Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Savor uses chemistry to make 'butter' that tastes just like the real thing

Technology

Fats from thin air: Startup makes butter using CO2 and water

Bill Gates has thrown his weight – and his money – behind a startup making a rich, fatty spread akin to butter, using just carbon dioxide and hydrogen. And this is just the start, with milk, ice-cream, cheese, meat and plant oils also in development.

Maternal sepsis and death in low- and middle-income countries can be reduced by the one-off administration of a common antibiotic

Body & Mind

Maternal sepsis and death greatly reduced by single-dose antibiotic

According to a recent large, multi-country clinical trial, the risk of postpartum sepsis and death in women who plan to deliver vaginally can be reduced by one-third by administering a single dose of the antibiotic azithromycin.

Natrium's advanced nuclear reactor design, which will be up and running as a full scale trial plant in the late 2020s, also stores several times more energy than most grid scale batteries for rapid load response

Energy

Bill Gates's next-gen nuclear plant packs in grid-scale energy storage

Bill Gates's next-level nuclear power station is small, cheap, efficient and fast to build. It also has a built-in, on-demand energy storage system 10 times bigger than the biggest grid-scale batteries. Thanks to a DoE grant, it will open before 2030.

Epidemics like Ebola can break out without warning and CEPI wants to make sure that we're prepared for the next one

Infectious Diseases

Global alliance formed to protect world against the next epidemic threat

For those directly involved in managing the 2014 Ebola epidemic, it remains a harrowing reminder of how unprepared we are to cope with a sudden outbreak. The global coalition CEPI aims to correct this.

The super bananas are yellow on the outside (like the regular bananas seen here), but their flesh is orange with pro-vitamin A (Photo: Shutterstock)

Science

Human trials planned for genetically-modified "super bananas"

Bananas that have been genetically modified to produce pro-vitamin A could save many lives in East Africa. Human nutritional trials are planned to begin soon in the US.

The University of Colorado's solar toilet

Good Thinking

Waste-cooking solar toilet unveiled in India

A solar toiled that produces enough heat to convert fecal matter into biochar has been unveiled in India. The project, developed at University of Colorado Boulder, was made possible with a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has given the project another round of funding.

New technology could allow vaccines to be produced when and where they're needed (Photo: Shutterstock)

Body & Mind

Nanotechnology could enable on-demand manufacture of vaccines

Researchers from the University of Washington have used mice to test a vaccine with the potential to make on-demand human vaccination cheaper and quicker, using engineered nanoparticles.

Rice University graduate student Oara Neumann, left, and scientist Naomi Halas with their solar steam-powered autoclave (Photo: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

Wellness & Healthy Living

Solar steam sterilization system could clean up in the developing world

Researchers at Rice University have developed a solar steam-powered autoclave for sterilizing medical and dental equipment and sanitizing human waste in the developing world. The heart of the technology are light-absorbing nanoparticles that are able to convert solar energy directly into steam.

Bill Gates evaluates the Toronto Toilet at the Reinvent the Toilet fair in Seattle

Wellness & Healthy Living

Bill backs one out at Reinventing the Toilet fair

At the two-day “Reinventing the Toilet” fair held in Seattle this week a California Institute of Technology (Caltech) team claimed first place for their solar-powered toilet.