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End-of-life advice: More than 500,000 chat on Medicare’s dime
 JoNel Aleccia

Kaiser Health News

The 90-year-old woman in the San Diego-area nursing home was quite clear, said Dr. Karl Steinberg. She didn’t want aggressive measures to prolong her life. If her heart stopped, she didn’t want CPR.

But when Steinberg, a palliative care physician, relayed those wishes to the woman’s daughter, the younger woman would have none of it.

“She said, ‘I don’t agree with that. My mom is confused,’” Steinberg recalled. “I said, ‘Let’s talk about it.’”

Instead of arguing, Steinberg used an increasingly popular tool to resolve the impasse last month. He brought mother and daughter together for an advance-care planning session, an end-of-life consultation that’s now being paid for by Medicare.

In 2016, the first year health care providers were allowed to bill for the service, nearly 575,000 Medicare beneficiaries took part in the conversations, new federal data obtained by Kaiser Health News show.

Nearly 23,000 providers submitted about $93 million in charges, including more than $43 million covered by the federal program for seniors and the disabled.

Use was much higher than expected, nearly double the 300,000 people the American Medical Association projected would receive the service in the first year.

'A good thing'

That’s good news to proponents of the sessions, which focus on understanding and documenting treatment preferences for people nearing the end of their lives. Patients and, often, their families discuss with a doctor or other provider what kind of care they want if they’re unable to make decisions themselves.

“I think it’s great that half a million people talked with their doctors last year. That’s a good thing,” said Paul Malley, president of Aging with Dignity, a Florida non-profit that promotes end-of-life discussions. “Physician practices are learning. My guess is that it will increase each year.”

Still, only a fraction of eligible Medicare providers — and patients — have used the benefit, which pays about $86 for the first 30-minute office visit and about $75 for additional sessions.

Nationwide, slightly more than 1% of the more than 56 million Medicare beneficiaries enrolled at the end of 2016 received advance-care planning talks, according to calculations by health policy analysts at Duke University. But use varied widely among states, from 0.2% of Alaska Medicare recipients to 2.49% of those enrolled in the program in Hawaii.

“There’s tremendous variation by state. That’s the first thing that jumps out,” said Donald Taylor Jr., a Duke professor of public policy.

Docs still learning

In part, that’s because many providers, especially primary care doctors, aren’t aware that the Medicare reimbursement agreement, approved in 2015, has taken effect.

“Some physicians don’t know that this is a service,” said Barbie Hays, a Medicare coding and compliance strategist for the American Academy of Family Physicians. “They don’t know how to get paid for it. One of the struggles here is we’re trying to get this message out to our members.”

There also may be lingering controversy over the sessions, which were famously decried as “death panels” during the 2009 debate about the Affordable Care Act. Earlier this year, the issue resurfaced in Congress, where Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, introduced the Protecting Life Until Natural Death Act, which would halt Medicare reimbursement for advance-care planning appointments.

King said the move was financially motivated and not in the interest of Americans “who were promised life-sustaining care in their older years.”

Proponents like Steinberg, however, contend that informed decisions, not cost savings, are the point of the new policy.

“It’s really important to say the reason for this isn’t to save money, although that may be a side benefit, but it’s really about person-centered care,” he said. “It’s about taking the time when people are ill or even when they’re not ill to talk about what their values are. To talk about what constitutes an acceptable vs. an unacceptable quality of life.”

That’s just the discussion that the San Diego nursing home resident was able to have with her daughter, Steinberg said. The 90-year-old was able to say why she didn’t want CPR or to be intubated if she became seriously ill.

Related:

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“I believe it brought the two of them closer,” Steinberg said. Even though the daughter didn’t necessarily hear what she wanted to hear. It was like, ‘You may not agree with your mom, but she’s your mom, and if she doesn’t want somebody beating her chest or ramming a tube down her throat, that’s her decision.”

JoNel Aleccia can be contacted at jaleccia@kff.org or follow her on Twitter: @JoNel_Aleccia

KHN’s coverage of end-of-life and serious illness issues is supported by The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

Kaiser Health News, a non-profit health newsroom whose stories appear in news outlets nationwide, is an editorially independent part of the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Output: The 90-year-old woman in the San Diego-area nursing home was quite clear, said Dr. Karl Steinberg. She didn’t want aggressive measures to prolong her life. If her heart stopped, she didn’t want CPR.


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PropTech HouseSimple caught falsifying figures in promo email
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An online agent has withdrawn claims from a promotional email it sent out only last Thursday.

HouseSimple said in the marketing email that it saved vendors £5,594, and that it took only 25 days to get a property to completion.

It used the same figure, 25 days, to say that is how long it took to get a property to Sold Subject to Contract.

An agent who received the promotional email queried where the information had come from to substantiate the 25-day completion claim.

EYE was told by a spokesperson: “The 25 days figures were based around a Rightmove Index report and HouseSimple’s own reporting system.

“But it appears the data was from January 2016 and the claim was removed from all marketing materials – or should have been – because it needs to be updated with this year’s figures.

“It seems the claim was still in automated emails – which this reader received – and it shouldn’t have been. It has now been removed.”

The claim as to saving sellers £5,594 has also been removed, EYE was told.

However, only a fortnight ago, HouseSimple defending this saving, saying the claim was the same one made in TV advertising which had been cleared by Clearcast.

Below is a screengrab of part of the promotional email sent out last Thursday.

Output: UK proptech company HouseSimple has withdrawn claims that it took just 25 days to get a property to completion. The figure appeared in a marketing email. HouseSimple removed the claim from all material after an agent questioned its source. The company added that the data was from January 2016 but has now been updated. Also removed was a claim that the service saved vendors £5,594 ($7,202).


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Facebook buys Fayteq post-production video effects company
 In the same week as it announced its entry to the video market, Facebook has confirmed the purchase of Fayteq, a company that specializes in post-production effects – a move suggesting that it wants to further premium content on the social network.

Details of the deal have not been publicly disclosed, although a Facebook spokesperson has confirmed the purchase with press. The startup is Germany-based, with its LinkedIn page suggesting that it has between 11-50 employees, and a statement on Fayteq’s website claiming that its “products and services are not available for purchase.”

The addition of post-production capabilities to Facebook’s stack, reports suggest that Fayteq specializes in both the addition and removal of objects to video content, would further its strategy of enhancing animated content on the network.

Earlier this week it announced the launch of a dedicated video tab in a redesign of the social network where it plans to host original or licensed content; a move that many industry observers interpreted as a direct challenge to Google-owned YouTube.

The update means that the social network’s 2 billion registered account holders will now be presented with a ‘watch’ tab from which a range of shows, many of them funded directly by Facebook, will be on offer.

Content curation is based on the social signals indicated by Facebook users, with Facebook typically encouraging social interaction around the content. Upon launch, programming from media outlets such as Mashable, Axel Springer-owned Business Insider, among others, is available, with the social network understood to be helping to co-fund said efforts to better popularize the update.

Facebook has not publicly discussed its plans to monetize the service, but the social network has been using mid-roll video ads since the early part of 2017.

Presently, there have been no public disclosures on how Facebook plans to utilize the capabilities of Fayteq, but media companies are already experimenting with the capability to introduce product placement in a post-production environment.

Earlier this week, The Drum caught up with Accenture’s head of research and development to discuss its plans to roll out product placement technology that can seamlessly insert a brand into online video, including the ability to replace existing labeling (see video below).

Output: Facebook has announced it has acquired post-production effects specialist Fayteq. The purchase of the German start-up suggested Facebook is keen to focus on more premium content on the network, although no details of the deal have been released publicly. Facebook has also announced the addition of a video tab called Watch that will feature in a redesign of the platform, which could become a direct competitor to Google's YouTube.


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Australian solar thermal facility to provide power at AUD78/MWh
 SolarReserve has been selected by the government of South Australia state to develop a 150MW solar thermal project at Port Augusta.

Construction of the A$650m (US$511m) facility, dubbed Aurora, will start next year and is expected to be completed in 2020.

The government has signed a power purchase agreement with the US company for the supply of energy from the project for 20 years.Aurora will provide 100% of the Australian state's power needs, with the government set to pay an expected levelized price of A$75/MWh, and no more than A$78/MWh."We are supporting this nation-leading renewable energy project because it will deliver more competition into our energy market and put downward pressure on power prices for households and businesses," South Australian premier Jay Weatherill said.

Output: US solar thermal company SolarReserve is to build a 150 MW project in Port Augusta, South Australia. The Aurora Solar Energy Project will cost AUD650m ($511m) and will incorporate eight hours of storage in the form of molten salt. SolarReserve was chosen by the South Australian government as the lowest-cost option among the shortlisted bids and will cost no more than AUD78/MWh. Construction will begin next year with delivery expected in 2020.


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Snapchat discloses how much it paid for Placed acquisition
 Snapchat has been making some intriguing moves into location measurement and now the company is revealing how much it paid to acquire data company Placed.

According to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today, the Venice, Calif.-based company snapped up Placed for $135.2 million in cash.

“The company was acquired to enhance advertising effectiveness,” read the filing. “We are currently in the process of valuing the assets acquired and liabilities assumed in the transaction.”

While Placed is run independently and has separate guidelines in place to protect its data and privacy, the two companies have already hinted at how

Output: Snapchat paid $135m in cash for location-based data company Placed, according to documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The media company intends to use the deal to improve the effectiveness of its advertising campaigns, the filing said. Placed, which is independently managed, has kept its own data-sharing, privacy and security guidelines in place. The acquisition will help Snap develop revenue streams outside the advertising it sells within Snapchat.


