Neat News - Neat things do happen

In experiments with mice it has been established that combating the so-called tau protein in the brain can stop the protein spreading in the brain and even reverse Alzheimer-like symptoms. This could lead to some medication against Alzheimer's disease.

As shown by a statistics of the U.S. Department of Energy, in 2016 more people in the USA work in the solar sector than in fossils fuels and nuclear energy combined.

Researchers have compared six plants and their wild relatives under common garden conditions. It turned out that the domesticated plants grow a significantly bigger above ground biomass, despite of a lower investment in leaves.

Early in 1939 shortly before the start of World War II, Nicholas Winton organized kindertransports of 669 mainly Jewish children from Nazi occupied Prague to Britain, saving them from almost certain death. Most of the parents never saw their children again and were murdered in the Holocaust. In addition to a memorial of Winton, a memorial for the brave parents will now be constructed in Prague to commemorate the events.

NASA has developed a plan to make the scientific results of NASA-funded research public. They are part of a bigger movement that the results of publicly funded research should also be publicly accessible.

New image recognition software based on Neural Networks is able to detect skin cancer from images as well as trained doctors. In the longer run this can turn smartphones into scanners that can warn patients about dangerous spots of the skin.

The crowd can get things wrong obviously and there are areas in which experts can predict more accurately what will happen. However, there are situations in which a new approach can improve the wisdom of the crowd, namely by asking how many others will agree with people. This often produces more accurate results than to ask for instance for the confidence of people in the correctness of their answer.

In Sheffield a purpose-built MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scanner is now being used to take crisp images of the brains of prematurely born babies. Previously doctors had to rely on ultrasound which can make a diagnosis more difficult and less precise.

The "Fire of Australia" is an uncut opal that was found 70 years ago in South Australia. It weighs almost 1kg and is now on display in Adelaide.

A weak heart (e.g., a heart damaged by a heart attack) may fail. In order to support it devices have been developed that can be implanted in the heart. However, they may cause severe side effects. A new sleeve has now been developed that can be put around the heart and supports it in case of a failure.

Manchester is to become a City of Trees. Over the next 25 years 3 Million Trees are to be planted in Greater Manchester, one for every inhabitant, transforming the city, to become much greener.

The episodic memory of dogs is better than previously thought. They can imitate particular actions of their owners even after a longer delay. Obviously they do remember their owner even for much longer. This points to richer mental activities in dogs than anticipated.

In order to support poorer nations to take measures against climate change, the UN has a fund to give financial aid. The outgoing US administration of US president Obama has transferred 500 Million dollars into the fund thereby doubling its total.

Although people cannot remember much about their early childhood they remember so much about the language that was around them at the time of their birth that they can better learn that language later in life even if they do not actively know anything about it.

The possibly biggest wave in our solar system has been detected in Venus's atmosphere. It stretched for 10,000 km and remained stationary over several days.

A machine learning program has been successfully used to predict when the heart of a patient may fail. This allows to give the patient special attention and treatment to prevent the failure.

Scientists have recorded the sounds that 22 bats made and recorded also some video. They then used machine learning techniques to understand who made some sound, who the recepient may be, and whether the sound resulted in some action. Although they do not claim that they can translate some utterances, the computer can reasonably well identify who is shouting and what it may be about.

For the first time living red seadragons have been filmed. They were found at a depth of 50 metres off the coast of Western Australia. They are a new species of fish of whose existence we have known only since recently from dead exemplars.

The composition of the earth's inner core can be determined only indirectly via seismic waves. It is assumed that it consists to 85% of iron and 10% of nickel. New research suggests now that the remaining 5% are mainly silicon.

In experiments with mice it has been found out which parts of the DNA are linked to the spread of cancer to other organs. With this knowledge it was possible to target the corresponding genes and reduce the spread by 75%. This could lead to new medication against cancer.

Some chimpanzees in Ivory Coast have been seen to make tools out of sticks so that the end is transformed into a soft brush by chewing. This can then be used to get water by dipping it into a tree, for instance. Likewise chimpanzees use brush-tipped sticks to get honey from bees' nests.

In experiments with mice it has been shown that it is possible in principle to repair small holes in teeth by stimulating the regenerative capabilities of teetch using a biodegradable sponge soaked in a drug called Tideglusib.

The body is able to replace skin quickly in order to protect it against infections and the loss of liquids. In doing it quickly it does not restore the original properties of the skin such as generating a fat layer, but leaves scars. In studies with mice it has now been found out that follicles can play an important role in reconstructing the skin to its original state with fat layer and hair.

Amnesty International reports on 33 pieces of good news for 2016. For instance, the news is about political prisoners released as result of campaigns of Amnesty International.

Japan has tight gun laws which makes it difficult to get a license for a firearm and also the usage of the ammunition is tightly controlled. In consequence it ranks very low in the number of firearms per 100 people, 0.6 compared to 88 for the USA. Likewise Japan had in 2014 only 6 gun deaths compared with over 33,000 in the USA.

Transgender people are no longer classified as being mentally ill in Denmark. Denmark is the first country to do so. This has positive effects such as easier insurances and workplace non-discrimination for transgender people.

In controlled experiments women preferred the scent of men who had eaten particular food including garlic and carrots. This may be so since the scent signals health or since the odour is linked to men who can secure quality food.

By moving away from meat, avoiding highly-processed food, and reducing any food wastage we can move to better sustainability. This is necessary since the land and water that can be used for food production are limited.

The BBC reports about two different attempts to reduce the CO₂ emission in India. First, a plant produces baking powder by taking the CO₂ produced in the heating process as ingredient of the baking powder. Second, the world's largest solar farm is installed in southern India. By 2030, India plans to produce 40% of its energy in a renewable way.

Happiness depends to a significant extent on individual activity. In general, it is better to be active and to have plans that are realistic and provide a sense of achievement than to be passive or have unrealistic failing plans, but you should not overdo it. You may have guessed anyway, but there is scientific evidence for it.

To have green roofs with grass and other plants attracts insects and spiders, which in turn are attractive for bats. That is, foliage does not only help to keep buildings warm in the winter and cool in the summer, but it also helps to provide a habitat for bats.