change well beyond volleyball perhaps well beyond sport in italy you're watching news from berlin up next our coverage $1000.00 special of ben fizzle and there's more on the news out and at d w dot com of course you can follow us on instagram and twitter at t w news i'm on me and you so for me in the team here thanks for watching. the fight against the corona virus pandemic. has the rate of infection been developing what does the latest research say. information and context the coronavirus update. on t w. in mexico many pushed. us right now on the phone right now the climate change the very hot story. faces much less the way from just one week.

how much worse can really get. we still have time to act i'm going. to subscribe. to. the urgency of the coronavirus pandemic has seen an unprecedented surge in scientific innovation one breakthrough originates right beneath us wastewater tells an intriguing tale of a city and the movement of a virus in only its mutations and early warning system. but strangely one that some governments turning their noses up at. well it does stink no one wants to talk about it or go anywhere near it but monitoring waste water the

traces of a pathogen can provide a detailed picture of an entire community without the biases and limitations of regular testing methods. this sewage treatment plant in frankfurt may not look very exciting but there's a lot more to wastewater than meets the eye. professor susanna lochner analyzes it to detect the presence of the novell corona virus. the waste water can also give us information about which mutations are to be found in which catchment areas . the environmental scientist on her team at the technical university of darmstadt have developed a method to monitor how much virus is circulating in a particular area and to identify which strains are present to see if say the brazilian or british ones are spreading the method has met with considerable interest in other countries. as well as we see it the method is ready for

you and it is in fact already being used in the netherlands the united states and spain in cooperation with their health authorities. it's not being used in germany even though it could function as an early warning system if it finds the virus and one sewer but not in another that could help public health authorities focus attention and resources on areas where trouble is brewing even if the people there who are shedding the virus have no symptoms that have not been tested. but you can use the data to estimate the infection rate in the catchment area around the sewage treatment plant that could help you decide if you need to do more or less testing or whether or not to relax for a stricture and based on the readings you're getting from the water. it's not clear why authorities in germany won't embrace this early warning system the method was developed in cooperation with the frankfurt sanitation department but the city hasn't started to use it we asked the health department why that is in

a written response it expressed doubts about its practicability at the university of baum we talked to martin exner a professor of public health who approves of the new method and thinks it should be used this is how we interpret the authorities reticence to deploy it. it's often safety saw its money in it and here is their abiding by rigid principles would be one are finding it hard to embrace new ideas such as waste water monitoring. for survival and that often him. i think we need to both demand more courage and offer more encouragement in this area. and germany's association of towns a municipality is has also weighed in on the issue. anything that helps us combat the pandemic should be made available that includes monitoring waste water with them in the door. but for now this potentially valuable system developed in

germany is not being used in germany critics say that's down to an abundance of bureaucracy and a lack of courage how more and out in the worst case such inertia could cost lives and you would have seen suzanne a lot in that report she's a professor for wastewater engineering and joins us today thanks for joining us to being on the show why do you think germany hasn't embraced this early warning system of yours. thanks for having me well i think it's. a federal issue when you consider you're going to say shouldn't the states and the system that we have between the west with respect to the sectors prepared for what we are facing. is basically an accurate. some of thora these argue the system is impractical do you agree. you know i mean we are already past that must go to spending we can't we can start does

any time sink we have to be aware of the limitations. of the experimental stage. to understand this let me pose the question differently why have the netherlands and spain and the united states embrace this is the. i mean for the nun ceasars i understand i mean they they have thrust fault out of this already. years ago was this a polio virus and there's a much better connection between the public health sector and the water sector already and they seem to have a better management of us already are also seeing more and more potential in this mission that's why they are. having a must maybe to add on that i hope that injured when you will improve because also the european union just posts its recommendations to include wastewater place a particular g. and monetary. and will support

