Europe was split and impenetrable border divided east from west but one german entrepreneur refused to accept that could believe that science transcends board is he set up a prize awarded to Research Projects where scientists from eastern and western europe work together. Endowed with 1000000 euros the cover price remains to this day one of the most prestigious and lucrative science awards in europe this year it went to a 100 gary a neuroscientist based in switzerland. Boston is a city constantly on the move. Full of colors and contrast. Shades dimensions and perspectives. We perceive them with our eyes. But this window to the world closes for people who lose them so. Reopening that window is the foremost goal of the institute of molecular and clinical ophthalmology. Here medical scientist a boat on tosca is working on ways of giving blind people back their eyesight. My main goal is to understand vision and to use this understanding to create new treatments for blinding diseases. While the eyes outer appearance may be fascinating the real miracle of vision happens on the inside. At the back of the eyeball is the retina a layer made up of millions of cells of 100 different cell types. Because team has succeeded in making individual cells of blind retinas receptive to light again. The retina is a biological computer made of 100 different parts. And it is very difficult to repair a computer so we dont prepare it for the receptor layer we have to repair a computer and we have to understand the parts of these computer and come up vivid ways that really benefits the patients this is a socalled a retina or going to. Work you know. Think of it as a stand in for the actual retina the scientists are able to grow from the cells of a visually impaired or blind patient when placed upon a microchip the researchers can test the organ ords individual cells for light sensitivity that enables them to determine in the lab whether a specific type of gene therapy would improve the eyes side of a particular patient. I bet i was asked to study the disease but there was asked to test gene therapy in the particular mutation that patient has so its a completely new over for me in basic research or basic medical research because we can now look on the retinas of a given patients. This patient who is almost completely blind. He suffers from ritchie niters pigmentosa today incurable disease which incapacitates the written as visual receptor. The new gene therapy could help to reactivate the retina at least partially. My biggest wish is that our sterile piece start to work in patients. To achieve this and the institute in basel takes an interdisciplinary approach. Brought on oscar whos head of Molecular Biology Research in the laboratory. His colleague 100 short leads a team of doctors in the clinic keeping in touch with the patients. Together they work as a team. In the past their 2 fields are entirely separated. Medical doctors did their job they reported their disease and basic scientists varied in their own institute closed in in which the try to address a problem but they were not really a very of the real problem so very often in basic science via amazing technologies but theyre not addressing the right problems. Roscoes team has taken a major step to remedy the situation they successfully equipped blind retina cells with light sensitive protein channels grown from bacterial genes you know these cells react to light once again. The researchers tools are socalled vectors minute shuttles that transport Genetic Information into the target cells 1st in the organ or and eventually directly inside the patients retina. We just take these gene and then insert these gene into gene therapy vector the gene therapy back to respect each the entire protein shell and the inject this into the eye. Its a simple injection as would be an other injection with another medicine. The experiments on the organ or it may seem like primitive reactions in a petri dish right there an important milestone in the quest to restore eyesight by means of gene therapy. Where it has been a Great Success in the lab must now passed the test of clinical treatment in patients. 5 people have already started gene therapy to treat their retinitis pigmentosa the results are pending but the researchers are optimistic that blindness may 1 day become reversible in many cases. We know how to restore vision we have the technologies what we are missing is details and we are missing virk force and investment from society. That just this cancer get a lot of investment to deal with the problem now blindness needs a lot of investment from private and public entities. Roscoe is a bringer of hope for many thanks to his conviction that science needs the cooperation of many talents for success much like in music. In art in music we have a composer who works on the details of a piece and artist he is giving it to the audience in a keys or by a many scene the basic scientists they are preparing a new treatment be a coming up with a new treatment and it is that clinicians who then offer it to the public the patients. Their work is not yet complete but. His team have achieved a great deal already. And they plan to continue their quest so we can expect to hear much more about the basel based scientists and their trailblazing more can the future. If outlet is right why ave latin is a major. Do you have a science question youve always wanted onset send it in and if we answer it on the show youll get it didnt surprise as a thank you. I cannot just ask. For more stories from the world of science go to our website or find us on twitter. This weeks viewer question comes from chris humphreys. Why does the earth have an atmosphere. And atmosphere is not all that unusual many bodies in our solar system have one like the giant planet jupiter in its moon europa. A planet develops an atmosphere when gases amerge from within it and when it collects volatile substances from collisions with asteroids and comets. Though. The earths atmosphere is a complex multilayered system up to an altitude of 90 kilometers it consists mostly of nitrogen along with the oxygen produced by living organisms. Our atmosphere extends far into space reaching to the moon and even beyond. Earth has enough mass to hold on to its atmosphere through gravity in contrast to mars. The red planets gravity is. Only 130. 