oh, and the battle against covey. the only covariance is putting healthcare systems around the world to the test. vaccination campaigns are accelerating, while restrictions are intensifying once again. but are these measures enough to stop the spread of omicron fax, this data and reports? you know, weekly coping 19 special every thursday on d w. i . wu hahn in china is considered ground 0 of the global corona virus pandemic. but a german geneticist may have debunked this theory. he traced the lineage of the corona

virus and made a surprising discovery. plus will delve into long cove. it what causes the known symptoms remains uncertain still, but the secret could lie in the viruses impact on our blood cells. welcome to to morrow to day. the science program on d. w. t. blood flow plays a vital role in our tissues, getting enough oxygen in order for blood cells to travel through our blood vessels . they have to be extremely flexible and capable of changing shape. this enables them to pass through the tiniest blood vessels called capillaries like the one scene here in our lungs. a team of researchers in germany discovered that examining red blood cells could be key in learning what causes certain symptoms of long cove it this is along in university hospital in germany. workplace of bettina

holberg, her. she's an ophthalmologist and molecular medicine specialist trying to unravel the mystery of long covered. her teams focus is on the delayed effects. the virus has on blood flow and damage together with a colleague from the i c u. i wondered if the corona virus also affects the innermost layer of the blood vessels. the idea was relatively new back then and there was little research on it. i believe, to deliver holberg, her and her team have been taking a closer look at capillaries. the smallest and thinness blood vessels in our vascular system to do so they use a special camera to photograph the eyes of long cov patience on t didn't let vessels in the i are structured just like those elsewhere in the body of this allows us to use the change as we see in the i as a reference point for the entire body and pick up a demon canon. and sure enough, holbrook, i found out that a lot of coven patients have blood flow problems in their capillaries. the blood flow of a healthy eye is seen here in white on the right is the eye of

a long covered patient with significantly restricted blood flow. the experts in our long and have a theory about what causes the circulatory disorders. the researchers also work with scientists from the max planck institute for the science of light and elegance . the joint teams are among the 1st world wide to use the deform ability of blood cells to detect illnesses that somebody's feasible blue to sales have to deform in order to pass through the smallest capillaries. and that when they're no longer capable of doing that, and that could be an indication for an illness. uncertain finance uncles, a drop of blood is all the to require to determine whether that's the case with a particular patient. biologist martin crater pumps blood through a special chip with tiny channels that are thinner than a human hair. he films the process with a high speed camera which reveals how much the blood cells change shape when they pass through the artificial capillaries. oh,

it in the analysis shows that the blood of long covey patients contain cells that are unnaturally rigid. while some individual red blood cells behave normally and chain shape, others remain stiff and round or not working hypothesis now is that the lack of deform ability in the cells of long cove in patients can explain the circulatory disorders. i see because the cells are simply unable to pass through the bodies. thin is candler, and copied on and cut off. but what causes this effect? the researchers have an idea about that as well. and again, blood plays an important role here. specific auto antibodies are found in the blood of long cove patients in these immune system molecules can have a detrimental impact on the function of our body cells, including blood cells, daddy's out undercover random blue trim since these antibodies swim around the

blood of the entire body. they can help explain many different symptoms that might be increased tiredness, the brain fog caused by blood flow changes in the brain. the circulation changes in the muscles that cause chronic fatigue. so a host of symptoms can be explained as a result of the cell changes caused by the ato. anti bodies secret. candice. but more studies and data will be needed. however, before the diagnostic procedure can be more widely used. nevertheless, the research as an air long and have already taken an important step. they've administered the yet to be approved medicine, b, c 007, to long covey patients. the drug is being developed by a company in berlin to improve the circulation of people with heart problems. bitterness, him is the c o 7 is an app to mark a small d n. a molecule that binds to these antibodies neutralizes them,

and helps the body to discharge them again also shine. holberg has also tried out b, c, 007 on a small number of long covert patients. among them is ox. um, nugget. his symptoms built up gradually over time on fung was and for the at 1st it was just the case of being a bit scatter brained, which workers megawatt. but then it got worse from each week to the next and mark raw and for my sense of taste, started acting out and i had issues keeping my balance in. plus i was often tired. i even fell asleep at work. sometimes bettina holberg administered him just one infusion of b. c 007 with rapid success. this one, but i wasn't quite so tired and i felt better with each successive williams good enough. after 3 weeks, i was pretty much back in tip top shape and felt fine for it. if it ever helped me, smith, the research as an airline and noticed similar improvements in their research. the

