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28/09/2022 ---- 13/10/2022

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13.10.2022
THEME: TECHNOLOGY

NASA’s DART mission is a success: the first step towards planetary asteroid defense

The DART project (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) is a NASA mission designed to measure how much a spacecraft can deflect an asteroid through an impact with a spacecraft. The mission started on 24 November 2021 with the launch of a spatial probe that crushed intentionally on 26 September 2022 into Dimorphos, a minor moon of the asteroid Didymos. Two days ago, on Tuesday October 11, NASA announced that Dimorphos' orbital period had shortened by 32 minutes - surpassing the "success threshold" by more than one minute. DART is the world’s first test of its kind: a step towards a defense system for our planet against potentially threatening asteroids coming from deep space. The project cost USD 330 million and took seven years to develop. The results obtained justify further efforts toward testing and improving asteroid deflection methods. However, in order to sufficiently displace a bigger asteroid representing a threat to Earth, it is necessary to act with ample margin. It would mean identifying threats months if not years in advance, which implies having a global and connected surveillance network. A planetary defense system designed to prevent a potential doomsday meteorite collision with Earth. Something possible only with full collaboration among nations, rather than a fragmented politics of nationalistic interests. Is the world ready to protect itself from asteroids?

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11.10.2022
THEME: WORLD

Russias attacks Ukraine’s energy infrastructures as western countries work to unite their front

The Ukraine crisis is reaching new levels just ten days after the annexation of 15% territory to Russia. While the Kremlin declared that the annexed territories are part of Russia forever, Ukraine president Zelenski indicated that they intend to free the whole country from the invasion, Crimea included. In the last few days, the Ukrainian army has obtained some results by gaining back small portions of the subtracted regions. In a successful operation, a crucial bridge connecting Crimea and Russia was hit and temporarily put out of order. However, the answer from Russia has been serious with more than 100 cruise missiles dropped on key objectives, including Kyiv and Leopoli. The attacks, where energy infrastructures were targeted, resulted in many deaths and blackouts throughout the country. On the international front president of Belarus Lukashenko announced a plan to deploy joint forces with Russia. The EU leaders and allied countries met in Prague on October 7 to consolidate a community of 44 countries ready to contrast Russia on all fronts. Today October 11, during an emergency meeting of the G7 nations in Berlin, the leaders committed to supporting Ukraine for "as long as it takes" while promising to continue to provide financial, humanitarian, military, diplomatic, and legal support. Further, an air shield will be implemented to neutralize the Russian missiles and drones. More sanctions against Russia have also been planned. All this is happening in a tense diplomatic climate. While Russian officials have recently threatened the use of tactical nuclear weapons, US president Joe Biden said that “we have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis”.

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10.10.2022
THEME: WORLD

The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 2022 goes to the analysis of banks role during financial crisis

Ben Bernanke (USA, 68), Douglas Diamond (DK, 68), and Philip Dybvig (USA, 67) are the winners of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 2022, awarded “for research on banks and financial crises”. Their research shed light on the significant role of banks in the economy, particularly during financial crises. An important finding in their research is why avoiding bank collapses is vital to avoid escalating consequences during crises. They have analyzed in detail the weakness of banks when rumors of imminent collapse spread: If a large number of savers simultaneously run to the bank to withdraw their money, the rumor may become a self-fulfilling prophecy – a bank run occurs and the bank collapses. These dangerous dynamics can be prevented through the government providing deposit insurance and acting as a lender of last resort to banks. Ben Bernanke analyzed the Great Depression of the 1930s, the worst economic crisis in modern history. Among other things, he showed how bank runs were a decisive factor in the crisis becoming so deep and prolonged. When the banks collapsed, valuable information about borrowers was lost and could not be recreated quickly. Overall, their work was crucial for the implementation of the modern defense mechanisms enacted during the financial crisis.