00 strong is ours causing it to lose of large part of its atmosphere its as thin on the martian surface as the air is 30 kilometers above the earths surface earths atmosphere also has a Magnetic Field to protect it from the electrically charged particles of the solar wind mars lost its planetary Magnetic Field 4000000000 years ago the solar wind can blow its atmosphere into space but the earth is also losing air into areas near the poles the particles of the solar wind penetrate deep into the atmosphere creating a rollos and carrying away several 100 tons of oxygen every day. Biological processes such as photosynthesis in plants can largely compensate for this loss even so the mass of the earths atmosphere is slowly decreasing. The earth has been able to hold on to its atmosphere for so long because it orbits close to the sun and because it rotates that keeps the atmosphere warm enough to prevent the gases from freezing on the surface. As Carbon Dioxide does on mars for example. Of all transport modes flying pretties is the most Greenhouse Gases so how could it be made more sustainable. Flying less isnt that likely to take hold. On the contrary 29000. 188900 one flights recorded. In the. Course the flying is something we take for granted nowadays but gone is the romance of taking to the air replaced by worries about Climate Change and flight shape. Before the pandemic. The skies were full every day we burned 11500 liters of kerosene worldwide per 2nd carbon that had been locked away in the earths crust for millions of years in the form of crude oil enter the atmosphere as Carbon Dioxide where it accelerated Climate Change. But what if we could produce Aviation Fuel that doesnt put any new c o 2 into circulation made of nothing but water air and sunlight. Thats exactly whats being researched here at zurichs Technical University especially developed solar furnace on the roof of the Swiss University produces fuel from the ambient air with the help of concentrated solar radiation its the lifes work of. He and his students have been researching and working on the furnace for more than a decade. But few here having what we have here is a complete mini refinery for solar fuels that i fill. With their furnace the swiss were able to show that their theory that fuel can be produced from sun air and water also works in practice. In the 1st step arrows drawn in and the water and Carbon Dioxide it contains are collected using the mirror dish the suns rays are concentrated on to one of the 2 reactors heating it up to 1500 degrees celsius at the heart of these reactors a catalyst takes care of the 1st conversion. Lispunds like catalyst is coated with a rare earth metal syria mock side. The components of water and Carbon Dioxide are split apart and reassembled to create whats. Known as sin gas. This mixture of hydrogen and Carbon Monoxide can then be converted into liquid fuels such as kerosene its rather like a Chemical Construction kit when the fumes produced in this way is burned it only releases c o 2 into the atmosphere that had previously been removed from it so does this solve the problem unfortunately not completely all madonnas to the Production Volume of this system is still very low its less than 100. 00 milliliters per day so the production costs are still very high. By comparison a transatlantic airliner burns on average almost one leader per 2nd for around 3000 liters per hour. The university of zurich has meanwhile inaugurated a larger Test Facility in spain but even the quantities produced here are just a proverbial drop in the ocean but it shows that this sun to liquid method can also work on a larger scale. So why dont we build huge plants in the desert right away and the main problem is the price of kerosene from petroleum is still unbeatable a cheap and fuel costs make up a 3rd of the price of a typical Airline Tickets in fact kerosene can already be produced synthetically and mostly sustainably in many ways such as in large algae farms airlines began pursuing this option a long time ago but the results so far have been disappointing the production is still complicated and too expensive. In the end the decisive factor will be who can manufacture synthetic kerosene in industrial quantities at the lowest cost. As the c. E. O. Theres still no real economic rationale behind these projects theyre. Part of this whole discussion about the carbon is ation and germanys transition to green energy. You conversion is head of the hide of refinery in northern germany this is where the fuel for Hamburg Airport is distilled. The refinery wants to become part of this shift to Renewable Energy in aviation. Has a plan to produce sustainable kerosene here instead of using the sun like the swiss project hes looking to harness surplus wind power. And theres lots of electricity thats not even generated in the 1st place the systems are switched off because theres simply too much electricity in the power grid and thats where we come in our plan is to convert this unused electricity into hydrogen and then turn the Hydrogen Engine interests instead if you will into especially kerosene he was in small. Whats particularly attractive about this power to liquid process is that the Carbon Dioxide needed to produce the fuel is drawn out from nearby factories rather than letting this climate damaging gases scape into the atmosphere its then processed into fuel using water and electricity. When these synthetic kerosene is burned no new Carbon Dioxide enters circulation but instead old Carbon Dioxide is recycled so could heavy industry actually be part of the solution to the climate issue at least in aviation researchers at the university of brain in germany think it cant its one of the partners in this project. Often of you know refineries have the expertise to handle and process hydrocarbons from fuels and they also have the infrastructure in place today for their operations but we will also need that if we want to operate a power to liquid plant. And an apologetic but on a lot of the time when. Within 5 years the plant should be producing synthetic kerosene for lufthansa. Our 1st goal is to cover 5 percent of the requirements of Hamburg Airport. Sustainable kerosene will have to come from many sources in the future the decisive factor will be who can produce the alternative fuel at the lowest cost but if aviation hopes to slash its c o 2. 