In a landmark discovery, archaeologists in southern Germany have uncovered the remains of a long-forgotten medieval settlement near Munich shedding light on an important but previously unknown chapter of the region’s ecclesial history which dates from between the 9th and 13th centuries includes the ruins of a church and other structures that paint a vivid picture of life in the area over a millennium ago As explained by Medievalists.net the discovery was made during routine excavation work at the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) in Oberschleissheim Construction crews were preparing the ground for a new building when they unexpectedly stumbled upon the remains of the medieval settlement archaeologists identified the foundations of houses What makes this find particularly remarkable is that at first there were no visible signs that such a settlement existed after meticulous research using historical maps and documents experts believe they have identified the site as the medieval village of Wagrain the team uncovered the foundation of a church Surrounding the church were some 20 burials and another burial pit was discovered beneath its former floor the contents of which have yet to be fully explored “In the early Middle Ages, burials within a church were rare and typically reserved for individuals of high status,” Dr. Jochen Haberstroh, deputy head of the Archaeological Heritage Department of the Bavarian State Office for the Protection of Monuments, told Medievalists.net “The discovery of this settlement enhances our understanding of the history of the region during the founding of Munich.” Recent construction projects in the Munich Gravel Plain have uncovered several early medieval settlements but this discovery stands out for its exceptional completeness the site will be transformed into a new BfS building that will house more than 200 employees “The excavations and their exciting findings show that this area north of Munich was attractive even in earlier times and that there is still much to be discovered,” said Inge Paulini The reasons for the abandonment of the Neuherberg settlement around 1300 remain unclear but ongoing research may soon reveal the secrets buried in the soil and tombs of this fascinating site Articles like these are sponsored free for every Catholic through the support of generous readers just like you Please make a tax-deductible donation today Help us continue to bring the Gospel to people everywhere through uplifting Catholic news About  .  Contact  .  Donation During recent construction activities at the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) in Oberschleißheim archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a previously unknown medieval settlement This remarkable discovery dates back to the 9th to 13th centuries CE The excavation has revealed a variety of structural remains and the outline of a church with a recessed apse These findings suggest that the settlement was once a thriving community before it was mysteriously abandoned around the early 14th century Researchers are currently investigating whether the Black Death which ravaged parts of Southern Germany and Austria during that period Soil samples and detailed analyses of the human remains found at the site may provide further clues as there were initially no clear indications of a settlement or church at the location after thorough research of historical maps and other documents experts have proposed that the settlement might have been known as “Wagrain.” This name One of the most significant aspects of the find is the church at the heart of the settlement archaeologists have identified a burial pit Deputy Head of the Department of Archaeological Heritage at the Bavarian State Office for Monument Protection (BLfD) “Burials inside a church were rare in the early Middle Ages and typically reserved for individuals of high status The discovery of this settlement helps us better understand the history of the region during the time of Munich’s founding.” The excavation site in Oberschleißheim is not the first to yield medieval remains but this particular discovery stands out due to its completeness and the wealth of information it offers about the settlement’s layout and organization “Early medieval settlement remains in the Munich gravel plain have been increasingly found due to intensified construction activities in recent years but this find is particularly informative due to its completeness,” Dr The ongoing archaeological work has garnered significant interest with researchers eager to uncover more about the lives of the people who once inhabited the area The analysis of the soil layers corresponding to the time of abandonment could potentially explain why this once-thriving community was left deserted Once the archaeological investigations are completed the site will be used to construct a new building for the more than 200 employees of the BfS said: “The excavations and their exciting findings demonstrate that this area north of Munich was attractive even in earlier times Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation and website in this browser for the next time I comment Δdocument.getElementById("ak_js_1").setAttribute("value",(new Date()).getTime()) Learn how to describe the purpose of the image (opens in a new tab) Leave empty if the image is purely decorative Medievalists.net archaeologists in southern Germany have unearthed the remnants of a forgotten medieval settlement during