New transport option scoots through Cambridge

The Swedish company Voi has begun a trial of e-scooters in Cambridge in partnership with the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.

Members of local government hope that the scheme will cut congestion and greenhouse gas emissions related to transportation.

“E-scooters certainly have potential and we are cautiously supportive of the trial that is about to get under way in Cambridge,” said Nicky Massey, the City Council’s Executive Councillor for Transport and Community Safety in a council press release.

The announcement caused much excitement in Cambridge’s local news outlets.

Cambridgeshire Live approved of the “strong and sturdy” feel of the scooters, as well as the “coronavirus-killing copper tape” wrapped around the handlebars.

Nonetheless, Varsity’s fellow journalists complained about the weight of the vehicle. There was also concern over the scooters’ safety after a similar trial was halted in Coventry.

Over at the Cambridge Independent, correspondents put “four key questions” to the manufacturer, covering concerns over such issues as potential anti-social use..

The new gadgets will be fitted with geofencing technology, making sure no-one will scoot too far out of town.

Residents can participate in the trial, which will last 12 months, by buying a subscription or paying as they go.

Pandemic melts North Poles dreams

Cambridge’s local North Pole will be cancelled, the organisers announced “with a heavy heart” on 13th October.

The decision comes after a consultation with the Cambridge City Council which came to the conclusion that the move would be best “for the safety of residents and visitors” during the pandemic.

“In the current climate, and with so many uncertainties, it is in everyone’s interest that we do what we can to manage the pandemic and cancel this year’s event,” a spokesperson for Arena, the company managing the event, said in a Council press release.

Despite the disappointing turn of events, Arena promised to be “back next year with an event to be remembered”.

Shock the body to sharpen the mind?

A group at the University’s UK Dementia Research Institute has discovered a ‘cold-shock’ protein in the blood of habitual cold-water swimmers at Parliament Hill Lido in London.

The protein, called RBM3, has been shown to prevent neural degeneration in mouse models of Alzheimer’s and prion disease.

“We compared you to a bunch of people doing Tai Chi who didn’t get cold and none of them got increased levels of this protein but many of you did,” Mallucci explained to the swimmers.

Mallucci was inspired by hibernating animals, who decrease the number of synapses in their nervous system during winter hibernation, to preserve energy. When bats and bears wake up, the connections are regenerated.

She voiced her thoughts on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, but was doubtful she would be able to test her hypothesis in humans for ethical reasons.

Luckily for Mallucci, one of the listeners, Martin Pate, was a cold water swimmer who regularly visited the Parliament Hill Lido. He emailed Mallucci to propose himself and his fellow enthusiasts as test subjects.

Mallucci believes that cold water swimming is not a viable treatment for dementia. Instead, the finding could be used to develop a drug that boosts production of RBM3.