People Change:
Minnesota researchers have built SpudCell, a cell-like system constructed entirely from known chemical components that can perform a complete cell cycle, including grow, replicate its genome, divide, and undergo selection and competition across multiple generations.
According to WHO estimates, 20% of the world population will develop cancer which will touch 92% through their own diagnosis or that of a family member; there are 20.6 million new cancer cases and 10 million deaths each year, with the number of cases forecast to rise to 35 million annually by 2050.
According to the US CDC, 476,000 American residents are diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease each year and another 450,000 may have alpha-gal syndrome, with both caused by tick bites.
According to the WHO, as of 15 July 2026, a cumulative total of 2124 confirmed cases of Ebola, including 828 deaths, have been reported from the DRC. Meanwhile the University of Oxford has begun trials of a vaccine against the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus.
According to drug maker Alexion, 95% of the 10,000 identified, specific rare diseases do not have medicines to treat them.
Science Corp has developed a Science Eye prosthesis which, after testing and approval, can be implanted on top of, and inside, the eyeballs of human patients suffering from diseases where the eye’s light-sensing cells have died.
Medical researchers have reported new techniques for preserving kidneys and lungs for longer period while being transplanted.
Climate Change and the Environment:
During June and July 2026 many European countries experienced record high temperatures; Europe experienced more than 12,000 excess deaths in May and June and England and Wales 2,700; there were heat domes over parts of the USA and Central Asia; water temperatures in the Mediterranean Sea were up to 5C above usual temperatures; water levels in the Danube, Colorado, Rhine and other rivers in drought stricken areas dropped to critical lows and water cooled French nuclear power plants had to cease operation; there were violent storms and / or floods in Chile, West Africa, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and the Eastern USA; major fires were recorded in the USA, Canada, across Europe and in Algeria; and the maximum Arctic sea ice extent of the winter, recorded on 7th March, was the lowest on record.
Eurostar has changed the design of its new fleet of trains to accommodate temperatures of up to 50C.
The US FCC has approved the deployment of a satellite to act as a giant mirror reflecting sunlight back to earth.
Low Cost Renewable Energy:
Hong Kong researchers achieved 20.5% conversion in an organic solar cell that re-associates non-emissive triplet excitons into extractable free charge carriers.
International researchers have built a high performance, commercially sized tandem solar cell that uses tin oxide in place of indium oxide without sacrificing performance.
In order to make use of surplus renewable energy, the Australian government is allowing families to absorb up to 24 kWh of free electricity per day between 11h00 and 14h00.
China’s Relu Robotics has developed a 9 ton robot that can accurately install solar panels even in rough terrain.
Research by University of Queensland and the Green Finance & Development Centre show that the US$ 20.1 billion Chinese investment in international renewable energy projects under the Belt and Road Initiative in 1H2026 exceeded its full year 2025 green investment.
Autonomous Electric Vehicles:
E3 predicts that electric vehicles with vehicle to grid capability could reduce global grid cost by up to US$ 7 billion per annum.
According to the Asia Group, Chinese electrical car exports in April and May 2026 were 60% and 110% higher than the same months in 2025. Tesla sold 480,126 electric vehicles globally in 2Q26, up 24.9% from 2025.
One Fortescue iron ore mine in Australia uses an entirely electric fleet of excavators, each saving one million litres of diesel a year.
A paper by behavioural scientist Danial Salman recorded that commercial driver licensing and employment in truck driving both fell disproportionately in areas where some automated driving had already started taking place.
Airbus has partnered with MTU to develop hydrogen powered engines for aircraft.
Cornell University researchers claim to have found a way to recover most of the life of lithium ion batteries using an electrochemical solution.
Mass Data Mining and Storage:
AI companies in China, which recently launched the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization to assist third world countries to access AI, launched the low cost, open source Kimi K3, GLM 5.2 and Qwen 3.8 AI models which can run on users’ own hardware and which are, according to the UK’s AI Security Institute, starting to be competitive in their features with more expensive, closed American models.
According to Data Center Watch, 75 American data centre projects worth US$ 132 billion were blocked or halted in 1Q2026.
A US federal judge approved Anthropic’s US$ 1.5 billion settlement of a class action lawsuit claiming the company illegally downloaded and stored millions of copyrighted books.
According to a report from the Center for International and Strategic Studies, Chinese companies Guowang and Thousand Sails each plan to launch 10,000 satellites (by way of comparison, Starlink has launched 10,744 of a planned 42,000 and Amazon 391).