blood flow and their patients eyes improved. and there were no more auto antibodies in the blood. there were also other benefits that your benefits and g as in handy very it's what we noticed in the patients who took part in our research was that ourselves gradually started moving in the right direction. again, in terms of their deform ability and then for foremost gotten hacked in mid i'm dancing i gave missed assist by them, but we really weren't expecting results like this with symptoms completely disappearing among our patients. the one big hope we did have was that changes related to blood flow issues would improve. the patients even regaining their sense of taste was totally unexpected. lucon, this buffalo to complet nevada. a clinical study is underway in air long and to take a more in depth look at the effectiveness of b. c 007. it also aims to find out whether the medication that helped. ok, so now god can help all other long covert patience to sit

after the corona virus was transmitted to humans, it quickly started mutating. each subsequent mutation has been given a letter of the greek alphabet alpha, beta, gamma delta. and now army kron have been the most important variance. so far, the variance occur because the genes or the are any of the virus changed, which altered the spike protein on the virus. in the case of ami kron, the nucleus caps, that protein inside the virus has changed as well. a german geneticist traced the lineage of the corona virus in the process he found out it may have a different origin than many previously thought. the corona virus has had health authorities scrambling to track and isolate exposed and infected people . since the pandemic began, but the virus is elusive and despite testing slips through undetected, often it's impossible to trace. if trails could be detected in time, it's spread,

could be stopped, much faster. that's what has geneticist. misha, in foster hearted work here at the institute of clinical molecular biology and keel in northern germany. he's researching lineages, not of people, but cells. his approach is to analyze viral lineages of covet 19 to understand its origin and the way it spreads. he also uses this method with cancer diagnoses. for this, the dna of cancer cells must be decoded, not in via on zillow sequencing, our collected cancer cells. or we sort them using a networking analysis plethora on to observe the progression of the disease and contracts for lofts was in so which cells diverged 1st, which mutated 1st and which followed later on. treasure on dana, conch. michelle foster uses marbles to show how the network analysis works. as

cancer cells spread through the body, they mutate into new variance. this is shown by different colored marbles. he's arranging the cells in a lineage based on their mutations. this helps to show how they can be targeted during cancer treatment. so can his networking trace, the seemingly chaotic spread of corona virus is world wide using their genetic origins by corners to suit us with corona, we have a virus producing about 2 new mutations every month. using this network analysis method be evolution of variance can be simulated using the same mathematics as we do with the cancer mod, from who taught them with an abstract matilda civilian. misha is foster enlisted. his brother peter foster, also a geneticist at cambridge university to help. thus far, it's been

a family affair. when we know we were in a race against time, because the speed at which the pandemic was spreading, wasn't going to stop by the brothers collected all the genetic data from the 1st $160.00 cases of coven 19 worldwide. their analysis could determine where the virus originated, the hm. the kinetic so we use the genetics of the virus as the groundwork, rather than the chronological sequence of samples of their poems. i'm wrong, indiana. i'd be pure coincidence that the 1st sequence sample of this virus was found in woo, on the oscar business. but to trace the true or again, the foster brother's needed one crucial piece of information. the ancestor of the corona virus, from which all later variance evolved. a viral, a just from whoo hon. jesus lee has also been tracing the origins of corona viruses

. she was labeled bad woman from her work studying bats throughout. china sits the 1st corona pandemic in 2002 baths are known to be reservoir hosts of viruses. with the potential to trigger epidemics and humans. and she was on the right trail. in 2013, she discovered a virus almost identical to the pandemic variant in the southern chinese province of u. none she sequenced and published its genome the carriers, the chinese horseshoe. but the virus likely jumped to humans from bats who served as intermediate hosts. using this data, the forced us could piece together a lineage of sars covey to. they were able to uncover a network of relationships between corona virus variance worldwide from the early phases of the pandemic. this showed that the corona virus from woman was closely related to corona viruses that appeared in the southern chinese provinces of unit

and one done the virus variant in southern china, the green marbles was the closest most primordial to the virus from the bats. the dominant variant in whoo hon. the blue marbles was a later mutation for misha foster. this is proof that the pandemic started in southern china and not in warren. to day force does. network method can also be used to understand the current spread of new variance across the globe is i know insect schools catch this single infection chain, shown in blue art. tourists who returned from high risk areas by day not a month asked guitar when they tested positive. it was 1st suspected to be the dangerous indian delta variant over a state as a house does it have. but it actually turned out to be an alpha variant by the british variant, which is the network mapping shows was acquired in their local surrounding seattle

