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A functional sperm tail is essential for successful reproduction. Defects in its development often lead to infertility. This is also shown by a recent international study involving researchers from Würzburg. The development of functional sperm is a highly complex process and a fundamental requirement for male fertility.

Ingroup favoritism: A new study shows that helpfulness toward one's own group and disadvanting against outgroups are related. Behavioural tests: The research team developed a new method to measure both behaviors independently. Conflict experience: both tendencies, altruism and parochialism, affect our behavior in intergroup conflict.Whether we help others or not depends on our own experiences with conflict.

More than 90 percent of local insect biomass decline in German grasslands is explained by species loss, according to a new study published in »Nature Ecology & Evolution«. The research draws on 11 years of data from two long-term research programmes where the scientists counted and identified arthropods-insects and spiders-then measured their biomass.

Study demonstrates for the first time the effectiveness of adjunctive digital training during inpatient treatment A brief smartphone-based training programme completed by patients with depression alongside their inpatient treatment can lead to long-term reduction in depressive symptoms. This is the finding of a study conducted by psychologists at the University of Münster.

Glossy flowers are visible to bees from a distance, but make color recognition difficult up close. They thus represent a visual compromise of nature, as a new study by the University of Würzburg shows. The existence of glossy surfaces in the plant and animal world poses a mystery to science. This is because clear and consistent signals are advantageous for reliable communication, for example between flowers and pollinators.

It has long been known that pterosaurs and birds acquired their ability to fly independently of each other. A new study has now revealed that there are no major similarities between the brains of ptero-saurs, which lived around 215 million to 66 million years ago, and those of today's birds; however, there are similarities with the brains of bird ancestors - certain species of dinosaurs that were unable to fly or had limited flying ability.

Researchers analyze the human toll of the ongoing conflict using a statistical model that takes data uncertainties into account Rising death tolls: A study by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) and the Centre for Demographic Studies (CED) examined the effects of the conflict in Gaza on mortality.

Initial analysis results for the Kindberg chondrite from Austria are now available Five years ago, on 19 November 2020, a meteoroid brightened the sky over parts of Germany, Austria and Italy. The European Fireball Network was quickly able to located the impact site. However, it was not until the summer of 2021 that a 233-gram fragment was found near Kindberg in Styria, Austria.

Research team investigates narratives of human-nature relationships Protected areas are regarded as refuges for animals and plants. But they are also places where people live, work and relax. A new study by the Universities of Göttingen, Kassel, Jyväskylä (Finland) and Stockholm (Sweden) shows just how diverse and close these relationships are.

Positional programs: Undifferentiated mesenchymal cells express positional programs: the cells know where they are before knowing what they will become. Genetich positional programs forecast the emergence of individual facial features Abnormalities: Mutations in discovered programs are linked to numerous craniofacial syndromes and facial abnormalities.

New research suggests that the body that collided with Earth 4.5 billion years ago, creating the Moon, originated in the inner Solar System. -Ingredientsof impactor: In the current issue of the journal Science, researchers determine the possible composition of Theia. Search for birthplace: The impactor-s composition allows conclusions about its place of origin.

New study finds one-third of grammatical -universalsstand up to rigorous testing Linguistic universals: Of the 191 proposed linguistic universals, about one-third are statistically supported across more than 1,700 languages. A wealth of data and state-of-the-art statistical methods: Using Grambank and Bayesian statistical models that control for genealogical and geographic influences, the strongest evidence emerges for patterns of word order and hierarchical agreement.

Biodiversity: An international study shows that medieval communities on Lake Constance actively increased biodiversity. Researchers document an increase in plant diversity that peaked around 1000 AD. Human activities: The study proves that human activities can support the health and resilience of environments, which is also important for modern nature conservation strategies.

A microrobot that delivers drugs precisely to their target location in the body and is soon to be clinically available: researchers at the University of Würzburg have contributed to this development by ETH Zurich. A stroke occurs when blood clots block the vessels that supply the brain with blood. Twelve million people worldwide suffer a stroke every year - many die or are left with disabilities, such as paralysis.

A new software enables brain simulations which both imitate the processes in the brain in detail and can solve challenging cognitive tasks. The program was developed by a research team at the Cluster of Excellence 'Machine Learning: New Perspectives for Science' at the University of Tübingen. The software thus forms the basis for a new generation of brain simulations which allow deeper insights into the functioning and performance of the brain.

Droughts are having a major impact on Europe's forests - and climate change could make them even more frequent. But diversity helps: a new study led by the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and Leipzig University shows that forests are more resistant to drought when trees employ different strategies for using water.

For thousands of years, the lives of many Inuit on Greenland were characterized by a regular rhythm: during the winter, they fished along the coast and hunted whales, seals and other marine mammals; in the summer, they moved inland and hunted caribou (reindeer).

Over time, non-native plant species increasingly integrate into native food webs. Their region of origin or relatedness to native plants plays only a minor role. Far more decisive is how widely they have spread and how long they have been growing in Europe. The longer they have been established and the wider their distribution range, the more they are used by microherbivores such as leaf miners, gall midges and aphids - leading to similarly diverse interactions as with native plants.

A research team involving the University of Bonn has identified specific biomarkers, thus taking an important step toward quicker diagnoses and personalized treatment. Researchers from the LIMES Institute at the University of Bonn, the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and the University Hospital Cologne have decoded the immunological properties of what is known as extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) in the blood of patients suffering from the condition.

A research team from the Cluster of Excellence »Balance of the Microverse« at the University of Jena has, for the first time, systematically enriched a broad range of groundwater bacteria from the traditionally culture-intractable Candidate Phyla Radiation. The study, published in the journal Microbiome, revealed a surprising adaptability of this bacterial group.