This week on Spectrum: Ex vivo technique broadens availability of lung transplants, New research with stem cells is showing progress, grabbing energy through the implosive force of nature, and teaching toddlers how to play chess. Ex-vivo technique broadens availability of lung transplants Keeping organs viable once a donor has died is a very complicated process that, up until now, has only really been possibly within the controlled environment of a hospital. Hundreds of thousands of people all over the world are currently waiting for an organ transplant. Some have been on the list for years, while others have died before their number has come up. Spanish doctors are hoping to change that � at least when it comes to those in need of new lungs. A group of doctors in Madrid have performed two groundbreaking lung transplants with a technique that actually involves the preservation, testing and treatment of the lungs outside the body, which means more people can be donors, even if they do not die in a hospital. Report: Mikkel Larsen New research with stem cells shows progress Despite controversy, research with stem cells continues and has produced several potential new breakthroughs. Stem cell research has been going on in one form or another since the mid 1960s. These tiny multipurpose building blocks have been seen by some as pure miracles and by others as the first step down the slippery slope to reproductive cloning. But whatever view you take, there is little doubt about the potential stem cells have. Later this year a US company hopes to begin the first human trials of embryonic stem cells for spinal cord injuries. And there are also plans to reconstruct missing body parts for soldiers injured in battle. Report: Laura Iiyama Energy from the implosive force of nature Hydro and wind energy have been buzz words for a long time and while they work pretty well, there is another way to utilize nature to provide energy. Petroleum products have been the fuels of choice for more than century. Vaporized and burned, they power machines that turn wheels and make our world move. But there are those who aren�t satisfied with this system. Engineers in south western Germany have been developing machines powered by using the energy trapped in water and air. It is not a new idea. Viktor Schauberger, an Austrian researcher living in the last century worked tirelessly on it. But his motto, to understand nature and then copy it, still holds true to this day. Report:Christian Quiring / Sophie Tarr Chess for children Chess is known around the world as a complicated, demanding game. But a group of German kindergartners do not see it that way. What do small chocolate candies and the game of chess have in common? Quite a lot, according to Ralf Schreiber. Several years ago Schreiber, a marketing analyst and passionate chess player, taught his then two year old daughter how to play the game and he did it in part by using Smarties. Impressed by his daughter's success, Schreiber came up with a plan to spread the game of chess to as many toddlers as he could through a pilot project that brings the game into the classroom. But how is it that children are able to learn board game so complicated that it often frustrates adults? Report:Leila Winther / Ranjitha Balasubramanyam
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