Paris pedalled toward a greener future, a breast cancer vaccine trial launched, and delegates met for the most important climate summit to date, plus more positive newsParis unveiled plans to be a ‘cycle city’
As it does with so many things, Paris seems to have elevated congestion to an art form. The Arc de Triomphe’s notoriously busy roundabout has become a synonym for organised chaos and the subject of mesmerising time-lapse YouTube videos. But the city’s relationship with the car is changing.
This week, the mayor’s office announced a bold new plan to make Paris a ‘cycling city’. Plan Velo: Act 2 will build on progress already made on improving infrastructure for cyclists (70 per cent of the city’s car parking spaces are being removed to make way for cycle lanes).
The new €250m (£211m) scheme will add 130km to the city’s more than 1,000km of cycle lanes, and triple bike storage. The idea is to make it convenient and safe to cycle from one end of Paris to the other. Separately, a bill that will see motorists get paid to replace their cars with bikes is moving through parliament.
Paris’ mayor Anne Hidalgo was elected for a second term last year after introducing many pro-bicycling measures. This week she launched her campaign to become president.
US scientists have launched a trial of a vaccine to prevent triple-negative breast cancer, the most aggressive and lethal form of the disease.
The trial is being led by Cleveland Clinic, Ohio. Though it marks an important step toward developing a breast cancer vaccine, the process is likely to take decades.
Thomas Budd, MD of Cleveland Clinic, said: “Long term, we are hoping that this can be a true preventive vaccine that would be administered to healthy women to prevent them from developing triple-negative breast cancer, the form of breast cancer for which we have the least effective treatments.”
They are majestic, mysterious animals that play a vital role in marine ecosystems. But could whales also help fix the climate?
Scientists studying carbon sequestration in California’s Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary waded in with some interesting research this week.
They estimated that whales account for around 60 per cent of annual sequestration in the sanctuary – more than seagrass, salt marches and kelp put together.
According a report by the International Monetary Fund, large whales sequester around 33 tonnes of CO2 during their lives. “The carbon capture potential of whales is truly startling,” the report concluded.
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A mission to clear up the Great Pacific garbage patch – a swirling mass of floating rubbish twice the size of Texas – returned with its first haul this week (pictured).
A ship operated by The Ocean Cleanup, a non-profit, brought almost 30,000kg (30 tonnes) of trash ashore. The organisation was trialling technology that skims the water to remove rubbish.
“While it’s just the tip of the iceberg, these kilograms are the most important ones we will ever collect, because they are proof that cleanup is possible,” said Boyan Slat, CEO of The Ocean Cleanup. “With a small fleet of these systems, we can clean this up.”
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