Neat News - Neat things do happen

For a while it has been known that New Caledonian crows can make use of tools. In new experiments in which they have to reshape a piece of paper to insert in a slotmachine for a treat, it has been seen that that they are even able to make tools from memory.

Dutch parliament has decided on a 95% carbon dioxide reduction by 2050 compared to the 1990 levels. By 2030 the reduction should be already around 50%.

With cryo-electron microscopy scientists have gained a better understanding how the malaria parasite invades human cells. This is an important step towards the development of a vaccine against malaria.

Modern techniques - micro-X-ray fluorescence imaging - make it possible to restore very old photos which use a technique called daguerreotype. It was introduced in 1839 and was the predominant way of photography for 20 years. However, many can no longer be seen with the eye and need restoration.

A new form of insulin has been developed which is resistant to digestion. This allows to deliver insulin as a pill. The new technique may replace daily injections for diabetes 1 patients.

The influenza A virus propagates by making use of some proteins of its host. By disrupting this interaction it may be possible to develop a new antiviral therapy that can slow down the spread of influenza A.

A new stealth sheet has been developed which makes it very hard for sensors to detect warm objects or people.

The caffeine of four cups of coffee has a protective effect on the heart. Researchers have now better understood the effect. The caffeine helps a protein, called p27, to migrate into mitochondria, an important part of the heart cells, and this way to prevent the cells from death.

Supercomputers may allow to hack confidential communication. However, quantum mechanics offers also a way to communicate securely.

A major objective in the therapy of cancer is to prevent the cancer from spreading by so-called metastasis. Now researchers have found 11 genes that are responsible for most of the spread by metastasis. By inhibiting corresponding gene targets this has the potential to block more than 99.5% of cancer metastasis.

Coal-based power plants pollute the air with sulfur dioxide. China has put up new emissions standards to reduce the SO₂ pollution. Using satellite measurements, it has been found that in some regions this has led to a very encouraging improvement.

A fan of German football club Borussia Dortmund started a petition to replace the 11 million one-way plastic cups per year used by the fans of the club by reusable cups. The football club has now agreed to develop a corresponding system for reusing cups, saving a lot of plastic rubbish in the future.

A bottleneck for the capacity of a lithium-ion battery is its cathode. Using iron trifluoride (FeF₃) can potentially triple the capacity of lithium-ion batteries.

Rats have been treated with a gene therapy that enabled them to relearn hand movements after a spinal cord injury. More research is needed before corresponding human trials can be made.

There is a complicated mechanism by which water is transported from the blood to the brain. In experiments with mice, this is now better understood and may lead to a better treatment for oedema and stroke.

Scientists who discover a new species have the right to name the species. Some scientists sold this right for newly discovered species of snakes and took the money to buy a forest of 72 hectares in South America to protect some of the newly discovered endangered species. The forest is added to an existing conservation area.

In tests it has been found that replacing half of a rice portion by lentils reduces the blood glucose level by up to 20%, with half of the potatoes replaced by lentils it drops even up to 35%.

3 to 5 year old children that play with blocks in a semi-structured manner improve this way their mathematics skills.

Premature Births pose a special risk and are a large cause for infant mortality. For this reason it is important to predict with high reliability whether a birth will be premature or not. A new blood test has been developed that has a 75-80 percent accuracy in predicting a premature birth.

A new DNA test has been developed which can detect a gene that puts men in a high-risk category for prostate cancer. This is an important step for better diagnostic tests for prostate cancer.

Insulation material has been constructed at a nano scale which allows to insulate using a single molecule. This is an important step toward building transistors at a nano scale.

Power plants typically produce a lot of steam which is blown in the air and lost. With a system of wires this steam can be collected again as clean water that can be used as drinking water, even when the water was salt water before. A system has now been devised to do this practically.

In experiments with mice it has been found that an existing drug, zileuton, can be useful to block the production of molecules that are related to dementia. Mice receiving the drug did significantly better in maze memory tests than those that did not. Inflammation and damage to the brain were reversed. Human tests have to be done in order to see whether the results translate to human Alzheimer's patients.

Existing techniques for extracting CO₂ from the air and producing fuel from it by using energy have been made considerably cheaper so that it is much closer to being economically viable.

There is a new vaccine which proved successful in animal experiments against a number of HIV strains. Human experiments are planned for 2019.

Chemotherapy is a powerful tool in the arsenal of doctors against cancer. Unfortunately, chemotherapy can have severe side effects. In a new study it has been found that many woman with breast cancer do not benefit from chemotherapy and that for their particular often occurring type of breast cancer a therapy without chemotherapy is as effective as a therapy with chemotherapy. This will allow to avoid in such cases the chemotherapy.

A new therapy has saved the life of a woman with advanced breast cancer. In the appraoch called the "living drug' 90 billion immune cells have been genetically engineered from the patient's own cells and re-injected. The modified cells have then attacked the cancer cells and the cancer has now completely gone away.

In a trial with patients with recurrent or advanced prostate cancer, it has been found that in some of them pembrolizumab, an immune therapy drug, has a spectecular success. In order to minimize side effects it is now important to find out whether there is a method to predict for whom the drug is helpful.

Walking fast reduces the risk of heart problems and premature death by 24 percent. For over 60 year olds the risk reduction is double as big.

According to a recent census, the number of mountain gorillas living in the Virunga Volcanoes has doubled in the last 30 years. Now the number of wild mountain gorillas exceeds 1000.