The Guardian Weekly 14 January 2022
8 Global report
United Kingdom
SCI ENCE A N D EN V I RON M EN T
WILDLIFE
Room at the stables for
rare bats to breed
Rare bats that are breeding in south-
east England for the fi rst time in
a century will be encouraged to
rear their young in an innovative
maternity unit. A derelict stable
block at a secret location in Sussex
is due to be purchased for greater
horseshoe bats by the Vincent
Wildlife Trust and Sussex Bat Group.
The protection of the stables
comes after the return to Sussex
of Britain’s rarest bat. The only
known greater mouse-eared bat in
the country has been rediscovered
in a railway tunnel, two years after
it was previously spotted. Greater
horseshoe bats and the greater
mouse-eared bat are benefi ting
from climate change but may also
be thriving in Sussex because of the
spread of vineyards, experts say.
MEDICAL RESEARCH
Doctors transplant pig’s
heart into human patient
In a medical fi rst, doctors at the
University of Maryland medical
cent re transplanted a genetically
modifi ed pig’s heart into a human
patient in a last-ditch eff ort to save
his life. Doctors said on Monday that
the patient was doing well three
days after the highly experimental
surgery, though it was too soon to
know if the operation ha d been a
success. Nonetheless, it marked a
step in the decades-long quest to
one day use animal organs for life-
saving operations. Doctors said the
transplant showed that a heart from
a genetically modifi ed animal can
function in the human body without
immediate rejection.
The patient, a 57-year-old man,
knew there was no guarantee the
experiment would work but he was
dying, ineligible for a human heart
transplant and had no other option,
his son said. The next few weeks will
be critical as he recovers and doctors
carefully monitor how his heart
is faring.HEALTHDementia cases worldwide
on course to triple by 2050
The number of adults living with
dementia worldwide is on course to
nearly triple to 153 million by 2050,
according to a study published in the
Lancet Public Health.
Experts said it was clear that
dementia presented “a major and
rapidly growing threat to future
health and social care systems”
everywhere. US researchers said the
rise from an estimated 57 million
cases in 2019 would be primarily due
to population growth and ageing.
However, risk factors – including
obesity, smoking and high blood
sugar – would also fuel the increase,
they said. The Global Burden of
Disease study is the fi rst to provide
forecasting estimates for adults aged
40 and older across 195 countries.ANIMAL BEHAVIOURDogs can spot the diff erences
in human speech patterns
Re searchers from Eötvös Loránd
University in Hungary suggest dogs
pay attention to human chit-chat.
The study involved 18 dogs of various
ages and breeds that were trained
to lie in an MRI scanner without
restraint or sedation, while they
listened to excerpts from The Little
Prince. The results, published in the
journal NeuroImage,showed the
dogs’ brains can tell the diff erence
between speech and non-speech
when listening to human voices.POLITICSNew No 10 lockdown party
claims rock Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson was accused
on Monday of an “utterly
outrageous” breach of lockdown
rules as a leaked email showed one
of his top offi cials invited more
than 100 Downing Street staff to
a “bring your own booze” party
during the UK’s fi rst lockdown.
The police are now investigating.
The prime minister is believed
to have attended the No 10 garden
party on 20 May 2020 along with
Carrie Johnson, then his fi ancee,
after it was advertised by his
principal private secretary, Martin
Reynolds. The email invited
just over 100 employees to the
gathering at a time when social
mixing was banned except with
one other person from another
household outdoors in a public
place. About 30 to 40 are said to
have attended, but some staff
reportedly expressed reservations
at the time.
The leak put paid to the
diff erent explanations No 10 has
off ered for each new scandal, and
this week left the prime minister
personally exposed. A senior
Tory insider said: “The rules were
not just tweaked but snapped in
half. This is now incredibly close
to the PM. It’s very tricky to sack
someone [Reynolds] for a party he
[Johnson] attended.”
The revelation came after
warnings from senior Tory
fi gures that a cost-of-living
crisis is “driving angst” among
Conservative MPs about local
elections in May. The MPs are
conscious that the elections will
take place in the wake of rises in
energy and national insurance
charges due to come in three or
four weeks earlier.
Leader comment Page 49 The greater
mouse-eared
bat often feeds
by swooping
low and picking
up beetles. It
favours the
conditions in
Sussex vineyards
IMAGEBROKER/ALAMY10
Number of
countries who
broke or tied
their highest
temperature
record in 2021:
Oman, UAE,
Canada, the
US, Morocco,
Turkey, Taiwan,
Italy, Tunisia
and Dominica