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tv   Tomorrow Today  Deutsche Welle  May 20, 2020 1:30am-2:01am CEST

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face of horror. there job censoring for the social media industry. in manila there are thousands of so-called content monitors to enjoy they screw up terrifying images from online platforms. are a sick job for starvation wage the strain is enormous. the cleaners social media shadow industry starts to minutes on t.w. . hello and welcome to tomorrow today the science show on d w. unser day show we take a close look at viruses and bacteria that are good for us. but so what if the coronavirus we have to practice social distancing scientists in the antarctic are
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learning all about isolation. social distancing is hard but it's key to preventing the spread of the corona virus if we carried on as normal and one infected person infected on average $2.00 at this over a 5 day period then after 30 days that one person would be the source of more than $400.00 infections. reducing contact with others by 75 percent the total would be just 2 and a half infection. but what effect does isolation have on the mind and body. let's find out by heading to a research station in one of the world's loneliest places the at the take. time out for the expedition members at germany's neumeier research station and arctica this is the. 1st time that they've seen the sun after 9 months of darkness
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. this long period in isolation was extremely difficult for everyone here. i wanted to work and routine is what really helps and doing a lot together but at the same time giving everyone enough space. it can get pretty lonely here in the world southernmost continent trying times for station manager and dr burke a check of back and the 8 other german team members far away from their families. berlin shouting hospital is investigating the impact of this isolation the crew have to undergo medical tests and even a cat scan of the brain before their departure and on their return as well as giving all sorts of samples. we're collecting all the bodily substances that we can get our hands on blood urine stool and every few months some hair samples. the scientists and the team themselves have noticed
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changes. his mind nothing sometimes you have to stop and remember which way is north east and south when you're outside you sometimes think that you've taken the wrong turn even though you actually know the way or this from my 1st things can be a bit more difficult or you would forget things for example how to find your way around the station where was that again and it's strange sometimes. under these conditions one part of the brain shrinks fire around 7 percent. one structure that we're interested in is the hippocampus that's an important area for episodic memory for learning and memory. this area of the brain gets smaller during the long months of darkness. research director alexander don has also asked the team to perform computer tests the study financed by the german aerospace center is also intended
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to show what kind of changes astronauts might undergo. to complete this docking maneuver successfully we have to guide this green cross with the help of these tools toward the docking pin. pin have done so and trigger the docking procedure and your time to see how quickly and precisely you can do this it is your it's an exercise that's intended to test the brain's performance during the months of darkness and isolation. of war not we do this once a month during our stay to find out how our ability to concentrate our perception and our interest in this kind of task changes over time that people. responses to questionnaires about emotional changes are also sent back to berlin. the impact of this isolated and austere environment and group dynamics is also
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under investigation. and as i said jack you see the classic conflict between the need for intimacy and for space that we know from our own relationships that exists in a group to make you feel constraining at times or you might want more intimacy but it's not the right kind of closeness because what you really want is your own family and that's the most difficult part of the berlin researchers are also keeping an eye out for signs of depression that's a distinct possibility when you're alone with the same few people for months on end and he isn't yet one in understand do you feel isolated from the others have you had melancholy or depressive thoughts that might possibly require medical attention and at least i thought i'm kind of the study could also help us cope with the coronavirus lockdown alexander stan has a piece of advice. was good i was not resigned as you can do simple things like
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brushing your teeth with your left hand while standing on one leg you know. the important thing is to avoid getting stuck in a rush kind of fight your brain needs fresh and push. the neumeyer station team has created challenges for itself a boot camp to give the brain and the body a thorough workout edith is the driving force behind the exercise team and she and the other expedition members are top fit. i much it was difficult at 1st we had muscle aches and we cursed edith but we've come to love her but this. is only a month it's one of the main reasons that we've got through the winter so well and . the researchers say that while the brain does shrink during isolation these changes are not permanent. i
