Neat News - Neat things do happen

In the Grotta Guattari cave near the Italian capital Rome, the remains of nine Neanderthal men were found. They are supposed to have lived 50,000 to 100,000 years ago. The find may shed further light on the early migration in Italy.

related: #Neanderthal

There is conflicting information on the health benefits of alcohol. A new study finds now that moderate alcohol intake is associated with a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular diseases (compared to no or excessive drinking).

related: #alcohol #cardiovascular

A problem for overweight people who want to lose weight is to maintain a weight loss. In a study in which people were divided in four groups - those receiving an obesity medication or a placebo, and those doing an exercise regime or not - it was found that those people who took an obesity medication or did regular exercises kept their reduced weight, people who did neither had a high risk of putting on weight again (with the negative consequences). People who took the medication and did the exercises reduced their weight even further.

related: #weight_reduction

When birds fly they typically do not look straight ahead. For this reason some crash into buildings. In order to prevent this, it is tried to give acoustic and visual signals to warn them of the potential danger. It is not clear yet, however, how it can be achieved that the warnings are not ignored after a while.

related: #birds #collision_protection

Lightning bolts produce a big amount of hydroxyl and hydroperoxyl radicals that can break down molecules in the atmosphere such as the greenhouse gas methane.

related: #lightning #clean_air

Elephants, whales, and humans evolved differently in the comparison of brain and body sizes. However, they seem to have in common that bigger brains follow big disasters and as a consequence may be the result of evolutionary pressures.

related: #brain_size

Some people who have survived malaria have antibodies that block malaria cells from entering red blood cells. Now there is a better understanding how they do this. This may lead to the creation of an antibody that can be used to treat several forms of malaria.

related: #malaria #anti_body

In experiments with rats it has been found that those that fasted every other day had a significantly lower blood pressure than others. They also had a changed composition of their gut microbiota.

related: #fasting #blood_pressure

In China measures are taken to reduce the estimated 18 billion kilogrammes of food waste every year. For instance, when caterers deliver food and on collection big amounts are left over in future, the customer will have to pay a significant penalty.

related: #food_waste_reduction