Euro News

Bordeaux, France just surpassed Paris in a new ranking of the world's most beautiful cities, with Europe dominating nine out of the top 10 spots. The rankings are based on buildings that adhere to the 'golden ratio' for balanced and harmonious structures. Venice takes the lead as the most beautiful city, followed by Rome and Barcelona in second and third place respectively. Despite iconic landmarks, Paris lands at 12th place. In fifth place is the only non-European city to make the top 10: New York City.

9 Out of 10 of the World’s Most Beautiful Cities Are in Europe, Says New Ranking

For a lot of teenagers, the phone comes to bed too.

At Clifton High School in Clifton, New Jersey, senior Gianna Colon is a three-sport athlete, sophomore Sebastian Fazio loves math and baseball, and sophomore Hamza Ramach is in band and is a goalie on the school hockey team. The three students also say they struggle with screen time.

Colon told CBS News that when she spends too much time scrolling on her phone, it makes her "feel drained."

According to students, they can spend anywhere from four to 13 hours per day on their phones, with bedtime being the biggest downfall.

"Sometimes, when I'm going to bed, I watch for a little bit, but then I get a little addicted," Fazio said.

Ramach admitted that he doesn't believe it is possible for him to cut down on screen time on his own accord.

For one week, the three agreed not to take their phones to bed, and to try different tools to reduce screen time during the day.

Colon tested out Brick, a square-shaped device, external to your phone, that can be used to block specific apps. The device can be left at home. To unblock the distracting apps, the phone must be tapped against the external device.

Ramach tried ScreenZen, a free app that takes a mindful approach to limiting screen time, by asking you to wait before opening distracting apps.

Fazio was shown how to use the grayscale mode on his phone, which removes the color, turning the screen to black-and-white.

"It does not look good," Fazio said when he saw Instagram in grayscale. "…It takes away all the joy in it."

The teens recorded video diaries three days into the experiment.

"I've been doing other things like diamond painting," Colon said in her video.

Ramach said he had "been focusing more on school work, less distractions, more sleep."

Fazio, meanwhile, said that he had "been more energetic waking up," and also feeling like he had "been communicating more with family and friends."

A week in, the reviews were still positive.

Colon said Brick "definitely" took away the temptation of using certain apps, because there was a physical barrier, so she couldn't unlock them while she was at school.

"It was honestly pretty good," Colon said. "It definitely helped me be more productive without my phone."

Ramach said ScreenZen "was great."

"It was tempting to unblock the apps, but I went through it," Ramach said, adding that his father noticed a positive difference in his behavior.

"I wanted to go to practice in the morning," Ramach said. "He was like, 'In the morning, what?'"

Fazio described his experience with grayscale as "pretty good," saying his screen use "went down a lot."

"I was at three hours before, and I'm at 20 minutes per day," Fazio said, adding that the difference felt "great."

The experiment focused on staying off phones at bedtime and using tools during the day to make scrolling less automatic. For Colon, that meant a physical block between her and the apps she wanted to avoid. For Ramach, it meant a delay before opening distracting apps. For Fazio, it meant making the screen less appealing by stripping away the color.

The students said the changes affected more than the amount of time they spent on their phones. Colon said she spent time on diamond painting. Ramach said he had more focus on school work and more sleep. Fazio said he felt more energetic in the morning and more connected with family and friends.

Asked what she wanted other kids to know after taking on this challenge, Colon said: "You don't need to depend on your phone for everything. Like there's so much more out in the world…besides just sitting on your phone for hours and scrolling through TikTok or Instagram."

New Jersey Teens Cut Screen Time And Say They Feel More Rested And Productive

Verywell Health

Ever looked up from a task and realized an hour vanished? No phone check, no wandering thoughts, just you and the thing you were doing.

Psychologists have a name for that feeling. It’s called flow.

Flow describes a mental state where someone becomes completely absorbed in an activity. In that moment, distractions fade, time feels distorted, and the person is fully engaged in what they’re doing.

The concept was popularized by psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, who described it as a form of deep immersion.

“The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost,” Csíkszentmihályi said in an interview with Wired magazine.

Think about a runner mid-race. Their attention locks onto breathing, muscle movement and the rhythm of their stride. Or a painter so focused on a canvas that hours pass unnoticed. That total concentration is the hallmark of flow.

Psychologists say the state can happen during many activities. Creative work such as writing or drawing often triggers it. So can sports like skiing, soccer or running. But it can also appear during everyday tasks like studying, coding or solving a challenging problem at work.

