Neat News 5139 (added 2020-11-30)

Alligators can regrow their tails

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For long it has been known that lizards can regrow their tails. A new study has found that alligators can too. The insight may lead to therapies for regrowing human tissue.

Neat News 5138 (added 2020-11-29)

Plant back after 100 years

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After restoration work, grass-poly, a plant very rare in the UK, has returned to a farmland pond in Norfolk after more than 100 years. It is assumed that when the soil was disturbed some seeds started to germinate.

Neat News 5137 (added 2020-11-28)

No single use plastic shopping bags in Germany from 2022

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From 2022 standard single use plastic shopping bags will be outlawed in Germany.

Neat News 5136 (added 2020-11-27)

Offsetting sitting

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Sitting a lot, e.g., 10 hours per day is linked to a heightened risk of early death. However, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), this can be offset by exceeding the recommended levels of weekly physical activities.

Neat News 5135 (added 2020-11-26)

Well-being by activity

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A new studies confirms that physical activity is important for psychic health. Even everyday activities such as climbing stairs can make a significant difference.

Neat News 5134 (added 2020-11-25)

Period products free in Scotland

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Even in rich countries there is a significant number of women who struggle to buy period products. The Scottish Parliament has now made a law to make them available for free to everybody who needs them. Scotland will be the first country with such a provision.

Neat News 5133 (added 2020-11-24)

Metal monolith found in Utah

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A helicopter crew found during a flyover a metal monolith in a desert in Utah. A plausible assumption is that some fan of Stanley Kubrick's classic film "2001: A Space Odyssey" has put it there. Further investigations are under way.

Neat News 5132 (added 2020-11-23)

MMR vaccination against Covid-19?

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In a new study it has found that there is a significant inverse correlation between antibodies resulting from a measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination and the severity of a possible Covid-19 infection. It may be a clue to the fact that the Covid-19 death rates in different countries vary strongly.

Neat News 5131 (added 2020-11-22)

Bee atlas

Bees are essential pollinators and there are around 20,000 different bee species on our planet. Now scientists have mapped their distribution in a global map. It is an important tool to recognize what kind of bee protection is needed.

Neat News 5130 (added 2020-11-21)

Reverse ageing of blood cells by oxygen

Treating healthy ageing adults with high-pressured oxygen can reverse the ageing process of their blood cells, a new study has found. 35 healthy individuals aged 64 and above were treated in 60 session over a period of 90 days.

Neat News 5129 (added 2020-11-20)

True random number using DNA synthesis

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Random numbers play a big role in computer science applications such as data encryption, since they allow the generation of (big) numbers that cannot be predicted. Typically computers use pseudo random numbers which are hard to predict, but this cannot be completely ruled out. Now big true random numbers can be generated using DNA synthesis.

Neat News 5128 (added 2020-11-19)

Return of blue whales to South Georgia

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50 years after blue whales were locally wiped out around the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia the whales are returning to the region. This is a big success of the corresponding ban on commercial whaling.

Neat News 5127 (added 2020-11-18)

No new petrol or diesel cars in the UK from 2030

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As a contribution against climate change, no new petrol or diesel cars can be bought in the UK from 2030.

Neat News 5126 (added 2020-11-17)

UVC light to kill Covid-19 viruses

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In a supermarket in Hamburg, Germany, UVC lights have been installed at a height so that the UVC radiation kills most Covid-19 viruses in the aerosols, but does not harm humans. This way the number of Covid-19 viruses in the air can be significantly reduced.

Neat News 5125 (added 2020-11-16)

Healthy sleep - healthy heart

A new study found that healthy sleep habits go with a lower risk of heart problems. Adults with healthy sleep patterns such as sleeping 7-8 hours a day can have an up to 42 percent reduced risk of heart failure compared to people with unhealthy sleep patterns.

Neat News 5124 (added 2020-11-15)

100 intact sarcophagi found in Egypt

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Archaeologists have found around 100 sarcophagi, some with mummies inside. The sarcophagi are more than 2500 years old, the Egyptian government announced yesterday. They were found near Saqqara and some of them are in pristine condition.