routine excavation work Dating to between the 9th to the 13th century While preparing the grounds for new construction at the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) in Oberschleißheim archaeologists stumbled upon the remains of a settlement which also includes the foundations of homes The discovery is particularly noteworthy given that there were initially no clear indicators of a settlement or church at the site after thorough research of historical maps and documents experts believe they may have identified the location’s name: Wagrain archaeologists uncovered the foundation of a church with a recessed apse “In the early Middle Ages, burials within a church were rare and typically reserved for individuals of high status,” explains Dr. Jochen Haberstroh, Deputy Head of the Department of Archaeological Heritage at the Bavarian State Office for Monument Protection (BLfD) “The discovery of this settlement enhances our understanding of the region’s history during the founding of Munich.” increased construction in the Munich gravel plain has led to the discovery of several early medieval settlements but this find stands out due to its remarkable completeness set to house over 200 employees of the BfS at the Neuherberg location “The excavations and their exciting findings demonstrate that this area north of Munich was attractive even in earlier times, with much still to explore,” notes Inge Paulini, President of the BfS “We are thrilled that our new building has contributed to bringing this important piece of history to light.” The reasons behind the abandonment of the Neuherberg settlement around the year 1300 remain a mystery Scientists are now employing advanced methods to analyze soil samples and study the burials to uncover the reasons for its desertion Although the archaeological work is just beginning it is already evident that this discovery will significantly influence our understanding of medieval history in the Munich region Top Image: The floor plan of a church in the gravel Photo by Archäologisches Büro Anzenberger & Leicht GbR We've created a Patreon for Medievalists.net as we want to transition to a more community-funded model We aim to be the leading content provider about all things medieval podcast and Youtube page offers news and resources about the Middle Ages We hope that are our audience wants to support us so that we can further develop our podcast and remove the advertising on our platforms This will also allow our fans to get more involved in what content we do produce Member Login Layoffs at federal health agencies could impact Wisconsin’s ability to respond to animal health issues like avian flu The Trump administration has fired thousands of employees at federal health agencies like Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food & Drug Administration. That includes staff at the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine which works on public health issues related to animal food and pharmaceutical drugs Keith Poulsen, director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostics Laboratory, said the center also coordinates testing standards and data sharing across state labs like his through the Veterinary Laboratory Investigation and Response Network His lab works closely with the program on identifying patterns in antimicrobial resistance but there aren’t people there to make it run in most cases that are directly related to animal and public health,” Poulsen said Poulsen said he recently applied for funding to start testing products like raw pet food for the avian flu virus after the FDA identified several cases of raw food transmitting the disease to house cats He said the national network is critical for not only paying for the tests but making sure state labs are all performing them in the best way “We want those results to be the same across the entire country,” he said “We can’t have 50 different states doing different things It’s much more efficient if we have a national coordinated effort.” Poulsen said he and his colleagues from other states were not expecting the cuts within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to be this severe. While the Trump administration walked back previous firings that hurt the federal response to bird flu Poulsen said he’s worried about similar cuts coming to the U.S Department of Agriculture and how it could affect critical resources like the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service “Everything’s really on the table as a potential for an immediate cut,” he said “How can we make sure we don’t lose our expertise in that and then build back (services) better?” The latest case of avian flu in Wisconsin was confirmed in Sheboygan County on Friday by the state Department of Agriculture The virus was found on a commercial poultry farm with roughly 40,000 birds DATCP said in a press release that state officials are working with USDA on a “joint incident response.” The Wisconsin Department of Health Services and Sheboygan County Public Health are monitoring exposed farm workers for symptoms of the highly-contagious virus The state DATCP did not respond to WPR’s request for comment on the impacts of federal layoffs in time for publishing In February, the USDA announced a new strategy to respond to the continued spread of avian flu and lower consumer egg prices The plan has included fast tracking the development of an H5N1 vaccine and “explore ways to reduce the extent of depopulations while maintaining food safety standards.” Poulsen said while the agency is rolling out new messaging there have not been major updates to the USDA’s guidance to states the policies haven’t changed yet,” he said “So we see (the messages) as kind of whispers of change or suggestions that leadership is going to go one way or another and hopefully we’ll have input.” Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board Plan based on simpler version of US-engineered animal used last month in world’s first pig-to-human transplant German scientists plan to clone and then breed this year genetically modified pigs to serve as heart donors for humans, based on a simpler version of a US-engineered animal used last month in the world’s first pig-to-human transplant a scientist at Ludwig-Maximilians University (LMU) in Munich said his team aimed to have the new species a team at the University of Maryland Medicine last month transplanted a heart from a pig with 10 modifications into a terminally ill man His doctors say he is responding well though risks of infection organ rejection or high blood pressure remain “Our concept is to proceed with a simpler model namely with five genetic modifications,” said Wolf whose work has triggered a heated debate in a country with one of Europe’s lowest organ donation rates and a strong animal rights movement who has been researching animal-to human-transplants – known as xenotransplants – for 20 years said his team would use still inefficient cloning technology to generate only “the founder animals” from which future genetically identical generations would be bred The first such generation should be born this year and their hearts would be tested in baboons before the team sought approval for a human clinical trial in two or three years’ time Transplants are used for people diagnosed with organ failure who have no other treatment options, a waiting list that numbered around 8,500 people in Germany at the end of 2021 according to data from the country’s Organ Transplantation Foundation Wolf’s supporters say animal donors could help shorten that list but opponents say the technology rides roughshod over the rights of animals effectively degrading pigs to the status of organ factories while the monkeys used in transplant experiments die in agony “Animals should not serve as spare parts for humans,” she said a clone or a naturally born animal all have the same needs Receive our weekly Newsletterand set tailored daily news alerts The BMW Group is to invest more than EUR 10 million in a new Additive Manufacturing Campus to be located in Oberschleissheim Transport/​Aerospace Thanks to its tremendous scope for the rapid manufacture of quality parts of almost any geometry additive manufacturing has been in use in the construction of concept cars at the BMW Group since 1991 Components are realised purely using digital data eliminating the need for classic tools such as press tools and injection moulds the technology is most commonly used for small production runs of customised and often highly complex components Read the full article on our Inside Composites website Rieter completes real estate sale in Ingolstadt Additive Manufacturing for Composites open for registration ignites hopes for future medical breakthroughs that could save thousands of lives researchers connected pigs to a system of pumps By artificially flushing the pigs' organs with blood — a process called perfusion — they restored molecular and cellular function in the heart and restored full blood circulation in the pigs' bodies There was no sign of electrical activity in the brain the scientists say they've uncovered a previously unknown capacity for mammal cells to recover after blood has stopped flowing "Cells actually don't die as quickly as we assumed that they do which basically opens up the possibility for intervention," Zvonimir Vrselja a neuroscientist on the research team at Yale Unlocking that ability could allow clinicians to preserve more human organs for donation after death reducing the transplant-organ shortage and saving thousands of lives The new technology could also revolutionize life-support treatment Some researchers said the discovery could even pave the way for bringing people back to life hours after death and we have gained a further tool to nudge it," Anders Sandberg a neuroscientist at the University of Oxford Future of Humanity Institute The same research group previously developed a perfusion system called BrainEx that system restored some structure and function in the brains of dead pigs four hours after they'd been decapitated The OrganEx process could one day save people who die from drowning or athletes who suddenly die from a heart defect director of critical care and resuscitation research at New York University Grossman School of Medicine With the organ tissues preserved and cell death delayed doctors would have time to unblock the artery that caused the heart attack or repair the torn vessel that caused the patient to bleed out but in whom the cause of death is treatable at any given time And if the cause of death is not treatable then their organs can be preserved to give life to thousands of people every year," Parnia said in a statement death is a biological process that remains treatable and reversible for hours after it has occurred," he added the Yale researchers cautioned against getting too excited about life after death "This is very far away from use in humans," Dr a neuroscientist from the research team at Yale "It doesn't restore all function in all organs." when a heart stops beating and blood stops flowing it causes other organs to swell. Blood vessels collapse and prevent new blood flow By preventing swelling and restoring full circulation the new OrganEx technology could one day extend the window for salvaging organs from healthy people who have died potentially saving thousands of people who otherwise die on transplant waitlists This newfound capacity for restoring organ cell function could also lead researchers to more effective life support To sustain patients whose heart or lungs have stopped working hospitals use a technique called extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to flush blood through the dysfunctional organ and it often fails to fully saturate organs with blood leaving some smaller blood vessels to collapse OrganEx is "like ECMO on steroids," said Dr Nenad Sestan of the Yale neuroscience team and in the new study it performed much better than ECMO The organs showed signs of being fully flushed with blood and fully oxygenated The researchers even observed patterns of gene expression in certain cells that indicated the tissues were repairing themselves These potential new abilities — preserving more organs for transplant and reviving people whose blood has stopped flowing — require much more research "There is a challenging ethical issue in determining when radical life support is just futile and as technology advances we may find more ways of keeping bodies alive despite being unable to revive the person we actually care about Much work remains to find criteria for when further treatment is futile and also in how to get people back from the brink," Sandberg said Here you can see the webcast of the BMW Group Press Conference at the Auto Shanghai 2025 BMW Group is investing over €10m in a new Additive Manufacturing Campus based in Oberschleissheim a move that will concentrate the company’s 3D printing expertise at a single location much of the work carried out at the Additive Manufacturing Campus will focus on parts manufacturing for prototype construction series production and customised solutions Located in an existing building with a footprint of over 6,000 square metres it will accommodate up to 80 staff and over 30 industrial systems for metals and plastics It is scheduled to go on stream in early 2019 head of the BMW Group’s Additive Manufacturing Centre and the future campus director said: “Our new facility will be a major milestone in additive manufacturing at the BMW Group “The team there will evaluate new and existing technologies in both plastics and metals printing and develop them to series maturity Our goal is to provide the optimum technology and process chain small production runs or even large-scale manufacturing.” Additive manufacturing has already been used to generate parts for the BMW i8 Roadster the BMW Group became the first carmaker to 3D-print a production run of several thousand metal parts,” said Ertel “The component concerned is a fixture in the tonneau cover for the soft-top.” the printed item is lighter than the normal injection-moulded equivalent but significantly more rigid The company has employed Additive manufacturing in the MINI Yours Customised programme which allows customers to design certain components such as indicator inlays and dashboard trim strips invested in the Silicon Valley-based company Carbon whose DLS (digital light synthesis) printing technology was a breakthrough in the production of parts with high-quality surfaces The technique allows significantly larger areas to be processed more rapidly than would otherwise be possible with conventional selective 3D printing Carbon and the BMW Group have been partners since 2015 A further investment in additive manufacturing came in February 2017 Desktop Metal specialises in the additive manufacturing of metal components and has developed highly productive and innovative methodologies It now works closely with the Additive Manufacturing Centre at the BMW Group In June 2017 the BMW Group invested in a company called Xometry Xometry is a web-based platform that networks suppliers and manufacturers from different sectors with each other Pilot projects are already underway in a range of areas including spare parts manufacturing CLICK HERE FOR MORE MANUFACTURING NEWS By submitting the above I agree to the privacy policy and terms of use of JTA.org Team Israel is sending 33 athletes to compete in 11 sports But there are notable competitors as well to watch from the United States (JTA) — Weeks after the Olympics came to a close Among them are dozens of Jewish athletes looking to medal in an array of sports The Paralympics, founded by the late German-Jewish doctor Ludwig Guttman are for athletes with physical disabilities Some 4,500 athletes are set to compete in 539 events in the 16th Paralympics Team Israel is sending 33 athletes to compete in 11 sports Here’s our guide to some of the Jewish para-athletes to watch Pascale Bercovitch of Israel competes in the arms women’s single sculls competition during the FISA Rowing World Cup in Oberschleissheim (Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts/Getty Images) Pascale Bercovitch is a French-Israeli writer and film director — and four-time Paralympian Berkovitch was set to make aliyah to Israel when she slipped at a train station and fell under an incoming train “I was totally in shock, I tried to call for help and I lay on the rails for 47 minutes on my