At its core, flow is about deep focus paired with enjoyment.

When people enter this state, they often report feeling energized, engaged and satisfied. Research suggests it can also improve performance and creativity, since the brain is operating with fewer distractions.

Scientists have identified several benefits linked to flow. People who experience it more often tend to report higher levels of happiness and fulfillment. It can also strengthen intrinsic motivation, meaning people pursue tasks for the internal reward of enjoyment rather than external rewards such as money or praise.

Flow may even help with emotional regulation. As individuals become more immersed in meaningful activities, they can develop stronger control over their emotional responses.

Researchers have also identified several characteristics that tend to appear during flow. These include clear goals, immediate feedback on performance and a balance between challenge and skill.

In other words, the task needs to stretch your abilities just enough to keep you engaged, but not so much that it becomes overwhelming.

“When challenges are too low, one gets back to flow by increasing them. If challenges are too great, one can return to the flow state by learning new skills,” Csíkszentmihályi explained.

The brain appears to change during these moments as well. Some studies suggest activity decreases in the prefrontal cortex, a region associated with self-conscious thinking and time awareness. That shift may help explain why people lose track of time or stop worrying about themselves while immersed in an activity.

Another theory proposes that flow allows different brain regions to synchronize more effectively, helping thoughts and actions feel smoother and more automatic.

Researchers have also observed increased dopamine activity during flow states. Dopamine is a brain chemical tied to pleasure, reward and motivation, which may help explain why people often describe flow as deeply enjoyable.

Flow can sometimes resemble something called hyperfocus, a term often used in discussions of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Both involve intense concentration, but they are not identical.

Hyperfocus can lead people to become so absorbed in a task that they neglect other responsibilities. Flow, on the other hand, is generally seen as a beneficial state tied to well-being and productive engagement.

The good news is that flow isn’t limited to artists, athletes or programmers. Almost anyone can experience it.

Psychologists say reaching this state often takes around 10 to 15 minutes of uninterrupted concentration. Once achieved, the state can last anywhere from about 30 minutes to several hours.

There are also practical ways to increase the chances of entering flow.

Clear goals help. Tasks with defined objectives allow the brain to focus on specific actions and outcomes. A chess match is a classic example, where every move provides immediate feedback.

Reducing distractions also matters. Notifications, noise and interruptions compete for attention, making deep focus harder to achieve. Turning off alerts or working in a quiet environment can help create the conditions for flow.

Adding the right level of challenge is another key ingredient. People often experience flow when tackling something slightly beyond their current abilities. That stretch keeps the mind engaged and motivated.

Mindfulness and meditation may also help. Research suggests that athletes who practice mindfulness techniques may enter flow states more easily and perform better.

But perhaps the simplest ingredient is enjoyment.

Flow is far more likely when someone is working on something they genuinely like doing. Once people learn how to reach the zone during activities they enjoy, they often find it easier to apply the same focus to less appealing tasks.

In the end, the phenomenon is less mysterious than it might seem.

Flow happens when focus, challenge and interest align just right. And when they do, the clock seems to disappear.

How To Tap Into Flow State And Boost Focus, Happiness And Performance

France24

What started as a joke in a French office has turned into a missing piece of Archimedes’s history.

A researcher at France’s CNRS research centre has found a long-lost page from the Archimedes Palimpsest, a manuscript copied in the 900s AD that preserved works by the ancient Greek mathematician before the text was erased and reused around two centuries later as a Christian prayer book.

Victor Gysembergh, who found the page, told AFP the palimpsest was a "treasure trove of lost texts from antiquity".

Archimedes, who lived in the third century BC in Syracuse, is considered one of history’s greatest mathematicians and inventors. Among his discoveries was the principle of buoyancy, which he famously struck while stepping out of a bath and shouting "Eureka!".

His writings survived through the centuries in the palimpsest, a handwritten parchment whose original text had been scraped off before being written over again. Gysembergh said the manuscript contains Archimedes’s mathematical work as well as his "philosophical, literary and religious" writings.

The manuscript itself was not written by Archimedes. It was copied in the 900s AD, then erased and reused as a prayer book about 200 years later.

By the 1800s, it was held by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, including inside a library in Constantinople, now Istanbul. Danish historian Johan Ludvig Heiberg found the palimpsest there and photographed every page in 1906.

At some point during World War I, the document disappeared. It later turned up in the private collection of a French family, which put it up for auction in 1998. It was bought by an anonymous Western businessman.

