A Helsinki thesis cracked the wall that stopped every MS drug

A doctoral thesis defended this month at the University of Helsinki reports something unusual in multiple sclerosis research: two drug molecules that actually worked. Every previous remyelination candidate has failed.

Tapani Koppinen, working in Associate Professor Merja Voutilainen's research group, identified two separate compounds that triggered myelin regrowth in MS disease models. Both reduced neuroinflammation. Both crossed the blood-brain barrier in laboratory animals, which is the technical hurdle that has sunk countless brain-targeted drugs before they ever reached a patient.

The molecules work through entirely different mechanisms. One blocks a chronic cellular stress response that stalls repair. The other alters the scar tissue that physically obstructs nerve regrowth. The studies appeared in Molecular Therapy in October and Neuropharmacology in November.

MS affects roughly three million people worldwide. Current drugs slow the immune attack but cannot rebuild what is already lost. Koppinen's compounds have not reached clinical trials. They are, however, further than anything has come before.

No one asks. Some pay double, some pay nothing.

A pay-as-you-can restaurant in Stroud served 38,305 meals last year, roughly half of them below cost and 10% free, on the simple premise that no one is asked to prove anything. The Long Table, housed in the crumbling Brimscombe Mill in the Cotswolds, lists one or two dishes a night, seats guests at two long wooden tables, and posts a base price to cover costs. On a recent evening, that price was £10.30. The dish was panzerotti with caponata and a peppery rocket salad, plated with the care of a small trattoria rather than a canteen. "I come here because everyone can eat here," said Imad Hussein, a regular. "A lot of people sitting here are paying nothing, but I have just seen people in front of me paying double." Founder Tom Herbert, a fifth-generation baker, says most of his staff started out as customers who stayed.

A teen built a washer and dryer from water bottles

A Nigerian teen who goes online by the name Smartician has built a working miniature washer and dryer out of two plastic water bottles, some cardboard, glue, wires, and a small motor. He takes requests from viewers, and someone asked for a washing machine. He decided a washer needed a dryer beside it, so he made both. The washer fills with water at the press of a button, agitates a soapy scrap of cloth, and hands off to the spin chamber next door, which wrings the cloth nearly dry. Past builds include a blender and a model Lamborghini. The commenters, as commenters do, immediately started fundraising scholarships on his behalf. He may not need them. Smartician recently became the youngest recipient of the Nigerian Youth Academy startup scholarship, worth 1 million naira, or about $728.

Families saved $622 million when prison calls became free

Roughly 330,000 incarcerated people in the United States, about 15 percent of the prison and jail population, now have access to free phone calls, video calls, or messaging, according to a new report from the nonprofit Worth Rises. The report tracked six state prison systems, including California, New York, and the federal system, alongside more than a dozen county jails in Los Angeles, New York City, and Massachusetts. When agencies contracted directly with telecom providers instead of using revenue-sharing deals, costs fell about 62 percent in state systems and 68 percent in jails. Families have saved more than $622 million, most of it in Black and brown households. Daily call time per person in prisons climbed from roughly 25 minutes to nearly 45. In jails, it more than doubled. People used the extra minutes for the ordinary family news that never quite felt worth three dollars a minute. Staff reported that tensions inside dropped too.

A powder-blue octopus, the size of a golf ball, surfaces

Researchers with the Charles Darwin Foundation have described a new species of deep-sea octopus near the Galapagos Islands, a powder-blue, golf-ball-sized creature now formally named Microeledone galapagensis. The team first spotted it on footage from a remotely operated vehicle, where the audio captures scientists reacting roughly the way anyone would. "He's tiny!" "It's blue!" Octopus expert Janet Voight, brought in to identify it, said she knew immediately it was "something really special." Rather than dissect the single specimen, she built a 3D model from CT scans. The octopus is blue on top and deep purple underneath, coloring Voight believes helps it hide bioluminescent prey from predators while it eats. Its closest relatives in the Megaleledonidae family are larger animals that live in cold Antarctic waters, nowhere near the Galapagos. Voight has studied octopuses for four decades. "Hardly anybody on Earth has ever gotten to see them," she said. "I just feel lucky that I got to work with them."