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08.10.2022
THEME: WORLD

The 2022 Nobel Peace Prize assigned for protection of civil and human rights in East Europe

The 2022 Peace Prize is awarded to human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski (60 - Belarus), the Russian Human Rights Organization Memorial, and the Ukrainian human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties. The laureates "have for many years promoted the right to criticize power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens. They have made an outstanding effort to document war crimes, human rights abuses, and the abuse of power. Together they demonstrate the significance of civil society for peace and democracy". The Memorial has been founded in 1989 to commemorate the crimes committed under Joseph Stalin's reign in the Soviet Union, and it was based in Moscow until its forced dissolution in 2022 for violations of "foreign agent law". The Center of Civil Liberties was founded in Kyiv in 2007. The organization is engaged in an attempt to make Ukraine more democratic and to improve the public control of law enforcement agencies and the judiciary. It also documented war crimes during the ongoing invasion of Russia in Ukraine. Ales Bialiatski is known for his work with the Viasna Human Rights Centre, based in Minsk until Belarus ordered its closure in 2003. This was an organization providing assistance to political prisoners. In 2010 controversial presidential elections were held and both Visa's offices and Bialiatski's home have been searched by state security forces repeatedly. Bialatski was summoned in the same year to the Public Prosecutor's office and warned that as Viasna was an unregistered organization, the government would seek criminal proceedings against it if the group continued to operate. More recently, following the Belarusian protests in 2020-2021, Viasna's members have been further prosecuted with politically motivated charges. Ales Bialiatski, now Nobel Peace Laureate, has been imprisoned Since 14 July 2021 for alleged tax evasion. Human rights defenders consider him a prisoner of conscience.

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07.10.2022
THEME: WORLD

Annie Ernaux wins the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature

The 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the french author Annie Ernaux “for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory”. Annie grew up in Normandy in a working-class family. She started her literary career in 1974 with Les Armoires Vides ("Cleaned Out"), an autobiographical novel. Very early in her career, she turned away from fiction to focus on autobiography, combining historic and individual experiences. Her books are followed by a wide readership and are reviewed in most local and national newspapers in France, as well as being the subject of many radio and television interviews and programs, and a large and growing international academic literature. Her famous works include La Place ("A Man's Place", 1983), L'événement ("Happening", 2000), L'Occupation ("The Possession", 2002), and Les Années ("The Years", 2008). Ernaux has always been adamant that she writes fiction. Many of her works have been translated into English, and she was nominated for the International Booker prize in 2019 for her book The Years. Her work is published in the US by Seven Stories Press. Ernaux is one of the seven founding authors from whom the press takes its name.

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06.10.2022
THEME: WORLD

Bertozzi, Meldal, Barry: the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to the pioneers of “click” chemistry

Carolyn R. Bertozzi (USA, 55), Morten Meldal (DK, 68), and Barry Sharpless (USA, 81) are the winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2022, awarded “or the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry”. Sharpless and Meldal have laid the foundation by describing the process for the first time in two independent but very similar works. Bertozzi (the 8th woman in history awarded with this Nobel) has taken click chemistry to a new dimension and started utilizing it in living organisms. Click chemistry is not a single specific reaction but describes a way of generating products by joining small modular units. By the union of biomolecules and molecular probes, they have been made notably useful in the detection, localization, and qualification of biomolecules in vivo. However, the method is not limited to biological conditions: the concept of a "click" reaction has been used in chemoproteomic, pharmacological, and various biomimetic applications. The reason for such widespread use is that these reactions are in general able to occur in relatively simple conditions, are not disturbed by water, generate little and inoffensive byproducts, and happen quickly with high characteristic yield. These qualities make click reactions particularly suitable to the problem of isolating and targeting molecules in complex biological environments. In such environments, products accordingly need to be physiologically stable and any byproducts need to be non-toxic (for in vivo systems). Their work finds even further application in all those industries and research fields where molecules need precision design and production, such as nanotechnology, pharmacology, and materials engineering.

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05.10.2022
THEME: WORLD

Aspect, Clauser, Zeilinger: the Nobel prize in Physics goes to experimental quantum entanglement

A famous law of quantum mechanics states that two objects that are separate in space can, in some cases, maintain a strong connection: what happens to one object will immediately influence the other. Such incredible behavior, referred to as entanglement, is a characteristic of quantum mechanics which has no parallel in classical physics. If theories have been developed at the beginning of the past century, the experimental proof came much later. It is for their pioneering experiments that demonstrate these facts that today Alain Aspect (France - 75), John F Clauser (the USA - 79), and Anton Zeilinger (Austria - 77) are the winners of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics. Thanks to their work, quantum entanglement is not just a theory anymore, but rather a hard undeniable fact of nature. It is also thanks to their contribution that today many investments have been dedicated to quantum technology, which is revolutionizing the capabilities of our computers as well as bringing cybersecurity to the next level.