Germany’s Der Spiegel newspaper quoted insiders claiming the buyer was Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, but the buyer’s identity remains unknown.

Three of the palimpsest’s 177 pages had vanished. Gysembergh said he became involved because he is interested in palimpsests as a source of lost writing.

"I am interested in palimpsests because they are a way to discover lost texts," said the lead author of a study in the German Journal of Papyrology and Epigraphy.

He said he sometimes searches for palimpsests in library collections for fun, and that this latest find happened "due in part to a joke".

One day, while talking with colleagues, Gysembergh mentioned that the old kings of France had kept part of their library in Blois, in central France.

"Hey, let's see if there's a palimpsest in Blois," he told his colleagues.

He then found a listing on Arca, an online catalogue of digitised manuscripts, for a manuscript held by the city’s museum of fine art.

"It was very unexpected to stumble upon a Greek manuscript," Gysembergh said.

"And even more so to find a 10th-century scientific treatise!"

He compared the pages with Heiberg’s 1906 photographs of the Archimedes Palimpsest and said the handwriting, the geometric figures and even the errors matched perfectly.

One side of the page contains Archimedes’s treatise "On the sphere and the cylinder", described as the first time the surface area of a sphere and its volume were set out in such detail.

The other side contains a newer drawing that is thought to have been added in the 1900s to raise the document’s value.

Gysembergh hopes to use multispectral imaging and X-ray fluorescence in the coming year to read the text beneath that drawing.

He also said he hopes the find could help locate the other two missing pages.

"Until this discovery, we had no reason to hope we would ever find them," he said.

"Now, if institutions or private collectors have this kind of manuscript, they should think about whether it could be one of the other lost pages."

A French Researcher Found a Long-Lost Archimedes Manuscript Page in a Museum Archive

People

Shakira says her first Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nomination feels “surreal” and “a privilege,” after landing a place on this year’s ballot for the first time.

The Grammy-winning Colombian artist spoke to the Associated Press on Wednesday, March 11, after earning the nomination last month.

“I feel really humbled and excited at the same time,” Shakira, 49, told the Associated Press. “It’s incredible to be nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and a little bit surreal as well.”

Shakira said the recognition matters to her because rock has been part of her music from the start.

The “Hips Don’t Lie” performer said she has “experimented with different genres in my career,” and added that she “started out as a rock artist and continued to make rock.” She pointed to three albums in her catalogue that are influenced by the genre: Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran, Tiempo Sin Verte and Cómo Dónde y Cuándo.

Rock music is “an intricate part of my artistic persona,” Shakira said.

“And everything that I listen to is rock music. So, to be nominated, for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, knowing that there are so many incredible icons of rock music that I adore, that inspired me, like The Rolling Stones [are in there] … to me, it is just a privilege and really an amazing moment in my career,” she told the Associated Press.

She also said the nomination still feels hard to process.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” she said. “But this year, like, all my wishes are coming true and I think this nomination is one of those things that you probably fantasize about sometime in your career but try not to get too fixated on it.”

Shakira said the moment also means a lot to the people who have followed that part of her work.

“Being nominated is a huge deal for me and my fans who followed my rock career,” she said.

The singer also spoke about what the nomination means to her as a Latina artist.

“I feel very proud as a Latina,” she said. “I feel like, ‘Oh damn, I don’t know how many Latinos are there, or Latinas, or at least Colombians.’ I think it might be the first time for a Latino woman, someone born and raised in Latin America, you now, but who is loved and has been devoted to rock ‘n’ roll since I was, I don’t know, 15.”

“I’m happy to feel that I’m representing a part of my community there,” explained Shakira.

Shakira is one of several first-time nominees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year. The list of first-time nominees also includes Jeff Buckley, Phil Collins, Melissa Etheridge, Lauryn Hill, INXS, New Edition, Pink, Luther Vandross and Wu-Tang Clan.

The full list of nominees for the class of 2026 includes The Black Crowes, Buckley, Mariah Carey, Collins, Etheridge, Hill, Billy Idol, INXS, Iron Maiden, Joy Division/New Order, New Edition, Oasis, Pink, Sade, Shakira, Vandross and Wu-Tang Clan.

If selected, Shakira would become a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year.

The inductees will be announced in April. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will also reveal recipients of the Musical Influence Award, Musical Excellence Award and the Ahmet Ertegun Non Performer Award.