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assume that all these changes are reversible. the question is to what extent the team managed to reintegrate into everyday life. their resume their usual activities rebuild their social networks and pursue their normal lives again upon their return . whether you spend 9 months in the icy wastes of and arctica or weeks in coronavirus locked down in your own home isolation is difficult and it takes a toll. on staff you is what are your strategies for staying sane during the coronavirus pandemic. here are some of you on since. philip template ginia from the philippines rose we are in the 8th week of lockdown my strategy is simple i check the news check with family and friends work from home. then i do light
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exercise after dinner and read books my days are quite struck. midnight goodness from peru says i'm one of the few people who enjoy quarantine i love spending time with my family and cooking healthy meals and eating at a leisure pace i'll be sad when things go back to normal. and then g. in indonesia says it's an opportunity to try new things. i've taken up gardening as a hobby and i'm trying to master hydroponics i hope to be able to eat my own harvest thank you for writing to us. the term social distancing may be new but plates and pestilences and the practice of isolating the sick is thousands of years old but that doesn't make our current situation feel any less new and weird. and it's all because of
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a microscopic vicious pathogen the sun's corona virus too. but what is a virus that's what out of the un as our in sedan wants to know. a lot of viruses. a tick bite can transmit viruses such as a form of and several lighters called t b e v in humans the pathogen can cause a fatal inflammation of the brain. and any. other viral diseases are airborne so there are lots of ways they can spread. that's clever viruses which consist of just d.n.a. or r.n.a. in a protective envelope they don't have their own metabolism so they need a host like humans or other organisms in order to reproduce in the case of an infection the virus hijacks the host cell and injects its genetic material into it
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then becomes a factory for making new viruses. many viruses can spread between species. the pathogens responsible for aids or a bowl or may have traveled from apes to humans rodents can transmit hunter viruses for example. birds some flu viruses a vaccine may prevent infection. even though as in the case of flu the vaccine constant. he has to be adapted as the virus mutates. one type of antiviral vaccine protects against cervical cancer and sometimes viruses aren't pathogens but helpers. certainly parvo viruses for example target tumor cells without damaging surrounding healthy cells researchers are hoping to use them to develop a viral therapy to treat blastoma highly aggressive brain cancer. viruses
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cause many diseases like hiv aids measles and hepatitis but some viruses fight disease these spec to me if ages in vain bacteria viruses are made up of the genome within a casing bacteria are more complex and mostly much larger viruses can't reproduce on their own they need to hijack bacteria or other organisms to do so and that is key to their potential role in medicine. these young scientists are reviving an old method biotechnology students i am a crush diner and her team are using bacteriophages known informally as phages to combat bacteria. yet at the same age is a virus and the natural enemy of bacteria. for faith is
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a naturally occurring and can be found wherever there are bacteria. in the audience of water for example in soil but also in the human body and these phages can only infects specific bacteria not human cells that's why they can be used to treat bacterial infections. a fish only targets a single species of bacteria so the researchers require a whole range of them so far they've isolated them from the environment in a complex process last nets employ tons in our project we've identified collected and characterized multiple phage variants. f. standards these are going to be used to infect and kill different species of bacteria. than. bacteria phages were discovered in 1917 by a french canadian microbiologist felix to. recognize their potential to fight
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infectious diseases in the 1920 s. international pharmaceutical companies began making fades cocktails but the advent of antibiotics which were cheaper to make and more widely applicable soon displaced phage therapy until its recent read discovery but the students here need funding if their work is going to progress and big pharma isn't interested i know. for a start intellectual property is hard to secure the fate is over and then to successfully of life age therapy you have to keep slightly modifying the phage is in the course of the sarah pay. what if it's that sort of dynamic treatment is impossible given current laws you need new clinical trials for every faith variant i think. fades therapy is also patient specific and that means that for now at least it's
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not economically viable. that timea fate is could be used to come back to strategic difficile and hysteria which can contaminate fish meat and dairy products and cause a life threatening disease in humans. some strains of e. coli i found in food can also make a sick. kid phage is one day be used safely across the food industry to cleanse praties and products of certain bacteria. scientists involved in in the netherlands are researching how to fight tiny put dangerous organisms with even tinier organisms. the company my crew us develop spec tyria phages. they are viruses that target specific bacteria. cheesemaker wants to find out if ages can help make his products safer.