a member states already i am still optimistic carol so long as this interim wealth is on a could you explain to us how it actually works your system. what we do is usually take samples from what we get samples from there were over 24 hours they collected we bring it to them that we do some some preparation and extraction and then we basically go hat was a similar analysis or tools that are used in the medical sector one this the quantitative p.c.r. and the other sequencing can be we get the missions. and the information you get you said is less biased than official figures could you explain that to view point . yes i mean what we get is basically an unbiased picture of what's happened and happening in the catchment of the treatments because people may not want to get tested and may not feel sick but they will all go to the toilet so that's why we

get a. sense a better picture and it's also what's going on. even though it's basically a pool sample that we have we can still monitor of a lot of the virus coming in or even now are mutations that are actually and can the doctor also be used to estimate the actual number of infected people. and from what we've done i would be hesitant to do that i know colleagues have tried but in that sense i would say we don't know what he must from the from the medical side how many there are how much why was one person actually excretes and. i would i wouldn't do that but i don't question your so maybe the people who are more capable of doing that. at the end of the day couldn't this also be used to trace other diseases other infections. really i mean i think everything that is

somewhat in the water and can be spread by water or through through the waste water can be detected and i mean we also work on to make progress distances and that is a big issue and it will will remain a big issue as you can also use everything that's not on the concepts that are made for tracking resistance chains or even other pathogens tiriel irises and everything that is that goes to war let's hope that the germans can overcome their bureaucratic problems then and take this out it would be nice to see it as an alumna great to have you on the show today thank you. well from one star scientists to my favorite scientist in carswell the derek williams with the questions you guys have been leaving on how you tube channel. explain the difference between a new strain and a new variant. this is tough to do since even viral legist seem to

view the differences as fairly fluid but but let's start by maybe going over some of the other biology basics that you've you've probably learned this year already 1st is that although it's technically not considered a live virus evolves constantly as it replicates just like living things do its genetic code changes because mistakes happen as the code is copied by a living cell that gives rise to what are commonly known as mutants now for complicated biological reasons not every mutation leads to actual physical changes in the viruses structure but but what it does you can begin thinking of that mutants as a variant now a variant is generally considered

a strain when it's wandered even farther down that road and acquired characteristics and behaviors based on its new structure that clearly distinguish it from other earlier forms so you could say that although all strains are variants not all variants are strains let's maybe make a comparison from the macro world we've been genetically engineering dogs for thousands of years through selective breeding and it's pretty astounding how different they can look but dogs all share common characteristics that are. how you to instantly identify an animal as a dog whether it's a chihuahua or a newfoundland the different breeds can be viewed as variants on the canine genome but go far enough back and split off another evolutionary branch and you end

up with the modern wolf which has a common ancestor but some distinct characteristics and behaviors that allowed us to instantly identify it as a wall so if they were viruses then breeds of dogs would be variants while dogs and bowls would be strains now i'm the 1st to admit that the analogy is imperfect but maybe it makes the terms a little easier to grasp. so mutants variance strains thank you dark and in more dog news the pandemic has led to a boom in pitch ownership but that's also seen a rise in animal trafficking german police save these little cuties suffering from diarrhea and exhaustion they were passing from hungary through a german motorway check on their way to belgium $101.00 pops it's believed that

papers were fake the illegal trade is booming in europe so be careful what you buy activists say $8000000.00 puppies are trafficked every year it can have a huge impact on the health and welfare of the animals tax evasion is also an issue . thanks for watching stay safe and see you again sir. on stirring call from. typing on the keyboard. modern prosthetics can help people get a grasp on the means and much more. artificial intelligence makes it possible. with a bit of training prosthetic cams can be precise maneuvers in a controlled by thought. to detect it. next on dealing. going once going twice sold

$69000000.00 for a fish does it offer. what does the artist think about this. crypto art shoes clothes for the new market. parts 20. 30 minutes on d w. o. o o o. more than a 1000 years ago europe witnesses a huge construction boom. christianity for we established itself. both religious and secular leaders or eager to display their power.