Shakira Calls First Rock Hall Nomination Surreal And A Win For Latin Music

Talker News

An orangutan surrogacy program in West Borneo is giving orphaned orangutan infants a second chance at life. The initiative, run by YIARI in partnership with Sussex-based International Animal Rescue (IAR), pairs adult female orangutans with orphaned infants to provide them with the maternal care they desperately need.

At YIARI's rehabilitation center, supported by IAR, the team has successfully rescued and released 267 orangutans. Of these, 131 are now thriving in the wild. However, for the youngest who have lost their mothers due to deforestation and human-wildlife conflict, survival without maternal guidance seemed impossible—until now.

The surrogacy program aims to fill this gap by pairing orphaned infants with surrogate mothers who teach them essential survival skills such as climbing, foraging, and nest-building. This nurturing environment helps prepare them for eventual release back into their natural habitat.

Currently, there are eight surrogate mother-infant pairs at YIARI. Five of these pairs have already been released into Bukit Baka Bukit Raya National Park, where they continue to live freely. Alan Knight OBE, President of IAR, emphasized the impact of this initiative: "This programme is absolutely transformational. It gives orangutan babies a mother again and with her, a future."

The plight of these young orangutans often begins when their mothers fall victim to habitat destruction or are killed due to conflicts with humans. The surrogacy program not only offers these infants a chance at survival but also aims to restore their trust in the forest—a crucial step towards their independence.

For those interested in supporting this cause and helping more orphaned orangutans find surrogate mothers and eventually return to the wild, further information is available through IAR's channels.

Orphaned Orangutans Are Now Thriving With Surrogate Moms' Care

Incredible footage captured the moment two men and a dog were rescued from raging floodwaters by a helicopter which landed on top of their swamped vehicle near Katherine, in the Northern Territory, on Wednesday, March 11.

The Northern Territory Police Force said the Joint Emergency Services Communication Centre received a report that a vehicle had been washed off the Victoria Highway in Manbulloo.

“Katherine police and Northern Territory Emergency Service members deployed to the area and began coordinating a rescue effort. A nearby Heli-Muster R44 helicopter provided assistance and airlifted the trio to safety,” the police force said.

“This was a life-threatening situation that goes to show just how quickly these flood waters can turn dangerous,” Incident Controller Emma Carter said.

“I would like to commend the actions of all those involved as you have almost certainly saved three lives.”

The Bureau of Meteorology issued several major Flood Warnings, as severe thunderstorms brought heavy rainfall to the area.

This Pilot Landed a Helicopter on a Vehicle, Saving Two Men and a Dog From Raging Floodwaters

Good News Network

A simple idea is pulling a lot of weight in the North Pacific.

In a little over three years, Hawaiʻi Pacific University’s Bounty Project has removed more than 84 metric tons of derelict fishing gear from the North Pacific Ocean by turning commercial fishing trips into ocean cleanup work.

The project pulls nets, lines and floats out of the water before they drift into reefs and shorelines or threaten endangered marine wildlife. According to the university, it is one of only three known efforts to remove debris in the distant North Pacific Garbage Patch.

Hawaiʻi Pacific University’s Center for Marine Debris Research organised the Bounty Project and launched it in November 2022. The idea was straightforward: place fishers who are already working on the ocean at the centre of the response.

The project operates through partnerships with the Hawaiʻi Longline Association and the Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources. Eligible commercial fishers are compensated to recover derelict gear during routine fishing activity, so debris is removed at sea rather than after it reaches shore.

“It is incredible that we are now approaching 200,000 pounds of gear removed from the ocean through this project,” HPU CMDR Project Manager Katie Stevens said in a statement, “and it has been great to see the enthusiasm and engagement of the commercial fishers as stewards of the ocean environment.”

The Bounty Project is supported through a 2022 award from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program, with Ocean Conservancy providing matching funds. Hawaiʻi Pacific University said that support has helped scale up removals and strengthen the project’s recovery system and partnerships.

“This project stands out for its innovative approach, partnering with commercial fishers toward a solution. Compensating those already on the water to remove derelict fishing gear, maximizes both efficiency and environmental benefit,” said Mark Manuel, NOAA Marine Debris Program’s Pacific Islands Region Coordinator.

The university said 77 commercial fishers carried out more than 690 ghost gear seizures. Recovered items were brought ashore for reuse, recycling, energy recovery or responsible disposal.

Among participating non-longline fishers, gear was removed within 12 hours of first detection 88 percent of the time, according to the university. It said that rapid response helps stop debris from repeatedly snagging and dragging across sensitive habitat.

The project also included monthly surveillance of sensitive reef habitats, including Kāneʻohe Bay, to support rapid-response recovery where derelict gear poses immediate risk.

