【推荐2】Scientists have transfused (输血) lab-made red blood cells into a human volunteer in a world-first trial that experts say has major potential for people with hard-to-match blood types or conditions such as sickle cell disease. The research could someday mean an end to long searches for compatible donors (匹配的捐赠者) or dangerous transfusion reactions.

The experimental transfusion was done at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, England, as part of a joint effort among UK scientists to understand how lab-made blood transfusions could work.

The scientists took whole blood from donors in a UK database and separated out the stem cells. These are the body’s raw materials — the cells from which all specialized cells,like a red blood cell, can generate.Researchers grew red blood cells from those stem cells and transfused them into two healthy volunteers.

The transfusions involved only a tiny amount of blood: about one or two teaspoons. A standard blood transfusion would involve many hundred times that amount. This stage of the trial involves two mini transfusions at least four months apart, one with a standard donation of red cells and the other with lab-made cells from the same donor.

The researchers are closely monitoring the volunteers to determine whether the process was safe. They say there have been with“no unexpected side effects” so far. They’re also watching how long the lab-grown cells last compared with an infusion of standard red blood cells. Red blood cells typically last about 120 days, but a transfusion from a standard donation contains cells that are a variety of ages because the bone marrow (骨髓) continuously makes these cells.

Previous tests have shown that manufactured cells function like normal cells and that these lab-made cells are likely to survive longer overall while in circulation. This study will determine for the first time whether that’s true.

Further trials will be necessary to determine whether there could be a clinical use of this lab-grown product.

The research could eventually make a difference for people with sickle cell disease, those who. develop antibodies against most donor blood types, or those with genetic disorders in which their bod can’t make red blood cells or the blood cells they make don’t work well.

【推荐3】The Australian sand octopus (章鱼) was discovered in 1990 and is the only octopus species known to bury itself deep in the sand to hide from enemies. A team of researchers are studying the venom (毒液) of this kind of octopus. They have discovered that the venom may greatly slow cancer growth. And it can also help fight drug resistance in patients with a BRAF-changed skin cancer. BRAF is involved in managing cell growth. A change in it results in abnormal cell growth. These BRAF changes are seen in half of all cases of skin cancers.

“We and other groups have previously discovered that other animals-snakes, spiders, bees-have anticancer properties,” said Dr. Maria, the study’s lead author. “However, in my current knowledge, the anticancer properties of an octopus species have never been studied or confirmed before.”

Current treatments face a few challenges including low response rates, poisoning and side effects, as well as drug resistance. The octopus venom slows the growth of BRAF-changed skin cancer. More importantly, it is safe to be used in large quantities — it is not poisonous. Therefore, in combination with other drugs, the treatments could potentially achieve better and safer patient outcomes.

It is very unlikely that the octopus has specifically developed its venom to contain an anticancer substance. According to the researching team, the octopus venom contains over 1,000 unique substances with several functions such as reducing pain and anticancer.

“In this study, we have shown that the octopus venom specifically targets BRAF-changed skin cancer. The next step is to examine whether similar promising results are applicable for other BRAF-changed cancers.” said Dr. Maria. “Before it can be used on patients, the team will need to perform several rounds of lab testing and clinical trials to understand how it works and its full potential as a drug against skin cancer.”

【推荐2】Have you ever wondered what happens to your mobile phones and laptops after you throw them out to make way for a newer model? According to its latest Global E-Waste Monitor, India is the third top producer of e-waste in the world. E-waste in Indian landfill goes on to pollute soil and groundwater, affecting food supply systems and water sources.

Thankfully, the country has a new group of artists who are changing these thrown mechanical items-from mobile phones to old televisions- into large murals (壁画) and artworks to creatively show their concern for the waste problem.

Over the past quarter of a century, Mumbai’s Haribaabu Naatesan has transformed hundreds of tonnes of e-waste into art, integrating elements from nature and industry. “I get my waste material from friends, relatives and neighbours who know my interest in e-art and send me bags of thrown electronic appliances,” says Naatesan. Over his career, he has created huge murals for several companies. He has also showed his work at the India Art Fair, as well as several other national displays.

Another artist Vishwanath Davangere has also long worked with e-waste. He likes to take apart old laptops and reassemble (重新组装) them into birds, animals and plants. After retirement, he started pursuing this hobby more seriously and started selling his creations across the world. His most outstanding works include a robotic Egyptian statue with glowing red eyes and a Milky Way made from keyboard keys. He hopes to enable others to reconsider their own consumption habits and make more environmentally conscious choices.

“By giving e-waste a second chance, I aim to raise awareness about the environmental impact of electronic waste.” says Davangare, who today has a collection of more than 600 eco-art objects.

