have joined forces to pioneer “greener” production methods. This work is funded by Horizon Europe, the European Union’s flagship €96 billion research and innovation funding programme. We visit Barcelona to talk to Dr Laura Rodriguez and Dr Andrés Cruz from IRIS Technology Solutions. They share how their collaboration with UK research teams has yielded impressive results—and why the partnership itself has been a key factor in the success. This is a èƵ CoLab production, sponsored by theUK Government. For more information and to find a UK partner for your next Horizon Europe bid, . Your host is James Randerson. Read more about the UK-Spanish partnerships solving pharma’s toughest challenges Learn more about your ad choices. Visit]]> 2516298 UK-Spanish partnerships are solving pharma’s toughest challenges /article/2515222-uk-spanish-partnerships-are-solving-pharmas-toughest-challenges/?utm_campaign=RSS|NSNS&utm_content=sponsored&utm_medium=RSS&utm_source=NSNS Thu, 19 Feb 2026 09:30:39 +0000 /?post_type=article&p=2515222

“We consider the UK as a leader in excellent science and innovation so of course having them on board for proposals and projects for us is crucial.” Dr Laura Rodríguez should know. As one of the scientific leaders at the heart of an ambitious Europe-funded research effort, Rodriguez has been at the centre of the Europe-wide partnership between her company, IRIS Technology Solutions in Barcelona, and several research partners.

This sharing of expertise has made the research effort more than the sum of its parts, she says. “The multicultural and multidisciplinary environment is crucial to the results.” All this is made possible by Horizon Europe, the European Union’s flagship €96 billion research and innovation funding program.

The goal of Rodriguez’ collaboration is to minimise the environmental footprint of the pharmaceutical industry by rethinking the entire life cycle of medicines—from the moment a molecule is designed to how a patient disposes of the leftover pills. The science is so complex that it requires the expertise of world class researchers, innovative small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and leading pharmaceutical companies from across Europe. That’s how IRIS Technology Solutions has come to partner with UK companies such as Quotient Sciences,headquartered in Nottingham,as well as the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.

Cleaner Chemistry

“The manufacture of pharmaceuticals generates more waste and by-products compared to all other chemical sectors [per quantity of end product],” says Dr Sara Sànchez, also at IRIS. For every kilogram of medicine, the industry produces more than ten kilograms of waste and by products, far more than industries that are generally thought of as “dirtier” such as petrochemicals. While fuels are produced in massive, continuous flows, medicines are typically manufactured in discrete batches. This requires frequent, intensive cleaning between products, which generates significant chemical runoff and waste.

“The nature of these wastes and products have a huge impact on the environment,” says Rodríguez, “so it is not only about the amount of waste and sub-products, but also the complexity of the chemicals and the dangers they pose.”

To tackle these issues, the Horizon Europe innovation programme has funded a €5.9 million project called ETERNAL which brings together 16 partners from across the continent in a 4-year partnership. The project is exploring green chemistry techniques to help reduce the use of solvents and help minimise residues in wastewater; it is studying mechanochemistry—how mechanical forces like grinding and compressions can trigger chemical reactions and reduce the reliance on solvents and energy-hungry heat; and developing digital twins to create virtual replicas of manufacturing processes that predict how changes will affect the environmental impact before a single chemical is poured.

A “clean” supply chain doesn’t end at the factory gate; it includes the patient. So ETERNAL is launching campaigns to influence behaviour by nudging consumers to dispose of medicines responsibly, for example by returning unused pills to a pharmacy rather than flushing them down sinks and lavatories.

Positive reactions

The challenge begins with the way drugs are designed to start with. In the early stages of drug development, pharmaceutical companies are generally focused on bringing effective and safe medicines to market quickly. So, factors such as the amount of by-product produced can become a secondary concern. The result is that inefficient chemical pathways can become locked into the manufacturing processes.

One way to change this is to better understand reactions as they are in progress. To this end, IRIS and Quotient are using a technique called Raman spectroscopy, a kind of chemical fingerprinting technique that monitors chemical reactions while they are in progress, allowing more control and therefore less waste.

The technology involves firing a laser into the reaction vessel and analysing the light that comes back. That light is frequency-shifted based on the vibrations of chemical bonds in substances within the mixture, allowing the researchers to infer how quickly a reaction is progressing. If adjustments to reaction conditions such as temperature or pressure are needed, they can be done in real-time without the chemicals needing to be sampled.

