Top Stories of the Week: January 31 - February 4

                                    A roundup of this week's top stories:

• How 3D printing is helping disabled animals walk

  Disabled animals now have the chance to move freely again thanks to 3D printed prostheses developed by Poland's Zortrax in collaboration with a fifth-year veterinary student...

• Geothermal could cover a quarter of Germany's energy needs

  With the heating sector still heavily reliant on oil and gas, a new roadmap by the Fraunhofer IEG suggests that geothermal energy could cover up to one-quarter of Germany's energy needs...

• Meet the robot barista that could be coming to a café near you

  A novel concept, a robot barista found at the Rozum Café in Minsk, has become the basis for a fully-fledged franchise thanks to Rozum Robotics extending its reach into the Middle East and beyond...

• Bilfinger & Rock Tech Lithium partner on Europe's first lithium refinery

  Industrial services provider Bilfinger and clean-tech company Rock Tech Lithium have teamed up in a bid to construct Europe's first lithium hydroxide converter...

• 15 EU states spend more on fossil fuel subsidies than renewables

  A total of 15 EU member states spent more on subsidising fossil fuels than renewables in 2020, despite ongoing attempts in the bloc to move towards net-zero, according to a new report from the European Court of Auditors...

• Holcim & Eni explore new ‘green’ cement tech

  Swiss-based building materials producer Holcim is partnering with Italian oil and gas company Eni to repurpose CO2 from its operations into green cement...

• New project could recycle 10kg of PPE per hour

  Plastic PPE waste, which has been rapidly building up since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, could be given a new lease of life with a collaboration between Heriot-Watt University and Globus...