own, it was such a long time,” Bercovitch told Reuters “I didn’t know what would happen … was I going to survive … I understood that all I was and all I knew was gone and I didn’t know how my new life would be The accident resulted in the amputation of both her legs above the knee Bercovitch made a documentary about the Israeli Paralympic swimming team in Sydney Eight years later, she became a Paralympian on her own, competing as a rower at age 40 in Beijing. In London in 2012, she was a hand-cyclist she will be competing in her fourth Paralympics — for the first time sticking to one sport for two straight games motivational speaking and raising her two daughters “I understood that there was no other choice than to fulfill your dreams,” she told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in 2013 Ezra Frech competes in the men’s high jump T63 final at the World Para Athletics Championships Ezra Frech is only 16 years old but he’s already made a name for himself as a para-athlete The Los Angeles resident will be one of the youngest athletes to represent Team USA this year competing in the amputee classification for the high jump Due to a congenital abnormality, Frech was born with only one finger on his left hand and missing his left knee and shinbone. At 2 he had surgery to remove the curved part of his leg, and had a toe attached to his left hand. By 9 he was advocating for adaptive sports on “Ellen,” and at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships Frech’s mom, Bahar Soomekh, is a Persian-Jewish actress who fled Iran with her family in 1979. His dad, Clayton, left his job in 2013 to found Angel City Sports — to bring adaptive sports opportunities to Los Angeles “Everywhere you go, people don’t think you’re capable of what an able-bodied person can do,” Ezra Frech said earlier this year “I’ll go to my high school track meet and they don’t expect the one-legged kid to go out and win the competition but now it’s a motivation and excites me that I have a chance to prove people wrong Israeli-born table tennis player Tahl Leibovitz competes for the U.S team at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London characterized by sometimes-painful noncancerous bone tumors — qualified him for the Paralympic Games and he made his debut the following year in Atlanta — where he won gold When not competing in para table tennis, Leibovitz works as a social worker and a coach at PingPod in New York. He launched a GoFundMe to help him pay for his travel to Tokyo. “I have greatly diminished my work so that I am able to pursue my dream of once again standing on the medal stand with the Team USA flag raised!” he wrote is competing in his sixth Paralympics and has picked up two bronze medals since his debut “I think this will be the best ever,” he said in a Team USA news release “I am looking forward to an amazing experience with my teammates.” Matthew Levy competes in the qualifying for the men’s 100m breaststroke at the Caixa Loterias 2014 Paralympics Swimming competition at the Hebraica Club in Sao Paulo Matthew Levy is returning to compete in his fifth Paralympics Born premature at 25 weeks with cerebral palsy and vision impairment Levy started swimming at 5 as part of his rehabilitation following surgeries and he made his Paralympic debut in Athens in 2004 Levy won his first medal — gold in the 4x100m medley a silver and three bronze) in London in 2012 and another bronze in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro He’s looking to add to his medal count in Tokyo as the oldest member of the Australian Paralympic swimming team In 2014, Levy was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for his contributions to sport. And in 2017, Levy became the first person in its history to break a world record while competing in the Maccabiah Games an international Jewish sports competition Mark Malyar of Israel competes in the men’s 200m individual medley SM8 at the Para Swimming World Championship in Mexico City Ariel and Mark Malyar, 21-year-old twins, will be competing for Team Israel in Tokyo in their first Paralympics. Born with cerebral palsy the brothers started swimming at age 5 as physical therapy “It’s great that the team has twin brothers in it. When we were younger there was a lot of competition between us, but now, not so much,” Mark Malyar said Mark set a world record at the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships in the men’s 400m freestyle S7 class Moran Samuel rows along the Charles River in Boston in 2014 (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) Moran Samuel won a Paralympic medal at the 2016 games in Rio taking bronze in the women’s 1,000-meter single sculls rowing competition grew up playing basketball and was a member of the Israeli women’s national team she suffered a spinal stroke and was paralyzed in her lower body then decided to try rowing to get to the Paralympic Games Her two biggest dreams were becoming a mother and winning an Olympic medal — and now she’s achieved both “If you want to be a very successful woman, you should have a woman by your side,” she once joked. With wife Limor Goldberg, she’s now a mom of two Samuel was one of two flag bearers for Israel in the games’ opening ceremony Tuesday, along with boccia player Nadav Levi Jody Schloss competes in the 2012 Paralympics in London Jody Schloss grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, where she attended a Jewish day school, then rowed competitively at the University