to trace began. the tallest biggest and the most beautiful structures. this is how massive churches were created. conscious of the drills starts april 12th on d. w. . they are part of every society yet their needs are often overlooked. worldwide there are more than 1000000000 people with a physical or mental disability. what scientific developments might improve their lives. we're taking a look in this edition of tomorrow today the science show on d w. it's great to have you with us welcome to the show.

our 1st because it is about hands or rather if we lose them how we can replace them it's not so easy because without hands we can grasp tightly move smoothly and work with great precision. it takes children several years to learn to grip properly. this only works thanks to coordination of the brain nerves and muscles. and how does that work. when a movement is to be performed the brain sends commands to the muscles 5 the spinal cord. the signal arrives and the arm is racist. the nerve cells in the spinal cord also conduct stimuli back to the brain the impulses flow in both directions. and that's at the core of much interest that

a technology. this robotic hand can learn to cooperate with its wearer thanks to artificial intelligence. 'd loskarn bower is its teacher and also its owner today bauer can use his robotic arm to carry out amazingly precise and fluid movements for him the ai based technology has opened up a new realm of possibilities. and reason for terror an interesting one huge advantage of the system is the fact that is adapts to me instead of me having to adapt to the system. it's a game changer i don't have to think about what i want my robot arm to do is give it he just does it automatically of the matters. both combo is a farmer who lives in bavaria in southeastern germany tending to his crop and

livestock is all he's ever wanted to do. but after an accident involving a crop chopper blade his lower arm had to be amputated to continue farming he needed an artificial limb. since the last part was pulling out the arm unseen the open bones muscles and fibers that were covered in blood it was a terrible sight ready. despite surgery hours arm couldn't be saved to avoid having to give up his dream of being a farmer he urgently needed to replace the hand. he lost his search led him to the prosthetics manufacturer audiobook in due to start. their therapist daniela vista failed teachers patients like our how to use their ai based robotic limbs the initial training process takes several weeks this specially designed cuff is fitted with 8 pairs of electrodes. they recognise tiny movements in the

muscles of the upper arm and app visualizes these tiny movements in stores them as movement patterns. as. the cuff and connected by. inside the cuff there are lots of electorates. there's tiny impulses involved guns muscles will be transferred on to the out. or is learning how to use his robotic limb. it's crucial that the tiny muscle impulses he's learning are as distinct as possible that way the prosthetic can link each impulse to a specific movement. he's not starting from scratch even after an amputation the brain remembers the patterns of movement needed to do things like open or close a hand. 'd once muscle impulses become associated with specific movements the robotic limb will use ai to learn specific movement patterns the electrodes inside the robotic limb register the muscle impulses from the upper arm

. the app matches these muscle patterns to specific movements and stores them. hours spent weeks learning the basics the company's engineers we're building his robotic limb now it's ready to learn and adapt to powers movement patterns. and all the patient has to do is imagine carrying out movements with the missing hand this is them can distinguish among those imagine who've meant and then carry them out in the. for valor his robotic limb means a major increase in quality of life for them and then controlling the movements is just amazing that all you have to do is imagine opening your hand and the robot hand opens imagine closing it and it closes with the same rotation the 1st set of arm just carries out these movements as. german prosthetics manufacturer auto bach is charting new territory currently the technology only works on forearm

prosthetics but that might change soon other intelligence systems that control other limbs could soon follow. researchers are working on these and other developments. but right now we're working on systems that could provide tactile signals to their wearers so chris that expect can actually feel at some point i'm sure will be able to provide feedback on temperature or the information about the surface of the object being touched off the shelf not just gotten engaged on. that will help the researchers emulate a real hand as accurately as possible. what prosthetics have already made possible is on display at events like this i both won in zurich it's a sporting event where people with physical disabilities from all over the world come together every 4 years to compete in different disciplines the competitors demonstrate what today's prosthetics are capable of.