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Foreign investment pushes HK housing market up further in 2017
 The amount of residential property-related transactions rose by 43 percent in 2Q17 to 18,892, pushing process higher. The boom in financial services and Hong Kong’s role as an intermediary between certain sectors of mainland China’s economy and the rest of the world, are attracting fixed investment from overseas.

"In view of the likely positive developments on both the external and domestic fronts, the Hong Kong economy is expected to attain further solid growth in the rest of the year," the Chinese government said. "The generally benign global economic environment remained supportive to external demand."

Total Hong Kong exports of goods rose an annualized 5.6 percent, whilst exports of services rose 2.3 percent. Consumer spending rose by 5.3 percent, whilst the jobless rate dropped to 3.1 percent. Hong Kong investment rose by 8 percent year-on-year. The firm macro fundamentals suggest the economy is in a good shape, however, housing market dynamics might suggest this robust expansion might be peaking out.

The sharp increase in housing prices might start draining the international investors’ urge to allocate capital in Hong Kong. The broader economic growth in Hong Kong is thus exposed to a possible slowdown in the coming quarters.

"But if we are right that interest rates in the city will rise over the months ahead, it could precipitate a slump in the city's property market," Chang Liu of Capital Economics said. More than 90 percent of new mortgage costs in Hong Kong are based on the interbank rates, therefore an increase in interest rates "would lead to a sharp downturn in private consumption and real estate investment."

Output: Foreign investment has supported Hong Kong’s housing market run in 2017, despite a crackdown by mainland China to curb corporate sector debt. The Centa-City Leading Index for residential property is up 11% this year, following a 50% rise between 2011 and 2016. However, housing affordability deteriorated further in Q2, with a Chinese government report showing mortgage spending accounted for 67% of income compared to 56% in Q2 2016, and while house prices continued to rise, the rate slowed. The number of residential transactions dropped to half the 20-year average in July sitting at 3,515, according to official statistics.


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Foreign investment pushes HK housing market up further in 2017
 GDP in the city was up 3.8 per cent in second quarter on back of strong stock and property markets and improved global environment

Output: Foreign investment has supported Hong Kong’s housing market run in 2017, despite a crackdown by mainland China to curb corporate sector debt. The Centa-City Leading Index for residential property is up 11% this year, following a 50% rise between 2011 and 2016. However, housing affordability deteriorated further in Q2, with a Chinese government report showing mortgage spending accounted for 67% of income compared to 56% in Q2 2016, and while house prices continued to rise, the rate slowed. The number of residential transactions dropped to half the 20-year average in July sitting at 3,515, according to official statistics.


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Snapchat names Rocket Fuel as certified partner
 Predictive marketing platform Rocket Fuel has been named a Snapchat Certified Partner, bringing inventory such as custom filters, long-form video, app install and web view to brands looking to advertise to Snapchat’s 143m users – as of the company’s Q2 2017 earnings report.

Being a partner, Rocket Fuel can enable advertisers to measure the success of their ad units, while also getting to Rocket Fuel’s existing support for connected TV, instream and outstream video, and full episode player.

“We’re excited to integrate Snapchat into our predictive marketing platform, allowing Rocket Fuel brands to use its highly engaged audience, unique ad formats and measurement,” said Randy Wootton, CEO of Rocket Fuel. “Our goal is to provide brand marketers with the most well-rounded video solution that also allows them to take advantage of our industry-leading AI and moment scoring technology so they can seamlessly connect with the right person at the right moment with the right message in today’s often noisy digital environment.”

The integration will be available to Rocket Fuel customers in all markets where Snapchat has a presence.

Don’t forget to enter the Effective Mobile Marketing Awards. We've extended the final deadline to 18 August, but time's running out. More details here.

Output: Snapchat has named predictive marketing platform Rocket Fuel as a certified partner. Rocket Fuel will offer Snap Ads with attachments such as long-form video or web view, custom filters and web view to brands wanting to advertise to Snapchat's 166 million daily active users. It also lets advertisers "seamlessly connect" with users and measure the success of their ads. The tech will be available to Rocket Fuel customers in every market where Snapchat has a presence.


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Snapchat names Rocket Fuel as certified partner
 Predictive marketing platform provider Rocket Fuel has been named as a Snapchat Certified Partner, significantly increasing its audience reach and demographic segments available to brands, while also allowing them to use Rocket Fuel’s existing support for connected TV, in-stream and out-stream video, and full episode player.

With more than 166 million daily active users reported globally as of the first quarter of 2017 on Snapchat, the integration will allow marketers using Rocket Fuel’s predictive marketing platform to take advantage of this audience.

In addition, they will benefit from Snapchat’s ad formats and its new measurement tools via one of the most comprehensive video solutions for brands and their agencies. The new capabilities include:

Snap Ads, which are full-screen, 100 per cent viewable, and have audio on by default.

Filters, which can be customised and allow brands to be where their products are bought, thought about, or consumed.

Snap Ads with attachments, which include Long-Form Video, App Install, and Web View, to allow brands to drive towards specific experiences from a Snap Ad.

Randy Wootton, CEO at Rocket Fuel, said: “We’re excited to integrate Snapchat into our predictive marketing platform, allowing Rocket Fuel brands to use its highly-engaged audience, unique ad formats and measurement.

“Our goal is to provide brand marketers with the most well-rounded video solution that also allows them to take advantage of our industry-leading AI and moment scoring technology so they can seamlessly connect with the right person at the right moment with the right message in today’s often noisy digital environment.”

The integration will be available to Rocket Fuel customers in all markets where Snapchat has a presence.

Output: Snapchat has named predictive marketing platform Rocket Fuel as a certified partner. Rocket Fuel will offer Snap Ads with attachments such as long-form video or web view, custom filters and web view to brands wanting to advertise to Snapchat's 166 million daily active users. It also lets advertisers "seamlessly connect" with users and measure the success of their ads. The tech will be available to Rocket Fuel customers in every market where Snapchat has a presence.


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Asset management funds make bids on Indian telecoms towers
 (This story originally appeared in on Aug 12, 2017)

KOLKATA/MUMBAI: The race to acquire the 20,000 towers owned by Vodafone India and Idea Cellular is intensifying. Boston-based American Tower Corp. (ATC), Canadian alternative asset management fund Brookfield and local infrastructure fund IDFC Project Equity Infra have each submitted bids in the $1.1-1.2 billion range for the towers, with a decision likely in a few weeks, three people aware of the matter told ET.The bids come as Vodafone India and Idea, respectively the country’s second and third-largest mobile carriers, are reckoned to have started integrating networks following their merger plan getting the antitrust regulator’s approval, they said. "The bids for Vodafone India’s 10,926 standalone towers have been submitted to Morgan Stanley, while those for Idea’s 8,886-odd standalone ones have been submitted to Bank of America-Merrill Lynch," said one of the people cited above.Vodafone’s own towers are reckoned to be valued at $650-700 million, while Idea’s are pegged at $500-550 million, the second person cited said.There were 15,418 tenants on Idea’s 8,886 standalone towers at a tenancy ratio of 1.7 while there were 15,846 tenants on Vodafone India’s 10,926 towers at a tenancy ratio of 1.5, according to an investor presentation by Idea on March 20, following the announcement of its proposed merger with Vodafone India. ET has seen this presentation.Morgan Stanley and Bank of America-Merrill Lynch are managing the captive tower sales for Vodafone India and Idea, respectively. The people cited above said a final decision on the sale of the combined tower portfolio is likely in a few weeks and is expected to be a Vodafone-Idea joint decision."Any decision to sell the towers separately or collectively will hinge on whichever format commands a higher enterprise valuation as both Vodafone India and Idea will try to secure the best monetisation deal for their standalone towers in the run-up to integration of their networks," said a third person.Vodafone and Idea "could demand a premium" if they decide to sell their combined tower portfolio on the ground that the buyer will "enjoy the advantage of scale with a wider network of towers," the person said.

Output: Three companies have submitted bids in the race to buy 20,000 Indian telecoms towers. Boston-based American Tower, Canada's Brookfield Asset Management and Indian infrastructure fund IDFC Project Equity Infra have all submitted bids for the towers, currently owned by Vodafone India and Idea Cellular. After their merger plan received the antitrust regulator's approval, the two mobile carriers have started integrating their networks.


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Fracking boom drives up price of frac sand
 The North American shale boom owes its success to the hydraulic fracking techniques that unlocked previously inaccessible hydrocarbons.

And successful fracking depends on proppant — in most cases quartz sand, which is suspended in water and chemical solutions and pumped into the fractured formation.

While exploration and production companies have been fracking for decades, the practice has increased exponentially in the unconventional gas rush — as has consumption of frac sand.

Analysts at Credit Suisse project demand for frac sand to surge to 73 million tons in 2017, up 30% over the 2014 peak in demand.

Photo: Wisconsin Geological & Natural History Survey

All of the factors that make for an ideal frac sand are met in western Wisconsin. Jay Zambito, Wisconsin Geological & Natural History Survey

Article continues below the advert

The spike is due not only to a significant rise in the number of completions but also to the type of wells being drilled in the shale plays - very long horizontals completed with...

Output: The US fracking boom is pushing the price of frac sand to new highs. Frac sand, or proppant, is integral to the fracking process. Normally, this means quartz sand held in chemical solutions, which is then pumped into the hydraulic fracture to keep it open. Credit Suisse analysts predict demand will rise to 73 million tons this year, an increase 30% from 2014's peak demand.


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Indian developers' shares drop after shell company crackdown
 Shares of Parsvnath Developers, Pincon Spirit, Signet Industries and three others plunged up to 20 per cent after trading resumed at their counters today after the Securities Appellate Tribunal stayed the curbs imposed on these companies.