of British Columbia. (She has Jewish-Canadian pioneers on both sides of her family, according to a Canadian Jewish magazine.) she was in a car accident in California that killed her friend put her in a five-month coma and ultimately left her unable to walk and with a speech disability She had ridden horses since age 11 and turned to equestrian sports as part of her recovery Schloss is competing in her second Paralympics after an 11th-place showing in London in 2012 She’ll be riding a new horse after her longtime horse Rebus had to be treated with a medication that is banned from competition “Rebus was really angry that he wasn’t going,” Schloss told the Globe and Mail but I don’t think he knew how far he was going.” Ian Seidenfeld trains in Tokyo. (USA Table Tennis on Facebook) Ian Seidenfeld is a first-timer at the Paralympic Games. His dad, Mitch is a table tennis Paralympian himself who competed in Barcelona in 1992 Mitch Seidenfeld has since transitioned into coaching Both Seidenfelds have Pseudoachondroplasia dwarfism Left, Ian and his sister; right, Ian and dad Mitch. (via Emma Seidenfeld on Instagram) Ian started playing when he was 6 years old and began competing at the international level when he was 12 “Being compared to my dad, to be close to his level, would make me very happy,” the younger Seidenfeld told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and my dad has always been very supportive of me But I didn’t think it would happen this soon.” The 20-year-old Asian-Jewish athlete continued: “I wasn’t ready in 2020 Doron Shaziri of Israel competes in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions SH1 at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games Doron Shaziri is set to compete in his eighth consecutive Paralympic Games — he’s won medals at six of them The 54-year-old Israel marksman is aiming for his first gold Shaziri lost his leg at 19 when he stepped on a mine while on patrol in Lebanon in 1987 with the Israeli army, serving as a sniper. While at Beit Halochem in Tel Aviv a rehabilitation center for disabled veterans he discovered a passion for sport shooting “Shooting is a very mental sport and if you succeed it means you are mentally strong. That is the skill I work on most because I already have the technical skills,” Shaziri told Israeli media in shooting you should keep your adrenaline down because a high pulse is bad for stability It’s not like running faster or hitting stronger When not competing in Paralympic shooting, Sharizi builds custom wheelchairs for athletes Shraga Weinberg of Team Israel ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games at Ariake Tennis Park in Tokyo (Alex Davidson/Getty Images for International Paralympic Committee) he served as the flag bearer for Team Israel was born with a genetic disorder called Osteogenesis imperfecta “A disability is just something exterior,” Weinberg told the Israeli media “The way that you see your disability is the same way the public will see it If you don’t see your disability as an obstacle JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent I accept the Privacy Policy Former top 10 star Niki Pilic had opened the doors of his academy to the budding star Munich: Even when Novak Djokovic was a teenager his coaches were sure that there was "just one objective in his head - to become world number one" At the tennis training school in the suburb of Munich where the Serbian spent his formative years his trainers recalled a youth who had a "starving desire" for the game the first to finish eating was always Nole," said his coach for two years "He would then immediately look for someone to play tennis with him before training resumed he even asked the security guard," said Reiner of his former protege who would become one of tennis' most prolific stars Djokovic will begin his campaign to win Wimbledon for an eighth time just weeks after scooping a record-breaking 23rd men's Grand Slam title at the French Open in Paris when his home country Serbia was the target of a NATO bombing campaign over Kosovo that an adolescent Djokovic arrived in Germany Former top 10 star Niki Pilic had opened the doors of his eponymous academy to the budding star in Oberschleissheim pictures of Djokovic grace the corridors of the tennis academy where he trained aged 12 to 16 "He always played on court number 4 or number 8 rattling off a series of anecdotes about the boy with the "exceptional backhand" Djokovic also had a talent for mimicry that with Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras his favourite targets he was endlessly hitting the ball against the wall or looking for a partner to play against there is a rare photo of a teenage Djokovic with a tennis bag on his back He already had "very wide open eyes" that characterises him when he is in full concentration a coaching legend who was Germany's team boss when they scooped the Davis Cup with Boris Becker in 1988 and 1989 "Djokovic had a discipline that was extraordinary for a boy of his age He was already a little pro who had only one aim in his head: to become world number one," Pilic Djokovic himself has said Pilic "was my tennis father who was and still is one of the most persevering and passionate tennis personalities I've ever met in my life" The 36-year-old Serbian has said he had "a lot of luck" to have met Pilic and to have been able to develop his game at a time when his parents had "a lot of difficulties - financially and emotionally" Djokovic spent four