There are various treatments for baldness (秃顶) on the market. But what if you could regrow your own hair out of your own head by simply using an ointment (药膏)?

In a paper, South Korean scientists describe a treatment for hair loss that doesn't just prevent hair loss — it promotes the growth of new follicles (毛囊) in hairless mice.

Led by professor Kangyeol of Yonsei University, a team of researchers discovered a protein responsible for hair loss in pattern baldness — the most common type of hair loss in both men and women. It has been a three-year painful research. The good news is that the team have finally found a protein that controls the hair growth and developed a new substance(物质) that promotes hair regrowth by controlling the function of the protein. “We expect that the newly developed substance will contribute to the development of a drug that not only treats hair loss but also promotes hair regrowth,” Kangyeol said.

The trouble-maker seems to be CXXC5, which acts as a negative regulator (调节器) linked to hair regrowth and wound recovery. When CXXC5 mixes with some other protein, it prevents follicle development and hair regrowth. A new substance developed by the team prevents this mixing. It’s called PTD-DBM, and when tried on the skin of bald mice for 28 days, new follicles developed.

New treatments often take time to develop. It’s not only because they need to go through clinical trials to determine their safety, but also as we know, using mouse models to study how well things might respond in humans doesn’t always work. However, the team’s research is making progress rapidly. They’re currently testing their new substance on animals to determine whether it’s harmful, before advancing to human trials.

As winter arrives, the problem of fogged-up car windscreens (挡风玻璃) becomes more pressing for drivers. Anti-misting sprays are one way to deal with such fogging. But they need frequent reapplication. Another approach is to fix a set of electrically powered heating wires. But because of the visual distraction (干扰) created, that doesn’t work for a car’s front windscreen.

Iran Hachler and Dimos of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology have, however, come up with another way of warming something up to stop fog forming. Their new material is a coating ten nanometer (纳米) thick. It is flexible, easily made, and can be applied as a coating to glass or plastic, or inset inside such materials. Its demisting system is powered by sunlight.

In effect, it is a gold sandwich. The “bread” of this sandwich is a pair of layers (层), top and bottom, of a chemical material. The filling is a four-nanometre deep golden material. The whole structure lets visible light pass unlimited, while absorbing invisible lights and transforming them into heat. It is the filling that warms the glass. Gold acts as a medium in the heating process. The network will now absorb heat if left in the sunshine.

Glass coated with Mr Hachler’s and Dr Dimos’s invention is, they claim, four times more effective at preventing fog than an uncounted surface. It absorbs around 30% of solar radiation incident upon it, which, on a sunny day, increases the temperature of what it is applied to by around 8℃ On a cloudy day, that temperature rise is closer to 3-4℃. But in either case the enhancement is enough both to remove any fog that has formed and to prevent new fog forming.

The next step, Mr Hachler says, is to find the product’s best market. Even though gold is used, the cost of adding this extra one is low. For the two inventors, though, the idea might prove a gold mine.

A driverless train took its first trip around Hamburg, Germany in 2021 and may greatly improve transportation in the city. Acknowledged as the world’s first, the train created by Siemens Mobility and Deutsche Bahn (DB) officially went into service in December.

This is part of a large modernization project for the city’s S-Bahn urban rail. There were no changes to the tracks, as the autonomous (自动的) trains run on the same network as the current trains that have drivers operating them.

“The railroad has arrived in the digital future and Digital Rail Germany may become a reality. With automated rail operations, we can offer our passengers a significantly expanded and improved service,” said Dr. Richard Lutz, CEO of DB. “The new trains can transport up to 30 percent more passengers and operate on time, and they will be more energy-efficient. They are also encouraged for environmental protection reasons.”

The trains receive signals via radios. There will be drivers present when there are passengers on board but they will only supervise (监督) the run and the passengers. There are now plans to digitize Hamburg’s S-Bahn system entirely by the end of the decade and the government has already decided to put money into new trains and infrastructure improvements.

Autonomous transportation technology is being used in taxis by Waymo, which started as the Google self-driving project in 2009. Other companies that are working on driverless cars include Tesla,GM, Nissan, and Zoox. These cars have to find their ways on roads with the help of GPS technology but driving on a track is much simpler and safer. “The new technology has already been officially approved and, since it features open interfaces (接口), it can immediately be used by operators worldwide for all types of trains,” said Dr. Roland Busch, CEO of Siemens. Maybe it’s time for the new autonomous revolution.