Neat News - Neat things do happen

When new drugs are developed they need costly clinical studies before they can become new medicines. In a new technique the cost can be reduced and the development speed increased by predicting the effect based on simple cellular responses.

In the Pacific Ocean, humpback whales pass by an uninhabited island in order to exchange songs. They learn certain hits and change their repertoire.

There has been a trial that shows that a new hydrogel can be injected to repair hearts damaged by a heart attack. The gel does natural scaffolding of cardiac muscle tissue. More trials are needed.

In experiments with rats, scientists found that cooling organs such as the liver to -4C triples the time the organ can survive for transplantation compared to cooling it to 0C.

Using computational techniques, scientists are developing forms of carbon that are similarly hard as diamonds. The new materials may be used as tools or coatings.

An adventurer has visited with a submarin the deepest points in the Artic, the Pacific, Indian, Southern, and Atlantic oceans. It brought him up to 5.5km below the surface.

Whether somebody is left handed or right handed is linked to the certain genetic regions and the brain architecture in language regions.

Although, no hard measures were decided upon, seven South American countries made a first step by signing a pact to protect the Amazon rain forest.

People can appreciate the beauty of complex mathematical arguments in a similar way as they appreciate the beauty in a piece of classical music. This insight may open avenues to improve teaching of mathematics.

A new study has found that drinking red wine (unlike white wine or beer) increases the diversity of the gut microbiome. This is linked to health benefits since the diverse microbes can digest the food better.

Some insect eating plants, English sundew, that have become extinct in parts of England, are being reintroduced in a conservation attempt. It is assumed that they will thrive.

A new efficient way using a bismuth based electrocatalyst has been developed to transform CO₂ into liquid fuel. It has a conversion efficiency of 42 percent.

In Berlin Zoo panda Meng Meng has born two panda twins last Saturday. All are well and the cubs will probably stay for four years in the zoo.

In order to overcome the blood-brain barrier in applying treatment against brain tumours, scientists have successfully applied nano-technology in experiments with mice.