But neither partner could have done this on their own. IRIS has expertise in building the optical hardware and creating the software to analyse the results, while Quotient has the detailed understanding of the complex chemical reactions at work.

Dr Rowena Howie at Quotient’s Alnwick site says the company could not have pursued the Raman approach on its own. “One of the best things about our collaboration with IRIS is the access it gives us to technology and expertise that we wouldn’t otherwise have,” she says.

Once the technique has been fully validated, it should open up a new pathway to understanding and monitoring the chemical processes at the heart of drug manufacture more precisely. “The real-time interface is what’s really going to help,” she says.

And the hope is that the partnership will continue beyond ETERNAL, allowing the technique to be applied to other chemical processes.

IRIS also collaborated with AstraZeneca to develop membranes that filter active ingredients or impurities from solvents, a technique that uses significantly less energy than traditional separation techniques like distillation. A key task is to find the best pore size for the filter, which would conventionally be done with multiple experiments that are time consuming and wasteful.

Digital twins

IRIS has built a digital twin of the process — a computer simulation that models the fluid dynamics around the pores, incorporating the properties of the solvent, the solutes and the membrane. “A digital simulation, of course, is much cheaper and faster,” says IRIS’s Dr David Nettleton. It allows researchers to run dozens of ‘what-if’ scenarios—virtually testing different experimental parameters—to identify the most efficient process before a single drop of real chemical is used.

Again, this is a problem that neither side could have cracked on its own. Nettleton describes the partnership as an iterative process, where AstraZeneca defined the problem and IRIS built prototypes of the simulation model. “We get the feedback … and we make updates,” he says, until the simulation is a close approximation to its real-life twin.

This free flow of ideas between participants in the collaboration has been crucial to this success, says Dr Rory MacDonald at Quotient Sciences. “All partners, I think, have just been completely open.” That openness will outlive the formal end of the ETERNAL project in August because much of the data will be put in the public domain. “It will be delivering benefits in terms of reduced environmental impact with all the various partner companies that have worked here,” he says.

Rodríguez agrees that on the scientific level, working together has been “fluid and collaborative” while personal connections have thrived. But there is one realm where national rivalries have proved impossible to eliminate.

“We try not to talk about soccer,” she admits. In Barcelona, a proud footballing city, European collaboration it seems has its limits.

Find out

Listen to the èƵ Colab podcast, How UK and Spanish scientists are reimagining the future of green pharma

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How play builds creative minds /article/2512853-how-play-builds-creative-minds/?utm_campaign=RSS|NSNS&utm_content=sponsored&utm_medium=RSS&utm_source=NSNS Thu, 22 Jan 2026 09:00:55 +0000 /?post_type=article&p=2512853
Kids looking through magnifying glasses
Play develops crucial skills
iStock

All we had to do was to construct a set of molecular models and begin to play.” When James Watson and Francis Crick set out to solve DNA’s structure, they drew inspiration from chemist Linus Pauling, who had recently cracked one aspect of protein structure by tinkering with toy-like physical models. The pair spent hours fiddling with wire and cardboard representations of DNA’s components. By trial and error, following their curiosity and investigating different possibilities, they deduced the structure of the double helix.

Emergent breakthrough

It’s an example of how scientific breakthroughs can emerge from something that looks remarkably like play, a word that conjures up images of something easy or trivial. “It has a definite overtone of frivolous or unserious or not important,” says Paul Ramchandani, LEGO Professor of Play in Education, Development and Learning at the University of Cambridge. But nothing could be further from the truth. A growing body of evidence is showing that play is a vital activity, associated with the development of a raft of cognitive and emotional skills, such as critical thinking, problem-solving and resilience, as well as the ability to form strong relationships and navigate social situations.

For all its importance, it’s hard to define exactly what we mean by “play”. Researchers tend to adapt their definitions of play to the particular contexts they are investigating, such as adventurous or risky play, says Ramchandani. But one key feature unites them all: “It’s an activity that is joyful and enjoyable to children,” he says. Children devote a vast amount of time and energy to play. “It’s the majority of their world, particularly when they’re very young.”