00 emissions by half before 2050 it must rely on projects like those of the university of zurich and the height of refinery. Electric cars in. Quiet and green. Electric cars have a secret their batteries contain problematic substances like cobalt a lithium extracting this mineral requires a lot of water and most of lithium resists are in some of the driest places on earth. To cause really the future of the need that. The mobility is about more than just getting from 82 feet for country has at least. Right its like youre floating its so nice. From 0 to 100 Kilometers Per Hour in 4 seconds flat on green dark christianes and also like having a good conscience of the road on my toes i start falling if im driving through town with queues of cars coming towards me i can say at least my car doesnt stink. Except its not completely clean either. Electric cars do produce particularly matter even if they dont spew exhaust emissions. Stuff once the debate over Combustion Engine started i was glad to have nothing to do with them anymore. Although not quite Nothing Better reproduction consumes electricity which is generated from dirty sources. Most. Are based in countries that. Still have coal based power plants. A bigger battery therefore means emitting more c o 2 during its production. Automakers like to stress that big is beautiful on the battery front too. Except that it isnt. The more powerful an electric car the more electricity is required to charge its battery and as that electricity comes from the grid in countries like germany that means a fair proportion of coal generated power this together with battery production emissions means that some larger electric cars are responsible for more c o 2 than a midsized diesel fuel car. So we Missions Free driving is still not a reality one solution could look like this smaller and lighter cars with a shorter range and Lower Driving speed and therefore a lower carbon footprint. The train hesters wants to fuel her car with her own solar powered generator. My big goal for the future is to be able to produce electricity for the car myself. But for now she also has to resort to regular power from the grid on days when the sun isnt shining. Our cities are heating up the socalled urban heat island effect means areas in the city dont cool down as fast as the surrounding countryside. That can be hazardous for human health densely Populated Areas are especially at risk so urban planning is need solutions we had a look at some of the ideas out there. Researches in switzerland are working to create the perfect city asphalt. Engineer every human has been commissioned by the government to conduct experiments under traffic conditions on this test track. Our goal is to bring the temperatures down during the summer heat waves having cooler nights as the main. Mass founts can reach temperatures of 70 degrees celsius the black surfaces get hot during the day and release heat at night meaning the city cant cool down. If you look at a city from above you see about 40 percent buildings and 20 percent rows of the buildings all belong to someone but with the robots you have a bit more scope and also. Eric is leading the experiment its to be a foam as job to develop the perfect asphalt clear on the test site they select the asphalt mixtures that will be in the running for the heat and stress test. Roads are made up of several layers the superstructure has a base course layer and on top of that theres a binder layer and a surface layer. Asphalt roads are usually around 95 percent rock and 5 percent bitumen its this binding agents that makes the asphalt black spot layer is lighter in color it will absorb left. One option is to lighten the ass found by covering the top layer with chippings light colored stone thats pressed into the normal rolled asphalt. To be its just testing various options with different colors and quantities of chippings the more you add the lighter the road. The lightest one can be seen here on the far left but its a balancing act. That seems that too many chipping mike the road unstable. Theres not enough group. Chippings or precode that also changes the color of the rio you know yet what exactly difference that makes to the champ richer if i can see that some of it is more yellow and that would alter the light absorption. Of for be uniform from the. Another possible queuing technique is to use a highly poor as. The boards can absorb and release water known as passive cooling. And it has great potential. To heavy traffic there would still be obstacles. Challenges that the pores get clogged over time but these types of coating have already been used to reduce noise so if thats possible then its conceivable that we could use them for cooling surfaces to. One thing they know for certain the light of the road. Put on a lighter colored road would you be able to see white paint markings like parking spots in traffic lanes and if these were painted in a different color would it be confusing to the driver thats part of the many tests and of them. That im with the most important test is making sure the road can support the traffic but also that the cooling effect lasts and doesnt just wear off as the road gets older i mean one of these things one needs to stand up. Paving the way to the perfect asphalt. Thats all for now and for morning grossing stories about science and technology visit our website. Will be back next week with a fresh edition of tomorrow today until then but by. On. The various one of germanys most popular Tourist Destination is the regions incredible variety of landscapes make it a paradise for those seeking a more active holiday so it looks like im going to get a lot of exercise and while im here while im at it i want to find out the ways in which the coronavirus pandemic and Climate Change are affecting interest and clearly a tradition. Always crossing boundaries and gazing into the abyss of the human soul to measure them in hand some. Of the. Students on the service economic traditional snowman and encounter with them have song to go if we. Are to 20. 30 minutes. A meal some good goalkeepers 2nd season on the french system about the environment still about society and its still about us but all the planets on the brink misspoken servant leading experts on the fish. Just only listens to. Good. Playing. Beethoven invention did it deep Doo Doo Doo Doo doo doo doo. Did do. Did is a got a 16. Month t. P. The true king of rock n roll. So many rubber bands its stolen beethoven. And of course the subconscious always one thing is clear that beethoven is morally popular. T. V. I see a sure. I love you strong. But how would the world sell with the biggest composer of all time i constantly begin to imagine. A world class horn player singer willis on a musical journey of discovery. World with the hope beethoven starts september 16th on t w. This is d w news and these are our top stories. Israel has become the 1st country to impose a 2nd National Lockdown to combat a surge in corona virus cases Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the through a closure will begin next friday the start of the jewish new year holiday israel has been seen some 4000 new cases a day. Security forces in belarus have to taint hundreds of antigovernment
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