“The financial reward has created friendly competition and results in a very rapid response to get the nets off of reefs to give the corals a fighting chance of survival,” said fisherman Hank Lynch, who took part in the project.

“When the nets are too large, we call on the other bounty fishers for help and split the reward. The payment helps to diversify the income of commercial fishers and supports maintenance of our vessels so we have the capacity to continue this work.”

Most of the recovered equipment is shredded and incinerated, according to the university. But about 1 metric ton of gear was shredded and recycled into a Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation experimental pavement project in ʻEwa Beach called Nets-to-Roads.

Some recovered material has also been stored for further recycling research.

Hawaiʻi Pacific University said it is now seeking support to keep removal efforts going, strengthen rapid-response recovery in sensitive reef areas, and advance solutions to stop ghost gear entering the ocean in the first place.

Interested parties are encouraged to contact HPU CMDR director Jennifer Lynch, PhD.

📸 Derelict Fishing Gear – Courtesy of HPU’s Center for Marine Debris Research

Hawaiʻi Fishers Just Removed 185,000 Pounds Of Ghost Gear From The Pacific

Sunny Skyz

For two years, Koko was gone. Then a small dog from Texas turned up wandering near a shopping mall in New Jersey, and a phone call changed everything.

Koko, who lives with her family in Glenn Heights, Texas, was spotted on March 4 in Clark, New Jersey, about 1,300 miles from home. A passerby saw the little dog roaming around the shopping center and called the Clark Township Police Department.

Officer Nick Kurus responded and brought Koko back to police headquarters. Staff there started trying to find out where she belonged.

Police were able to locate a pet-finder service connected to the dog and eventually got contact information for the last recorded owner. When Kurus made the call, the reaction on the other end was shock.

Koko’s owners had been looking for answers since she disappeared in Texas two years earlier. Over time, they had started to believe they might never see their dog again.

That changed with the call from New Jersey.

The family quickly made plans to fly there, and a reunion was set for March 7, just a few days after Koko was found.

While they waited, officers at the Clark Township Police Department decided not to send Koko to a shelter. Instead, they looked after her themselves at the station.

“Rather than being sent to a shelter, members of the Clark Police Department cared for the dog the next 3 days,” the department explained.

During that time, officers bathed Koko, gave her treats, took her on regular walks, and kept her comfortable with blankets and toys. Some of those supplies were bought by staff members with their own money.

Police Director Patrick Grady said the choice was simple.

“As a dog lover amongst many other dog lovers, we were not going to make that puppy wait in a shelter or pound,” he said.

Koko settled into station life while the officers kept up with their regular duties. Grady said she was especially comfortable in one part of headquarters.

“Koko was living her best life inside the dispatch room the last 3 days,” said Grady. “Hopefully it will get even better being reunited with her family again.”

By the time March 7 arrived, Koko had become something like an honorary member of the department. But the focus stayed on getting her back to the people who had spent two years without her.

When the reunion finally happened, police said Koko ran straight to her mom as soon as she arrived.

Her owners thanked the department for the kindness and compassion officers showed while Koko was waiting to go home. For the police officers who had cared for her over those three days, the goodbye was hard too.

“We will miss you, Koko,” the department wrote on Facebook.

One question still has no answer. No one knows how Koko traveled from Texas to New Jersey during the two years she was missing.

📸 credit: CBS Evening News

Lost Dog Travels 1,300 Miles; Reunites With Family After Police Care

The Guardian

At the Sansevero Chapel Museum in Naples, visitors are usually kept behind a protective barrier. But next week, about 80 blind and partially sighted people will be invited to step closer and touch the marble works inside the chapel.

The museum will host a day of guided tours called La meraviglia a portata di mano, or Wonder within reach, in partnership with the Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired of Naples.

The initiative will give dozens of visually impaired visitors access to a tactile experience with some of the chapel’s best-known sculptures, including Giuseppe Sanmartino’s Veiled Christ. The work is widely regarded as one of the most striking masterpieces in the history of sculpture.

For the event, the protective barrier around the sculptures will be removed. Participants will wear latex gloves as they explore the surfaces of the marble by touch.

The tactile route will include the Veiled Christ, which depicts Jesus covered by a transparent shroud carved from the same block as the statue. It will also extend to the reliefs at the feet of the sculptures La Pudicizia and Il Disinganno.

Visitors will be guided through the chapel by guides who are also visually impaired. The programme is designed to place accessibility at the centre of the museum experience.