Play is not unique to humans; some young animals, such as rats, spend a lot of time playing. But why such a behaviour evolved that distracts young animals from important tasks such as seeking food is still debated. One idea is that it helps animals practise important physical skills, another that it helps develop social bonds, says Ramchandani.

Human play is much richer and changes as a child develops. “Children are thrown into a world of uncertainty and the unknown when they’re born,” says Bo Stjerne Thomsen, Head of Educational Impact at . “And the main mechanism to deal with that uncertainty is to play, to sense, and try and experiment with things around you. This is how children learn through play”

It begins in infants with parent-child bonding that builds relationships and early learning, later incorporating social elements with peers and siblings, and goes on to include pretend play, physical play and risky play. But young humans also seem to have a distinctive form of play that involves deliberately creating problems for themselves. One theory is that this is how humans practice curiosity-driven thinking, by inventing problems that force us to come up with creative solutions.

Testing ideas

Ethically, we can’t deprive children of play to test all these ideas, says Ramchandani. But you can study what happens when you expand opportunities for play. “Increasing play of various kinds is correlated with positive outcomes across almost every aspect of development,” he says.

Evidence is also emerging from experimental studies that certain kinds of play can help children learn as well as, or in some cases better than, formal instruction. In 2022, Ramchandani and his team at the Play in Education, Development and Learning (PEDAL) Centre at the University of Cambridge analysed 39 studies of “guided” play in children aged three to eight. Unlike “free” play, where children decide what to do, guided play involves a playful educational task where children have some freedom of choice, but are gently steered towards a learning goal by an adult.

The study found that guided play was as effective as conventional teaching for developing key skills such as literacy, numeracy, social skills and thinking skills. For developing some maths skills, namely understanding shapes, guided play was superior. This may be because guided play lets children explore shape in a range of different ways. The joyful aspect is also key. “If children are enjoying themselves, they’re going to engage for longer,” says Ramchandani.

Hands-on play with objects such as blocks and puzzles may also help children develop scientific reasoning skills. In 2023, Ramchandani, Thomsen and their colleagues analysed 102 studies of the use of objects in learning, mainly of early primary-aged children and found that there were benefits to children’s spatial, literacy and science skills, with the strongest evidence for benefits in developing mathematical skills.

Creative links

There are links, too, between play and creativity, a central pillar of the scientific endeavour. “You’re creating, you are experimenting, you are buzzing ideas together,” says Ramchandani. “There is an obvious parallel with playing imaginatively or playing with friends.” So what looked like child’s play with wire and cardboard turns out to be anything but trivial—it won Watson and Crick a Nobel Prize and unlocked one of biology’s greatest mysteries.

Build, solve, invent

Girl playing with a Build, Solve, Invent LEGO Set

Right, kids. You’ve built a LEGO spaceship but it keeps crashing. Now what? This is the kind of challenge posed by LEGO Education’s new at home STEM sets, whose new “build-solve-invent” play loop is based on research into how children develop scientific skills.

The new sets incorporate both free play with LEGO bricks and guided play, following building instructions. Children are presented first with a

guided build showing them what to make.

But the LEGO designers have included a challenge that the child has to solve, such as a spaceship that crash-lands because it is unbalanced.

Experiencing this frustration and being able to repeatedly try and fail is key to building resilience and confidence, as well as problem-solving skills, says Andrew Snape, a learning designer at LEGO Education.

Having solved the problem, the child is then invited to think creatively and invent something new with another set of bricks, such as a building a capsule that can ferry food to Mars. “We wanted something on the end, saying, ‘All right, now you’ve solved the problem. Be a bit creative now and think about what a future problem could be or how you could take this a step further’,” says Snape.

Problem solvers

It also allows parents to step back from their usual role as problem-fixers. One of the most common parent reactions during product testing was, “I just didn’t realise that they were this good,” says Snape. “I didn’t realise they could do this.”

