🌱Starting your week off on a good note

Mar 06, 2023

Exciting news has emerged from the field of medical science, as a third person has been completely cured of HIV through stem cell transplantation!
Known as the "Düsseldorf Patient," this remarkable individual is now 53 years old and has shown persistent suppression of HIV-1 for the past four years, even without anti-retroviral medication.
This stem cell transplant procedure was carried out to treat a blood disease, which had developed in addition to the HIV infection. This is similar to the cases of the other two patients who were cured of HIV, known as the "Berlin Patient" and the "London Patient."
What's truly fascinating is that scientists have discovered a key factor in these successful treatments. Specifically, individuals with two copies of the Δ32 mutation in the gene for the HIV-1 co-receptor CCR5 are resistant to HIV-1 infection (in easier words, this means that some people have a special gene mutation called Δ32, which makes them resistant to HIV infection. If someone has two copies of this mutation in a specific gene called CCR5, it means they have a higher chance of being resistant to HIV).
This insight has paved the way for the development of new treatments and cures and offers hope for millions of people around the world who are living with HIV.
The stem cell transplant procedure used to treat certain cancers, such as leukemia, involves transferring immature blood cells from a donor to repopulate the bone marrow of the recipient. It's an incredible feat of medical science, and one that will undoubtedly lead to even more groundbreaking discoveries in the future.
Click here to learn more.

💧India on a Mission

India’s Jal Jeevan Mission is a remarkable success story that you have got to know about. This initiative aims to provide tap water access to every household in the country, and since its launch in August 2019, it has already connected 79 million households, bringing the total to 111 million. That's an impressive 56% of rural households in the country!
Despite the disruptions caused by the pandemic, the Jal Jeevan Mission is determined to achieve its goal of connecting every household to public water systems by 2024. This is a massive undertaking, but the progress made so far is incredible. Before the initiative began in 2018, only 49.5% of the country had access to safely managed drinking water, even lower than neighboring Bangladesh.
What's more, India achieved this feat during a time when it surpassed China as the most populous nation on Earth. This makes the achievement all the more impressive and reinforces the Jal Jeevan Mission's status as one of the great unsung stories of human development.
The importance of clean water cannot be overstated, and the success of the Jal Jeevan Mission is a testament to the power of determined, well-planned initiatives. The program's success is already improving the lives of millions of people in rural India.
Click here to learn more.

🤝3D Printing <> Batteries

This innovation comes from a Silicon Valley startup called Sakuu, and it has the potential to revolutionize the way we think about batteries.
🤔What are Solid-state batteries anyway?
Solid-state batteries are a type of battery that uses solid electrodes and a solid electrolyte instead of the traditional liquid or polymer electrolytes found in lithium-ion batteries.
➕Pros of Solid-state batteries:
SSBs have numerous advantages over lithium-ion batteries, including that they are not flammable, are easier to recycle, and can work in extreme cold temperatures. They also have a higher energy density, which means they can hold more charge.
⚙️The problem Sakku is solving:
The deal with solid-state batteries is that they have been traditionally difficult to manufacture. But Sakuu has found a way to use 3D printing technology to produce these batteries in almost any shape or form, using 40% less material than traditional manufacturing methods!
And guess what? These batteries can be charged to 80% in just 15 minutes! This makes them perfect for all kinds of industries, from e-mobility products to wearables and small devices.
Sakuu is even working with aviation companies to create solid-state batteries for aircraft that have holes in the middle to help manage heat.
They’re planning to sell micro-factories made up of their technology that are only 400 square feet in size. These micro-factories can produce 100 megawatt hours of batteries per year, which is a huge improvement over traditional manufacturing methods that take up 16,000 square feet and can only produce 2.5 megawatt hours per year.
Click here to learn more.

🐸Here’s 29 Reasons to Smile

Exciting news from Australia as a huge research project studying endangered species reveals that 29 species have been successfully recovered and can now be safely removed from the country's endangered species list.
This is an incredible achievement, considering Australia's Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act currently lists 446 species in need of protection.
Of the 29 species that have recovered, there are 15 mammals, 8 birds, 4 frogs, a reptile, and a fish, including the golden, Western barred, and Eastern barred bandicoots, Western quoll, sooty albatross, waterfall frog, Flinder’s Range worm-lizard, yellow-footed rock wallabies, greater bilby, humpback whale, growling grass frog, Murray's cod, and more.
^👇Heres’ the list of the recovered species:
Mammals: Boodie, burrowing bettong (Barrow and Boodie Islands subspecies), boodie, burrowing bettong (Shark Bay subspecies), chuditch/western quoll, golden bandicoot, rufous hare-wallaby, mala, banded hare-wallaby, greater stick-nest rat, greater bilby, humpback whale, bridled nail-tailed wallaby, western barred bandicoot, eastern barred bandicoot, yellow-footed rock-wallaby
Birds: Bulloo grey grasswren, great knot, southern cassowary, greater sand plover, Gouldian finch, blue petrel, black-browed albatross, sooty albatross
Frogs: Australian lace-lid, waterfall frog, growling grass frog, southern bell frog, common mistfrog
Reptiles: Flinders Ranges worm-lizard
Fish: Murray cod
Click here to learn more.

🤔Did You Know?

Today, March 6, the French Academy, which was established in 1635, elected Marguerita Youcenar as its first female member.

She is best known for her novel "Memoirs of Hadrian".

The Académie Française is an exclusive French literary institution that had never before included a woman among its members since its inception in 1685. To be nominated and elected, one must be a French citizen.

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