power will need many months and there'll be sessions to continue refining his work with his intelligent self learning prosthesis he's making progress quickly. but even with the help of artificial intelligence he needs a lot of patience and stamina to get used to living with his ai prosthesis. you just have to keep playing with it when something doesn't work you just have to keep trying it some movements were. right away while others require more time and more practice. and for us like many things practice makes perfect that's the only way the intelligent prosthesis can continue learning including therapy the cough and fine tuning the device has cost around $60000.00 euros which are covered by his professional accident insurance. quite honestly i can't imagine my life without this person he says i use it all day long depending on what i'm currently doing

that. i use the producers for everyday purposes at home too for things like eating there are so many things i use it for is it. thanks to his prosthetic arm our can continue to follow his dream. contrast to purely physical disability there are developmental disorders that are not immediately apparent and often go unrecognized. some spectrum disorder for example is usually only noticed when a child is a toddler but the earlier it's detected the better the chances of it being managed and treated. researchers at frankfurt university hospital are trying to find out. what is autism interpret in these symptoms correctly is quite

a challenge even for experts. 2 and a half year old lucas is taking part in a study by frankfurt university's academic teaching hospital he's not affected and is being used as a control subject so far he's been developing quite normally. so what are the 1st signs of autism in a toddler. to find that out scientists at the hospital's autism therapy and research center truck children's i movements they want to find out if i to stick children see their world. through different eyes. what we're trying to find out is how the eye moves list seem to be certain differences between children with autism and those without trying to stop them we know for instance that children with autism play much less attention to social stimulus like emotional faces or biological movements we know that only too well. what we don't know is why that's

the case. so they're filed this. time for an experiment using an eye tracker. while lucas follows the images on the screen in front of him the eye tracker logs how long his gaze rests on the various figures and faces shown. how quickly do his eyes respond what holds his attention longest and which emotions appealed to him. initial results indicate that children with autism stare at certain images longer and they have difficulty refocusing their attention they lack a broader view. hoping to achieve is to get a better insight into it to perhaps detect autism earlier. so that we can say we found a marker of the eye movements and continues the diagnosis from that. right now we

can only reliably make a diagnosis on the basis of behavior in the 3rd year of life. the earlier autism can be diagnosed earlier with medial therapy can be applied besides i movements the frankfurt team has found other signs in the brain clinical director christina fi tag manages the autism research center. her team uses brain scans to investigate the cerebral anatomy of people affected by autism it seems that there are no ronal no. works are woven differently could early diagnosis improve life for those affected control it what is the if there is a hypothesis that the earlier support begins the more elastic the brain is and that up to a point can compensate a little bit. but recognizing the minimal differences in brain structure is not easy to do it neuroscientist christina uses

a software which recognizes patterns its algorithms compare hundreds of brain scans to calculate the probabilities of accurately predicting autism before 4 hears that early prognosis is especially important for instance when someone in the family is already affected that increases the probability many times over and it would be an interesting scenario if a sibling had autism then you can start scanning very early on and make a forecast based on our models. bozza stanwood lives in the 4 years i go there. but for now computer diagnosis is just a pipe dream and i movement analysis requires a lot more intensive research as well but the sooner the early signs of autism can be deciphered the faster therapies can be developed to help the children affected. the majority of people with disabilities live in developing countries often in

poverty. mell nutrition a lack of sanitation and poor medical care often lead to disabilities that could be avoided. it is estimated that 2 thirds of visually impaired people could actually regained their eyes using simple measures as this report from rwanda shows. it's 9 in the morning in the top guy clinic in rwanda as usual the waiting room is already teeming with people. little angelo is waiting with his mother new mg echo the 2 year old has already undergone his 1st operation that was 2 months ago when doctors had to remove his cancer stricken left eye. the cub ghani i clinic is

