Evolving life sciences and agricultural research approaches may have a decreasing need to access physical resources in future, such as plant seeds or viral material. Information and genetic data may be all that is required for commercial exploitation of biological resources. This POSTnote summarises the challenge this creates for international discussions on the governance of genetic resources and the possible options for addressing these.
Documents to download
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Chernobyl Fallout (237 KB, PDF)
On 26 April 1986, an explosion in the Chernobyl nuclear power station blew the top from the reactor core, releasing highly radioactive material. 7 years later, areas of the UK remain contaminated with radioactive fall-out from Chernobyl, to the extent that the movement and slaughter of almost 500, 000 sheep on more than 600 farms are still subject to restrictions.
Documents to download
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Chernobyl Fallout (237 KB, PDF)
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Plastic packaging waste has become a key consumer concern. In the UK, over 2.2 million tonnes of plastic packaging enter the consumer market each year. Much of this is used in the food sector because plastic packaging is cheap, light to transport, hygienic, and can be used to extend the product’s shelf-life. In the UK around 46% of plastic packaging is collected for recycling, mostly through local authority collections. However several issues with the current systems of plastics recycling persist. This POSTbrief reviews proposals to Defra and HM Treasury to improve plastics recycling in the UK .
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There is increasing interest in using machine learning to automatically analyse remote sensing data and increase our understanding of complex environmental systems. While there are benefits from this approach, there are also some barriers to its use. This POSTnote examines the value of these approaches, and the technical and ethical challenges for wider implementation.
