Here are five things you need to know about this week:

Sustainable packaging in McDonalds

 The fast food chain, McDonald’s declared that all its packaging worldwide will come from sustainable sources by 2025. Items such as bags, straws, wrappers, and cups would be created using renewable materials. Additionally, the company also wants 100% of its restaurants worldwide to recycle the packaging, compared with to a 10% as of now. The idea was brought up when UK supermarket in Iceland had planned to drastically reduce plastic packaging by the year 2023. The chief supply chain and sustainability officer of McDonald’s, Francesca DeBiase, has said that the customers demanded to use more environmentally friendly packaging. Currently in the UK, foam packaging is rarely used and over 1000 restaurants utilize recycling bins. The world’s biggest restaurant chain with over 37,000 sites around the world doubts that this goal may not achieved due to infrastructure, regulations, and variations of customer behaviors.

Cognitive Test of Donald Trump

 Since speculations about President Donald Trump’s mental health increased in recent weeks, Ronny Jackson, a White House doctor, declared on Tuesday afternoon that the president had successfully passed a cognitive assessment on Friday at the Walter Reed Medical Center. Presidential medical evaluations do not include mental health checks as the medical summary of Barack Obama only included a series of physical tests. However, in Trump’a case, over 70 psychologists and psychiatrists requested Jackson to test his cognitive abilities. The MoCA test is based upon assessing a person’s concentration, memory, language, conceptual thinking, and calculations. Out of 30 points, Trump scored a full 30, as claimed by Jackson, who is a presidential physician hired by Obama in 2013. Due to his abstinence from alcohol and tobacco, he has achieved long-term cardiac and overall benefits associated with health.

UK Taking Actions to Reduce Carbon Emissions

 In order to meet the greenhouse targets, the government of UK has been taking actions to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and is succeeding in cutting emissions faster than any G7 nation. Moreover, Theresa May launched a 25-year plan aimed on protecting the environment, including the eradication of plastic waste by 2042. According to their committee, carbon capture from industries must take place, while on the other hand, plastics and woods must be banned from the landfill so that they can be reused. Trees should be planted, possibly around 70,000 hectares of new woodland by 2025, to eliminate or soak up carbon dioxide. By 2030, the committee wants 30% to 70% of the new cars to be ultra-low emission.

Snow Warning in Northern England

 Over 140,000 properties of eastern England suffered from power cuts after 83 mph winds brought disruption to the country, homes, and the environment. There has been a snow warning in places like Scotland, Northern Ireland, and northern England until today. In Norfolk and Suffolk alone, over 35000 homes are still without power, Yellow warnings signify awareness, meaning that severe weather is possible over the next few days. Planning about travel delays must be done to minimize the effects of the extreme weather.  Additionally, the National Rail said that the overhead power lines between Stowmarket and Norwich have been destroyed, causing blockage between Norwich and London Liverpool Street. In Scotland, dozens of schools have been closed and public transport has also been affected.

Annual Cancer Detection Test

 A team at Johns Hopkins University has discovered a method that detects eight common forms of cancer. Their goal is to design an annual test that can detect cancer early and save lives. The Cancer Seek test looks for mutations in 16 genes that arise in cancer on a regular basis, releasing about eight proteins. It was trialed on about 1005 patients that suffered from cancers in the liver, stomach, pancreas, colon, breast, and ovary, that hadn’t been spread to other tissues. The test was able to detect 70% of the cancers. According to Dr. Cristian Tomasetti from Johns Hopkins University, this is going to have an immense impact on cancer mortality. However, five out of eight cancers do not have screening programs for early detection. Pancreatic cancers are usually detected so late that about 4 out of 5 patients tend to die in the year they are diagnosed, which is why this test is vital.