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04.10.2022
THEME: WORLD

Swedish paleogeneticist Svante Pääbo wins 2022 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine

Dr. Svante Pääbo (Swedish - 67), founder of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany and adjunct professor at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, won the 2022 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. His most important contribution to science was the sequencing of the genome of the Neanderthal, an extinct relative of present-day humans. Dr. Pääbo and his team found that the modern human - Homo Sapiens - inherited some genes from these now exinct hominis. This ancient flow of genes to present-day humans has physiological relevance today, for example affecting how our immune system reacts to infections. The anatomically modern human - Homo Sapiens - first appeared in Africa approximately 300,000 years ago, while our closest known relatives - Neanderthals - developed outside Africa and populated Europe and Western Asia from around 400,000 years until 30,000 years ago, at which point they went extinct. About 70,000 years ago, groups of Homo Sapiens migrated from Africa to the Middle East and from there they spread to the rest of the world. Homo sapiens and Neanderthals thus coexisted in large parts of Eurasia for tens of thousands of years. The research of Dr. Pääbo has proven that such coexistence may have been closer than previously thought.

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03.10.2022
THEME: POLITICS

Brazil elections took place in a violent climate: Lula is favourite after first ballot with 5% margin

More than 156 million Brazilians - those eligible to vote - were called to elect the new president and several local authorities on Sunday, October 2. To win at this first ballot a candidate must collect more than 50% consensus. A second round is foreseen otherwise. These elections, which see two main candidates - Lula and Bolsonaro - radically opposite in almost every aspect of their politics, are characterized by an extreme climate of violence. Recent events include shootings at public places, the murder of a politician, and even explosives thrown at the crowd of a political rally. Due to the tense climate, the two candidates have been seen constantly escorted by security or police, even wearing bulletproof vests. Bolsonaro - the head of the Liberal Party, now 67 - would be re-elected with a victory. His campaign focused on privatization of public companies, lowering energy prices, increasing mining activities, and welfare in continuation with his previous government (Auxilio Brasil). Lula, now 76, is representing the Worker’s Party and would also achieve re-election in the event of a victory: he governed before in two consecutive terms until 2010. He left office with a very high approval rating, and he is largely credited for lifting many Brazilians from extreme poverty with the “Bolsa Familia” welfare program. He focused his campaign on getting Bolsonaro out of office and highlighted his past achievements throughout the campaign. However, he was involved in the wide-ranging “Operation Car Wash” investigation and was convicted for corruption and money laundering in 2017. But after serving less than two years, a Supreme Court Justice annulled Lula’s conviction in March 2021, clearing the way for him to run for president for the sixth time. Lula obtained more than 48% votes in the first round and will face Bolsonaro - 43% - on October 30 in the final election round.

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01.10.2022
THEME: HEALTH

Recent research finds that the brain “rewires” in phases during adulthood

With more than 80 billion interconnected neuronal cells, the human brain is one of the yet unsolved big mysteries of science. In popular knowledge it is accepted that the brain goes through significant changes in childhood: this is supported by evident milestones such as learning to walk, speak, paint, etc… However, brain development is often commonly thought of as a process that, starting at the youngest age, reaches a mature state in young adults and only in old age - eventually - degrades by an act of diseases such as dementia or Alzheimer’s. Recent scientific research is instead pointing to a completely different understanding. The structural, functional, and metabolic changes don’t stop in the early years and continue throughout adulthood in more than one distinct phase. A “refinement phase” takes place around the third and fourth decade of life: the executive function and attention, such as the ability to think abstractly, reason, and problem-solve will peak at this point before further changing. Around the fifth decade of life, our brains start to undergo a radical "rewiring" that results in a more integrated and connected network. Older adults display reduced activity in consolidating or learning concepts, but an improved activity in associating what is already learned. Such change likely results from the necessity to function with reduced resources and aging neurons. Overall, tasks relying on predominantly known processes are less impacted by age or may even increase slightly - such as vocabulary and general knowledge. Evidence also indicated that the variability among individuals can be large: a proper diet, regular exercise, and a healthy lifestyle can keep the mind in good working order and put networking changes on hold, sometimes well into old age. Further understanding of these matters may, in the future, positively evolve our societies as currently adult individuals are considered equals - by organizational and representative organs - independently of their age.

