Innovation in 2021 - 5th April 2021

2021 has had a difficult start. The Covid-19 pandemic continues to affect everyone's lives. However, this hasn't stopped people from accomplishing their goals.

Making Covid patients more comfortable was the goal of Indian fashion designer Lakshmi Menon. She developed a way to make mattresses from waste plastic which comes from Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) factories. Her cheap mattresses benefit both the environment and India's Covid centres, which have had a severe shortage of mattresses.

Another innovative idea is assisting farmers in the fight against locusts. In East Africa, swarms of the insects are at their worst in 70 years. The pests feast on crops and destroy farmland. But Kenyan NGO The Bug Picture is training affected communities to catch the insects, which are then processed into animal feed.

Hospital tests are being made easier in England thanks to some innovative new technology. A miniature camera which is contained inside a pill is being trialled by the National Health Service. After it's swallowed by the patient, the pill camera travels through the intestines and takes photographs every two seconds. The images help doctors to identify bowel cancer, stomach cancer, and other digestive diseases. Current methods of testing for bowel cancer in hospital are complicated and uncomfortable for the patient. But the pill camera can be used at home and causes little discomfort. Doctors expect this new technology will make checking for cancer much more convenient.

Technological breakthroughs are also changing what we put in our stomachs. US scientists have developed a 'clean' chicken meat which is grown in a laboratory. Singapore has become the first place in the world to approve the 'clean' meat for sale. Interest in 'clean' meat is increasing around the world. Many are worried about the environmental impact of farming. They believe 'clean' meat could be a better alternative to meat from farms.

Like the Kenyan farmers, many people in 2021 have turned a negative into a positive. The innovations we have seen so far make many optimistic for the months ahead.