Neat News - Neat things do happen

A new study finds that 30 percent of all 1500 regions worldwide managed to reduce carbon emissions and to have economic growth at the same time over the last 30 years.

related: #greenhouse_gas #economic_growth

By tweaking some genes scientists managed to prevent the accumulation of particular proteins in the brain of old fruit flies. This way they reversed some cognitive decline and extended the healthy lifespan of the fruit flies by around 30 percent.

related: #cognitive_decline #ageing #lifespan

This year CO₂ levels in the atmosphere are on a record level. Now scientists have developed a new material called COF-999, a so-called covalent organic framework, that can capture big amounts of CO₂ from the air. It has been successfully tested for 100 adsorption-desorption cycles in the open air, and could be used to fight global warming.

related: #CO2 #carbon_capture

A study with 152 animal species, including birds, mammals, insects, and corals, found that social animals live longer than loners. Social animals have advantages (such as that they support and protect each other) but also disadvantages (such as competition and the spread of infections). However, overall the advantages prevail.

related: #social_animal #longevity

It has been discovered that cork can be treated by a laser so that it is possible to use it to absorb oil. This way it can be employed to clean water from crude oil spills.

related: #cork #oil_spill #water

New research finds that how long you can stand on one leg is a good measure for your biological age, even better than strength or gait.

related: #balance #one_leg #stand #biological_age

There are infinite many prime numbers. The biggest until recently known prime number has 25 million digits. Now M136279841 has been found to be a prime number with 41 million digits. It is 2^136,279,841-1, a so-called Mersenne prime.

related: #prime_number #Mersenne_prime

80 percent of strokes are preventable by measures summarized in new guidelines such as reducing the blood pressure, lowering cholesterol and blood sugar levels, healthy nutrition, regular physical activity, no tobacco, and healthy sleep and weight.

related: #stroke_prevention

When in 1976 commercial whaling ended only 800 individual humpback whales were left. Now figures have recovered to an estimated number of 30,000. When humpback whales die they take some 33 tons of carbon to the ground of the sea and play thereby an important role in reducing CO₂ in the atmosphere.

related: #humpback_whale #conservation #climate

When you have problems bonding with your cat then you should more often smile with them, but not the way humans normally do it by showing the teeth, but by narrowing your eyes and blinking slowly, since that is the way cats do it, as new research confirms.

related: #cat #smile

A general monthly ticket costing 49 euros for all local trains and other public transport in Germany has been introduced in May 2023. It led to a reduction of car usage and with that saved overall about 4.7 percent of CO₂ emissions in traffic, corresponding to 6.7 million tons of CO₂.

related: #public_transport #CO2

Somalia suffers from a very bad drought with way too little rain. Now farmers have started to grow tomatoes in greenhouses, since they allow to make much more effective usage of the water available. The water is taken out of the ground. Currently there are some 200 greenhouses around the capital Mogadishu.

related: #greenhouse #Somalia #drought

Using MRI data, it has been shown that bilinguism, in particular, if acquired when young leads to increased efficiency of communication between different brain regions.

related: #bilingual #brain

There is some classification of five areas with particular longevity as Blue Zones, areas on the islands of Sardinia (Italy), Ikaria (Greece),Okinawa (Japan), and Costa Rica as well as California (USA). Now Singapore could be added to that list since its life expectancy has increased from 65 in 1960 to 86 today and the number of centenarians doubled from 2010 to 2020. The increase is linked to measures such as strong discouragement of smoking and drinking alcohol as well as nutritional labelling to encourage healthier dietary choices, physical activity, and green spaces in the city.

related: #longevity

The Japanese Nihon Hidankyō organization of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki is awarded the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for helping to maintain the nuclear taboo that nuclear weapons must never be used. Indeed since the 1945 nuclear attacks no nuclear weapon has been used in war. With much more powerful weapons, any use could destroy our civilization.

related: #Nobel #peace #nuclear_disarmament

Often it is assumed that cooperation is driven by the expectation of own benefits. New research showed now that increasing the benefits does not promote cooperation in single encounter situations. The reasons why humans cooperate and how cooperation can be fostered seem to be more complex and only partly understood.

related: #cooperation

In experiments with mice, it has been discovered that an FDA-approved cancer drug which blocks a particular protein may also block another protein that is responsible for the spread of Parkinson's disease from cell to cell in the brain. More research is needed in order to see whether this offers a treatment that potentially slow down the progression of Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.

related: #Parkinson #treatment

A new method to remove low yet still dangerous levels of lead from drinking water has been developed. It is based on the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, also called brewer's yeast or baker's yeast, which can absorb up to 12mg lead per gram of biomass, assumed the initial lead concentration is sufficiently low.

related: #lead #yeast #filter

This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine goes to two scientists for their work on microRNA which is fundamental for the understanding how cells with the same RNA/DNA can differentiate into different types of tissue (like kidneys, eyes, fingers).

related: #Nobel #medicine #microRNA

A new study finds that a particular family of bacteria, comamonadacae, can break down plastic for food. This may lead to solutions to get rid of difficult to remove plastic waste.

related: #plastic #bacteria

The Right Livelihood Awards 2024 were awarded. The prizes go to Joan Carling for protecting indigenous communities on the Philippines; Issa Amro for his peaceful resistance against Israeli occupation in the West Bank city of Hebron; Anabela Lemos for standing up for environmental justice in Mozambique; and Forensic Architecture for their work uncovering and documenting the truth about environmental and human rights violations.

related: #Right_Livelihood_Award

A new study finds that breastfeeding gives babies some protection against rotaviruses which cause diarrhoea, vomiting, and fever.

related: #breastfeeding #rotavirus

In 1882, the first coal-based electricity power plant was opened in the UK. Now the UK has become the first major economy to no longer burn coal for the production of electricity, in an important step on the way to combat climate change by becoming CO₂-neutral.

related: #coal #CO2 #climate_change