Weekly Round-up 28th July 2014

Happy Monday everyone! Here are a selection of things that have caught my eye on the internet during the past week.

1. Making plastic from food scraps!
   A research group in Italy has come up with a new way to make plastic from food scraps. You may have been given bioplastic bags (I believe One Stop use them) in the past which are sometimes biodegradable and tend to be made from plant starches. However, these are sourced from food crops, which isn't a great option due to the world's growing demand for food. The new plastics come from unusable food scraps from farming processes and the method to make the plastics is quicker and simpler. Unfortunately, due to the costs of manufacturing it may not currently be industrially viable to scale up this new method, but maybe in the future we'll be able to have more environmentally friendly plastics!
2. New Scientist looks at some of the new technologies to help people with disabilities.
   This week the New Scientist have produced a slideshow of some of the recent developments in technologies to help people with disabilities. From electronic chips to provide eyesight to robot carers, have a look to see what awesome inventions might be improving peoples lives in the future.
3. New form of radiotherapy for breast cancer treatment.
   A new form of radiotherapy is going to be offered on the NHS in the near future which will allow breast cancer to be treated with a single targeted dose of radiotherapy. In this new treatment radiation is delivered directly to an early stage tumour during surgery. The new method has a similar level of effectiveness to standard radiotherapy, except it reduces the level of radiation that other organs receive, along with the number hospital visits for the patient.

And finally, it was San Diego Comic Con last week and along with exciting new concept images for the next Avengers  film the biggest surprises came during the Game of Thrones panel with announcements of the new cast members for season 5 and the characters who won't make it from the books into the show. However, the biggest news came when GRR Martin dropped a revelation about a certain character who was omitted/changed in the TV show appearing in the prologue to The Winds of Winter (Book 6 of A Song of Ice and Fire). GRRM also said that he wouldn't be writing a season 5 episode so he can finish Winds of Winter. Fingers crossed this means we might be seeing Winds of Winter on bookshelves in the near future (haha, I wish).

Currently Reading Bad Science by Ben Goldacre. Bad Science is a fantastic book which looks to lift the lid on science in the media, homoeopathy and the current obsession with nutritionists. It's a fantastic book which I'll be talking about in more detail in another post in the near future.

Currently Watching Gurren Lagan on Netflix. All the Anime released this often discussed anime to Netflix in preparation for it's DVD/BluRay release next month. I'm very glad they did because I'm currently enjoying having its maximum rediculosity fill my evenings before Doctor Who lands next month!