an oasis of hope for patients across the country it attracts launch numbers up to 170 people can gather here as they wait to be examined the treatment cabins are all occupied staff work around the clock there are only $7800.00 doctors in all of rwanda compare that with $8000.00 in germany now it's a little angelos turn doctoral koori studied medicine in germany he removes the child's dressing carefully the womb from the operation is healed well dr he wants to try and save angela's other eye he examines it closely and discovers a tumor is already growing here as well unfortunately angela was initially taken to a so-called miracle healer for treatment a custom that is widespread in rwanda valuable time was lost as a result. of

the 1st sign of an unusual white reflection on the eye or local korea was it 6 months old now he's 2 and a half meaning they came here 2 years too late after the i had already grown out it was being pressed out the mother only brought the child to us when the same thing happened with the other eye cancer of the retina or retinoblastoma is curable but 70 percent of african children contract it because they're diagnosed too late for effective treatment doctorow corey uses a special found scope to examine angelos retina it allows him to see how far the disease has progressed he decides to treat the right eye with chemotherapy. believes public health education is required to prevent suffering of this kind. we have to raise awareness about it and yet for. because of the patients localities because of a patient comes to us too late the tumor can be deadly if they come here early

enough we can save the eye and possibly their vision as well because. that's why dr corey and his colleagues regularly visit the countries more remote villages. he's seen a lot of the world born in lebanon he grew up in tubingen in germany and worked in paris he arrived in rwanda in early 2019 once a year he comes to this outreach clinic where he performs operations for days on end here he comes across patients who can't afford a trip to a city i hospital over half the people here there are an extreme poverty there is no expensive laser technology in this operating theater every move has to sit perfectly well corey can treat 50 to 60 patients a day here a mere drop in the ocean a day later in the cup guy i clinic the operating team works relentlessly 12 hour days are the norm almost 80 percent of the country's eye surgery is carried out

here. in the meantime angelos mother get go prepares food in the hospital kitchen. mother and son have been here for 8 weeks now but me and can't go hasn't given up hope. and i believe the doctors here can help my son. if outlet is red white flag i'm leaving it. to you to have a science question you'd like us to one say. send it in as a video text over as well if we featured on. in the show you look at a little surprise from us as a thank you come on just ask. you'll find us on our website all on twitter.

now here's a question from a viewer in nigeria. how do you fish see in mortar. under water everything looks blurry to humans that's because water has a higher density than air so lightweights bend as they pass from at a water and a slow down that means an image isn't focused exactly on the retina as is the case out of water but behind it hence the blur diving goggles compensate for that. fish by contrast have almost spera cold hard lenses and can see everything up to a distance of one meter clearly. they are going. to look further away they are just focused by moving the lens closer to the retina they still can't really see far but usually they don't need to. they have

a wide panoramic view because of their side facing eyes. ultra wide angle camera lenses called fisheye lenses mimic this effect. fish see more colors than we can they have receptor is not only for red green and blue light but also for ultraviolet. light in the dark depths that helps them locate prey that sport brilliant colors fisherman use colorful bait to exploit this ability in fish. some fish it turns out to can distinguish different human faces. as a study of archer fish found. they shoot down prey by. jet of water. in the experiment they were trained to hit a picture of

a particular face in most cases they succeeded. fish vision is far better adapted to water than ours otherwise they wouldn't survive. most of our planet is covered with. land makes up only about a 3rd of the area and of that only about a 3rd is covered with forest. and most forests humans have encroached hunting felling trees and clearing arable land. in africa and south america in particular the forested area has declined significantly over the past 30 years. in asia and europe on the other hand some last forest has been regained through the fire station. example of the varian forest national park shows how it can be done. 'd for 150 years the glass industry and forestry methods have shaped the bavarian

