Neat News - Neat things do happen

In Cologne the remains of the oldest library in Germany have been found. It was built by the Romans in the second century and may have housed 20,000 scrolls.

Memristors, advanced computer components combining memory and resistors, may - if used widely - considerably cut down the energy consumption of computers.

Scientists managed to grow human brain cells from human stem cells. This allows to test certain therapies in organoids grown from the stem cells before they are applied to a patient directly.

There is a theory that self-replicating molecules in the so-called primordial soup were the starting point of life on Earth. In computer models some more support for the theory has been found.

This evening there will be the longest so-called blood moon in Europe; that is a lunar eclipse that will be visible in parts of Europe for more than 100 minutes. Although the moon is in the shadow of the earth, red light will be deflected by the atmosphere of the Earth to the moon and it will be illuminated in red. The lunar eclipse will be the longest of the century. Also Mars will be visible nearby.

In experiments with animals the IgM (Immunoglobulin M) antibodies proved effective in preventing an infection with HIV-1. This may lead to a new medication to prevent or treat AIDS.

A big lake of liquid water has been detected under the south pole on Mars. This makes it likely that there was at some point life on Mars and some microbes may still exist.

The recent outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo killed 29 people. While this is bad of course it could have been much worse. For instance, in the epidemic in West Africa in 2014-2016 more than 10,000 people died. This time, however, doctors had a vaccine at their hands which is difficult to apply since it must be kept at a very low temperature, but which is also very effective. As a consequence the very dangerous disease could be stopped in its tracks.

For the first time in 60 years, a new drug for treating malaria, called tafenoquine, has been approved in the USA. It is effective for forms of malaria for which traditional drugs are inefficient.

In a simple model of the brain, neurons are relatively simple and only their big number and their connections form the complexity of the brain. However, now it has been found that neurons are more complex in themselves and can carry two signals at a time.

If the spinal cord is damaged this means often that the nerves do not work anymore and people are paralyzed from the injury downwards. Even nerves that are not damaged do not take over. Now it has been been better understood why this is the case and researcher managed to reactivate dormant spinal cells in experiments with mice. More research is needed in order to see whether this offers a pathway to treating patients with a spinal cord injury.

Using a hybrid of sodium and potassium to form a liquid metal, a new form of battery, a so-called flow battery, has been developed which has the potential to store ten times the energy of conventional batteries (per unit of mass). This could be used to store wind and solar electricity much more efficiently.

Scientists have developed a method to reprogram cancer cells so that they home in and attack the original cancer cells. The method was very successful in experiments with mice; it is not clear yet whether it will work with people as well.

Mental activities suffer if we get dehydrated. We are more attentive when we drink sufficient amounts of water.

Bread crumbs have been found in Jordan which are 14,000 years old. Analyzing the crumbs, the recipe has been reconstructed: flour from wild wheat and wild barley as well as roots of water plants are mixed to make a dough; this is baked then on hot stones around a fire. The recipe is 5,000 years older than that of a Turkish bread which uses domesticated wheat and barley as well as chick peas and lentils.

Have a bad mood today? Then you may get on with certain tasks better as well. As has been found, some people function and perform better when they have a bad mood.

Scientists have managed to increase the efficiency of LEDs and there is the potential to double the efficiency to even 200 lumens per watt. If all lighting were switched to high efficiency LEDs then electricity as produced by more than 200 coal-based power plants could be saved, making a big contribution to reducing CO₂ emissions.

Scientists were able to develop a vaccine against malaria which is effective in experiments with mice. More research is needed to transfer the results to humans.

Stimulating the reward system of the brain of mice leads to increased immune reaction against tumors. In the experiments, for mice with the stimulation the cancers they developed were only half as big as of those in the control group. There may be a chance to develop another approach to treating cancer.

Oranges have a positive effect against macular degeneration of the eyes. In a study with 2000 people over the age of 50 it was found that eating an orange a day can reduce the risk by 60%. It is assumed that this is not only an effect of the vitamins, but also of flavonoids, powerful antioxidants in oranges.

Carbon nanotubes can be used to produce electricity. Now scientists try to use them also as a fibre to make clothes. In combination it would be possible to develop clothing that is able to charge a mobile phone, for instance. The main problems are to produce carbon nanotubes in the big and to make sure that the fibre does not pose a health risk.

A football team of 12 boys aged between 11 and 16 and their 25 year old coach went missing for nine days in the Tham Luang caves in Thailand after they became trapped by rising waters. After they all have been found alive, today the final five were rescued and brought out of the cave. Unfortunately, one diver died in the rescue efforts.

A new way of converting sun light to electricity has been developed and works well also in overcast sky. It makes use of bacteria and the next step will consist of making the production cheaper.

A new vaccine against HIV has produced an immune response in healthy adults. More research is needed, however, to determine whether or to which extent it provides protection.

Some bacteria disable the immune reaction of the body by some waxy, fatty acids. Researcher have better understood the mechanism and this may lead to a new therapy against bacteria or viruses.

Medicines have side effects since their effects are typically regardless of the functions of the molecules they are applied to. By targeting the medicines to molecules which have specific functions the side effects can be reduced or eleminated.

There is a better understanding how antibiotics interact. Also some other drugs may make them ineffective, or to the contrary make them more efficient. This is important in order to make best use of antibiotics.

All male northern white rhinos are dead and as such the species is seemingly extinct. Scientists are now hopeful that with sperm taken from some of the last male rhinos before their deaths, they can use IVF (in vitro fertilization) to bring the species back.

A football team of 12 boys aged between 11 and 16 and their 25 year old coach went missing for nine days in the Tham Luang caves in Thailand after they became trapped by rising waters. Now they all have been found alive and well. The rescue mission may take months, but supplies are delivered to them and there is optimism that they will be rescued.

People with a metabolic disorder have the problem that they build up certain toxic metabolites due to their diet. Some compounds found naturally in green tea and red wine can block this build-up and with a better understanding of the processes involved there is hope that a new drug may be developed to treat the disorder.

A new catalyst has been developed that has the potential to make the production of hydrogen from water commercially viable. This may be an important step of switching to a carbon neutral energy source. The catalyst is made of a hybrid material involving iron, nickel, and phosphorus and is much cheaper than traditional platinum based catalysts.