Latest news with #Transylvania
The Independent
4 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Could a 70 million-year-old dinosaur fossil hold the key to new cancer discoveries?
Scientists believe dinosaur fossils could hold the key to new cancer discoveries and influence future treatments for humans. A decade-long study published in the journal Biology by researchers from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) and Imperial College London has identified preserved red blood cell-like structures in a dinosaur fossil. The findings raised the possibility that prehistoric creatures could be used to study ancient tumours, helping to complete the 'jigsaw' of cancer's molecular building blocks, and potentially influencing future treatments for humans. Professor Justin Stebbing, an oncologist at ARU, said the idea for the study began in 2016 after reading an article about the discovery of a new fossil in Romania with a tumour in its jaw. The remains were those of a Telmatosaurus transsylvanicus, a duck-billed, plant-eating 'marsh lizard', a specimen that had lived between 66-70 million years ago in the Hateg Basin in present-day Romania. 'Justin said, guys, I want to go and get this tumour and see what we can get out of it,' Dr Biancastella Cereser, a cancer specialist at Imperial, said. 'We wanted to see if this tumour in the dinosaur could give us any information about any parallel with human cancers, because the tumour that this dinosaur had was an ameloblastoma, a benign tumour in the jaw, which humans have as well.' From 2017, a team was put together, including three scientists who traditionally work on human cancers – Professor Stebbing, Dr Cereser, and Professor Pramodh Chandrasinghe from the University of Kelaniya in Sri Lanka. 'We contacted the town in Romania, which was very excited to loan us the fossil,' Dr Cereser said. 'We went to Romania and collected the specimen. We brought it back, and we basically drilled into it with a very, very, very fine drill. 'Then we mounted it into this very sophisticated microscope and imaged it. What we saw inside – there were some structures, some forms, that looked like blood cells.' This Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) technique enabled the researchers to identify low-density structures resembling erythrocytes, or red blood cells, in the fossilised bone. 'Up until recently, the fossil record and finding ancient things was really interesting for finding hard things like shells or skeletons to assess tissues,' Professor Stebbing said. 'But if we're trying to look at the building blocks of life or the building blocks of cancer, to understand cancer better, what we found was you can actually as well as seeing the skeleton, we can actually see soft tissue as well. 'We could actually see like the flesh of the cancer. This means we can look at cancer not only occurring in human or in animal models, but we can look at it tens and tens of millions of years ago. 'It helps us understand the role of environment on cancer.' He continued: ' Jurassic Park isn't right, because what they said is dinosaur DNA could be recovered and cloned to resurrect dinosaurs, but we can't get DNA out of this because it's broken down by weathering and time. 'But what we have found is that we've actually found proteins in soft tissues can survive over time. 'All we're trying to understand is the molecular building blocks of cancer from a very, very ancient perspective. 'If we can understand cancer better, we can come up with better treatments. I do a lot of research in cancer, so, you know, it all comes together. It's just part of a jigsaw that you are trying to build.'
The Independent
5 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
Scientists look to dinosaurs for modern cancer treatment
A decade-long study by Anglia Ruskin University and Imperial College London suggests dinosaur fossils could hold the key to new cancer discoveries and influence future treatments. Researchers identified preserved red blood cell-like structures in a dinosaur fossil, raising the possibility of studying ancient tumours. The study began in 2016 after the discovery of a tumour in the jaw of a Telmatosaurus transsylvanicus, a duck-billed dinosaur that lived 66-70 million years ago in present-day Romania. Scientists drilled into the fossil and used scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to identify low-density structures resembling red blood cells. Researchers want to understand the molecular building blocks of cancer from an ancient perspective, potentially leading to better treatments by studying soft tissues and proteins that survive over time.