. chi am on lunch communications with health authorities confirmed this escalation, which is on types offer status to the foster brothers networking approach could help authorities quickly traced the origins of local clusters and stop the spread by a quarantine measures. but are the virus lineage is alone sufficient lava for to config upon to me, i believe that for fighting to bring the pandemic under control in the future plan has concrete plan is needing to get a plan of action comparable to how the military prepares for certain situations affect that would make this networking method an efficient tool to trace the origin from just the few cases, certain, for a fighting chance at beating a global pandemic. it might just take some unconventional approaches and ideas. what do we know about the army? kron variant of coven. 19 geneticist. michael foster. it gives us an update to florida. thanks for taking the time to talk to us. are you able to say exactly

where i'm across? originated and how it evolved? yes, yes. but i am yet to do so precisely. however, i'm able to estimate a time frame on the site. here's a rough diagram that i've drawn to day once, and the zip code was good city shown to under vantage tall. here we have wu han, these are initial munich cases. and then the italian cases, it's such on the con. yup, it's fine now here the omicron branched off long and there have been some 33 mutations since it evolved. spiker sheila, esther and then here are 2 different branches. the south african branch and the danish branch. she asked the can be what she wants hot at us fuels. do we know the rate of virus mutation, which is about 2 or 3 positions of the genome per month of constantly seconds comb, shut song. and then based on this very rough estimate, we can say that this branching into the to so to south african to denmark must have

happened in between february and july 2021. you would it's vital items francis, as he had sign the headline of what role does the ana cron variant play with in the sar is covey to family? and for example, is it comparable to a great grand niece of the original virus? it was how closely related is on a crown to the original city by young to the omicron variant, is a highly evolved descendant of the originals at cj a. so they're start, while i say highly evolved from the original virus. yes. in percentage terms, it's almost identical. se fussy dentists or folks by young to, for example, it spike gene shares a 99 percent similarity to that of the original virus for which the vaccines were developed. i enter this fuels, shoot us off g. so in this respect, i'm personally very reassured that my vaccination and booster are sufficient to protect me from oma cron. all site. will michelle, my concerts,

kenzie me with your calculations. are you already able to predict beyond on a cron, of what the corona virus will do next and why? if it ran the moment, we can only estimate the current mutation rate of $2.00 to $3.00 are any bases per month. so i have an, ah, the virus will likely not evolve to rapidly in the foreseeable future. what's it just feels rush, i'm dish finish. and i said section could occur if a living organism had 2 different viruses to completely different viruses. and they combines pfeifer sheets dealer, so i complex washington of the human. but even then, it's my opinion that any existing immunity from a vaccination or a prior infection would be at least partially effective way out of my not mine. okay, enough. so in this respect to i don't believe we should be too concerned about that . you mind i might have no tougher kind of thanks, tom. yes,

thanks very much for this interview. dr. foster. thank you. bye. if i'm a blood is red, why are they blew me? baby, and now it's time for of your question. if you've got a question about nature science or medicine, write to us or send us a video message via email or on social media. if yours is chosen, will send you a small surprise as a thank you. come on, just ask this week our question is for mohammed from india ah, which animals live the longest. ready ready the algebra giant tortoise lives on various islands in the indian ocean. it's not unusual for them to live longer than a century. the giant tortoise ad waiter was estimated to have lived 255 years. after his death, a commemorative postage stamp was issued in his honor. ready but the true

record holders can be found under water. the greenland shark, for example, can live to be up to 500 years old. no vertebrates live longer. this should come as no surprise since they don't even reach sexual maturity until about the age of a 150 years. one reason for the long lives of greenland sharks is that they grow very slowly. beyond that, they have few natural enemies. the extreme cold, which is associated with slow metabolism and maturation also helps them live longer . but an ocean co hog lived even longer than greenland sharks. it was 507 years old. researchers found the famous clam known as ming off the coast of iceland in 2006. it age was determined by counting the bands on the hinge region of the shell and later supported by carbon dating. the co hog

was born around $1499.00. during the era of the mean dynasty, but the all time record goes to the volcano sponge, which can be found in the ocean near antarctica. researcher's estimate that some of them lived to be up to 10000 years old. but one animal can live forever. at least in theory, the immortal jelly fish had only 5 millimeters in size. it has a rare capability as soon as it sells age or can no longer carry out certain tasks . the jellyfish thanks to the ocean floor and reverts to a younger state. during this process called trans differentiation, it transforms into a genetically identical paula. then it grows again to a medusa. unlike other mortal jelly fish, assuming it is an eaten or washed ashore, the immortal jellyfish can theoretically repeat this cycle forever.