forest. what was once wild mountain mixed forest has become a spruce monoculture it was here of all places that germany's 1st national park was created a wager with an unknown outcome because nobody knew how to turn this kind of a commercial forest back into a primeval forest. mikail held was deputy head of the national park for many years and he knows the forest intimately he still poking around here. as a forest scientist and local he followed the beginnings of the national park very closely. in their own phones your early years of the national park no one really knew what national park actually meant and you may. clearings among the spruce trees for example and then planted fur trees because you wanted to make it more

natural it was hard to imagine that in the air natural forest would develop in the direction of a primeval forest without human influence without forestry interventions to encourage. but 2 years after the national parks inauguration a storm fell to 3000 spruce trees the parks manager at the time dr hans. decided to try an experiment. against massive resistance from the national park forestry office which was still responsible for the care of the forest at that time he made sure that a few 100 trees weren't removed from the forest and were simply left where they fell ringback ringback. then a process began around the dead trees that hardly anyone had previously thought possible within 10 years a new species of rich and near natural forest would grow in the nutrient and rich soil where the trees had fallen. so could it be possible that humans don't

have to interfere in order to regenerate a natural forest. in 1903 a violent thunderstorm provided an opportunity to test that hypothesis the storm flattened spruce trees on about 90 hectares. of the. park manager hons people the wanted to leave the trees in the heart of the national park and the ministry of forestry gave them the green light. it was a revolution against prevailing nature conservation idea is. always all you know you with this decision there was also a new nature conservation strategy in germany process protection as the scientists called it or wilderness as the tourism experts called it and then later people hired to coin the term. let nature be nature for this type of conservation where instead of humans acting just like nature get on with it you know 2 are cute. as

hoped the forest also regenerated itself on the large when throw areas without human intervention. but the biggest disaster and with it the biggest test for the national park was still to come. in the 1990 s. the park was to be expanded that led to heated exchanges with private forced on us in the population. then in the high areas between hostile and lose and an area of around 70 square kilometers of spruce trees fell victim to the bark beetle in the noise in the ninety's the national park with its principle of letting nature be was on the brink of fail by the no 2 should even the nature conservation associations suddenly had doubts as to whether this principle was really right for the national parks thank

god politics remain steadfast on tough. because even in the tough climate of the high country between a hostile and lose and the forest regenerated itself within a very short time today it's growing with a level of density and biodiversity that humans could have never created and with the new wilderness long lost residents are also coming back. links roam the national park again. and 2 wolf packs. primeval forest relics species find habitat again in the diverse new shoes of the ecosystem. in 50 years the national park has become a hotspot of biodiversity with its new near natural forests. mikail head is grateful that he was allowed to be a part of this development. the bavarian for. national park venture paid off and today the concept of letting nature be nature is applied in national parks

worldwide. that's it for this week's edition of tomorrow today. more news from the world of science and research next time until then stay safe and stay curious.

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way and lift your mood. glamorous and comfortable can be done. with the disco good on top of the must. cut the sleeve and pop tops are making a comeback. alfon the room. 30 minutes on a double. by 2050 more than half the world will be living with limited water resources we haven't had to think about our war or worry about. i think that era is over this is the crisis of our time it's a financial product like any other financial we live in

a competitive war is just cold it's cold it's cold war peace to me free the way to change the most important commodity junkers all be free so it. moves along her sitting for commodity starts march 22nd on d. w. . when we take steps to restore a forest we play about in something much bigger. we're making a better world for our health and for the health for future generations. by replanting and managing all forests are standing we create new spaces where plants and animals comprise we promote economic activity that brings world at improves lives we make a real impact on climate change improve the quality of the. and we bring the food we eat i move to one tree we create

a comfy environment for our children to eat some methods to take action let's restore forests and prevent cancer. this is news and these are top stories german chancellor angela merkel says the government will begin supplying family doctors with vaccines to speed up the country's sluggish vaccination drive him the decision follows a virtual summit of federal and state leaders the chancellor also expressed optimism that every adult would have a chance to be vaccinated by the end of the summer. a long dormant volcano in southwestern iceland has erupted for the 1st time in nearly 800 years.