Good News Notes: “Each year, 8 million tons of plastic— the equivalent of a garbage truck load every minute — is dumped into the ocean, according to the World Economic Forum. The Ocean Cleanup, a nonprofit engineering environmental organization based in the Netherlands, is attempting to remove as much of that plastic as is feasible. “Our strategy…
Category: discovery
Could oxygen therapy reverse Alzheimer’s disease?
Good News Notes: “For the first time, a non-pharmaceutical clinical trial has proven effective in reversing the main activators of Alzheimer’s disease, according to Tel Aviv University’s Prof. Shai Efrati, whose study on the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) to improve brain function was published Thursday in the peer-reviewed medical journal Aging. The study, which…
Barnacle-Inspired Biocompatible Glue Stops Injured Organs Bleeding within Seconds
Good News Notes: “Inspired by the sticky substance that barnacles use to cling to rocks and other surfaces, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) engineers have designed a strong, biocompatible glue that can seal injured tissues and stop bleeding. The new paste can adhere to surfaces even when they are covered with blood, and form a…
How to fight microplastic pollution with magnets
Good News Notes: “As a child, Fionn Ferreira spent hours exploring the coastline near his hometown of Ballydehob in south-west Ireland. But the more time he spent on the sheltered, shingle-strewn coves nearby, he grew increasingly shocked by the large amounts of plastic litter he found strewn across the beach and in the sea. “It…
How magic mushroom ingredient psilocybin helps patients with depression or PTSD change how they feel, by rewiring the brain with more connections
Good News Notes: “The use of psychedelic drugs such as LSD and psilocybin was a legitimate field of medical research in the 1940s and 1950s, and LSD was even employed as a psychiatric medicine. But such research stopped in the mid-1960s when they were declared Schedule 1 illegal drugs in the United States. Over the…
Can This Sun-Reflecting Fabric Help Fight Climate Change?
Good News Notes: “IN 2020, A graduate student from Zhejiang University in China donned a seemingly plain white vest and sat in the direct sunlight for one hour. A few feet away, researchers monitored his body temperature with infrared cameras and sensors on his skin. Half of the vest was made from ordinary cotton; the other…
Alternative cement with low carbon footprint developed
Good News Notes: “Researchers at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) in Germany and the Brazilian University of Pará have developed a climate-friendly alternative to conventional cement. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions can be reduced during production by up to two thirds when a previously unused overburden from bauxite mining is used as a raw material….
Seljuk sarcophagi unearthed in Turkey’s Bitlis excite researchers
Good News Notes: “Archaeological excavations and restoration work at the Seljuk Meydan (Square) Cemetery, in the Ahlat district of eastern Turkey’s Bitlis, have unearthed two “sanduka,” a type of sarcophagi placed over the original graves of distinguished people in the Turkish-Islamic tradition. The sandukas were discovered as part of the “Eyewitnesses of History Stand Up” project,…
Can Plant-Covered Buildings Cool Things Down?
Good News Notes: “You don’t realize how small you are until you find yourself walking on a sidewalk in the middle of a city surrounded by hundreds, thousands, and often millions of people, and it’s hard to conceptually fathom the amount of people living, breathing, and working in that city, isn’t it? But everything you…
Archaeology breakthrough: Researchers unearthed ‘world’s oldest coin’ in China excavation
Good News Notes: “Archaelogists were staggered after unearthing what is believed to be some of the world’s oldest coins in a rare find on a Chinese excavation site. The researchers found a series of clay moulds used for casting spade coins, as well as fragments of the coins, at a location in Guanzhuang in Xingyang, Henan…