Well come to tomorrow today the science show on d w. During the mid 980 s. 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. 00 euros the cover price remains to this day 1. 00 of the most prestigious and lucrative science awards in europe this year it went to hungary a neuroscientist based in switzerland. Boston is a city constantly on the move. Full of colors and contrast. Engines and perspectives. We perceive them with our eyes. But this window to the world closes for people who lose their sight. Reopening that window is the foremost goal of the institute of molecular and clinical ophthalmology. Their medical scientists to vote on to oscar 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 on your different cell types. Because team has succeeded in making individual cells of blind retinas receptive to light again. Their 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 this computer and come up with 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 that scientists are able to grow from the cells of a vision really impaired or blind patient when placed upon a microchip the researchers can test the organ or its individual cells for light sensitivity that enables them to determine in the lab whether a specific type of gene therapy would improve the eyesight of a particular patient. I bet awards us to study the disease but there was asked to test gene therapy in the particular mutation that patient heads so its a completely new for me in basic research or basic medical research because we can now virk on the retinas of a given patients. This patient who is almost completely blind. He suffers from richer 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 end the institute in basel takes an interdisciplinary approach. Of oscar whos head of Molecular Biology Research in the laboratory. His colleague 100 choice leads a team of doctors in the clinic keeping in touch with the patients. Together they work as a team. In the past the 2 fields are entirely separated. Medical doctors did their job they reported their disease and basic scientists virg in their own institute closed in in which they tried to address the problem but they were not really a very of the real problem so very often in basic science of 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 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 hitched into a protein shell and the inject this into the eye its a simple injection as would be and other injection be then other medicine. The experiments on the organ or its 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 but we are missing these details and were missing virk force and investment from society. Bet justice cancer get a lot of investment to deal with the problem now blindness needs a lot of investment from private and public entities. Fortune roscoes 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 d. T. S. Of a piece and artist hes giving it to the audience in a keys off by a many seem the basic scientists they are preparing a new treatment be a coming up even you treatment and it is the clinicians who then offer it to the public patients. Their work is not yet complete. Team ever 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 work in the future. If outlet is right why ill be glad if i. Do you have a science question youve always wanted onset sending and if we answer it on the show youll get a little surprise as a thank you. I cannot just ask. For more stories from the world of science go to our website will find us on twitter. This weeks viewer question comes from kris humphries. Why does the earth have an atmosphere. An atmosphere is not all that unusual many bodies in our solar system have one like the giant planet jupiter and its moon europa. A planet develops an atmosphere when gases a merge from within it and when it collects volatile substances from collisions with asteroids and comets. 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 one 3rd as strong as ours causing it to lose a 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 wrong rose 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 is. And 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 produces the most Greenhouse Gases so how could it be made more sustainable. Flying less isnt that likely to take hold. On the contrary 2019 says a new record with 188901 flights recorded. In the. Course of 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 entered 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 technically 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. That he and his students have been researching and working on the furnace for more than a decade. 50 of 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 areas drawn in and the water and Carbon Dioxide it contains are collected using the mirror dish the suns rays are concentrated onto one of the 2 reactors heating it up to 1500. 00 degrees celsius at the heart of these reactors a catalyst takes care of the 1st conversion. The sponge like catalyst is coated with the rare earth metal syrian oxide. 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 millimeters per day so the production costs are still very high. By comparison a transatlantic airliner burns on average almost one leader per 2nd or around 3000 liters per hour ringback. 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 this theres still no real. Anomic rationale behind these projects theyre all part of this whole discussion about the carbon is asian and germanys transition to green energy. Youve invited is head of the hide a refinery in northern germany this is where the fuel for Hamburg Airport is distilled. The refinery wants to become part of the 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. 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 sheeting to synthetic fuel into especially kerosene and he was in some of. 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 gas escape into the atmosphere its then processed into fuel using water and electricity. When this 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 braman in germany think it cant its one of the partners in this project. Often of refineries have the expertise to handle and process hydrocarbons from fuels 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 in the pause. Well it would have a lot of the time when. 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 haida refinery. Electric cars in. Quiet and green. Electric cars have a secret their batteries contain problematic substances like cobalt and lithium extracting this mineral requires a lot of water and most lithium resists are in some of the driest places on earth. So our electric cars really the future of. The mobility is about more than just getting from. At least. Give light its like youre floating its so nice. From 0 to 100 Kilometers Per Hour in 4 seconds flat on green bar. And also like having a good conscience. If im driving through town with queues of cars coming towards me i can say at least my car doesnt stink. Its not completely clean either. Electric cars do produce particularly matter even if they dont spew exhaust emissions. 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. Im dirty sources. Most Battery Manufacturers 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 to. Accept that it is. 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. So emissions 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. 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. 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 where king to create the perfect city are felt. Engineered and boom and 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 back. Pass found 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. Then if you look at a city from above you see about 40 percent buildings and 20 percent growth the buildings are all belong to someone but with the roads you have a bit more scope for. Eric is leading the experiment its to be its found his job to develop the perfect asphalt here 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 road so usually around 95 percent rock and 5 percent bitumen its this binding agent that makes the asphalt black spot layer is lighter in color it will absorb less. One option is to lighten the ass found by covering the top layer with chippings light colored stone thats pressed into the normal rolled as found. To be it is 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 chippings mike the road unstable. Theres not enough group. Chippings or precode that also changes the color we dont know yet what exactly friends that makes to a temperature. You can see that some of it is more yellow and that would alter the light absorption. Of for beautiful from the. Another possible clue link technique is to use a highly has found. The pores can absorb and release water known as the 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 lighter the road the cooler. 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 the. With the most important test just 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 and it will not be seen as 102 standard. Paving the way to the perfect a function. Thats all full now for morning grossing stories about science and technology visit our website. Well be back next week with a fresh edition of tomorrow today until then by. Twice shall not donny cheated death in germany. As a boy. Doesnt impede. Skate the attack on the israeli team in 1972. Has been fighting antisemitism story of a Survivor Team thats the race if you survive. 60 minutes on g. W. Im not laughing at the germans because sometimes i am but most end up in with me but i dont think deep into the german culture. Muted seem to pick the best drama day out to you thus if sold out to a new time rachel join me i mean the gem of a post like. Oh. My god just love was food for the russian soul. Steve. So many different walks of life. Some are from pain and oddly trauma but all of that comes straight from the heart to its former c. E. O. Even whores is no more your delusion the marsh school in trying to come up. From the 1st of the last to their final resting place the russians on w. Documentary. Did beethoven in the justice did to did do. Did is it just a dot of 16 look like heat truth. Many rubber bands of stolen beethoven. Or of course the subconscious always one thing is clear plain talk is wildly popular. And she assured. The capitol sound the biggest composer of all time i cant even begin to imagine a world class one player several years on a musical journey of discovery. With the whole. Story september 16th to tell you. The state of lean news life and birth it hopes for peace to wind 2 decades of war in afghanistan talks between the Afghan Government and the taliban beginning in qatar but science a cautiously optimistic even though they remain close apart also coming up. A young executed in iran despite a global outcry car in 1000 he was tortured into can
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