Science & academia | Good News for Humankind

Belgian boy becomes first child in the world to be cured of brain stem glioma

By Peter Schulte / February 19, 2024 / Good news links

Brain stem glioma, officially called diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), is rare and lethal, diagnosed in just 300 children annually in the United States. The two-year survival rate is 10%, and no drug is widely available for its treatment beyond radiotherapy. After the boy’s diagnosis, the family traveled to France to take part in a randomized controlled trial. He was randomly assigned the drug everolimus, which he took for more than 5 years with remarkable success.

Turkish scientists develop “bumpy” solar panel concept that can harvest up to 66% more energy

By Peter Schulte / February 18, 2024 / Good news links

Solar cell efficiency may get a bump from bumps. New research from Turkey’s Abdullah Gül University suggests that building tiny domes into the surface of organic solar cells could boost their efficiency by up to two-thirds, while capturing light from a wider angle.

Dentist's Hand Taking Saliva Test From Woman's Mouth

Hand-held test for breast cancer uses your saliva and gives accurate readings in 5 seconds

By Peter Schulte / February 17, 2024 / Good news links

A new hand-held portable device is not only extremely quick and easy to use but very cost effective, say scientists from the University of Florida and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taiwan. Compared to the costly alternatives of Mammograms, which expose women to radiation—or MRIs and ultrasounds which require expensive equipment—researchers called the device revolutionary.

Colorful ribbons on pink background|Doctor

New drug offers breakthrough in treatment of asbestos-linked cancer

By Peter Schulte / February 15, 2024 / Good news links

Scientists at Queen Mary University of London have developed a drug to treat mesothelioma, a notoriously deadly and hard-to-treat cancer linked to asbestos, in the biggest breakthrough in two decades.
An international trial spanning five countries found that the new drug, ADI-PEG20, cuts off the tumor’s food supply and quadruples three-year survival rates. It is the first of its kind to be successfully combined with chemotherapy in 20 years.

Decarbonization containers turn 78% of marine emissions into limestone in new pilot

By Peter Schulte / February 8, 2024 / Good news links

A remarkable pilot project installed on a 787-ft. container ship has proven it’s possible to capture emissions from the smokestacks of cargo ships with 78% efficiency and convert the CO2 into limestone pebbles, which can be offloaded and sold. London startup Seabound, funded by a US$1.5-million grant from the UK Government, partnered up with global shipping company Lomar to install the carbon capture equipment on one of its older and dirtier-burning ships, a medium-sized vessel capable of carrying more than 3,200 shipping containers.

Hands making hear shape over transgender flag in background

More than 90% of trans people are more satisfied with life after transitioning, massive new study finds

By Peter Schulte / February 7, 2024 / Good news links

Ninety-four percent of transgender people said that they were either a little or a lot more satisfied with their lives since they transitioned, the 2022 U.S. Transgender Survey (USTS) by the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) found. The study, which is the latest edition of the influential survey of transgender people, involved 92,329 transgender and nonbinary respondents answering questions about various aspects of their lives from October 19 to December 5, 2022.

Novel AI model rapidly determines if an antidepressant will work

By Peter Schulte / February 7, 2024 / Good news links

Amsterdam University Medical Center (UMC) and Radboud UMC researchers have developed an algorithm that, based on patient MRI scans and other data, can determine within a week if a particular antidepressant will, offering faster relief and minimizing often painful and damaging side effects. “This is important news for patients,” said Liesbeth Reneman, Professor of Neuroradiology at Amsterdam UMC. “Normally, it takes six to eight weeks before it is known whether an antidepressant will work.”

Researchers discover an effective non-opioid treatment for nerve pain

By Peter Schulte / February 1, 2024 / Good news links

Many available pain medications aren’t effective in reducing this often-debilitating type of chronic pain. However, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), in collaboration with UT Dallas and the University of Miami, may have advanced the treatment of neuropathic pain by discovering a molecule that reduces mechanical hypersensitivity in mice.

Gene therapy hailed as ‘medical magic wand’ for hereditary swelling disorder

By Peter Schulte / January 31, 2024 / Good news links

Hereditary angioedema, or HAE, is a rare disease that affects about one in 50,000 people. It is caused by a genetic mutation that leaves patients with leaky blood vessels, causing erratic bouts of swelling. Dr. Hilary Longhurst, the principal investigator at New Zealand’s Te Toka Tumai, Auckland City hospital, said the new single-dose therapy appeared to provide a permanent cure for her patients’ “very disabling symptoms”.

Breakthrough Alzheimer’s blood test could detect disease 15 years before symptoms emerge

By Peter Schulte / January 23, 2024 / Good news links

A recent trial of 786 people – conducted by Dr. Nicholas Ashton at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and colleagues – found the new test to be as accurate at detecting the signs of Alzheimer’s as painful lumbar punctures, and better than a range of other tests currently being worked on. Experts say it could pave the way for national screening programs for people 50 and over, and that current treatments could work better with the cases picked up earlier.