Neat News 5123 (added 2020-11-14)

Indoor photovoltaic

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Many devices in our lives need electricity and providing all of them with batteries is not only cumbersome but also bad for the environment. Some of them such as sensors need only small amounts of power. Traditional solar panels are, however, not well suited at harvesting indoor light. However, a new green material is currently under development that is useful for this purpose.

Neat News 5122 (added 2020-11-13)

Hyperventilation against alcohol poisoning

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Doctors do not have many possibilities to treat acute alcohol poisoning. Mainly they stabilize the patient and wait until the liver clears up the poisoning. Now a new method has been tested with a few people in which alcohol levels are reduced via the lungs three times faster by controlled CO2 stabilizing hyperventilation (to prevent dizziness). More tests are needed.

Neat News 5121 (added 2020-11-12)

Reducing fertilizer usage

A new study has found that there is a big potential to reduce over-fertilization by so-called precision farming. In this method it is measured what the plants need and fertilization is applied only to this degree. This way there is no reduction in yield.

Neat News 5120 (added 2020-11-11)

Personalized cancer vaccination

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In treating a small number of patients suffering from head or neck cancer with a personalized cancer vaccine and an immunotherapy drug, researchers report promising initial results. More tests are necessary.

Neat News 5119 (added 2020-11-10)

Nerve injury repair by printable ink

In order to regrow cells of severed nerves there is the big problem to guide cells to regrow in lines between the broken ends of a nerve. Now a printable neuron-growing ink has been developed that uses the body's electrical signals to grow precisely in the right direction.

Neat News 5118 (added 2020-11-09)

Covid vaccine offers 90 percent protection

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In a preliminary analysis with more than 43,000 people a coronavirus vaccine proved effective in that it prevented 90 percent of people from contracting Covid-19. Now the companies involved apply for approval by the regulators. The first doses of the vaccine may be available by the end of 2020/early 2021; 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021.

Neat News 5117 (added 2020-11-08)

School meals in England

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Following a campaign led by 23 year old footballer Marcus Rashford the British government has decided to spend GBP 400m to support poor children during school holidays. Rashford's campaign had already led to free school meal vouchers for 1.3m children in England during the last summer holidays.

Neat News 5116 (added 2020-11-07)

Wind energy by policy

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A new study found that the fact that Denmark is a global leader in wind energy is mainly due to government policies and not mainly due to technological progress.

Neat News 5115 (added 2020-11-06)

Gender equality among hunter-gatherers

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The study of a 9000 year old burial side in the Andes Mountains of South America refutes the traditional view that men were the hunters and women the gatherers. The archeological analysis of early burial practices points in the direction that the division of labour was quite equitable.

Neat News 5114 (added 2020-11-05)

New mineral found in lunar meteorite

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The International Mineralogical Association recognizes some 5600 minerals. Now they have added one more mineral, called donwilhelmsite, to the list. It has been detected recently in a lunar meteorite.

Neat News 5113 (added 2020-11-04)

Wisdom of crowds against antibiotics over-prescription

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A problem with over-prescription of antibiotics is that bacteria become resistant. For this reason prescriptions of antibiotics should be reduced. This can be achieved more easily if three or more medical prescribers share the prescription decision.

Neat News 5112 (added 2020-11-03)

Vitamin D in pregnancy

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Vitamin D plays an important role in the human immune system. Now there is new evidence that a sufficient level of vitamin D during the pregnancy is positively linked to a child's neurocognitive development at ages of 4 to 6 years.

Neat News 5111 (added 2020-11-02)

Identifying Covid-19 by sound of cough

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A program has been developed that can - with an accuracy of more than 98 percent - identify people with Covid-19 by the sound of their cough. The differences are so small that the human ear cannot spot the difference to a non-Covid-19 cough. In order to develop the program into an app regulatory approval is needed.

Neat News 5110 (added 2020-11-01)

Positive attitude and health

There is a growing body of findings that a positive affect such as being enthusiastic and cheerful has a positive effect on people in that they age in a healthy way. A new study finds that such people are less likely to suffer from memory decline in old age.