Neat News - Neat things do happen

Seeds brought to Norway to conserve them in case of a disaster have been planted in Lebanon to restart agriculture in Syria after the end of the war.

Elephants are poached for their ivory. Kenya's president hosts now a conference to stop the ivory trade and to safe the elephants in Africa from extinction.

There is a condition, choroideremia, which leads untreated to increasing sight loss up to complete blindness. By a new gene therapy the genetically inherited condition can be cured.

By collecting data on changes in the blood flow and oxygenation of parts of the brain while listening to stories, scientists have mapped regions of the cerebral cortex of the brain that deal with particular categories of words, such as words about clothing or appearance.

The immune system follows an inner clock and as has been found now it is more effective to get a vaccination in the morning when the immune system is more alert, since more antibodies are produced.

Wind farms have an effect on the micro-climate in their surroundings. However, as has been measured in a new study, the effect is only small so that it is no reason against wind farms.

Type 1 Diabetes - a risk in particular for young people - is due to an auto-immune reaction, in which an ill-guided immune reaction kills the beta cells in the pancreas, which are responsible for the synthesis of insulin. The causes of the immune attacks are now much better understood.

XPRIZE has been set up to stimulate innovation to come up with new ideas how to respond to the challenges of global warming.

Birds are the living descendants of dinosaurs. They survived the nuclear winter that followed the meteor strike that wiped out the dinosaurs. This was possible since with their beaks they could survive on seeds until the climate had recovered.

Woodpeckers drum on trees to drill holes in them and find insects that they can eat. However, they also send signals by drumming. For instance, they can signal strength in order to keep competitors at distance.

The tongue of a chameleon is very versatile and can be acceleterated very strongly. There is now a mathematical model to describe this in detail.

People with advanced aggressive skin cancer, so-called meanoma, have a good chance to be healed by a new pair of drugs.

Lions may be saved if the international community protects them sufficiently by nature reserves in Africa. In others areas the lion population is in decline.

In Wiltshire, Southern England, a Roman Villa has been discovered recently. Mosaics and objects such as brooches and coins have been found when the owner of a farmhouse was laying electric cables.

Scientists in Japan have developed electronic skin that can be used to measure the oxygen levels in the blood. This may be used for monitoring 1

Monarch butterflies use a sun compass to travel for two month in a very directed way from Canada to Central Mexico. Using the horizontal position and the time of the day they know how to go south without deviations.

A man who was seriously injured in an accident and left paralyzed has received a brain implant which gives him back control over his muscles. The technique gives hope for many people with paralysis.

There is an idea to use the strips between highways to plant trees. This could make a noticeable difference in capturing carbon dioxide since many roads are in public ownership.

Researchers have better understood how Chinese Skullcap produces certain chemicals. This may lead to the development and mass production of new cancer fighting drugs.

The number of free tigers has increased from 3200 in 2010 to 3890 in a global census by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Global Tiger Forum. While this is a positive development it should be noted that in 1900 there were 100,000 tigers in the wild.

Wolves use different accents which allows scientists to distinguish European and American wolves.

Alzheimer's disease is related to problems that the brain has with neurotransmitters. Scientists have identified the structure of a molecule that controls the conversion between two important neurotransmitters, a major step in understanding the principles behind the disease.

Low doses of lithium have a positive influence on slowing the ageing process in fruit flies. In the long run the findings could lead to drugs that prolong the lives of humans.

The instant messaging service WhatsApp announces that it will encrypt all messages of its users. This will provide privacy in the communications between its users.

A major pharmaceutical firm indicates that it will allow manufacturers in some poor countries to produce copies of its medicines.

In new research it seems that vitamin D (which is important for the health of bones and teeth and can be built by the skin in sun light) has also a very important impact on the health of patients with heart failure in that it increases the pump capacity of the heart.

Large animals in Gorongosa National Park in Mazambique were mostly gone. However, with relatively modest means to put them under protection numbers significantly grew again recently, as Sean B. Carroll reports in Scientific Armerican's 60 seconds science.

Researchers revised the age of when the Homo floresiensis, the so-called "hobbit", became extinct to about 50,000 years ago. They were discovered in 2003 on Flores Island in Indonesia.

Scientists have succeeded in producing from stem cells of a mouse artificial skin and transplanting it into another mouse that even grows hair.

Rain forests can regenerate and regain a large degree of their former bio-diversity, given the chance. In a study it has been looked in detail which species come back and most did. That means that in addition to the protection of existing rain forests, the reforestation and protection of depleted rain forests is very worthwhile.