Shares of Parsvnath Developers tumbled 9.81 per cent to Rs 21.15 — its lower circuit limit — on the BSE. Shares of Pincon Spirit slumped 19.96 per cent to hit its lowest trading permissible limit for the day at Rs 57.35.

Signet Industries plummeted 19.96 per cent to Rs 8.94 — its lower circuit limit. SQS India BFSI plunged 15.86 per cent to Rs 422, its 52-week low.

Besides, shares of two companies — Kavit Industries and Kkalpana Industries (India) Ltd —— listed only on the BSE also tanked 4.90 per cent to hit its lowest trading permissible limit for the day at Rs 36.80 and 19.92 per cent to Rs 30.35 (lower circuit), respectively.

Both the NSE and BSE had on Friday said trading will resume in the shares of Parsvnath Developers and three others from Monday after the SAT stayed curbs imposed on these companies. Besides, shares of Kavit Industries and Kkalpana Industries will also start trading, BSE had said.

The shares of these companies will be moved out of GSM (graded surveillance measures) framework and will be available for trading with effect from August 14, the exchanges had said in similarly-worded circulars.

The move came after the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) on Friday stayed the trading restrictions imposed on these companies, which figured in a list of 331 “suspected shell companies” referred by the government to SEBI.

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Output: Shares in Indian developers Parsvnath Developers, Pincon Spirit, Signet and others have dropped by up to 20% after a crackdown on shell companies. The Securities Appellate Tribunal recently upheld trading restrictions on the companies, which featured on a list of 331 "suspected shell companies" referred by the Indian government to the Securities and Exchange Board of India.


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Away finds organic, user-generated content key to Instagram
 One of the most engaging posts that Away, the direct-to-consumer luggage maker, has had on Instagram features a yellow suitcase appears in front of a wall of tiles on Italy’s Amalfi Coast. “There’s yellow. Then there’s Amalfi lemon yellow,” the post reads.

But the post wasn’t created by Away’s social team but by a travel buff who happens to be a fan of the brand. Its user-generated posts like these that have helped Away grow 10-fold in the past year, to nearly 100,000 followers today. Out of 676 Instagram posts, 600 are user-generated that have reached 15 million users organically.

“We see people all over the world from a sub-Saharan desert, or to the Great Wall of China or Galapagos Islands, actually staging these photo shoots with their bag and sharing it on social media,” said Jen Rubio, who co-founded Away with colleague Steph Korey in 2015 after working as the head of social at Warby Parker.

Away also places paid ads on Instagram, but Rubio said organic posts and user-generated content are how most people find out about the brand. That’s why Away separates its paid-post operation from the social team’s organic posting. “The content that works well on paid digital marketing isn’t the content that works well on organic social media,” she said. “It’s been really important for us to differentiate those two things.”

Earned content platform Olapic found that 76 percent of consumers believe the content ordinary people share is more honest than branded advertisements. “It’s better content than we could ever do ourselves,” said Rubio.

Unlike other brands, though, Away doesn’t solicit submissions from followers. Starbucks, for instance, gathered user content from its White Cup Contest in 2014. Rubio said followers tag Away in their Instagram posts because the brand shares them. “Even when we had 500 to 1,000 [followers on Instagram], we were sharing their own photos,” said Rubio. “We’ve ingrained and embedded this behavior of sharing with our community.”

Away’s hope is for this kind of content to position it as not only a luggage brand but as a travel brand. “The posts that do [really] well are the posts showing context in travel,” Rubio said. In July, Away also launched a quarterly print magazine all about travel.

Other than user-generated content, Away’s Instagram feed contains in-house shots of the brand’s luggage, which ranges from $225 to $300. Away announced its new white luggage in Instagram Stories last week by having artists draw, paint or doodle their own creations on the bags. This is one way to encourage followers to share their own creations in photos without overtly asking for them. The brand also hosts giveaways and contests for followers, often offering up limited-edition suitcases. In March, for instance, the brand gave away two mini versions of its millennial pink line.

Influencers and brand deals also play a role. In March, Away worked with entrepreneur Poppy Jamie and actress Suki Waterhouse on a line of millennial pink luggage and published pink posts to promote it. The brand did the same in May for a partnership with “Despicable Me 3” on a yellow limited-edition Minion suitcase.

Away has worked with Instagram influencers @tyfrench (65,500 Instagram followers) and @vivaluxuryblog (678,000 followers). The product has also been photographed with celebrities like Jessica Alba, Mandy Moore and Karlie Kloss, prompting People magazine to publish the post “This Is the Carry-On Every Celeb Is Toting.” And it doesn’t hurt that Jay-Z is an investor.

Rubio said the brand never pays for endorsements. Away does, however, take influencers on trips to promote the brand with them. Two have been planned so far: one to the Catskills and another to Stockholm. “It results in a ton of great content.”

Output: Most customers of luggage brand Away find out about the brand through organic posts and user-generated content on Instagram, according to the company. Although Away places ads on Instagram, user-generated content is "better than we could ever do ourselves", said co-founder Jen Rubio. The company also draws on influencers and brand deals. However, rather than pay influencers, it offers them trips to promote the brand, Rubio said.


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DeLorean is developing a flying car
 “Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads,” Doc Brown says, before flipping down his reflective goggles and launching his nuclear-powered DeLorean into the air.

If you think you've heard that line too many times, try being Paul DeLorean. He's not just the nephew of John DeLorean, founder of the short-lived automaker that's now best remembered for its car's starring role as a time machine in the Back to the Future movies. He is the CEO and chief designer of DeLorean Aerospace, the company he founded in 2012 to develop a real life flying car.

Earlier generations of DeLoreans worked as coach builders, so although he may cringe at the name recognition he has accepted it. “We’ve been in transportation forever—it’s in my blood,” he says.

That heritage has led him into one of the hottest areas of transportation development today. He plans to build a two-seat vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) personal air transport vehicle (what the rest of the world calls a flying car). That moves him well out of sci-fi movie cliche territory and into the company of Uber, Airbus, Darpa, Larry Page, and a ton of startups.

Experts working in the field say that, as far-fetched as flying cars sound, the confluence of new lightweight materials, better batteries, and sophisticated computer controls means these visions—like Uber's plan to launch a flying fleet in Dubai by 2020—aren't unrealistic.

Add the business model of ride-sharing, which removes the up-front purchase cost, and there's even a business case for getting these things to work in cities. The really tricky part, though, will be figuring out how to safely deploy these things, especially when it comes to air traffic control and certification.

DeLorean Aerospace

DeLorean’s DR-7 aircraft doesn’t look as outlandish as some concepts, but that's not saying too much in this field. It has two sets of wings, a pair up front and another at the back, plus some winglets underneath. Two large ducted fans, mounted along the center line, front and back, swivel from horizontal for takeoff, to vertical for forward flight.

Output: DeLorean Aerospace has announced plans to build flying cars. The two-passenger DR-7 aircraft is 20-feet long, 18.5-feet wide, entirely autonomous and powered by an electric motor. It has two sets of hinged wings and two large rotating ducted fans, which swivel to facilitate both vertical take-off and horizontal propulsion. While still in the R&D stage, two models have been produced and DeLorean is looking to compete a full-sized prototype for testing within a year.


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Researchers discover new enzyme to increase biofuel production
 Seed oil is made out of lipids—small molecules found in fats, oils, waxes and membranes that make up the boundaries of all living cell components. They also store a lot of energy. The scientists identified a new enzyme, named PLIP1, or Plastid Lipade 1, that interacts with lipids inside the chloroplast.

Michigan State University researchers are experimenting with harvesting seed oil to make biofuels. In a recent study published in the journal The Plant Cell , the researchers show that the chloroplast, where plant photosynthesis occurs, also participates in new ways to provide seed oil precursors.

The enzyme breaks down lipids that make up the chloroplast’s internal membranes, the thylakoids, to be precise. The use and recycling of lipids keeps chloroplast membranes adjusted to developmental or environmental changes. —Kun Wang, lead author

PLIP1 degrades internal chloroplast membranes surrounding the thylakoids. The left-over lipid products are transported to the endoplasmic reticulum, where they eventually turn into seed oil. Photo courtesy of MSU. Click to enlarge.

Leftover lipid products are transported to the endoplasmic reticulum where they become building blocks for seed oil. Previously, it was thought that seed oil production is largely based in the endoplasmic reticulum.

Now, we are finding that the chloroplast is responsible for 10% of seed oil precursors. That might seem like a low number. However, seed oil comes from many sources, and the main one is responsible for 20 to 40% of final product. So, 10% is significant. —Kun Wang

Wang wants to increase the level of PLIP1 in biofuel-targeted plants, so they produce more seed oil. PLIP1 is that it is found in most land plants, which makes it easy to experiment on different species, Wang added.

Initial testing has unexpectedly led to a smaller plant with more oil per seed but fewer seeds, and higher defense activity.

It seems oil production and plant defense functions don’t coexist well. We have a few ideas to bypass this limitation, and we’ve already filled out a patent application to try a new strategy to increase seed oil yield, using PLIP1. —Kun Wang

Resources

Output: Researchers at Michigan State University have identified an enzyme that increases the production of seed oil, which can be made into biofuels. Called Plastid Lipade 1, the enzyme is found in most plants. However, stimulation of its growth results in fewer overall seeds and higher defence activity in the plant, said researcher Kun Wang. The researchers have filed a patent application for a strategy to improve seed oil yield, Wang added.


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Wal-Mart builds online advertising with more third-party adverts
 has been quietly building up its online advertising business, opening up a new revenue channel for the retail giant.

