Neat News - Neat things do happen

The brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease show a toxic accumulation of plaques. In a new study with mice it has been found that physical exercise can reduce this build-up and this way help to reduce the problems with Alzheimer's. Physical exercise has also a preventive effect against the disease.

In experiments with mice scientists grew an oesophagus from a sceleton food pipe in the lab and implanted it successfully in a mouse. There is hope that the technique can one day be used for humans as well and help people who need a new food pipe.

Researchers have managed to use ultrasound waves to levitate a small object. The waves come from below the object and are suitable directed and focused so that the object is kept in a particular place or moved.

In addition to having strong side-effects opioids may also get less effective when taken for a long period and the dosage then is often increased. There is a new study that looks in reducing the dosage using meditation, exercise, psychological counselling and non-opioid drugs.

A camera has been developed that can take 10¹³ (10,000,000,000,000) frames per second. This way it is possible to observe phenomena in extremely slow motion.

Scientists managed to grow human retinas in a dish. This will allow a detailed study of their development and of colour vision.

Chimpanzees share food with their friends. A team of researchers have observed wild chimpanzees in Ivory Coast. The sharing seems to happen also in expectation that favours are returned.

A new device has been developed that can be implanted and can generate electrical stimulation to support the regeneration of injured nerves. After a while it dissolves itself. It has been successfully tested in experiments with rats.

Using a ladder, a man in Düsseldorf, Germany, has saved two children aged two and seven years out of a neighbouring flat that was filling with poisonous fumes from a fire while the fire engines were en route. The children were fine and did not have to go to hospital.

This year's Nobel Prize for Economics goes to two economists who have developed approaches how to cost climate change and how to direct markets towards a sustainable climate policy.

An eight year old girl retrieved a 1500 year old sword from a lake near Jönköping in Sweden while swimming there during her summer holidays. The sword is from pre-Viking times and now archaeologists search the lake for further finds.

Difficult decisions improve when people take a nap before they make them. This is not only old advice but has also proved correct in a study.

In a two-year study with more than 27000 people it has been found that before diabetes type 2 is diagnosed, typically there are signs of the onset of diabetes. In addition to the well-known risk factor of being overweight, insulin resistance is a sign which can be acted upon early on, for instance, by changing the diet.

The proteins found in 8000 year old bowls and jars from Anatolia in Turkey show that people ate at the time cereals, veg, dairy products, and meat.

A bone knife found in a Moroccan cave is the oldest known tool of the Aterian culture. It is around 90000 years old.

Many vegetables contain a substance called Fisetin, which has proved to have positive effects on the health and lifespan of mice. Similar positive effects can be expected for humans.

Two scientists received the 2018 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their insights in the functioning of the immune system and the resulting therapy against cancer. The new approach can cure people who previously would not have had a chance of beating cancer.