The Independent
5 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
New dinosaur discovery could hold the key to human cancer treatment
Scientists believe dinosaur fossils could hold the key to new cancer discoveries and influence future treatments for humans. A decade-long study published in the journal Biology by researchers from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) and Imperial College London has identified preserved red blood cell-like structures in a dinosaur fossil. The findings raised the possibility that prehistoric creatures could be used to study ancient tumours, helping to complete the 'jigsaw' of cancer's molecular building blocks, and potentially influencing future treatments for humans. Professor Justin Stebbing, an oncologist at ARU, said the idea for the study began in 2016 after reading an article about the discovery of a new fossil in Romania with a tumour in its jaw. The remains were those of a Telmatosaurus transsylvanicus, a duck-billed, plant-eating 'marsh lizard', a specimen that had lived between 66-70 million years ago in the Hateg Basin in present-day Romania. 'Justin said, guys, I want to go and get this tumour and see what we can get out of it,' Dr Biancastella Cereser, a cancer specialist at Imperial, said. 'We wanted to see if this tumour in the dinosaur could give us any information about any parallel with human cancers, because the tumour that this dinosaur had was an ameloblastoma, a benign tumour in the jaw, which humans have as well.' From 2017, a team was put together, including three scientists who traditionally work on human cancers – Professor Stebbing, Dr Cereser, and Professor Pramodh Chandrasinghe from the University of Kelaniya in Sri Lanka. 'We contacted the town in Romania, which was very excited to loan us the fossil,' Dr Cereser said. 'We went to Romania and collected the specimen. We brought it back, and we basically drilled into it with a very, very, very fine drill. 'Then we mounted it into this very sophisticated microscope and imaged it. What we saw inside – there were some structures, some forms, that looked like blood cells.' This Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) technique enabled the researchers to identify low-density structures resembling erythrocytes, or red blood cells, in the fossilised bone. 'Up until recently, the fossil record and finding ancient things was really interesting for finding hard things like shells or skeletons to assess tissues,' Professor Stebbing said. 'But if we're trying to look at the building blocks of life or the building blocks of cancer, to understand cancer better, what we found was you can actually as well as seeing the skeleton, we can actually see soft tissue as well. 'We could actually see like the flesh of the cancer. This means we can look at cancer not only occurring in human or in animal models, but we can look at it tens and tens of millions of years ago. 'It helps us understand the role of environment on cancer.' He continued: ' Jurassic Park isn't right, because what they said is dinosaur DNA could be recovered and cloned to resurrect dinosaurs, but we can't get DNA out of this because it's broken down by weathering and time. 'But what we have found is that we've actually found proteins in soft tissues can survive over time. 'All we're trying to understand is the molecular building blocks of cancer from a very, very ancient perspective. 'If we can understand cancer better, we can come up with better treatments. I do a lot of research in cancer, so, you know, it all comes together. It's just part of a jigsaw that you are trying to build.'
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ethnic Hungarian, Moldovan voters saved Romania's democracy
Last week, just before midnight on Sunday, an important piece of news spread quickly around the world: The hard-right candidate George Simion has been defeated, democracy in Romania is safe, and the liberal, pro-European mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan, will be the next president of Romania. Another-important piece of news followed, which came as a surprise to many Romanian observers but was not as widely reported internationally: Romania's ethnic Hungarians and Moldovan citizens who also hold Romanian passports voted in record numbers for Nicusor Dan, making a decisive contribution to his victory. Conservative estimates say that over 500,000 — perhaps even over 700,000 — of these voters voted for Dan, which would account for a large proportion of his 830,000-vote lead over his opponent. In short, without the votes of these two groups, Dan could have lost the election. Ethnic Hungarians in Romania? Moldovans with dual citizenship? For those who do not know Romania well, this might sound like a niche issue to be discussed by election buffs. This probably explains why it received little international attention on the evening of the election. The fact is, however, that both groups play an important role not only in domestic politics in Romania, but also, by extension, in Europe. Hungarians have been a national minority in Romania since the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I, when Transylvania and other regions became part of Romania. There are currently around one million ethnic Hungarians in Romania, which accounts for about 5.5% of the total