According to KeyBanc's Ed Yruma, Wal-Mart's website has started to show banner ads by third-party sellers more frequently, with links to product pages or vendor websites. Historically, Wal-Mart's online ads have highlighted its own products or discounts, Yruma said.

On top of that, Wal-Mart has recently started linking its in-store and online shopping data, giving more in-depth data that advertisers could play with, he said. Wal-Mart already offers plenty of online ad options, including display media, native ads and programmatic buying programs.

"We believe Walmart recently began intensifying focus on its advertising business," Yruma wrote in a note published this week.

Wal-Mart's push into the online advertising space is another sign of growth for the company's e-commerce business. It also signifies a new potential battleground against its rival Amazon, which has been drawing a lot of attention for its own advertising business.

Wal-Mart's e-commerce business has grown robustly in recent quarters, more than 60 percent year over year. Although online sales are estimated to account for only a tiny fraction of its total revenue, Wal-Mart has made it clear that it plans to build its online business, and the company has a number of e-commerce startups in recent months as well.

Given Wal-Mart's online sales and traffic is much smaller than Amazon's, it's unlikely Wal-Mart's advertising business is generating significant revenue yet. Amazon advertising is one of the company's fastest-growing businesses, estimated to be growing more than 50 percent annually, and analysts expect it to generate more than $3 billion in revenue this year.

But Yruma says Wal-Mart's ability to merge its massive in-store data with its growing online shopping data could make it a more attractive advertising option going forward. Not many companies have the mix of data Wal-Mart can offer.

"There's a lot happening within physical stores, so being able to merge those two data sets will be incredibly important going forward," Yruma said.

Output: Wal-Mart's website has begun showing a greater number of banner ads from third-party sellers, said Ed Yruma, an analyst at KeyBanc. Additionally, Wal-Mart has started to connect its in-store and online shopping data to offer advertisers a more in-depth picture of customer behaviours, Yruma said. Wal-Mart's online ad options include programmatic buying plans, native ads and display media.


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Continental offers new braking concept for electric vehicles
 The technology company Continental has expanded its solution portfolio for electric vehicles, developing the New Wheel Concept to meet the specific requirements of these vehicles.

The wheel rim consists of two aluminum (Al) parts, the inner Al carrier star with the Al brake disk and the outer Al rim well with the tire. In contrast to conventional wheel brakes, the New Wheel Concept brake engages the Al disk from the inside. This allows it to have a particularly large diameter, which benefits the braking performance.

To increase the vehicle’s range, deceleration in the EV generates as much electricity as possible through recuperation (= braking using the electric motor), so the wheel brake is used less frequently. The corrosion-free Al brake disk also prevents the formation of rust (as is normal on cast-iron disks) which can impair the braking effect.

Thanks to the lightweight material, the New Wheel Concept reduces the weight of the wheel and brake, enabling lightweight construction in EVs. Advantages of the concept are much easier wheel and brake pad changes and that the disk is not subject to wear.

Rethinking the wheel

The New Wheel Concept is based on a new division between the wheel and the axle. Here the wheel consists of two parts, the aluminum carrier star, which remains permanently bolted to the wheel hub, and the rim well, which is bolted to the star. The wheel brake is fastened to the wheel carrier of the axle and engages from the inside with an annular aluminum brake disk, which in turn is bolted to the carrier star. The internal brake permits a wide brake disk friction radius, since the space available in the wheel is optimally utilized. During its development, the New Wheel Concept’s braking performance was initially designed for medium and compact class vehicles. In accordance with today’s requirements for this application, the brake is sturdy and fulfills all the established criteria – although it is used much less frequently in an EV.

The dual New Wheel Concept also reduces the weight of the wheel and brake and reduces service costs due to a lifetime brake disk and an easy brake pad change.

“In EVs, it’s crucial that the driver expends as little energy as possible on the friction brake,” says Paul Linhoff, Head of Brake Pre-Development in the Chassis & Safety Business Unit at Continental. “During a deceleration, the momentum of the vehicle is converted into electricity in the generator to increase the vehicle’s range. That’s why the driver continues to operate the brake pedal – but it certainly doesn’t mean that the wheel brakes are active too.”

The deceleration torque of the electric motor is only no longer sufficient by itself when the driver brakes more energetically, or braking also has to carried out with the non-driven axle for driving dynamics reasons. The wheel brake is needed in this situation – and it must be available.

“Drivers want to be able to rely on a consistent braking effect – and too much rust on the brake disk in particular can really make this difficult,” Linhoff emphasizes. The reason behind the reduced performance is less friction between the brake pad and the brake disk. The automatic emergency braking function also has to fully rely on the availability of the friction brake effect.

In perfect harmony – material and design

The design of the New Wheel Concept uses the strengths of lightweight aluminum material for the brake. Thanks to the long leverage effect on the large brake disk, relatively low clamping forces are enough to provide a high level of braking efficiency – and since aluminum is a very good heat conductor, the heat generated in the disk during braking is quickly dissipated.

The design enables the use of a large aluminum brake disk and solves the problem of bad braking performance due to corroded brake disks.

Continental assumes, after the results of the initial practical tests, that the Al disk itself is not subject to wear, unlike cast-iron disks. With the New Wheel Concept, abrasion only takes place on the pads, and the design of the Concept makes replacing them – and the wheels – much easier.

The New Wheel Concept has yet another positive: “Because the brake disk is fixed on the outside and the brake engages from the inside, the brake caliper can be designed particularly light and stiff. The force is transmitted largely symmetrically into the center of the axle, and this has a favorable effect on the noise behavior of the brake,” says Linhoff – and that’s a side effect which is particularly attractive in a quiet EV.

Continental will also demonstrate the New Wheel Concept during the Frankfurt Motor Show.

Output: Automotive technology company Continental has developed a braking system that conserves power and helps improve the range of electric vehicles. The braking system engages the brake disc from the inside, which enables it to have a large diameter. In turn, this process improves the brakes' efficiency. Additionally, the lightweight aluminium brake disc prevents rusting which can impair the brakes' performance.


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Alibaba signs agreement to provide online housing rental platform
 PTI

China's e-commerce giant Alibaba has signed an agreement with its home city government in Zhejiang province to use the company's technology to create an online system for house rentals.

The system will cover apartments put up for rent from all sources — the government, individuals, real estate developers and agents, according to the agreement signed earlier this week.

People seeking rental housing in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang province, will be able to use the application and website created by Alibaba for every stage in the process, from searching for apartments to signing contracts and payment, state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.

"Information on apartments, user reviews, and credibility ratings of owners, renters and agents will all be shared," said Han Junqing, director of Hangzhou Real Estate Registration Center.

The smart house renting system, as it is called, will be supported by Alibaba's big data, online payment technology, and commerce credit system and can prevent fraudulent deals, sources with the government and Alibaba said.

China's housing rental market in major cities has been dominated by real estate agents, and fraud and disputes are not unusual. Though some big real estate companies already have apps, the information is not shared with others.

Apartment seekers have to repeatedly compare offers from different apps, and these companies lack a mature credit system comparable to Zhima Credit from Alibaba subsidiary Ant Financial.

The Chinese government is prioritising the development of its rental market to rein in runaway home prices in the country's big cities.

Hangzhou is among the first 12 cities chosen by the central government to take bold reforms to boost the rental market.

Output: China's biggest e-commerce company Alibaba has signed a deal to offer an online housing rental platform in its home city, Hangzhou. The smart housing rental system will cover flats advertised by sources including the government, developers and individuals. "Information on apartments, user reviews, and credibility ratings of owners, renters and agents will all be shared", according to Hangzhou Real Estate Registration Center director Han Junqing.


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Fake Instagram influencers con brands
 Fraud is becoming a real problem in influencer marketing, an industry that is valued at over $1 billion.

One way fraud often appears is through bots. As brands and agencies focus on “micro-influencers,” those with followers under 100,000, those same influencers are also likelier to turn to bot followers to inflate authenticity.

A study by Mediakix completed this week found the problem goes deeper: Brands are spending money on influencers who have artificially inflated their followers.

It’s a common tactic. As Digiday has previously reported, marketing executives say they see a practice of buying accounts and engagement often. Viral Nation, a social influencer talent agency, told Digiday it received 50-100 influencer applications on a daily basis, and 20-30 percent of them have used bots on Instagram.

Here’s how the study worked. Mediakix made two fake Instagram influencer accounts whose followers were entirely fake — they were purchased followers with fake engagement — and applied those influencers to campaigns on platforms.

For the first account, @calibeachgirl310, the company hired a model and made content as a lifestyle influencer named Alexa Rae who lived in California.

The second account, @wanderingggirl, was made with stock photos entirely, posing as a travel and photography influencer named Amanda Smith who posted pictures from exotic locales.

Both accounts bought up to 15,000 followers at a time — it cost between $3 and $8 to buy about 1,000 followers. Instagram did not flag the rapid growth of the account, according to Mediakix. In total, @wanderingggirl got 30,000 followers and @calibeachgirl310 got 50,000 followers in two months.

Both accounts then managed to secure four paid brand deals, according to Mediakix. The company did not disclose which brands they were, but said the deals were with a swimsuit company, an alcohol brand and a food and beverage brand (which worked with both accounts). Digiday verified that the brand deals — which offered both money and free product — were real, using screenshots provided by Mediakix off the record.

For Mediakix, which itself does influencer marketing for brands, the report, which is one among many research reports it has put out, is a way to make people aware of the problem (and also tout its own capabilities).