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A world without dementia? The science and hope ahead /article/2496777-a-world-without-dementia-the-science-and-hope-ahead/?utm_campaign=RSS|NSNS&utm_content=sponsored&utm_medium=RSS&utm_source=NSNS Wed, 17 Sep 2025 12:56:54 +0000 /?post_type=article&p=2496777 Thankfully, recent advances in science mean we understand the diseases that cause dementia better than ever. There has never been a more exciting time in dementia research, and supporting some of the most pioneering work in this field is UK charity Alzheimer’s Society. In this episode of the èƵ CoLab podcast, Justin Mullins is joined by Richard Oakley, Associate Director of Research and Innovation at Alzheimer’s Society. Richard explores the latest breakthroughs in dementia treatment and promising areas of research. He discusses the latest technologies and trials that are bringing us closer to a better future for people living with dementia. And he discusses his belief that research, with time, can beat dementia. This is a èƵ CoLab production, sponsored by. Find out more at Learn more about your ad choices. Visit]]> 2496777 The science and technology transforming life with dementia /article/2495798-the-science-and-technology-transforming-life-with-dementia/?utm_campaign=RSS|NSNS&utm_content=sponsored&utm_medium=RSS&utm_source=NSNS Thu, 11 Sep 2025 08:09:53 +0000 /?post_type=article&p=2495798 Alzheimer's Research

Few diagnoses carry the devastating weight of dementia, which heralds loss, decline and inevitable death. The condition is the biggest killer in the UK, and cases are set to soar.

“One in three people born in the UK today will develop dementia in their lifetime,” says Richard Oakley, Associate Director of Research and Innovation for Alzheimer’s Society. A 2024 report commissioned by Alzheimer’s Society found that there are 982,000 people living with dementia in the UK – about one person in 70 – and that the number will rise to 1.4 million by 2040.

This poses an enormous challenge, both for biomedical research and for society. “Dementia is almost unique, in that it spans the health and the social care system in a way that I think no other disease does,” says Oakley.

Despite the impact of dementia, progress has been slow. Now, this is beginning to change. For the first time, treatments have emerged that can slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, a type of dementia accounting for 60 per cent of cases. A better understanding of the mechanisms underlying the different kinds of dementia are reshaping how researchers imagine the condition. Meanwhile, innovations in care – including advanced technologies such as virtual reality and artificial intelligence – are helping to improve quality of life for people with dementia and the people closest to them. “There’s never been a more exciting time to be involved in dementia research,” says Oakley.

Slowing disease

Since its founding in 1979, Alzheimer’s Society has developed into a world-leading funder of dementia research. In 1989, the charity funded research led by neurogeneticist John Hardy into the role of amyloid proteins in Alzheimer’s. This led Hardy and his colleague Gerald Higgins to formulate the “amyloid cascade hypothesis”, which outlines how the buildup of amyloid plaques in the brain can disrupt its functioning and kill neurons.

Three decades later, treatments are targeting amyloid and removing it from people’s brains in early stage Alzheimer’s disease. “These drugs have been shown to slow down progression of the disease,” says Oakley, although they don’t reverse the damage or cure the condition.

These treatments are not currently approved for use in the NHS in the UK, but it is likely that more treatments will be submitted to regulators in the coming years. A study of the Alzheimer’s disease drug development pipeline, published in June, found 182 ongoing clinical trials assessing 138 drugs. Some target amyloid, while others are aiming for other targets entirely, including the tau protein, neurotransmitter receptors, and inflammation. “About 30 of these [are] in phase three trials,” which is the last step in determining whether a medication is effective as well as safe, says Oakley.

How tech helps find memories

Alzheimer’s Society enables technological innovations that can make a huge difference to quality of life for people with dementia. This entails partnering with innovators and entrepreneurs, and encouraging them to work in dementia.

One such company is Recreo VR, which has developed a virtual reality headset specifically for people with dementia, who often cannot tolerate having something covering their faces. But the dementia-friendly features of the Recreo VR headset, such as its lightweight design, means that about 85 per cent could use it, says Richard Oakley, Associate Director of Research and Innovation at Alzheimer’s Society. “Using the technology, we could take them back to a place where they lived when they were younger, a family holiday they went on,” he says. Dementia patients who had been nonverbal for months often began speaking to carers about their memories. “It’s being used in care homes across the country, which is fantastic.”

Alongside the search for treatments, Alzheimer’s Society supports dementia research in multiple ways. The charity is actively funding over £50m in world leading dementia research, working with more than 400 researchers across the UK. Encouraging early-career researchers to choose dementia as their field of study is a key part of the charity’s research strategy. And crucially, it is supporting research that could lead to improved diagnostic methods.