population. Most of these ethnic Hungarian Romanians support Viktor Orban, the autocratic prime minister of neighboring Hungary. Just a week before the second round of Romania's presidential election, Orban gave his backing to hard-right candidate George Simion, even though Simion has an explicitly anti-Hungarian stance and was in the news several years ago for violent actions that targeted the Hungarian minority. Orban likes to portray himself as the protector of all ethnic Hungarians outside Hungary. Nevertheless, from his perspective, backing Simion in Romania's presidential election was logical and of a higher priority because a Simion victory would have strengthened the "sovereignist" camp — in other words, the autocratic, pro-Russian, anti-EU camp — in Europe. For Romania's ethnic Hungarians, however, following Orban's lead and backing Simion was not an option. It would have meant voting for a politician with deep-seated anti-minority attitudes and, ultimately, against themselves. So, they didn't. This became clear on Sunday evening, when Romania's central electoral commission, the BEC, published the figures for each district (judet). Nicusor Dan received about 53.6% of the total vote, about 830,000 votes more than George Simion. The vote for Dan in all districts with a larger ethnic Hungarian population was massive. Although there are no exact statistics on ethnic voting patterns, experts like the Transylvanian Hungarian sociologist Nandor Magyari estimate that Dan got between 550,000 and 600,000 votes from Romania's Hungarian minority. "In this way, Romanian Hungarians voted for the preservation of liberal democracy and the continuation of Romania's Euro-Atlantic path," Magyari told DW. Some fascinating records were broken in Sunday's election: In the Romanian district of Harghita, where 85% of residents are ethnic Hungarian, an incredible 91% voted for Nicusor Dan, his best result in any Romanian district. Many Moldovans hold dual Moldovan–Romanian citizenship and are entitled to vote in elections in Romania. These voters also voted for Dan in record numbers. The president-elect received about 135,000 votes in Moldova — some 88% of all votes cast there. Most of what is now the Republic of Moldova and the Romanian region known as Moldavia were once both part of the Principality of Moldavia. Three-quarters of the people in the Republic of Moldova are Romanian-speakers, and the country is occasionally referred to as the "second Romanian state." Of the country's 2.45 million inhabitants, 640,000 hold dual Moldovan–Romanian citizenship. Many of this group live in western European countries and it is likely that they voted in large numbers for Nicusor Dan there, too. The reason for this is that Dan's opponent, George Simion, is in favor of the reunification of Moldova and Romania and the creation of a "Greater Romania" — an idea that is not very popular in Moldova. Simion has been barred from entering Moldova since 2014. What's more, Simion adopts a paternalistic tone towards Moldovans, which does not go down well with most of them. The Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), the party of Romania's Hungarian minority, has been part of almost every ruling coalition in Romania since 1996 and played a decisive role in fostering reconciliation between the two historical archenemies, Romania and Hungary. Orban has, however, in recent years instrumentalized ethnic Hungarians abroad — especially those in Romania — to his own ends. Over 90% of those with dual Romanian–Hungarian citizenship voted for him and his Fidesz party in recent elections. Indeed, up until last week, the UDMR had almost degenerated into a branch of Orban's party. Then came a major change: The UDMR and its chairman, Hunor Kelemen, and the leadership of the Hungarian Churches in Romania all unequivocally opposed Orban's recommendation to vote for Simion. "Orban made a mistake," Transylvanian-Hungarian lawyer and former UDMR politician Peter Eckstein-Kovacs told DW. "He believed that the Hungarians of Transylvania would swallow anything — even his international political nonsense — but he was wrong." Nevertheless, Eckstein-Kovacs does not see a rupture between the UDMR and Fidesz. "It is a crack in the relationship, not a rupture." Sociologist Nandor Magyari also believes that "overall, Hungarians in Romania will continue to be big supporters of Orban." The Republic of Moldova is, after Ukraine, the country most affected by Russian aggression. The Moldovan region of Transnistria is governed by a separatist, pro-Moscow regime. In addition, Russia has for decades been using energy supplies as a means of exerting pressure on Moldova. In the interests of its own security and for other reasons, Romania has long been helping neighboring Moldova to loosen its economic ties with Russia and to counter Russian influence there. Sometimes, however, the support is sluggish. Unlike his predecessor Klaus Iohannis, President-elect Nicusor Dan is interested in the Republic of Moldova and its welfare. In his victory speech in the early hours of Monday, Dan expressly thanked those in Moldova who had voted for him. Although he forgot to mention the ethnic Hungarians at the time, he did so in a television interview and a telephone call with the UDMR leader the next day. This article was originally published in German.