“I would imagine bots have gotten more sophisticated and Instagram struggles to identify it. We want to call it out to the industry. Obviously, we do this for work brands. We would like to do [influencer marketing] well,” said Evan Asano, CEO of Mediakix.

Instagram is aware of the bot issue. Its guidelines prohibit users from posting repetitive comments and artificially soliciting likes and followers. Since bots run off hashtags, Instagram also has a limit on the number of hashtags one can use, according to a company spokesperson, who also told Digiday that “spam accounts make up a very small fraction of Instagram’s monthly active user base.”

“We take spam, inauthentic and other abusive behavior very seriously and have a number of teams dedicated to detecting fraudulent behavior and shutting it down,” the rep said. “We consider services that automate likes or follows to be spam, and we will continue to aggressively remove them from the platform per our policy.”

Instagram also said that internal estimates show that spam accounts make up a small fraction of its monthly active user base. The company has over 700 million users.

Output: Brands are spending money on influencers who have artificially inflated their followers, according to a report from influencer marketing agency Mediaklix. To trial whether fake accounts would receive brand deals, the company created two fake Instagram accounts and bought thousands of followers for them both. Although 15,000 followers were bought at a time, Instagram did not flag the rapid growth of the accounts, Mediakix reported. Both accounts were then able to secure four paid brand deals each. Instagram's policy considers services that automate likes or follows to be spam and removes them from its platform, the photo sharing app said.


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20 major world banks saw £264bn misconduct costs over five years
 Fines, legal bills and the cost of compensating mistreated customers reached £264bn for 20 of the world’s biggest banks over the five years to 2016, according to new research that raises doubts about efforts by the major financial services players to restore trust in the sector.

This figure is higher than in the previous five-year period – when the costs amounted to £252bn – and is up 32% on the period 2008-12, the first time the data was collated by the CCP Research Foundation, one of the few bodies that analyses the “conduct costs” of banks.

The report said the data showed that 10 years on from the onset of the financial crisis, the consequences of misconduct continue to hang over the banking sector.

The latest analysis shows that in 2016 the total amount put aside by the banks surveyed rose to more than £28.6bn – higher than in the previous year when there had been a fall from a peak of £63bn in 2014.

Chris Stears, research director of the foundation, writes in the latest report: “Trust in, and the trustworthiness of, the banks must surely correlate to, and be conditional on, banks’ conduct costs. And persistent level of conduct cost provisioning is worrying.

“It remains to be seen whether or not the provisions will crystallise in 2017 [or later] and what effect this will have on the aggregated level of conduct costs.”

Two UK high street banks – Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group – are in the top five of banks with the biggest conduct costs.

RBS set aside extra provisions for fines and legal costs largely related to a forthcoming penalty from the US Department of Justice for mis-selling toxic bonds in the run-up to the financial crisis.

That residential mortgage bond securitisation mis-selling scandal is responsible for £66bn of the costs incurred during the five-year period and the single largest factor, according to the foundation.

The payment protection insurance scandal, which is the main reason Lloyds Banking Group is in the list, caused the banks to set aside £27bn during the period. Lloyds has set aside more than £17bn to tackle the mis-selling of PPI.

Roger McCormick, managing director of the foundation, said: “It’s reasonable to assume that the long-running sorry tale of payments and provisions for PPI must come to an end eventually although UK banks made additional provisions for PPI mis-selling of more than £1.5bn midway through 2017.”

The foundation uses five-year rolling periods to try to provide a long-term analysis of the costs that banks face to rectify past mistakes, a major theme of the last 10 years, when they were also hit by penalties for rigging foreign exchange markets and interest rates (Libor).

“As has been the case since the first table, we find ourselves wondering when, if ever, the level of conduct costs will start to decrease,” said McCormick.

He noted that the 2016 figures showed a rapid decline in fines from the Financial Conduct Authority, which issued fines worth £819m in the first six months of 2015 alone, as a result of the market-rigging scandals.

Top of the table are major US banks Bank of America, which dominates the table because of its previous bill for the toxic bond mis-selling scandal, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley.

The figures include money set aside for future penalties by the 20 banks and fines and other costs they have incurred to tackle regulatory and legal claims.

Stears said there would not be zero conduct costs but added: “The question is at what average level will these costs settle? And, moreover, is that level acceptable to the banks, their shareholders and the public?”

Output: The cost of compensating mistreated customers reached £264bn ($342bn) for 20 of the world’s largest banks over the five years to 2016, according to data collated by the CCP Research Foundation. The figure is higher than the £252bn for the previous five years, a 32% increase. Two UK banks, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds, are among the five with the highest conduct costs due to controversies over mortgage bonds and the payment protection insurance scandal respectively. The other banks in the top five are Bank of America, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley.


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Lab-grown meat may not solve industry problems: Gizmodo
 Some folks have big plans for your future. They want you—a burger-eatin’, chicken-finger-dippin’ American—to buy their burgers and nuggets grown from stem cells. One day, meat eaters and vegans might even share their hypothetical burger. That burger will be delicious, environmentally friendly, and be indistinguishable from a regular burger. And they assure you the meat will be real meat, just not ground from slaughtered animals.

That future is on the minds of a cadre of Silicon Valley startup founders and at least one nonprofit in the world of cultured meat. Some are sure it will heal the environmental woes caused by American agriculture while protecting the welfare of farm animals. But these future foods’ promises are hypothetical, with many claims based on a futurist optimism in line with Silicon Valley’s startup culture. Cultured meat is still in its research and development phase and must overcome massive hurdles before hitting market. A consumer-ready product does not yet exist and its progress is heavily shrouded by intellectual property claims and sensationalist press. Today, cultured meat is a lot of hype and no consumer product.

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“Much of what happens in the world of cultured meat is done for the sake of PR.”

“Much of what happens in the world of cultured meat is done for the sake of PR,” Ben Wurgaft, an MIT-based post-doctoral researcher writing a book on cultured meat, told Gizmodo. Wurgaft finds it hard to believe many predictions about cultured meat’s future, including the promise of an FDA-approved consumer product within a year.

The truth is that only a few successful prototypes have yet been shown to the public, including a NASA-funded goldfish-based protein in the early 2000s, and a steak grown from frog cells in 2003 for an art exhibit. More have come recently: Mark Post unveiled a $330,000 cultured burger in 2013, startup Memphis Meats has produced cultured meatballs and poultry last and this year, and Hampton Creek plans to have a product reveal dinner by the end of the year. (Memphis Meats declined to be interviewed for this story, and all quotes attributed to them come from prior reporting.)

Because many in the cultured meat industry see this meat as cruelty-free, animal rights groups have become more vocal about cultured meat in its recent past. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals offered a one million dollar prize for whoever could “produce commercially viable quantities of in vitro (lab-grown) chicken meat” in 2008. That contest’s deadline lapsed in 2014, but in 2016 a non-profit called the Good Food Institute spun off of animal rights organization Mercy for Animals. The GFI’s mission is to promote what they call “clean meat,” or “meat that is produced through cellular agriculture” instead of slaughter, Bruce Friedrich, the Good Food Institute’s executive director told Gizmodo. Today, several startups have entered the cellular agriculture space, many of whose founders are vegan or who tout their product’s presumed ethical superiority. (Memphis Meat’s website explicitly states that their product is not vegetarian or vegan, though it has been promoted by the GFI and vegan company employees have said they would eat their own product.)

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“We have a food system that isn’t working, people are eating food that degrade their body, a billion go to bed hungry every night,” Josh Tetrick, CEO of the controversial food company Hampton Creek, told Gizmodo. He proposed that all these crises could be solved “with plants” but since “people love meat,” cultured meat can help. The problem is real: Meat consumption continues to increase, and could increase by “4 percent per person over the next ten years,” according to Ensia reporting. Livestock represent approximately 15 percent of man-made greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

But first, startups need to actually launch the consumer product, which means overcoming critical production and distribution challenges before even thinking about selling it as a reasonable, affordable alternative to slaughtered meat.

“The important point is that no one has done this at scale yet.” Existing cost estimates relying on prototypes “are based on existing extrapolation of lab-scale processes that aren’t just unsustainable, but also not an accurate representation of what this would look like,” Eitan Fischer, director of Cellular Agriculture at Hampton Creek told Gizmodo.

For now, we know that the meat is made by growing animal-derived cells in the lab and harvesting the meat after a month or so. Part of that scale-up includes developing industrial bioreactors for growing the meat—eventually, cultured meat producers hope the process will look a lot like the beer brewing, where cells grow in big tanks. (Bioreactors as large as 20,000 liters exist for other purposes, but would need to be designed specifically for growing cow, chicken or pig cells.) Companies are mum about their progress on these bioreactors. Hampton Creek told Gizmodo that they had a bioreactor and explained how the scale-up might work, but would not give details on the size.

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“The reality is that we don’t have a product yet. It’s taking quite some time and there are still hurdles to overcome on getting there.”

And yet, cultured meat startups love bringing up slaughtered meat’s greenhouse gas emissions. “With plants providing nutrients for animal cells to grow, we believe we can produce meat and seafood that is over 10x more efficient than the world’s highest volume slaughterhouse (a 1,000,000-square foot facility in Tar Heel, N.C.). All this without confining or slaughtering a single animal and with a fraction of the greenhouse gas emissions and water use,” Hampton Creek CEO Josh Tetrick wrote on a LinkedIn post this past June.

But despite what you may have heard, the evidence as to whether cultured meat is better for the environment is inconclusive. “On the environmental studies, the work that’s been done is very preliminary,” Hampton Creek’s Fischer said. A 2011 study estimated that the product might produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions, but use about the same amount of energy as the European pork industry. One 2015 study found potential environmental benefits in China, but another 2015 estimate found it could use just as much energy as animal-based meats. The common theme is uncertainty.