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the faces are grown in liquid bacteria cultures that allow them to multiply rapidly . the bacteria are the same as the ones that they want to get rid of in the cheese phages are natural enemies of bacteria my creel supplies its customers with phage is to fight listeria and some another bacteria. this is how they do it. in the fades latches onto the surface of a bacterium and injects its d.n.a. into it is a list of bacteria to replicate and c.n.a. producing dozens of new phases eventually they calls the bacterial cell to burst releasing new phages that then infect understory more bacteria. when the micro also researchers investigate whether their faces could help improve food manufacturers safety standards they always follow the same procedure they take to samples of contaminated with the bacteria they want to destroy. in the u.s.
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a listeria outbreak linked to apple's claims. number of lives. one of these contaminated products is sprayed with water that's the control sample. the other is sprayed with bacteria phages. the scientists take swabs from the products put them on plates containing nutrient. and leaving to incubate for 24 hours. the project leader is impressed by his faith his determination in fact that this big features are brilliant because they're so specific they only destroy a certain strain of bacteria when you have good bacteria like those in cheese and yogurt they won't be destroyed so phages can be used in a very targeted way that's. phages are also being used in medicine to treat bacterial skin infections for example takes just a few days for symptoms to improve significantly. after an incubation
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period of 24 hours the listeria samples are examined by the scientists a lot of bacterial colonies are formed in the control sample only a few in the face sample a few shouldn't non-form as there are only a 10th as many as in a control sample now you could destroy 10 times more bacteria if you use 10 times as many phases but the question is is that really necessary the food industry is extremely hygiene and clean the risk of listeria contamination is minimal if you destroy a 90 percent of the bacteria that risk is even smaller and the food safer. phages could soon be used in germany too in sausage factories the casings made from animal got could be impregnated with the bacteria killing biases the faces would remain on the surface of the food and act as a line of defense to keep out bacteria that would also be useful in the production
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of smoked fish. microbiologist buyer is. a researcher at the university of hole and got we asked him whether phages could also pose a danger. one type of phage called temperature does not immediately force its bacterial host to produce a new phase generation instead it integrates its genome into the out of the bacterium. from the bacterium reproduces it also replicates the virus genome at the same time it's a very elegant method of genetic reproduction but it also makes this sort of phage potentially dangerous because when the viruses are finally released they can also transfer a part of the bacterial genome of their host including genes for antibiotic resistance or toxins to other bacteria if it's legal in that way it's well known that bacteria phages can spread factors such as virial and genes or resistance genes and that could also possibly happen if they are used in the food industry but these kind of
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phages temperate phages which can integrate their genome into the genome of their host bacterium wouldn't be used in the food industry. that sector would focus on faders that really only destroy bacteria. and there the likelihood of transmission is very very small. so in the future viruses in food could actually be good for us that's an idea that will definitely take some getting used to. many kinds of bacteria are beneficial some live in the soil and in hans it's quantity that area are present in most habitats in desert sand and polar ice. it is thought that they make up 3 courses of all known species of forms of 9. plants on the ground where they congregate in vast numbers is ours. for the most past
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they're very welcome. little alexis is just a few hours old he arrived by says arry inception in a badge of birth he'd have swallowed some of his mother's bacteria as he passed through the birth canal dr fleming is providing the newborn with maternal bacteria an alternative way. those roots the sort of winched. as we try to do at the request of the parents is to collect budget all fluids from the mother in swap the baby's mouth with industry into the fostered and the idea behind this is to pass good luck tyria from the mother to her infant of skin to bottle. this should only be done when the mother is completely healthy or it could harm the baby studies show that maternal bacteria that colonize the baby during birth are important for the child's health breastmilk also plays
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a key role. the clinic has set up a bank of breast milk donors for mothers who can't breastfeed breast milk contains the bacteria an infant needs for a healthy gut micro biome. but as we grow up we eat things that aren't necessarily good for us like pizza burgers and fizzy drinks can too much unhealthy fast food impact our gut flora and even our psyche. these researchers think it can i talk farsi and achmet haasan from the austrian university of droughts are observing the behavior of mice fed on a poor diet they're giving their test myself either healthy grains in dried grass or the special feed that accounts for 60 percent of its calories similar to fast food after 8 weeks the scientists examine the behavior of the mice i talked that's one of the green mice into
