IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

Successful Mission Of The First Female Arab Astronaut

Saudi Arabian biomedical researcher, Rayyanah Barnawi (pictured), returned to earth after a 10-day mission on board the International Space Station. Barnawi’s field of expertise is stem cell and breast cancer research. She tweeted regular updates while carrying out experiments on human immune cells in microgravity.

Bidding an emotional farewell from the space station, she tweeted: “Every story comes to an end, and this is only the beginning of a new era for our country and our region. Thanks to everyone who has helped us.”

The mission was privately funded on a ship supplied by Elon Musk’s Space X

AWARD-WINNING ‘POLYSTYRENE’ ALTERNATIVE

S.Lab, a Ukranian start-up company, which produces a biodegradable alternative to polystyrene, has won an award of £25 000 to help scale up its product. The as-yet unnamed product, which is made from mushrooms and hemp, has been around since 2016 and has now completed a successful pilot for cosmetics maker L’Oréal, where it could be used to cushion shampoo and conditioner packs. Companies such as Samsung and Sony, meanwhile, have been exploring whether it might be suitable for packaging fragile television sets.

Hope For Hot Flushes

Many menopausal women are unable to take HRT for the relief of menopausal symptoms. In fact, hundreds of thousands of women in the UK alone cannot take it. Now the drug fezolinetant brings hope as it was found to reduce the frequency of hot flushes by up to 73% in clinical trials.

The drug has been approved by US regulators and could be given the green light in the UK by the end of the year.