It seems that the very idea that cultured meat will be better for the environment than slaughtered meat doesn’t just require new means of food production, it requires the world around it to change in order to sustain it—for the products to be made and shipped predominantly with renewable energy, for example.

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When Memphis Meats discusses the environmental benefits on its website, given the inconclusive data, these claims seem reliant on optimism. “When people tell stories about cultured meat one of the things they do is quickly fill in blanks on the page around the meat,” said Wurgaft. He thinks that some stakeholders treat cultured meat as an object on which they can hang other hypotheticals about the future.

As far as cultured meat’s other big promise—meat without murder—it is also uncertain. The most talked-about hurdle in slaughter-free meat production is how to feed the cells. The agricultural industry treats cows like little factories: plants consume solar energy, cows consume plants, cows turn solar energy into energy consumable by humans. Like cows, cells grown in a culture must be fed too. The most prevalent option is a serum made from the blood of calf fetuses called fetal bovine serum—clearly not a vegan or slaughter-free option. Expensive and proprietary replacements exist as Good Food Institute senior scientist Liz Specht showed me, but every cultured meat company’s Holy Grail is an affordable serum without animal products.

“We have validated our first process and created Memphis Meat without fetal bovine serum,” Steve Myrick, VP of Business Development at Memphis Meats told Gizmodo a few months ago. “We’re in the process now of applying that to all of our product. That’s one of our proudest accomplishments.” What that serum is actually made from, neither they nor Hampton Creek would say, citing intellectual property claims. But Mike Selden, CEO of cultured fish startup Finless Foods, told me that it “was a pretty black and white path to fully identifying the necessary growth factors” required to create a slaughter-free serum substitute. “Once they’re identified, we can produce them in transgenic yeast, bringing cost of a blended product (not 100% fish, part plant matter) down to about $100 a pound.”

Still, the bulk of crucial facts surrounding cultured meat’s progress are obscured as intellectual property, despite claims of a “transparent production process” from Memphis Meats, for example. The nature of being a business requires hidden details—about the serum, the bioreactors, and how all of those animal cells are going to stick together—much like the secret formulas of Coca-Cola or KFC’s chicken. Hampton Creek has just announced that they are “in talks” to license these propriety methods to “some of the world’s biggest meat companies.”

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Despite our inability to truly assess the current state of cultured meat, press coverage alone would make you think that the future will be “full of lab-grown meat.” I am just as guilty as the rest for fueling the hype.

“I think that it’s pretty lofty to be trying to sell a product to a group that you’re not a part of.”

“There has been a lot of news coverage for almost seven years now, even in times when there wasn’t a lot of new things going on,” Mark Post, Professor of Vascular Physiology at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, co-founder of Mosa Meat and creator of the first cultured hamburger, told Gizmodo. “It seems a bit excessive. It’s either one way or the other. It’s negative for reasons that are not traceable but there’s no particular evidence, it’s just feelings, or it’s very positive which is more related to high expectations and wishful thinking. The reality is that we don’t have a product yet. It’s taking quite some time and there are still hurdles to overcome on getting there.”

Today, estimates for the launch of the first consumer product range from Hampton Creek’s 2018 claim to Memphis Meat’s 2021 claim. Many industry observers think these dates are overly optimistic, though this could depend on the initial price. But oversell in coverage isn’t new—in interviews with Gizmodo, at least three different commentators cited Alexis Madrigal’s 2013 chart in The Atlantic. It demonstrates that predicted dates on plenty of estimates for when in vitro meat would hit the shelves have passed.

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Industry observers not involved in the startups are skeptical for lots of different reasons. Several, in interviews with Gizmodo, said that waves of speculation prevented productive conversation about how this never-before-eaten food would be scaled and regulated by the FDA, and how it would evolve.

Some said that the vegan mindset felt uncomfortable. “It seems strange that vegans would be trying to market a product to non-vegans,” Erin Kim, Communications Director at New Harvest, a non-profit that funds open science cultured meat projects, told Gizmodo. “I think that it’s pretty lofty to be trying to sell a product to a group that you’re not a part of.”

Other in the industry were concerned that the secrecy that comes along with IP (intellectual property) claims could induce fear in the public. “I’m frightened about the ways that genetically modified [food] entered the public, which was more related to IP and ownership than science and technology,” said Isha Datar, New Harvest’s Executive Director. “I found that cultured meat could be transformative but didn’t want the same thing to happen with it [as it did] with GMOs.”

Datar also thought it surprising to apply West Coast Silicon Valley startup thinking to the traditional middle-America meat world. Tetrick from Hampton Creek told Gizmodo that the company entered the cultured meat space because he wanted to reduce industrially-produced meat consumption in Trump country. Aren’t these regions already distrustful of the liberal coastal elite? Why would they buy this liberal meat?

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This is a small industry making huge promises about what the future of meat will look like. Of course, startups need to make lofty promises (and hit goals) so they may continue to be funded. But in this case, we don’t know whether the solution they’re offering will actually be the best.

“The idea that one or more companies will suddenly solve the problem in the next couple years is insanity. We’re just kind of balancing the imperfection versus the urgency.”

While confident that his company would hit the 2018 deadline, Tetrick, Hampton Creek’s CEO, agreed with the concerns. “The idea that one or more companies in Silicon Valley and Israel will suddenly solve the problem in the next couple years is insanity,” he said, nor did he think cultured meat was a perfect solution. “We’re just kind of balancing the imperfection versus the urgency. Given all the challenges around it—technical, cultural, regulatory—it’s worth a bet.”

Still, overly positive press and ethical optimism can make us dream of a world that doesn’t yet exist, where all meat is brewed in a bioreactor, instead of a future where we pursue other options that solve the problems of industrial agriculture. It’s exciting that a version of the future feels like it’s around the corner, but folks have been writing about lab-grown meet since at least 2003, without a commercial product to show for it. It doesn’t exist yet, at least not in a way that you, a consumer, can eat it.

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“Where I think we veer more into ‘bad’ territory is when the kind of imagination offered by this technology might also limit us. I don’t think in vitro meat is ‘the’ future of meat,” Christina Agapakis, biologist and creative director of Gingko Bioworks, a synthetic biology company that produces custom microbes, told Gizmodo. “It might be a future of meat, but I think the way food and technology will mix will be much more complicated than any one current vision might offer.”

Output: Expectations of lab-produced meat, which could meet increased consumer demand while reducing livestock emissions, are unrealistic, according to Gizmodo. Intellectual property considerations make it hard to track progress in the field, though it appears that lab processes are not yet sustainable on a larger scale. The evidence for the environmental benefits of cultured meat is also inconclusive, and an affordable, animal-free alternative to the serum used to feed cells, made from the blood of calf foetuses, has not yet been invented, according to the publication.


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Shell and Exxon censured over 'misleading' gas ad in Netherlands
 The Dutch advertising watchdog will on Tuesday censure Shell and Exxon for claiming that natural gas was “the cleanest of all fossil fuels” in an advert earlier this year.

It will be the second time this summer that the Netherlands advertising standards board has ruled against the fossil fuels industry, after it slapped down Statoil in June for calling gas a “clean energy” and “low emissions fuel”.

In a bid to pre-empt the latest ruling, online versions of the advert were changed a few weeks ago to redefine gas as “the least polluting fossil fuel”.

The Dutch watchdog waived punitive action against the NAM company, which is part-owned by Shell and Exxon, in that light.

Paul de Clerk of Friends of the Earth Europe, which co-filed the complaint with Milieudefensie, said: “This clear ruling by the advertisement standards board is of great importance. Time after time we see how oil and gas companies are misleading citizens and politicians.

“They want us to believe that gas is clean and they support the transition to renewable energy. Behind the screens we see how the same companies lobby against this transition. To prevent catastrophic climate change we need to end the dependency on all fossil fuels – including gas. ”

The issue is highly contentious, after a Trump administration push for gas to be described as a “clean technology” at a G20 summit in July split the meeting.

The US disassociated itself from the final communique, inserting text into the document saying that it would help countries “access and use fossil fuels more cleanly and efficiently.”

But gas is seen by many policy-makers as a “bridging fuel” to a renewable-powered future and the EU’s research wing has also described it as a low carbon energy source, making about £100m available for research grants on that basis.

Natural gas emits around half as much carbon dioxide as coal when burned, although this is still far more than from renewables.

But the picture is less clear when it includes methane – a short-lived but much more potent greenhouse gas – which one recent study found was being emitted by gas plants at levels up to 120 times higher than reported to US regulators.

The ruling by the Dutch Advertising Code Authority, which the Guardian has seen, found that “the absolute term ‘cleanest fossil fuel’ is not in line with the MRC [Dutch advertising code].”

“It is suggested that fossil fuels can be clean in that they do not cause environmental damage. It is firm – and recognised by NAM – that that suggestion is not correct.”

Antonetta van Beem, a spokeswoman for NAM, said her company’s decision to change the advert was not an admission that the original had been misleading.

Output: A Dutch advertising watchdog has censured Shell and Exxon after the companies claimed that natural gas was "the cleanest of all fossil fuels" in advertising earlier this year. Natural gas is considered by many to be an alternative to hydrocarbon resources, as it releases only half as much CO2 as coal when burned. However, the gas also emits methane when burned, which is a significant greenhouse gas.


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Aramco’s IPO could be affected by climate change says thinktank
 An error occurred. Please try again.

Saudi Aramco’s initial public offering (IPO) could be “strongly” influenced by climate change, according to a new report.

