Eskarina Handley

Digital skills shortages are becoming urgent. The UK’s relatively low ranking in the global skills table highlights the need for the UK to update skill sets nationally In the 1970s, the UK was sometimes referred to as the ‘,’ an unkind term, but it reflected the country’s poor economic performance compared to the Continent. Fifty years later, the ‘70s moniker threatens to reemerge, as the UK’s digital skills shortage and sluggish economy hampers the country’s potential.

A biodegradable plastic, able to be produced at room temperature in water with self-healing properties, has been made from entirely environmentally friendly materials In 2016, the research team of University of Konstanz chemists generated the base for a mineral plastic. However, a crucial problem with this project was in its chemical composition: despite being a sustainable plastic, it was difficult to biodegrade.