Four scientific reasons to be cheerful

I don’t think I’m the only one feeling beset on all sides by negative news right now. The extent to which Switzerland is out in front in Europe’s second coronavirus wave makes me question the more optimistic tone of my last newsletter. But new restrictions were announced in Switzerland and elsewhere this week and there is still time to flatten the curve again. In the meantime, I have chosen four uplifting science stories to share with you. The first is an excellent idea which has the potential to reduce food waste. It’s a horrifying fact that one third of the food produced every year is wasted or lost. I’ve written before about how the food system is broken. The more initiatives there are on the table, the better. Tara Giroud interviewed post-doctoral researcher Niloufar Sharif for this story on scientists fighting food waste at the nano level. The Iranian scientist is working on a three-year project at the Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) to develop intelligent...