According to Oil change International’s new briefing many analysts believe that Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman’s $2trillion estimate of the state backed venture’s value was “unrealistic”.

Instead the thinktank claims a more realistic estimate would be somewhere in the range $1 – 1.5trillion.

However, one of the unanswered questions, which the group hopes to answer, is how moves to decarbonise the energy system will affect the IPO’s valuation.

Researchers looked at three factors: how oil price will affect Aramco’s valuation, how Aramco’s oil production will compete with that of international oil companies (IOCs) in light of constrained demand and how Aramco’s reserves relate to carbon budgets.

The thinktank concludes that a the “best-case estimate” for the value of Aramco could be between 25% to 40% lower in the IEA’s safer-climate scenarios.

And, the research is said to have found that, if oil prices stay at $50 in real terms, Aramco’s value could be reduced to less than $700 billion, 55% below the base case.

The summary of the briefing states: “The IPO is thus a real test of whether investors are thinking seriously about climate change.

“A high valuation, say above $1 tn, would indicate they are betting on a failure to address climate change, through an expectation of high future oil demand. Investments in the IPO could then be at significant risk.

“The question of whether Aramco is advantaged relative to international oil companies (IOCs) because of its low production cost depends on the shape and timing of climate policy.

“If governments continue to drag their feet on reducing emissions, IOC production will remain viable for longer, and assuming governments ultimately act to keep warming below 2 degrees, a large proportion of Aramco’s reserves may be left unburned.

“However, this scenario would also entail rapid emissions cuts later, forcing down prices within investment timescales of 15-25 years, and causing significant destruction of oil company assets. As such, it creates the greatest financial risk to all.”

The paper, written and researched by Greg Muttitt and Hannah McKinnon claims that if the IPO realises a value at the higher end of the likely range (for example, above $1 trillion), its investors could face significant risk from climate policy.

They add: “If it comes out lower, this may raise questions of whether IOCs are overvalued.

“If fully extracted and burned, Saudi reserves would have a profound impact on the climate.

“Emissions from Saudi reserves would amount to 112 Gt of carbon dioxide, one seventh of total global emissions in a 2°C carbon budget, or one third of total global emissions in a 1.5°C carbon budget.

“The problem is not so much Aramco on its own, but Aramco in combination with IOCs, which constantly explore for and open up new reserves, to replace what they have extracted.”

And the briefing warns that “rigorous scrutiny” of new investments in fossil fuels is needed.

The report states: “If IOCs continue to add new oil and gas, Aramco’s reserves stand to push the world beyond climate limits: after carbon budgets are exhausted, there will still be strong economic incentives to extract them due to their low cost.

“The world is rapidly approaching climate limits. There is an urgent need for rigorous scrutiny of any new investments in fossil fuels, not least of the partial listing of the world’s largest oil company.”

Output: The valuation of Saudi oil company Aramco at $2trn by Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman is unrealistic, according to a report by thinktank Oil Change International. The thinktank proposed a price in the range of not more than $1.5trn. The report considers the impact of moves towards carbon reduction on the company’s initial public offering (IPO) and concludes that the “best-case estimate” for Aramco’s value could be 25% to 40% lower under the International Energy Agency’s climate recommendations. The report states that “the IPO is thus a real test of whether investors are thinking seriously about climate change”.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Innogy expands Irish renewables portfolio with windfarm purchase
 German energy company Innogy has entered the Irish market having acquired a wind farm site in Co Kerry for an undisclosed sum.

The 10.2MW Dromadda Beg wind farm will have three turbines, which received planning approval in May 2014. Permission was applied for by Peter and Helen O'Brien, who are directors of Glenmore Forestry Services Ltd.

Construction on the Listowel site is due to begin in September, with commissioning of each of the 144.5m turbines scheduled for the second half of 2018.

Having signalled plans to enter the Irish market when the company launched its initial public offering (IPO) in 2016, Innogy set up an Irish subsidiary in September of last year. At that time it appointed a country manager who now has four staff working with him.

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"When we launched our IPO last year Innogy outlined its intention to increase its renewables footprint by entering new markets and new technologies, and the purchase of Dromadda Beg highlights our commitment to this," its chief executive Peter Terium said. "To grow its renewables business Innogy intends to invest between €1.5 billion and €1.7 billion from 2017 to 2019."

Cathal Hennessy, the managing director of the company's Irish subsidiary, outlined some of the group's Irish growth plans.

Renewable energy targets

"We are also in the process of acquiring further wind projects in Ireland. We plan to grow our onshore wind business to include greenfield developments and consented sites right through to the acquisition of operational wind farms, and we are excited to play a key role in supporting Ireland to deliver its renewable energy targets."

Innogy currently operates onshore wind farms in Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Italy, where it serves around 23 million customers.

The Frankfurt-listed company is majority owned by German utilities giant RWE. Following Innogy’s IPO in 2016, RWE retained 75 per cent of the company, with asset management firm Blackrock the second largest shareholder with 5 per cent.

Innogy’s spin-off in 2016 combined RWE’s renewable, network and retail operations into a separate publicly-traded entity.

With capability to generate enough electricity to supply 3 million homes, Innogy primarily operates in the renewable energy sphere. It also retails electricity and gas in addition to managing power lines and gas lines around the world.

Portfolio expansion

Details of the investment in Co Kerry comes as Greencoat UK Wind said it had acquired the Slieve Divena wind farm in Co Tyrone as part of a £105 million (€115m) deal.

The London-listed renewable infrastructure fund which invests in wind farms has entered into an agreement to purchase both the 30MW wind farm in Garvaghy, Co Tyrone, and the North Hoyle wind farm five miles offshore in Liverpool Bay from institutional investors as part of its multimillion pound portfolio expansion.

The 12-turbine Slieve Divena wind farm in Tyrone, which was commissioned in 2009, was originally developed by SSE and sold on to the Infinis group in 2011. It is estimated to produce enough electricity to power over 16,000 homes in the North.

Greencoat UK Wind expects its latest acquisition projects to complete in August 2017, and will boost its net generating capacity to 547MW.

Output: Innogy, a German energy company, has entered the Irish power market following its acquisition of a windfarm in County Kerry. The 10 MW windfarm, called Dromadda Beg, will have three turbines and is expected to be commissioned in 2018. Innogy has stated that it has further interest in expanding its renewable portfolio across Ireland. "We plan to grow our onshore wind business to include greenfield developments and consented sites right through to the acquisition of operational wind farms", said Cathal Hennessy, the managing director of the company’s Irish subsidiary.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
EDF offers free solar panel pilot scheme
 If you want solar photovoltaic panels on your home but don’t have the money for them, EDF Energy is offering to install a free system – complete with storage batteries – if you agree to buy the subsidised power it generates for 20 years.

The French-owned energy giant is looking for 100 homes to trial its Sunplug scheme, which is being offered in conjunction with established solar supplier Lightsource.

To sign up you need to have a large, unshaded south-facing roof at a pitch of about 35 degrees. If you are accepted, the company will install the largest solar panel system the roof can take – a 16-panel setup will generate 4kW – plus an LG storage battery that lets you use the power that’s generated during the day in the evening.

In return, EDF gets to keep the feed-in tariff paid by the government, which is worth about £150 a year. It also keeps the export tariff – around £50 a year. The householder is contractually bound to pay Sunplug 9.9p per kilowatt hour for each unit of electricity they use from the panels and battery. This is a little cheaper than what you would pay if you bought green electricity from the grid. For example, green supplier Good Energy charges 15.5p, with a standing charge averaging 26p a day.

The advantage could come in future years as the price demanded by Sunplug can only rise by the retail prices index or 2.5% – whichever is lower. If the price of grid electricity rises substantially over the next 20 years, users will make considerable savings.

However, if they don’t, some users will be left wondering why they bothered. So this scheme is likely to appeal to anyone who wants green electricity at fixed prices over the next two decades.

The other significant benefit comes at the end of the 20-year term, when the householder is given ownership of the system, which should continue to generate substantial free power.

Robin Melvin, head of innovation at EDF, says about 50 households have signed up for the trial and that he is looking for another 50 to join, at which point its success will be evaluated.

He says users should not have a problem with their mortgage company – previously an issue with free solar installations – as the package is compliant with Council of Mortgage Lenders guidelines and big lenders are on board with the deal. The top-up electricity most households will need can be bought from any supplier at normal rates.

If you decide to move house during the 20-year term, he says the deal can be passed on to the new owner, or the seller can buy the system out. The prices are pre-agreed on a sliding scale – it will cost £5,500 to exit the initiative after 10 years.

If you like the idea of the scheme and have the money to buy it outright – probably the best option – Sunplug will sell you a 3kW (12 panels) system for £6,999 and a 4kW (16 panels) one for £7,499. You get to keep the feed-in tariffs and export payments, benefit from the electricity savings and also get the crucial battery.

In-house storage batteries are seen as the next big thing in renewable energy and are increasingly being offered by suppliers alongside electricity generating panels as they allow households to use double the power they produce – they can access it when they need it in the evenings.

Last week, Ikea announced it is going to sell solar PV/battery installations, in conjunction with Solarcentury, at similar prices. It is offering a system that generates 3.24kW from £6,925. It estimates that homeowners can pay off the capital invested in the system in roughly 12 years through feed-in tariffs and lower electricity bills, assuming they have the right kind of roof.

So what’s the Money verdict? Solar PV systems are still a good investment if you have the money upfront, the right roof and location, and if you plan to stay in the house for a long time. The case for the free Sunplug deal is less clear. To us, it looks too heavily weighted in favour of the company. If it offered some free electricity each day or other incentives, that would make the scheme more attractive.