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30.09.2022
THEME: POLITICS

Nations witness unprecedented attacks to gas pipelines while Russia annexes Ukraine territories

Today September 30 Putin confirmed the annexation of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia in a televised ceremony in the Kremlin's St. George's Hal, justified by the so-called “referendums”. He added that “….(they) are becoming our citizens forever” and that Russia “will defend its land with all the means available”. Ukraine and the West have renounced the vote as a sham and said they will never recognize the Ukrainian regions as being part of Russia. Reactions are escalating with the EU promising more opposition and economic sanctions, Ukraine promising continued military effort, and the US and Russia exchanging threats. Finland announced the closure of its borders to Russian tourists starting midnight. Additional tension is due to four gas leaks that occurred on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines on Monday. They were preceded by two large explosions that were registered by seismologists, indicating that it was a deliberate attack. To date, no pointers have yet emerged as to who might have done it and why. The damage now likely prevents transporting any gas to Europe even if the political situation changes. German security agencies are concerned that Nord Stream 1 may become unusable forever and the EU is now investigating the incident and promising countermeasures. Naval forces have been deployed from the Baltic to the Mediterranean seas to protect continental infrastructures. While NATO and US accused Russia, the Kremlin rejected accusations saying it was not in Russia's interest to stop the gas flow through the pipelines. Dmitry Peskov (Press Secretary) and Sergey Lavrov (Foreign Affairs) declared investigations are needed and that Russia would call for a UN Security Council over the matter. Putin himself defined it as an "unprecedented sabotage" and "an act of international terrorism”, accusing the US and saying that “it is obvious to everyone who did it”. In the meantime, Germany's government says it will spend up to €200 billion to help consumers and businesses cope with rising energy prices: a decision likely to spread through the EU countries. Further, a final measure of the EU commission on the price cap on energy imports will also be decided or rejected by mid-October.

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29.09.2022
THEME: HEALTH

Historic moment for Alzheimer's treatment: an experimental drug demonstrated slowing the disease’s progression

On Wednesday the experimental drug “lecanemab”, developed by Eisai (Japan) and Biogen (USA), has been declared efficient as a result of a large phase 3 clinical study involving 1795 patients with early Alzheimer’s disease. With high statistical significance, lecanemab has shown a reduction in clinical decline in patients. It has been shown that the drug slowed the progress of the disease by 27% compared to the placebo. Toxic plaques made of “amyloid-beta” proteins are considered the probable cause of Alzheimer’s disease. The drug reduced the number of toxic plaques in the brain and slowed the decline in memory and ability to perform daily tasks. Lecanemab has been the first one able to successfully slow cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s patients. This is a great achievement for science and medicine, which now offer hope for patients and their families desperate for effective treatment. The multinational pharmacology company Roche, together with Genentech and the Swiss laboratory AC Immune is developing a second drug based on the same principle, which hopefully will even reinforce future treatments.

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28.09.2022
THEME: WORLD

Russia claims 15% of Ukraine territory through questioned Referenda while tensions escalate internally and abroad

On September 20 the Russian-installed leaders of four regions of southern and eastern Ukraine - Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, and Donetsk - called for referendums to join Russia. Today the first results have been released: with no surprise, a large majority was declared in favor of annexation to Russia. It means around 15% of Ukrainian territory - an area about the size of Hungary or Portugal - is now under the direct control of the Kremlin. From today the Kremlin’s narrative may switch to claim Russia itself is under attack from NATO weapons: this justified several threats to the use of nuclear weapons in the last few days as well as the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of Russian troops. The international reactions are mixed in the level of condemnation of the process, but almost every state (including China and India) are asking to stop the war as soon as possible. Russian state media claim that the vote has been regular and that observers from all over the world (including France and Germany) reported no violations. However, western media noted that the process has been breaching the United Nations Principles for international observation: first of all an international election observer mission must respect the “sovereignty of the country holding elections,” and the host country – in this case, Ukraine – should invite international observers. US and NATO members already condemned the vote before the results were known. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said in a tweet that he spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and told him that the military alliance is "unwavering" in its support for Ukraine's sovereignty and right to self-defense. As previously stated, Kyiv is likely to continue in the pursuit of its military goals - which include the “liberation of Ukraine until Crimea”. After Putin announced mobilization last week, long queues have been reported at the frontiers with Georgia, Finland, and Kazakhstan, where men were questioned about their military eligibility before being allowed through. Spontaneous manifestations have flared across Russia and continue in a wave of protests involving thousands - despite penalties for those fleeing a mandatory military call-up by up to 10 years of jail since Saturday. In the meantime, two leaks on the Russian-owned Nord Stream 1 pipeline in Swedish and Danish waters, shortly after a leak on the nearby Nord Stream 2 project, were discovered. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak said the damage to Nord Stream 1 and 2 was "an act of aggression" towards the EU. He added that Russia wanted to cause pre-winter panic and urged the EU to increase military support for Ukraine.

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