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There is a very iconic accent you often hear in old Hollywood movies. It is often referred to as the trans-Atlantic or mid-Atlantic accent.

You can find many videos and websites such as Wikipedia that claim the accent was a fabricated accent. However, the truth seems to be quite different. This video sets the record straight.

Health Sciences

Diabetes-Reversing Drug

In a new study published in Science Translational Medicine, A new drug tested in mice increased the number of beta cells in the pancreas sevenfold, effectively reversing diabetes symptoms.

This achievement, described as a "functional diabetes cure," is unprecedented in drug development.

In just three months, the mice's cells began producing insulin again through a combination of two drugs: harmine, which inhibits the enzyme DYRK1A, and a GLP1 receptor agonist, found in the diabetes drug Ozempic.

Researchers from Mount Sinai and City of Hope tested their drug by injecting human beta cells into mice and then administering the treatment. The beta cells increased sevenfold in three months, with diabetes symptoms disappearing within a month after treatment stopped.

Previous attempts at this concept involved converting stem cells into human pancreas beta cells in vitro and transplanting them into diabetes patients, a costly and time-consuming procedure.

“This is the first time scientists have developed a drug treatment that increases adult human beta cell numbers in vivo,” said Dr. Adolfo Garcia-Ocaña, corresponding author of the study. “This research brings hope for future regenerative therapies to treat the hundreds of millions of people with diabetes.” Harmine alone has undergone a phase 1 clinical trial in humans for safety and tolerability, but DYRK1A inhibitors have not.

World News

First Ever Cheese Museum Opens in Paris

In the heart of Paris, a new museum has opened dedicated to the ancient art of cheesemaking in France, the continent’s second-largest producer after Italy.

At the Musee du Fromage, visitors can explore the 5,000-year history of cheesemaking, learn about various famous French cheeses, see cheese being made, interact with cheesemakers, and taste the products. Pierre Brisson, who fondly remembers his childhood fascination with market cheesemakers, is the mastermind behind the museum.

Fifteen years ago, Brisson noticed the prominent Parisian museums dedicated to wine, but cheese, an equally iconic French symbol, was missing.

“People can see cheesemaking live and also talk to the cheesemaker,” Brisson told Euronews. “We are working with many traditional farmers, so we want people [to feel like they’re] kind of traveling when they taste the cheese. We are opening a little window in the heart of Paris to the rural side of France.”

France has given the world beloved cheeses like Camembert, Brie, Epoisses du Bourgogne, Roquefort, Ossau Irati, Comte, and La Tur. “[The process] depends on so many things, even the humor of the animals whose milk is being used,” Agathe de Saint-Exupéry, an expert at the museum, tells the Guardian. “You can make the same good cheese every day, and every day it will taste different. It just cannot be done industrially.”

Cheesemaking is a well-regarded profession in France, offering better pay than many rural activities. However, Brisson knows it’s a demanding job currently facing a labor shortage.

As more people move from the countryside to the cities, Brisson hopes the museum will help visitors reconnect with their rural heritage and appreciate its contributions to urban life. “Now, we are able to know, thanks to science, a lot of things about cheese. But our ancestors, they didn’t know all these details, but they still could make amazing cheese and develop very amazing skills of cheesemaking. So there is a know-how that’s developed for centuries that we kind of inherited today. We have a responsibility to keep this alive and to continue to pass to new generations the passion.”

Environment

First Beaver in 400 Years Born in English Countryside

England is celebrating the birth of the first beaver kits in the country since their reintroduction to the north last year.

Landscape managers in England are surprised by the changes brought about by just one year of beaver activity at the Wallington Estate in Northumberland. Dams, mudflats, and ponds have appeared across the landscape.

Released into a 25-acre habitat on the estate last year, the four beavers at Wallington are part of a series of reintroductions across the UK starting in 2021 in Dorset. Last year, GNN reported that Hasel and Chompy were released into the 925-acre Ewhurst Estate in Hampshire in January 2023. The beavers that have now reproduced established their home in Wallington in July. “Beavers are changing the landscape all the time, you don’t really know what is coming next and that probably freaks some people out,” said Paul Hewitt, the countryside manager for the trust at Wallington. “They are basically river anarchists.”

“This time last year I don’t think I fully knew what beavers did. Now I understand a lot more and it is a massive lightbulb moment. It is such a magical animal in terms of what it does.”

It’s believed that the only animal which alters the natural environment to the same extent as humans is the beaver. Their constant felling of trees to construct dams causes creeks to build up into pools that spill out during rainfall, cutting numerous small channels into the soil that distribute water in multiple directions.

Hewitt says that in Wallington this has led to the return of wildlife like kingfishers, herons, and bats. Recently the mature pair of beavers mated and produced a kit, though its sex is not yet known because beavers don’t have external genitalia.

These beaver reintroductions have led to many sightings around the country. Those at the National Trust working to rewild the beaver back into Great Britain hope the recovery of the landscape will convince authorities to permit further reintroductions to bigger areas.

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Mind Stretchers

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What comes out at night without being called, and is lost in the day without being stolen?

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