【推荐1】Researchers in the United Kingdom are testing to see whether vitamin A can be used to restore the sense of smell in people who lost it because of COVID-19.

A loss of the sense of smell is a common side-effect of COVID-19, with around eight people in 10 who have a symptomatic infection experiencing some reduction in their ability to smell. For some patients—round 18 percent according to one study—the symptom is severe, causing total smell loss.

Prior to the pandemic , researchers at the Interdisciplinary Center for Smell and Taste in Dresden, Germany, established a link between vitamin A drops and improved outcomes in patients with viral-induced smell loss, causing scientists at the University of East Anglia to use the treatment on COVID-19 patients in a new UK government-funded study.

"Around one in 10 people who experience smell loss as a result of COVID-19 report that their sense of smell has not returned to normal four weeks after falling ill," said Carl Philpott, a professor of olfactology at the university.

Philpott said people with smell loss can experience depression, anxiety, feelings of isolation（孤立）, and weight loss due to reduced appetite. He said other risks include failure to notice hazards（危险）, such as gas or spoiled foods.

"We want to find out whether there is an increase in the size and activity of damaged smell pathways in patients' brains when they are treated with vitamin A nasal（鼻的）drops," said Philpott. "This would show recovery of the damage caused by common viral infections, including COVID-19, in the nose."

In the new study, 38 patients will receive a 12-week course of nasal vitamin A drops and 19 will receive inactive peanut oil drops. Before and after the treatment course, researchers will use MRI scanning to see if there is a change in the size of the olfactory bulb, an area above the nose where the smell nerves join together and connect to the brain. They will also test for neural activity and olfactory performance by introducing distinctive odors, such as roses or rotting eggs, while patients are undergoing MRI imaging.

【推荐2】In February, Japan appointed Tetsushi Sakamoto as the country’s first Minister of Loneliness to address the issue of isolation for the growing number of the population who live alone.

Loneliness has been a long-standing issue in Japan. Half a million people in the country live a solitary(独身的) life. They are known as hikikomori – “those who withdraw from all social contact and often don’t leave their houses for years at a time”, according to the BBC.

“In Japanese strict social norms(行为规范), high expectations from parents and a culture of shame make Japanese society a fertile ground for feelings of inadequacy.” Takahiro Kato, who studies and treats hikikomori, told the BBC.

But the pandemic has only worsened the effects of this lifestyle. According to figures released by the National Police Agency, in 2020 Japan saw a rise in suicides for the first time in 11 years. A total of 20,919 people took their own lives, 750 more than the previous year. The majority of them were single women and students.

Before the pandemic(疫情), most people who live alone had a fairly normal routine: a full day of work, dining with friends afterward, then going home. But the pandemic forced them to stay indoors, reducing the few chances they had to socialize.

Sakamoto hopes to deal with the issue of increased feelings of isolation. At a news conference on Feb 12, he said that he hopes to “carry out activities to prevent social loneliness and isolation and to protect ties between people”.

After all, just as UK poet John Donne wrote, “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”

【推荐3】A. Human feet will become just one big toe.

In a lecture at the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1911, a surgeon named Richard Clement Lucas made a curious prediction that the “useless outer toes” will become used less and less, so that “man might become a one-toed race” in the next century. Look and check your toes.

B. Our houses will be cleaned by hoses.

In a 1950 article titled “Miracles You’ll See in the Next 50 Years,” the New York Times’ longtime science editor Waldemar Kaempffert predicted that by the 21st century, all you’ll have to do to get your house clean is “simply turn the hose on everything.”

That’s because he imagined furniture would be made of synthetic fabric or waterproof plastic. “After the water has run down a drain in the middle of the floor” all you’d have to do is “turn on a blast of hot air” to dry everything. A mercy for housewife, right?

C. We’ll live in flying houses.

Inventor, science writer, and futurist Arthur C. Clark—who co-wrote the screenplay for 2001: A Space Odyssey—believed that the boring houses of 1966 would be extremely different by the time we reached the 21st century. Evidently, the houses of the future would have nothing keeping them on the ground and they would be able to move to anywhere on the earth on a whim (异想天开). So easy to travel abroad!

D. We’ll eat candy made of underwear.

In Popular Mechanics, Waldemar Kaempffert predicted that all food would be delivered to our homes in the form of frozen bricks by the 21st century. “Cooking as an art is only a memory in the minds of old people,” he wrote. And, thanks to advances in cooking technology, Kaempffert predicted it would even be possible to take ordinary objects like old table cloth and “silk-like underwear” and bring them to “chemical factories to be made into candy.” No, thanks! Not at all!