Diagnosis is a major challenge in dementia. While written memory tests are enough to confirm that a person has dementia, additional tests such as PET scans are required to determine the specific type of dementia. “Only 2 per cent of people get that kind of extra, more specific diagnosis,” says Oakley. Alzheimer’s Society wants many more to get a precise diagnosis promptly.

“The thing that’s going to make a very big difference over the next year or two is the introduction of blood tests,” says Paresh Malhotra, consultant neurologist and Head of the Division of Neurology at Imperial College London. Such tests would be a cheap and noninvasive way support the diagnosis of dementia.

There’s never been a more exciting time to be involved in dementia research

Richard Oakley, Alzheimer’s Society

To enable this, Alzheimer’s Society, Alzheimer’s Research UK and players of People’s Postcode Lottery are funding the Blood Biomarker Challenge. The aim is to gather the information needed to introduce a simple blood marker to test for dementia in the UK healthcare system. Two studies are being supported. One study called READ-OUT, led by Vanessa Raymont at the University of Oxford, is looking at a large panel of potential biomarkers. Meanwhile, Jonathan Schott and Ashvini Keshavan at University College London have launched a project called ADAPT, which focuses on a single protein called p-tau217 that is known to increase in the blood during the development of Alzheimer’s disease. The hope is that measuring p-tau217 could support a diagnosis and quickly identify people who need further tests.

We already know the blood tests are reliable, says Malhotra. The new studies will help show how they can be integrated into the healthcare system.

Early and accurate diagnosis is crucial for dementia patients. Research shows that ‘disease-modifying treatments’ are most effective when given early. Early diagnosis means people can access care and support. It also means people can plan for the future. “You can play a role in determining the care you want at home, or how and when you move to a care home,” says Oakley. Such preparations make it less likely that people with dementia will reach a crisis that requires emergency medical intervention.

Family support

Alzheimer’s Society also aims to improve the lives of people with dementia and their loved ones. It offers support for families, such as online communities, telephone support lines, and social groups. It promotes wider awareness of dementia in society, enabling people with dementia to live fuller lives (see box).

The overall aim is to halt the march of devastation dementia causes. A true cure remains a distant dream, but even without one, enormous progress is possible. “If you shift back the onset of symptoms and delay how quickly the disease progresses, we could be talking a chronic condition that you manage well,” says Oakley.

In a few decades, HIV has gone from a death sentence to something that is treatable, says Malhotra. Alzheimer’s treatment could be similarly improved. “There are things that are happening at the moment, particularly around machine learning and AI, that have the potential to transform the field faster than I can imagine,” he says.

In a few decades, a dementia diagnosis may not be the beginning of the end but something to manage. “I see a world where Alzheimer’s disease is going to be like that,” says Oakley. “And Alzheimer’s Society is at the forefront of this progress.”

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Meet your AI accounting assistant /article/2493119-meet-your-ai-accounting-assistant/?utm_campaign=RSS|NSNS&utm_content=sponsored&utm_medium=RSS&utm_source=NSNS Thu, 28 Aug 2025 17:00:25 +0000 /?post_type=article&p=2493119 I don’t want to be overly dramatic, but this wave of technology is as transformational as the Internet,” says Aaron Harris, chief technology officer of accounting software company Sage. Harris is talking about the way artificial intelligence is changing productivity in small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). And Sage should know given its AI productivity assistant software has been developed from scratch. “We’re not creating a world where bookkeepers and accountants and auditors are going to get replaced by technology,” he says “We’re creating a world where AI technology will support and enable them to do more valuable things and in a more rewarding way.” In other words, Sage Copilot is freeing small business owners to do less of the tactical work – sorting out the books – and more of the things they love, such as identifying new opportunities to grow their businesses. To Harris, AI is bringing an industrial revolution for industrious people. There was a time when Sage was itself a small business. It began in 1981 as a three-person accountancy software enterprise in Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK. By the 1990s, it had been listed on the London Stock Exchange as a £20m company. Now it is a global technology firm focused on using its 11,000 employees to serve small-to-medium sized businesses in more than 20 countries.

