Category: Science

Trump Meets Big Pharma, Signs Executive Order Reducing Regulations, Regulatory Costs

10 Feb 2017 IAC Staff

On January 31st, President Donald Trump met with major pharmaceutical company executives, and signed an executive order on reducing regulation and controlling regulatory costs, the White House said in a press statement.

The president had a meeting with executives from Merck, Johnson & Johnson, Celgene, Amgen, Eli Lilly, and the PhRMA trade group. The meeting was also attended by Greg Walden, chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Trump praised pharmaceutical firms’ efforts to cut drugs prices. But he also insisted that there is more work to be done in the pricing area. The president promised to continue reducing the burdensome regulations that raise the cost of doing business in the United States.

The president signed the executive action, titled Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Cost, during the last week. The main purpose of this order is “to manage the costs associated with the governmental imposition of private expenditures required to comply with Federal regulations.”

“It is the policy of the executive branch to be prudent and financially responsible in the expenditure of funds, from both public and private sources. In addition,… it is essential to manage the costs associated with the governmental imposition of private expenditures required to comply with Federal regulations,” the order states.

The order outlined two key changes. First, it requires that, for every one new regulation issued, at least two prior regulations must be identified for elimination, and that the “cost of planned regulations is prudently managed and controlled through a budgeting process.” There will be a cap on the cost of new regulations. The total incremental cost of all new regulations, including eliminated regulations, to be finalized this year should be $0.

The order also requires the director of the Office of Management and Budget to provide the heads of agencies with guidance on implementing this policy change.

For the fiscal year 2018, and for each fiscal year thereafter, the head of each agency will identify, for each regulation that increases incremental cost, the offsetting regulations and provide the agency’s best approximation of the total costs or savings associated with each new regulation or repealed regulation.

Moreover, no regulations exceeding the agency’s total incremental cost allowance will be allowed in that fiscal year, unless required by law or approved in writing by the director. The total incremental cost allowance may allow an increase or require a reduction in total regulatory cost.

The order does not include regulations issued with respect to a military, national security, or foreign affairs function of the United States; regulations related to agency organization, management, or personnel; or any other category of regulations exempted by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Batteries: Longer Lasting with Increased Safety

10 Feb 2017 IAC Staff

Woburn, Massachusetts-based Ionic Materials claimed that it created the world’s first solid polymer electrolyte that could help make safe, longer lasting, and cost effective batteries. They say that “Significant improvements in battery safety, performance and cost are achievable with ionic conductivities that exceed those of traditional liquid systems over a wide range of temperatures.”

Conventional batteries use liquid electrolytes that are flammable, toxic and expensive. And those liquid electrolytes are main responsible for almost all of battery safety incidents.

Ionic Materials said that it built a solid state battery technology that eliminates the complicated and expensive process of making batteries with liquid electrolytes. Based on low-cost polymer processing techniques, the company’s technology eliminates toxic and flammable liquid electrolytes to make it possible to develop a true safe solid battery.

The company was able to create polymer electrolyte works at room temperature, resulting in improved battery safety and higher performance. Its polymer electrolyte is designed to enable next-generation rechargeable battery performance.

To allow a solid-state battery to function at room temperature and offer safe battery performance across a wide temperature range, the company built solid-state pouch cells with composite LCO and NCM cathodes. It replaced electrolyte and separator with an inherently safe, non-flammable polymer. Moreover, removing the liquid resulted in a more recyclable battery. The company’s batteries can be folded, cut, and damaged, but they do not ignite and continue to perform.

All previous attempts at solid electrolytes were unsuccessful, according to Ionic Materials. Other solid polymers only functioned at impractically high temperatures, while ceramic electrolytes struggled to overcome manufacturability, brittleness, stability, cost and other challenges.

Ionic Materials believes that its polymer electrolyte could replace the liquid electrolytes used in currently available batteries.

For the last four decades, scientists and engineers have tried to develop solid electrolytes for batteries. They have two main issues: polymers suffer from low conductivity at room temperature and lack of high voltage compatibility, while ceramics are brittle and they are associated with complex manufacturing. Also, ceramics have problems in scaling to high volumes.

Through lithium ion batteries are common and are being used in consumer electronics and electronic vehicles, they have a fundamental problem. In lithium ion batteries, liquid electrolytes become unstable when the temperature rises. Also, they are susceptible to shorts caused by dendrites and can catch fire and explode under certain circumstances. The company touts these benefits to consumers by saying “These improvements promise to speed the electrification of transportation and the transition to clean and renewable sources of energy, as well as enable safer and longer lasting consumer electronics devices.”

Meanwhile, Ionic Materials said that it received a $3 million Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. The funding will be used by the company for the development of a polymer electrolyte and lithium/polymer interface to enable lithium cycling and development of solid intercalation cathodes. The program is scheduled to begin in the first half of 2017.

