News of the week selected by Impactscool – February 4th, 2019

Created in the laboratory the first human blood vessels

For the first time, a group of scientists created perfect human blood vessels in the laboratory from stem cells. The study, conducted by an international team, has been published in the journal Nature. This research could have a major impact on the search for new treatments against a number of vascular problems, including diabetes and will allow us to study and test new drugs more easily.

Tire dust among the causes of pollution

Among the causes of air pollution there are not only exhaust emissions from cars: even the microscopic dust generated by the consumption of tires, brakes and asphalt creates damage to the environment. To say it, a recent review of 99 international studies that will be published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization. It is a mix of toxic and carcinogenic chemicals, which can cause cardiovascular and respiratory diseases in heavily trafficked areas, especially in the most vulnerable sections of the population such as the elderly and children.

SiNaps: the device that records the sound of the brain

A device capable of capturing the sound produced by the activity of billions of cells and recording the “music” of the brain was created between Italy and the United States. This “super-microphone”, called SiNaps, is the basis for building future interfaces able to make people and machines interact. The study that led to the creation of SiNaps is signed by the group of the Italian Institute of Technology of Genoa, in collaboration with research groups of the University of Harvard and with the support of a project funded by the American Brain Initiative.

The future of mobile devices is without a battery

Telephone’s dead battery, goodbye: thanks to a device that converts the energy of the signals of the Wi-Fi network into electricity, in fact, we could soon have mobile devices such as smartphones, PCs and tablets completely without batteries. This result, which could revolutionize the world of electronics, is due to a Massachusetts Institute of Technology group and has been described in a publication published in Nature.

Facetime listens to us before we answer a call

A few days after the Data Privacy Day a new controversy related to privacy: A Facetime bug allows some users to listen to other people through the app even before they respond to their call. Apple, which quickly spread the news and temporarily deactivated the “chat group” Facetime function to avoid further problems, is working to solve the problem and announced that it will spread an app update in the week.

The Chinese probe survived the long night on the hidden side of the Moon

The Chinese mission on the hidden side of the Moon has survived the long night, lasting 14 days on earth. During it has reached up to 190 degrees below zero, a lower temperature than expected.

To resist the cold, Chang’e-4 and Yutu-2, the mission’s lander and rover, entered the “hibernation mode” and used a nuclear heater. Both vehicles went into operation again with “the arrival of the sun” and returned to communicate regularly with the Earth.