SCIENCE
18 September - 8 October 2020
ONLINE THIS WEEK
A REPORT by Elbilskommissionen, the electric car commission, reveals the cost of running a petrol or diesel-run vehicle will get more expensive as the number of electric cars rises. Conversely, perhaps, it also reports it will only reduce CO2 emissions to a relatively small extent. The Klimarådet climate council has raised its target of the number of electric cars needed to cut greenhouse emissions by 70 percent from 1 to 1.5 million.
Schedule for victory TWO PHD students from DTU and their supervisor claimed victory at this year's International Timetabling Competition. The competition revolves around creating an algorithm to resolve a scheduling problem and takes place over many rounds and challenges.
Satellites shedding light A NEW STUDY from Danmarks Tekniske Universitet suggests that satellite measurements can be used to predict floods and droughts. As threats of such climatic events increase, such methods and results are in greater demand than ever before.
Novo’s dream team FOLLOWING a 25 million kroner grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, four researchers sought out from the corners of the globe have set up labs in Copenhagen and Aarhus. The researchers specialise in biomedicine and biotechnology.
Secrets of skin IT IS HOPED that genetically engineered human skin, developed by researchers at the University of Copenhagen, will provide new insights into the treatment of diseases such as psoriasis and cancer. There is very little understanding of the way human skin is formed.
Using AI to beat time THE EUROPEAN Research Council has been given an 11 million kroner grant to support the introduction of AI into the electricity sector.
ONLINE THIS WEEK PIKIST.COM
Electric car concerns
Testing times for nation amid upsurge From Smittestop failing to work to the delay in the AstraZeneca vaccine trials, there is no quick fix to the pandemic in the near future, it seems KAUKAB TAHIR SHAIRANI
T
HE DANISH coronavirus app Smittestop could be misinforming users, as its definition of ‘close contact’ is different to that of Google and Apple. While the smartphone’s operating systems could send a notification – such as: ‘Your device has identified four potential exposures this week and shared them with Smittestop’ – the app itself might not be informing the user if contact is not judged to be close enough or long enough. The Danish authorities define close contact with an infected person when a user has been less than a metre from someone who registers as infected on Smittestop for more than 15 minutes. Over a million people in Denmark have so far downloaded the app, and @ users have reported an infection.
On the racoon range FROM FEBRUARY this year it has been legal to hunt raccoon dogs with night vision sights, and one hunter, Jytte Paarup, has told DR that she has more than doubled the number of her night kills this year to 21. Raccoon dogs are an invasive species and have no natural predators.
Foreign food to blame
This year's most sought-after goodie bag
Vaccine delays DENMARK, like most of the EU countries, had been pinning its hopes on the vaccine being developed by the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, but
their trials were put on hold in early September after a participant fell ill. Danish medical experts concurred that the news offered a bitter-sweet reminder that humanity's hopes in a vaccine may be overstated, and that we should be looking to improve treatment if we are to properly overcome the pandemic. The World Health Organization reports that elsewhere there are a further five vaccines undergoing late-stage trials – three in China and one each in the US and Germany – while a Russian one has skipped the late-stage trials. Denmark itself reached an important stage in developing its own vaccine when researchers from the University of Copenhagen reported the success of its mice trials in June. Clinical trials on humans are expected before the end of the year.
Vaccine gets all clear
No link to diabetes
Dual climate test house
THERE is no link between the HPV vaccine and a range of neurological disorders, according to a Statens Serum Institut study of 1.4 million women and girls. Negative stories about the vaccine, which helps to protect women with HPV from getting cancer, resulted in a 50.4 percent fall in vaccinations between 2013 and 2016, but its usage is picking up again.
DESPITE the previous belief that type-2 diabetes doubled a patient's likelihood of developing blood clots in the heart, recent research from Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital shows this is not the case. Instead, there is no change in the clot rate between diabetics and non-diabetics. Researchers attribute the finding to improved drugs.
A NEW TEST house has been developed in Nuuk by DTU with the intention of discovering whether it is possible and appealing to build houses with an indoor and outdoor climate under the same roof. The team have created two separate environments within the same building and will spend the next two years testing it.
Hotspot testing NEVERTHELESS, despite the apparent failings of the app, hundreds of thousands are getting tested – most notably in Greater Copenhagen, where the infection rate has been the highest in Denmark of late. Pop-up tents and extra testing vehicles have been arriving in the Capital Region from other
7
regions, while two new test centres have been set up in the city districts of Valby and Nørrebro. Frederikshavn Municipality in northeast Jutland, another recent coronavirus hotspot, has also been the beneficiary of additional testing facilities. Leading the way with the testing is DTU, which is currently carrying out 10,000 tests a day – a third of the nation’s needs – following the addition of a new night team. Children over the age of two are eligible for testing at all centres and can be booked in for a time-slot online. The under-twos, on the other hand, can be tested at TestCenter facilities.
A TOTAL of 48 people in Denmark have become sick as a result of imported foods, suspects the Statens Serum Institut. It believes separate outbreaks of salmonella and hepatitis A virus are the result of holiday-makers returning with food carrying the diseases.
New development unit AARHUS University has teamed up with a number of local organisations and businesses to establish a new innovation unit promoting entrepreneurship and collaboration in the region. In particular, the unit aims to further develop food along with health and environmental technologies.
Chronically misunderstood THE HEALTH authorities have launched an information campaign to raise awareness of the plight of the 1.3 million people who suffer from some kind of chronic pain. Many regard such sufferers as malingers and tend to be sceptical when back pain, for example, comes and goes.
Four TBE cases FOUR PEOPLE in Denmark have been infected with Tick Borne Encephalitis over the summer, according to Statens Serum Institut, but none of them were in Bornholm, the favoured hunting ground of the parasite. Three were infected in Tisvilde Hegn in North Zealand and one in Falster. All four were hospitalised.
Huge solar park project DANISH company European Energy is set to begin the construction of Sweden's largest solar park.