ah, this can continue, seems pretty clever, doesn't it? many animals often display an incredible capacity for learning this goldfish can steer hey this dog can recycle but does that mean that they're actually smart enough to do math? the most famous animal mathematician is probably clever hans around 1900. the stallion amazed everyone when he was shown math problems on a board, he would give the result by tapping his hoof. but in the end, it turned out that hans could tell from his audiences, facial expressions when he had arrived at the right number

you could easter, is it neural biologist and his research, the cognitive abilities of animals, she has been able to show that they do have greater potential than previously thought, like a type somebody to you the for a long time, we totally underestimated animals. we now know that they had many abilities that we originally only attributed to humans, starting from a very good short term memory over smart decision making to abstract things, such as the early stages of math like them. to dig deeper, italian researchers have studied whether chicks can count 1st. they taught the chicks to think that colored balls were their fellow chicks. then the balls were hidden in different amounts behind 2 walls. the chicks could then see balls being exchanged between the walls. ah, eventually the chick sought out the larger ball group is that proof that they can

count he couldn't want him or chicks always want to be with a largest group of their kind because they simply feel safer there from predators in a minute. they feel safest in the middle of a grouping. that's why they seek out the larger groups. and that's shown very well in the test. the identified, the larger group, very reliably it. so here it's more about my quantity perception on in the checks could tell it less from more. this is a basis of mathematics, but it's not the same as arithmetic. now. however, these videos from the primate research institute at kyoto university showed that chimpanzees can reliably recognize numbers in the correct ascending order. in an intensified version of the experiment, the numbers were hidden after a short time and replaced by squares. nevertheless, the chimpanzees managed to tap the positions in the correct order

your countrymen often than come here. you might think that these apes can actually count, but what they were taught was to just tap the numbers sequentially as symbols high is that they learned it through years of training. i believe by lang and they can do it really quickly. and with a very, very high level of precision leash. now this points more towards an excellent short term memory. however, there are also experiments that suggest that monkeys can actually counseling this often topical, see, and couldn't like this chimpanzee on. so at kiara university, in a very short time, he was able to grasp the number of points and choose the appropriate number. another famous study, this one from 1998, was carried out on recess because they were shown 2 cards with dots. one after the other than 2 more cards with different numbers of dots. one of these cards showed

the total dots from the 1st 2 cards. after training, the animals recognized the card with the sum of the dots quite reliably. much you have listened to. some scientists would say that numbers were really added up here. i'm looking at, you know, however, it's interesting that the monkey vail, when the numbers of dots on the cards are almost identical, is cut via knob. and if the monkeys could re, lee add $3.00 and $5.00 together and get 8, and then it shouldn't be a problem when the numbers are almost similar and do, but they can't in vine ink. and so in this case often, and we would also chalk it up to quantity perception and so, and not real arithmetic. yeah. what i mean valuable spec, more niche for. however, there was once a chimpanzee who was actually credited with the ability to count on hockey fees card for pregnancy, okay. at ohio state university, it was possible to teach an animal to calculate for the 1st time. back in 1988

sheba female chimpanzee learned the meaning of numbers with the help of fruits and was able to carry out addition in the number range up to 8. 0, that's all for today. for more visit our website or our twitter profile. we'll be back next week on to morrow to day with more stories about science. see you next time and stay curious with ah, ah ah ah

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do you feel worried about the planet we to i'm neil, host of the on the grievance of cost and to me it's clear we need to change the solutions or out the join me for a deep dive into the green transformation for me to do with oh, where i come from, we have to fight for a fleet breast and was born and raised in a military dictatorship with just one tv shadow and a few newspapers with official information. as a journeys i work on the trip of many countries and their problems are always the same. for do socially inequality, a lack of the pre them of the bread and corruption. we can afford to stay silent when it comes to the defense of the humans on seaman whitefield. both will have to

decide to put their trust enough. my name is danny perez and i work at the w ah ah ah, this is dw news live from berlin, a diplomatic frenzied to avoid war on europe's eastern border. frances president, emmanuel michael, arrives, and the ukrainian capital key of for crisis talk.