Chiara Locovardi, a guide, told the state agency Ansa: “The veil covering Christ is extraordinary. It’s impossible to understand how Sanmartino managed to create it. The veil defies explanation, for those who can see and for those who cannot. When you touch it, you can feel the veins pulsing beneath.”

Completed in 1753, the Veiled Christ is described as one of the most astonishing achievements in marble. The transparency of the shroud over Jesus’s body appears so real that many still believe it must be the result of a lost alchemy capable of turning fabric into stone.

Maria Alessandra Masucci, the president of the Sansevero Chapel Museum, said the event sits within a broader plan by the museum to make its spaces more open to different visitors.

“This initiative forms part of our wider programme to create a cultural space that is inclusive and accessible through dedicated pathways and tools tailored to the different needs of museum visitors,” she said.

Giuseppe Ambrosino of the Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired said the project reflected a wider idea about who art is for.

“That the enjoyment of beauty should be a universal right,” he said.

He added: “Art must not be a privilege reserved for sight. Accessibility projects such as this transform a museum into a place of genuine inclusion, affirming that art belongs to everyone. In this case, visitors will not only be allowed to touch the marble sculpture; beauty itself will be able to flow through the hands and reach straight to the heart.”

The event centres on one of the chapel’s most celebrated works. The Veiled Christ has long drawn attention for the way Sanmartino rendered the cloth over the body of Jesus from the same block of marble as the figure itself.

For this initiative, that effect will be experienced through touch rather than sight. The museum says the guided route has been built around accessibility, with visually impaired guides leading blind and partially sighted visitors through the chapel and to the sculptures and reliefs included in the programme.

About 80 visitors are expected to take part in the day. They will be able to feel the intricate marble surface of works that are normally viewed at a distance, including the Veiled Christ and the reliefs at the feet of La Pudicizia and Il Disinganno.

Masucci said the museum’s aim was to create “a cultural space that is inclusive and accessible through dedicated pathways and tools tailored to the different needs of museum visitors.”

📸 By David Sivyer - https://www.flickr.com/photos/argyle64/15225084721/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44683709

Naples Museum Invites Visually Impaired Visitors To Experience Art Through Touch

What usually gets thrown out at the fish market could end up helping repair damaged eyes.

Researchers at the University of Granada say they have developed corneal implants from fish scales, with promising results so far in laboratory tests and in animals. The work points to a possible way to reduce reliance on donor corneas, which remain in short supply.

Scientists at the university's Department of Histology have spent years studying fish scales as a waste material with medical potential. By analysing the scales of carp and other commonly eaten fish, the team developed what they describe as a biocompatible, durable and transparent implant that can repair damaged corneas.

The cornea is the clear layer at the front of the eye. When it is seriously diseased, treatment can be difficult. The tissue heals poorly and has no direct blood supply, leaving doctors with limited options beyond a full transplant. Donor tissue is scarce, and demand exceeds supply.

"It is necessary to develop new effective methods of regeneration that do not depend on organ donation," said Miguel Alaminos, professor of Histology at the University of Granada and one of the study's lead authors.

The findings were published in the journal Materials & Design. According to the study, an exhaustive analysis of the scales made it possible to develop a biomaterial with properties suitable for corneal repair. Tests carried out in laboratory conditions and on experimental animals produced good functional results.

The researchers also point to the cost and availability of the material. Fish scales are a by-product of the fishing industry and are often discarded. Using them as a raw material for medical implants could also create an economic use for that waste.

"This product is very accessible, easy to obtain and inexpensive, and could contribute to boosting the fishing sector in an area that is being affected by numerous restrictions and conditioning factors," said Ingrid Garzón, professor of Histology at the UGR and researcher at the ibs.GRANADA Biosanitary Research Institute.

The work was funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, within the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, through project PI23/00335.

The research was presented in the presence of Manuel Reyes, manager of the Hospital Clínico San Cecilio de Granada. His attendance reflected clinical interest in the development of this line of research.

For now, the results remain preliminary. The laboratory phase and animal testing have cleared the first steps, but the implants still need clinical trials in humans before they can reach operating theatres. That process usually takes years and is subject to strict regulation.

At this stage, the Granada team says it has shown that the material works at a biological and structural level. The idea that carp scales can be turned into a viable cornea is still short of clinical use, but the researchers say the hypothesis is supported by data.

The study describes the implants as having properties suitable for corneal repair, and tests carried out both in laboratory conditions and on experimental animals yielded good functional results.

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