We’re creating a world where AI technology will support and enable accountants, auditors and bookkeepers

Those kinds of resources have been vital in building AI into its products, an endeavour that started nearly eight years ago. Sage’s AI developers focused first on “task-based” AI. “This is AI that does a specific thing like look for the total on an invoice, or spot a clerical error,” Harris says. This is enormously useful to customers but it runs quietly behind the scenes rather than as a feature that customers would interact with. However, the recent emergence of more people-friendly “generative” AIs opened up an opportunity to take things to the next level. Generative AIs produce outputs – words, pictures and data analyses for example – in response to users’ “prompts”. These prompts are requests for information or a service. Chat GPT, for instance, will write an essay on any specified subject, redraw an image to turn friends into cartoon characters, or give a readable summary of medical information supplied by a GP. High accuracy Sage can’t just use a general-purpose AI like ChatGPT, though. The ability of generative AI systems to hallucinate–to make things up—is well known. By contrast, Sage Copilot’s output has to be utterly beyond doubt in every case. “We had to hit very high levels of accuracy, predictability and reliability,” says Harris. “Getting things 95 per cent right just doesn’t cut it in our industry.” So Sage built and trained its own systems, what the company calls authentic intelligence, rather than embedding someone else’s technology into its products. It improved accuracy using ringfenced training data that was finely tuned for the intricacies of accounting along with multiple layers of validation and cross-checking to ensure accurate results. This process was enabled by Sage’s AI infrastructure. For starters there’s the “Sage AI Factory”: a development environment that produces finely-tuned AI models trained on the expertise it has accumulated in accounting, payroll and compliance. The company also runs regular “hackathons” where its developers innovate, stress-test systems and learn from each other. Sage publishes its data and AI principles to ensure systems offer full transparency, traceability and accountability. “Transparency is key to trust,” Harris says. Fully compliant With all this in place, the company launched in February 2024. It is now being used by a range of small and mid-sized businesses (see Box below). The technology does everything you’d expect, including supporting real-time financial reporting and the auto-enrolment of employees in pension schemes. It chases unpaid invoices helping businesses stay in control of their cash flow and helping get paid up to seven days faster. It fulfils compliance requirements too: Sage has long worked closely with HMRC, who fully support the move to incorporate AI into accounting. “What’s interesting is that they want us to do more,” Harris says. “They want SMBs to have access to the technology we’re building.” Sage Copilot’s current incarnation is only the beginning. Agentic AI, autonomous, intelligent systems that need minimal human prompting, is imminent. Unlike simple assistants, Sage’s AI Agents take full ownership of tasks, such as reconciling accounts, from start to finish and deliver the outcome back to the customer. Operating in the background, they spot risks and opportunities, ensure compliance, optimise productivity, and even pursue goals such as social responsibility or carbon-footprint reduction. Yet customers remain firmly in control, says Harris. Sage embeds trust and transparency into every layer of its AI, so agents can be trusted to complete jobs and act within the permissions each user sets. But Sage isn’t rushing this product to market – it’s too important for that. “We have to maintain customer trust,” Harris says. “So we’re opening it up gradually and developing confidence with our users.” Harris couldn’t be more excited about how the journey into the hi-tech future of accounting is playing out. “We started off by saying some very provocative things to our customers about what we were going to do with AI,” he says. “Now they are recognising that the big, bold, provocative future we described to them is becoming a reality.” And all, in a very accountant-like manner, with no drama.

Faster and fitter

Nadia Fontaine working on a laptop next to some kayaks

Nadia Fontaine is the volunteer treasurer of the Auriol Kensington Rowing Club in Hammersmith, London. At any one time, she can have 100 invoices that need her attention – either to draft and send, or to chase. Sage Copilot now does all of that for her.

“I save more than 5 hours of admin every week, making my life so much easier,” Fontaine says. Copilot has improved the club’s cashflow by chasing late payers and allows Nadia to spend more time keeping fit, fundraising and rowing on the Thames.

There’s a similar success story to share at Tyne Chease in North Shields, a company that has pioneered the UK’s first nut-based artisan cheese. Here, Sage Copilot’s effect on the business’s cashflow has been transformative. “Copilot has really sped up how quickly we get paid,” says Adam Williams, the firm's general manager. “Depending on how busy we are, I sometimes wouldn’t be chasing up overdue invoices, which were getting paid up to a week later than they needed to be,” he explains.

”Now that Copilot prompts that and automates a lot of it, we get paid much quicker.”

Find out more about Read how to Supercharge your small business with this AI toolkit here]]>
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