How did a farmer’s son from a remote village in Andhra Pradesh make it to rank three, all-India level, in the Union Public Service Commission’s civil services 2016 examination? There was a time when 30-year-old Gopala Krishna Ronanki’s parents, Ronanki Appa Rao and Rukminamma, an agricultural labourer often out in the fields, did not even have electricity at home or …

A miniature fuel cell costing as little as a £1 can generate electricity from urine. The microbial fuel cell could be a lifeline for people in remote areas – creating a renewable and carbon-neutral way of generating power. The technology was developed by researchers at the University of Bath, Queen Mary University of London and the Bristol Bioenergy Centre. The …