For more information please visit: http://ionicmaterials.com

Researchers Warn Stem Rust Could Destroy European Wheat

10 Feb 2017 IAC Staff

Researchers have issued a warning about a kind of stem rust that could damage wheat crops in the 2017 season.

Results of lab tests showed that stem rust epidemics in Sicily last year were caused by a new and dangerous variant of race TTTTF, according to Denmark-based Global Rust Reference Center (GRRC).

Researchers are warning that spores produced by stem rust may spread to this year’s crops in Europe, according to a report from Nature weekly magazine.

“We have to be careful of shouting wolf too loudly. But this could be the largest outbreak that we have had in Europe for many, many years,” Chris Gilligan, an epidemiologist at the University of Cambridge in the UK, was quoted as saying by the Nature magazine. Gilligan leads a team that has modeled the probable spread of the fungus’s spores.

In a statement issued February 2, the GRRC said the stem rust infected several thousands of hectares, and it could have produced a huge number of spores. There could be a “real risk of repeated outbreaks in the 2017 crop season if stem rust race TTTTF persists,” the center said.

The organization also said that two new strains of yellow rust were also spotted for the first time. One was found in Europe and North Africa, and the other in East Africa and Central Asia.

Farmers in at-risk areas should be fully ready, monitor crops for stem rust, and use registered fungicides. They need to control stem rust at an early growth stage to avoid losses, according to the center.

Similar alerts about the three crops diseases were issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on February 3.

Last year, stem rust destroyed tens of thousands of hectares of crops in Sicily. Europe is known as the world’s largest wheat-producing region. According to Mogens Hovmøller of the GRRC, the region has not been seen stem rust epidemics in Europe since the 1950s. Hovmøller, who leads the center’s testing team, thinks that there is a great need for an early-warning system in Europe. In next few weeks, he will join other experts to ask the European Research Council to release funds for the establishment of the warning system.

Such a system will help partners – including breeders, scientists, and agrochemical firms in Europe – to share investigative facilities and information about potential outbreaks.

Fazil Dusunceli, a plant pathologist at the FAO, believes that such a warning system might have helped to mitigate the Sicily outbreak. “I wouldn’t question the necessity for an early-warning system,” he said.

The GRRC is part of Aarhus University in Denmark and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.

 

Floods in California Forced Evacuations

27 Jan 2017 IAC Staff

Successive winter storms unleashed heavy rains in Southern California over the weekend flooding roads, freeways and homes, trapping people in swamped vehicles, mudslides and bringing down trees in the region.  It made evacuation of stranded residents in several affected areas unavoidable.

The storm rained heavily for several hours with damaging effect. The frightening weekend storm added plenty of precipitation, which suddenly had its arrival in the State after years of withering drought.

The National Weather Service says the system is gaining strength Sunday and could be the strongest in at least seven years. Evacuations are ordered near wildfire burn areas in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and Orange counties. Officials say potential debris flows could limit access for emergency responders.

Coastal areas of Los Angeles County were among the worst hit with Long Beach Airport setting a new all-time rainfall record, 3.87 inches.

The heavy downpour was too much for the local roads. Both the 110 Freeway in Carson and the 710 Freeway in Long Beach were shut down on Sunday afternoon due to extreme flooding that left cars stranded like islands in a lake.

Heavy snow in the Sierra Nevada triggered an avalanche that shut down a highway just west of Lake Tahoe. Schools were cancelled in northern Nevada after it witnessed nearly half-foot of snow fall near Reno. Several intersections in Long Beach and surrounding communities were flooded and residents reported that their parked cars were damaged due to rising rain water. Several people were rescued from their cars and thousands lost power. It is reported that the storm dumped as much as four inches of rain at some places.

Rockslides blocked the roads in Malibu and other coastal mountain areas. According to close sources, about 15 to 20 residents of ocean-front apartment units had been evacuated.

Heavy rains can cause mudslides in the burn areas caused by wildfire last year. Evacuation orders have been issued for burn areas in Glendora, Duarte, Silverado Canyon in Orange County and parts of Santa Barbara County. However, some residents in the burn areas chose to stay in their homes in order to protect their homes in case things run out of their hands.

Brett Albright, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s office in San Diego, said the storm dumped as much as four inches of rain in some places.

The State has deployed extra emergency crews to help, including a bulldozer operator and two additional swift-water rescue teams. The epic rains wreaked something unusual in Disneyland Sunday characterised by a quiet day with small crowds. Although thunderstorm conditions were expected to come down slightly, rainfall is expected to pour until Tuesday.

The storm has caused heavy rainfall over the days along with mudslides and snow blocked major roads including Interstate 80. U.S 395 and Highway 17 the main freeway linking Silicon Valley with Santa Cruz. According to NWS (National Weather Service) the incessant storm and rainfall has seen a record-breaking wave height for the Monterey Bay of measuring 34.12 feet.

Bill Wolcott, a California State Parks public safety superintendent said, “We’ve seen very large surf, with very little break in between, and it’s that repeated beating down by the ocean that seems to be having the biggest effect on the ship this year.”