Output: EDF Energy is offering its customers solar panels for free, complete with energy storage kits, if they agree to buy the subsidised power generated from that solar energy for 20 years. The French energy company wants to trial 100 homes in its Sunplug scheme, in conjunction with solar-cell supplier Lightsource. Assuming the customers have the correct angle and direction of roof, it is expected that homeowners would be able to pay off the capital for the system in 12 years through feed-in tariffs and reduced energy bills.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
HNW loss adjuster group Criterion bought by Charles Taylor
 Charles Taylor Adjusting Ltd (CTA), subsidiary of Charles Taylor plc, has acquired Criterion Adjusters Ltd, Criterion Surveyors Ltd and Criterion Claims Management Ltd (together, Criterion) a group of specialist loss adjusting, surveying and claims management businesses, for a maximum consideration of £13.1m. Criterion focuses on the UK high net worth (HNW) property, fine art and antiques insurance sectors. Charles Taylor paid £5.3m in cash on completion to acquire 100% of the equity of the three Criterion businesses. A further payment of £1.0m has been made to shareholders to reflect the net cash position of the company and to enable them to settle directors’ loans owing to Criterion.

Deferred consideration of up to £7.8m will be paid, based on business performance over the three years following completion, of which 50% will be paid annually over the three years, with the remaining 50% held back and released on the fifth anniversary of completion.

The initial consideration has been funded by a £5m increase in facilities with RBS and HSBC. As of March 31st 2017 the combined gross assets of Criterion were £2.8m. Criterion generated aggregated revenue of £4.3m and profit before tax of £1.8m in the year to March 31st 2017.

Charles Taylor said that the transaction marked “an important step forward in delivering CTA’s business model and strategy”, and that CTA was diversifying its business into closely related profitable and stable property and casualty (P&C) loss adjusting sectors, such as the HNW market, “while retaining its market leading position in the aviation, energy and marine sectors”. The company said that the strategy was designed to increase regular, repeatable income streams for CTA, while reducing the working capital requirements over time.

CTA expects to benefit from business referrals from Criterion to its other adjusting teams globally and to the wider Group’s other businesses such as Charles Taylor TPA and CEGA. Criterion will continue to trade under its existing name. The business will be led by its current management and its clients will continue to be served by their existing teams. Criterion’s Managing Director, Chris Monks, and Operations Director, James Long, will continue in their existing, respective roles.

Charles Taylor group CEO David Marock said that the acquisition marked “another important step forward in our strategy to grow by developing new professional service business lines, which are closely-related to our core business, both organically and through carefully targeted acquisitions and investments.”

CTA chief executive Damian Ely said that “the acquisition of Criterion is part of our strategy to diversify our loss adjusting business into closely related specialist P&C markets. HNW loss adjusting provides steady revenues which will help to balance the less predictable income streams from our other business lines. The nature of the work also means that Criterion’s working capital requirements are lower than is normal in our existing aviation, energy and marine markets.”

Output: Charles Taylor Adjusting has purchased the Criterion group of loss adjusters, claims managers and surveyors, expecting to benefit from its new acquisition's specialisation in serving high-net-worth (HNW) customers, which will offer predictable streams of income to balance those of its own core business lines. CTA intends to retain "its market leading position in the aviation, energy and marine sectors", the company said. The Criterion group focuses on the UK's HNW property, fine art and antiques insurance sectors.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Aon app assesses US firms' captive insurance needs
 Aon launches captive feasibility app

Aon has developed an app, Aon Captivate, for clients to assess whether a captive is the right solution for them through a full feasibility study.

The app allows clients that are interested in captive insurance to evaluate what benefits a captive could provide their organisation.

The feasibility study is split into four sections, including a feasibility assessment, benefit assessment, benchmarking and cash-flow benefit.

The first three sections only require responses to pre-defined question sets, while the fourth requires some limited corporate data such as lines of insurance and their respective estimates loss picks, the corporate weighted average cost of capital and typical federal and state tax rates.

After the study is complete, a report will be sent to the client that summarises the question responses, data entered and the resulting information and calculations.

The report then provides a focal point for internal discussions on whether to explore a captive further.

The app is currently only available in the US.

Output: Insurance professional services firm Aon is offering a US-based app named Aon Captivate to enable clients to assess whether captive insurance is the right option for them. The app provides a feasibility assessment, benefit assessment, benchmarking and cash flow benefit analysis. The process requires responses to questions and select corporate data, and will provide clients with a report that summarises and analyses the data.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Scientists demonstrate potential for personalised cancer vaccine
 Please note that some translations using Google Translate may not be accurately represented and downloaded documents cannot be translated. Dana-Farber assumes no liability for inaccuracies that may result from using this third-party tool, which is for website translation and not clinical interactions. You may request a live medical interpreter for a discussion about your care.

Output: Scientists from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have created a personalised vaccine called NeoVax for the treatment of cancer. The technique targets specific neoantigen molecules of cancerous tumour cells and generates highly specific immune responses, which could help to provide a more tailored approach to the treatment of the disease. The proof-of-principle treatment was tested on melanoma patients and had negligible side-effects.


Instruction: create a high quality summary of the given input

Input:
Gene-editing technique RCas9 targets RNA-based diseases
 Until recently, the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technique could only be used to manipulate DNA. In a 2016 study, University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers repurposed the technique to track RNA in live cells in a method called RNA-targeting Cas9 (RCas9). In a new study, published August 10 in Cell, the team takes RCas9 a step further: they use the technique to correct molecular mistakes that lead to microsatellite repeat expansion diseases, which include myotonic dystrophy types 1 and 2, the most common form of hereditary ALS, and Huntington's disease.

"This is exciting because we're not only targeting the root cause of diseases for which there are no current therapies to delay progression, but we've re-engineered the CRISPR-Cas9 system in a way that's feasible to deliver it to specific tissues via a viral vector," said senior author Gene Yeo, PhD, professor of cellular and molecular medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine.

While DNA is like the architect's blueprint for a cell, RNA is the engineer's interpretation of the blueprint. In the central dogma of life, genes encoded in DNA in the nucleus are transcribed into RNA and RNAs carry the message out into the cytoplasm, where they are translated to make proteins.

Microsatellite repeat expansion diseases arise because there are errant repeats in RNA sequences that are toxic to the cell, in part because they prevent production of crucial proteins. These repetitive RNAs accumulate in the nucleus or cytoplasm of cells, forming dense knots, called foci.

In this proof-of-concept study, Yeo's team used RCas9 to eliminate the problem-causing RNAs associated with microsatellite repeat expansion diseases in patient-derived cells and cellular models of the diseases in the laboratory.

Normally, CRISPR-Cas9 works like this: researchers design a "guide" RNA to match the sequence of a specific target gene. The RNA directs the Cas9 enzyme to the desired spot in the genome, where it cuts DNA. The cell repairs the DNA break imprecisely, thus inactivating the gene, or researchers replace the section adjacent to the cut with a corrected version of the gene. RCas9 works similarly but the guide RNA directs Cas9 to an RNA molecule instead of DNA.

The researchers tested the new RCas9 system on microsatellite repeat expansion disease RNAs in the laboratory. RCas9 eliminated 95 percent or more of the RNA foci linked to myotonic dystrophy type 1 and type 2, one type of ALS and Huntington's disease. The approach also eliminated 95 percent of the aberrant repeat RNAs in myotonic dystrophy patient cells cultured in the laboratory.

Another measure of success centered on MBNL1, a protein that normally binds RNA, but is sequestered away from hundreds of its natural RNA targets by the RNA foci in myotonic dystrophy type 1. When the researchers applied RCas9, they reversed 93 percent of these dysfunctional RNA targets in patient muscle cells, and the cells ultimately resembled healthy control cells.

While this study provides the initial evidence that the approach works in the laboratory, there is a long way to go before RCas9 could be tested in patients, Yeo explained.

One bottleneck is efficient delivery of RCas9 to patient cells. Non-infectious adeno-associated viruses are commonly used in gene therapy, but they are too small to hold Cas9 to target DNA. Yeo's team made a smaller version of Cas9 by deleting regions of the protein that were necessary for DNA cleavage, but dispensable for binding RNA.

"The main thing we don't know yet is whether or not the viral vectors that deliver RCas9 to cells would elicit an immune response," he said. "Before this could be tested in humans, we would need to test it in animal models, determine potential toxicities and evaluate long-term exposure."

To do this, Yeo and colleagues launched a spin-out company called Locana to handle the preclinical steps required for moving RCas9 from the lab to the clinic for RNA-based diseases, such as those that arise from microsatellite repeat expansions.

"We are really excited about this work because we not only defined a new potential therapeutic mechanism for CRISPR-Cas9, we demonstrated how it could be used to treat an entire class of conditions for which there are no successful treatment options," said David Nelles, PhD, co-first author of the study with Ranjan Batra, PhD, both postdoctoral researchers in Yeo's lab.

"There are more than 20 genetic diseases caused by microsatellite expansions in different places in the genome," Batra said. "Our ability to program the RCas9 system to target different repeats, combined with low risk of off-target effects, is its major strength."

Output: Researchers from UC San Diego School of Medicine have used the gene-engineering technique RCas9 to remove problematic RNAs that appear in microsatellite repeat expansion diseases, including hereditary ALS and Huntington’s disease. The RNA sequences can repeat incorrectly, preventing the production of critical proteins and forming knots called foci that lead to the diseases. The researchers used the CRISPR-Cas9 system to deliver gene therapies to specific tissues. However, the researchers still need to investigate the potential for the viral vectors they use to create an immune response when delivering the RCas9 to cells, which will require further testing.