Weekly News Bites: Responsive insulin, an extinct walrus relative, and robotic clothing

Asia Research News monitors the latest research news in Asia. Some highlights that caught our attention this week are the ‘holy grail’ of insulin treatments, a new species that ate like a walrus, and keeping cool in smart, adaptive clothing.

International teams of researchers from Zhejiang University in China, Stanford University in the US, and Monash University in Australia are researching the "holy grail" of glucose-responsive insulin that reacts in real-time to blood sugar changes.  This smart insulin could reduce the need for frequent injections and improve quality of life for millions of people suffering from diabetes.

What do you get when you take old rubble and combine it with CO2? New, sustainable bricks! Researchers at the University of Tokyo have used this "urban mine" approach to recycle old buildings into fresh construction materials. This type of construction reduces the environmental cost from importing and transforming limestone, contributing to a circular economy.

From recycling bricks to recycling agri-waste, researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have developed a sustainable surfactant from cashew nut shell liquid, a by-product of cashew nut agriculture. This innovation could replace toxic organic solvents in chemical processes, boosting efficiency in making anticancer drugs and more.

Researchers from the University of Tsukuba have discovered a new extinct species, Ontocetus posti, which shares feeding adaptations with modern walruses. Found in the UK and Belgium, this species sheds light on marine mammal evolution and migration, as the (now extinct) Ontocetus genus originated in the North Pacific Ocean before moving to Europe.

With almost 500,000 heat-related deaths a year and climbing temperatures, new innovations are needed to keep workers safe. A team from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University has developed soft robotic clothing that adapts to extreme heat, offering better safety and comfort for workers in high-temperature environments. Inspired by how pigeons use their feathers to regulate their temperature, this breathable fabric adjusts its thermal insulation automatically.