The London Marathon's method for reducing plastic bottles: Edible seaweed pouches

At least five people who were paralyzed are walking, thanks to a pain stimulator and physical therapy. The stimulator, which is implanted in the body, sends electricity to the spine, and combined with therapy, can retrain the body to walk again. “The first day I took steps on my own was an emotional milestone in my recovery that I’ll never forget, as one minute I was walking with the trainer’s assistance and, while they stopped, I continued walking on my own.”

"Farm to table" is a well-known saying in the food industry, but "lab to table" is also rapidly joining the rank of commonplace terminology. To both reduce the amount of animals killed and lessen the impact on the environment to raise livestock, researchers have found a way to manufacture cell-based meat that is created in a lab, yet still has the texture of meat.

As climate change continues to advance, its impact on farmlands has become more pronounced and increasingly devastating. Farmers and researchers in both South Africa and Nepal are working towards solutions to problems specifically related to climate change. Centered on developing technology, these farmers have found success with NASA satellite imagery as well as local clinics.

In California’s wildfire-prone Sierras, forest managers are turning to an ancient, if not quite intuitive, tool: more fire. In 2019, the Forest Service will manage 250,000 acres with controlled burns and “mechanical thinning,” using equipment to take out small trees. Though such plans face some hurdles, states across the country are adopting them, reducing wildfire severity while often benefiting ecosystems.

In countries like Cambodia, Angola, and Mozambique, rats are saving lives by detecting untriggered land mines. An international nonprofit, Apopo, provides funding a training and works with local organizations to operate at the local level. The rats are light enough that they don’t trigger the explosives and can cover up to 2,000 square feet in just 20 minutes – something that would take a human up to four days to complete.

Researchers from the University of Colorado and Colorado Parks and Wildlife are hoping the experimental antifungal bacterial baths they gave toads in the Rocky Mountains are working. A fungus called Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis has been killing amphibians around the world, but researchers think they may have found a way to stop it. In the lab, the experimental bath showed a 40% decrease in mortality, indicating promising results in the wild.

Amager Bakke is a powerplant in Copenhagen that is designed to get residents of the city engaged in a conversation about where waste goes, all while burning up to 400,000 tons of waste a year, powering 60,000 homes, and heating 160,000 homes. In 2013 the local plant was redesigned to burn the city's waste and encourage interaction by building a ski slope atop the plant, a hiking trail, and an elevator that introduces education about waste management. Amager Bakke is still new and experimental, so its long-term success is still unclear, and it is not completely emission-free yet.

Scientists have been mapping microbes in public places for a long time and are now tracking Covid-19 by swabbing subways, park benches, ATMs, and even the air, for traces of genetic material to better understand the virus’ transmission dynamics and detect hotspots before transmission becomes widespread. Molecular monitoring has identified how long the virus can live on different surfaces and the origin of different strains, which can flag sanitation priorities and help contact tracers. There are limits to what it can reveal because finding virus on surfaces does not always lead to definite infection.

The state of Pennsylvania set to plant 86,000 hectares of riparian buffers, the practice of planting trees and shrubs along a river or stream to filter water. Other benefits of riparian buffers include things like restoring the soil and cooling the water. In order to meet their goal, the state scientists used a bottom approach, enlisting the help of local farmers by offering them grants to plant trees and showing farmers how they can profit off of riparian buffers. While the state is behind its goal, the state is planting about 1,000 to 2,000 hectares a year.

In 2020, a devastating explosion in Beirut that came from a warehouse released 800,000 and one million tons of construction and demolition waste and 20,000 tons of shattered glass into the city. The waste was being thrown into landfills. However, landfills are notoriously bad for the environment. Out of that rubble an idea was created; disposing waste sustainably. Rubble Mountains was created specifically to do this. They've been able to restore four quarries, use materials to create public amenities, and diverting up to 50 tons of demolition waste from landfills.