New Method for Treating Alzheimer’s Disease Developed by Researchers:
Associate professor Evandro F. Fang. Photo- Thomas Olafsen, University of Oslo
Researchers in Oslo have developed an artificial intelligence method to help them identify potential new medicines for Alzheimer’s. Associate professor Evandro F. Fang, the leader of the research group, when describing a new potential method of treatment said “We may be able to reduce or stop the progress of the disease with the patient. We can do this by increasing the cell’s ability to self-clean.” This process of cell self-cleaning, called mitophagy, is slowed by Alzheimer’s disease which causes cell functions to slow and become less efficient. When using artificial intelligence Fang and the research team found two candidates, Rhapontigenin and Kaempferol, that had proven ability to be able to inhibit memory loss in mice. Though the compounds haven’t been tested in humans yet, the team is working on modifying each of the substances so that they are safer and more efficient at treating Alzheimer’s.
Rainbow Village: 84-Year-Old Saves Neighborhood From Bulldozer By Painting Every Street With Joyful Colors:
Steven Barringer/Flickr; CC license
A series of small one-story homes, Rainbow Village is now a city park where painted animals and human figures sit happily in every color imaginable upon a grid of rainbow boulevards. 14 years ago in Taiwan, an 84-year-old military veteran painted an entire government village to prevent it from being torn down. The veteran named Huang Yung Fu had started painting the occasional wall in the exceedingly drab Caihong Military Dependents’ Village in Taichung City, which was originally to relieve boredom. But when Huang learned that the ghost town he and his wife lived in was to be leveled, he kicked into artistic overdrive, covering every paving stone, gutter, and door in pictures and paint. When students from Ling Tung and Hungkuang Universities accidentally came upon the village they heard about the story that the village was planned to be leveled. Hearing this, Charles Tsai, a student at Ling Tung University, brought together students and faculty to appeal to the Taichung City Government to preserve the space. Now, the village is saved as a secret wonder where Huang Yung Fu, now known as “Grandpa Rainbow, lives to this day at the ripe old age of 98.
IKEA Buys Land Damaged by Hurricane in Florida to Plant Forests
Redleaf pines/BobisTraveling, CC license
Ingka Group, the owners of the IKEA furniture chain, just bought 3,200 acres of forest in Florida that had been destroyed by a hurricane to restore it with longleaf pine. As part of the retail giant’s commitment to carbon neutrality, Ingka Group has gradually accumulated more than 600,000 forested acres in the U.S., Europe, and New Zealand to offset the CO2 it releases during its entire value chain. If Ingka can keep the forests healthy and alive, in 40 years they will pull carbon out of the air equal to a certain percentage of the carbon placed into the atmosphere by IKEA’s operations, while providing valuable habitat to vulnerable species like the red-cockaded woodpecker, gopher tortoise, pine snakes, and dusky gopher frogs.
Sources:
New Method for Treating Alzheimer’s Disease Developed by Researchers (goodnewsnetwork.org)
IKEA Buys Land Damaged by Hurricane in Florida to Plant Forests (goodnewsnetwork.org)