The newsletter also discusses the struggle of getting Alzheimer’s drugs through the blood-brain barrier. The blood vessels in the brain have a special lining that only allows very tiny molecules to pass through, keeping most medicines out. Researchers have been working on methods to sneak drugs past this barrier for decades, and their efforts are beginning to show results.
Key takeaways:
- Heat pumps, which can cool and heat spaces using electricity, are being recognized as a breakthrough technology that could help reduce emissions from buildings currently heated with fossil fuels.
- Researchers are making progress in developing methods to deliver drugs past the blood-brain barrier, a challenge that has hindered the treatment of brain diseases.
- Microsoft briefly overtook Apple as the world's most valuable company, highlighting the ongoing AI boom.
- Scientists are concerned about the weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, a network of ocean currents crucial to the planet's climate system, due to climate change.