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a cage it hasn't been in before it eagerly explores its new environment. then comes the fast food mouse who's put on quite a lot of weight it has little desire to move which is a sign of depression the fast food mice are also not very sociable unlike the grain fed subjects' they prefer to be alone away from their fellow mice. an examination of their feces reveals drastic changes in the gut bacteria of the fast food mice could this be the reason for their behavior. to suppress unstable microbial we will use antibiotics and this is study we are planning to do if the depression like behavior disappears in the mice receiving antibiotics this means that exists it's not in the micro biome is necessary for the
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development of and of the person like behavior. and that's not the only type of food that's thought to affect the gut. foods and drinks containing artificial sweeteners popular with people trying to lose weight. often it's not clear if a product contains sugar substitute and there is evidence that the use could harm our microbiome. as part of an experiment i will be a bogeyman and julie vine bag will drink 12 saturates of saccharin every day for a week the israeli study hopes to find out whether or not this sweetener affects our intestinal flora and with our health you never know what's good for you and especially that in my family i know if we have a day of beauty if everyone to know what's good for me think. both women are examined at the weitzman institute in israel. the researchers want to see how their
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health changes over the week including whether or not the sweetener impacts their blood sugar they're fitted with a sensor on the upper arm the device will measure their blood sugar levels throughout the next 7 days. the women are told to eat as they normally would so as not to skew the results and to enter everything they eat into a nap. dr york times u.s. believes that sweeteners do have an influence on intestinal bacteria to find out he's asked the test subjects to provide stool samples. he identifies the different types of gut bacteria in the lab and the results show that the diversity decreases in most subjects. when the guts material is just sort of shifted or they richly in the guts but through that we can detect and look to that are
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probably killed by the best to their lives as you can find a lot of material and they're going to go up a can guess that they are using this on the fish respect that of the 2 women only one saw changes in her gut bacteria. and her blood sugar levels also deteriorated. before the test her blood sugar was normal but during the sweetener experiment the levels rose dramatically which can cause weight gain and disease more testing is needed to see whether sweeteners have this effect. but both women say they now plan to avoid them. if our old one is red white are great but oh my goodness. do you have a science question that you've always wanted on say it like we're happy to help out yes send it to us as a video text ovoid smell like we answer it on the show most send you a little surprise as a thank you can all just ask. and for more stories about the world of
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science visit us on our website on twitter and facebook. that's all for today and next time on samarra today we'll go exploring in one of europe's few remaining old growth forests. and will accompany an expedition that's investigating why wilderness habitats are so important. until then good bye.
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to. the selling sex. there's a. link is for guns and blues so far industry makes lots of money with gender stereotypes. more and more women and men a saying that. says some business is now looking. conformity. made in germany. 30 minutes on d w. a city in ruins. symbol of
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a long complex in the philippines between the muslims and the christian population . when i asked fighters fuck you by the city president to church's response was. this is not the kind of freedom that we want the philippines in the sights of ins. in 75 minutes on d w. like vogue a muggle or just love food for the russian soul. out there runs deep to. so many different walks of life. some are bumping and oddly trying to get all of that comes straight from the heart
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it's fun to see it even when there's no money dealers come onshore in trucks to come. from the 1st months of the lot to their final resting place the russians on g.w. documentary. it's a deadly sin. and the whim of nature. motivates us. to. greet. the citizen. drives. into the danger you can one big no i've come to hold up a little because i see the harm it has done to the world it was out of a donkey to talk. we would really run the risk of being the 1st form of water to be
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responsible for all that special. why are. we going searchable documentary. starts may 21st on t w. this is news and these are our top stories u.s. president donald trump is threatening to permanently withdraw funding for the world health organization if it doesn't make changes have based on his criticisms mainly about china as a legit influence beijing dismisses trump's comments as a smear campaign when. the german and french plan to leave here up out of the crisis has received a mixed reception countries badly hit by the pandemic have mostly welcomes the plan
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