Fatbergs turned into perfume: Britain's new industrial revolution

Fatbergs are the foul phenomenon found lurking in (and blocking up) sewers.

The development of the technology used to perform this apparent alchemy is being described by some as a new industrial revolution.

The good news is that Britain is currently strong in the field of bioengineering.

But the British lead has slipped away because of a lack of investment, poor regulation and the wrong policies.

A new House of Lords report says the UK is losing its way in engineering biology.

It says other countries are beginning to overtake the UK , and we are at severe risk of losing the benefits of a world-leading engineering biology sector.

The report also says that there is a "small but closing window" to make some small policy tweaks that could make a huge difference.

38 leading scientists recently expressed concern about the creation of "mirror life" This would be artificially created organisms whose DNA is the mirror image of their naturally occurring counterparts.

The scientists have called for a moratorium on their creation until more is known about them.

But the technology has become so cheap and widely available that such a moratorium would be hard to police.