hours a day playing tennis and another hour to build up his strength he and a dozen other teens of his age would run around the rowing pool next to the complex which had been built in 1972 for the Olympics the youths would leap into the pool to cool off Djokovic's junior development was meteoric Between his stays of two to three months in Munich he would take on tournament after tournament It was a sign but we could not know at that time that he would become such a giant," said Pilic refering to a tournament in 2001 when Djokovic became European champion aged under 14 He was really incredible," said Nic Marschand who also trained Djokovic during his Bavarian years The German trainer recalls a player "who really wanted to learn" and who "moved really well" He really had an extraordinary vision," he said but "he always worked 10 times harder than the others He wanted to know how to improve himself all the time." His coaches were unanimous in their verdict - even if they never expected him to become a superstar they agreed that he was a "very intelligent young man but they don't have the starving desire that he possessed Get the latest news and updates straight to your inbox Karan Johar and Sania Mirza bat for Pickleball in Dubai Sabalenka beats Gauff to win third Madrid Open crown Madrid Open holder Swiatek thrashed by Gauff in semis Though it seems like something out of science fiction, people have flirted with the idea of human-animal transplants since antiquity, say scholars a human-lion-falcon mashup akin to mythical Greco-Roman centaurs and fauns Dedalus legendarily played surgeon when he attempted to attach wings to himself and his doomed son Icarus Inserting a pig organ into a human has the same end goal: to improve and augment human life Recorded attempts at xenotransplantation begin with Jean-Baptiste Denis, a physician to the 17th-century French king Louis XIV who dabbled in animal-human blood transfusions to improve health. Animal blood, Denis wrote “is less full of impurities than that of men because debauchery and irregularity in eating and drinking are not so common in them as in us.” After a couple of dog-dog and dog-calf test runs he made several attempts to transfuse lamb blood into human patients that didn’t end super well because of allergic reactions and the blood wasn’t very compatible,” transplant surgeon Sham Dholakia Scientists didn’t begin to understand the immune system until the last quarter of the 19th century. Until then, European physicians regularly transplanted skin from animals to cover ulcers and burns Frogs were popular because of their thin skin Surgeons tried “any animal that was around,” said Hamilton “Monkey skin looked attractive and might have lasted for weeks.” Regardless of the animal “The skin is one of the most immunogenic tissues,” Mohamed Ezzalarab a research associate professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh’s Thomas E told me.“Most likely they were rejected after a few days.” Scientists continued dabbling in xenotransplantation through the early 20th century but it didn’t evolve into a credible science until the French surgeon Alexis Carrel came up with a way to stitch together blood vessels The technique earned him the 1912 Nobel Prize and ushered the era of transplantation in general—agnostic of species With the successful transplant of a kidney from a boy to his twin in 1954 it became clear that human-to-human transplants had enormous potential “Once ordinary human kidneys were possible it became worth trying again,” said Hamilton Surgeons kept chipping away at xenotransplantation The issue the faced is the same one that plagues the field today: The body rejects foreign organs Immune-suppressing drugs like cyclosporin and tacrolimus “revolutionized immunosuppression for human-to-human transplants” in the 1980s but they couldn’t quite convince the body to accept animal organs And so the research turned toward the animals themselves “Saving life is a trump card,” Hamilton said a line of alpha-gal knockout pigs developed by the regenerative medicine company Revivicor there haven’t been any updates on the patient who received the pig heart at the University of Maryland in January Hamilton is hopeful that the silence is a good thing It’s been going so slowly that people just forget about it,” he said it won’t mean that pig-to-human organ transplants will become common practice anytime soon We need to know much more about the safety and impact of the procedure Researchers are still trying to understand the difference between the immune reaction to pig versus human hosts and it may be that molecules beyond alpha-gal will need to be mitigated in pigs with different gene combinations for different patients The medical community will have to decide on the best way to design clinical trials to prove that the procedure is safe which will be key in gaining the public’s acceptance “There’s a lot of enthusiasm but also a lot of questions,” said Dholakia Already, farms dedicated to growing pigs for human transplantation are being set up, and companies specializing in xenotransplantation are worth hundreds of millions of dollars though Ezzelarab urges caution because he’s concerned that missteps could push the field backward You don’t want to fly too close to the sun “unless you’re really sure you can protect yourself,” he said This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Here you can see the webcast of the BMW Group Press Conference at the Auto Shanghai 2025.