To the point Mother-offspring attachment in the wild: Wild chimpanzees develop secure or insecure-avoidant attachments to their mothers, but not disorganised attachments, suggesting that it is not a viable survival strategy in the wild. Attachment types: Chimpanzees with secure attachment are confident, while those with insecure-avoidant attachment are more independent.

A research team at the Carl Ludwig Institute of Physiology at Leipzig University has shown for the first time how the energy content of individual nerve cells in the brain changes during so-called depolarization waves, waves of activity that occur in various brain diseases. The results provide an important basis for understanding the energy metabolism in the event of an acute lack of blood flow, such as occurs in strokes.

Data from the University of Bonn call into question the standard model of cosmology The "afterglow" of the universe is an important piece of evidence for the Big Bang. This background radiation also provides important answers to the question of how the first galaxies were able to form. Researchers at the Universities of Bonn, Prague and Nanjing calculate that the strength of this radiation has probably been overestimated up to now.

In a new study, researchers at the University of Würzburg are investigating the interaction of major global change drivers on insects. The number and diversity of insects is declining worldwide. Some studies suggest that their biomass has almost halved since the 1970s. Among the main reasons for this are habitat loss - for example through agriculture or urbanization - and climate change.

The behavior of Antarctic krill not only reacts to external environmental influences such as light or food. It also uses its internal clock to adapt to the extreme conditions of the polar environment. Individually, Antarctic krill ( Euphausia superba ) do not make much of an impression. With a maximum body length of six centimetres, a weight of just two grams and its transparent skin, it does not look very spectacular.

When the cellular waste disposal system goes on strike, this can have fatal consequences. A research team at the University of Würzburg has now identified a key player in this clean-up crew. A special enzyme - the so-called ubiquitin-selective unfoldase p97/VCP - is one of the main players when cells remove malformed or excess proteins from their interior.

Wild chimpanzees alter the meaning of single calls when embedding them into diverse call combinations, mirroring linguistic operations in human language To the point Chimpanzees are capable of complex communication: The human capacity for language may not be as unique as previously thought. Chimpanzees have a complex communication system that allows them to combine calls to create new meanings, similar to human language.

Analysing the gene activity of every single bacterial cell in a colony? A new technique from Würzburg can do this much more efficiently than other methods. Not all'individuals in a population of bacteria are identical. Some may be on the verge of cell division, others are differentiating, others are in the process of adapting to changing environmental conditions.

For the first time, scientists from Leipzig University and other research institutions have gained comprehensive insights into the entire nervous system of the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster). They have just published the first study in the scientific journal "Nature" that describes in detail the nerve cells (neurons) that span the entire nervous system of the adult fruit fly.

Study of twins detects bacteria in the small intestine that play a role in the development of MS To the point Twin study : Among many other factors, microorganisms in the gut are suspected of contributing to the onset of MS. To obtain meaningful results, researchers examined stool samples and microorganisms directly from the small intestine of identical twins, where only one twin had MS.

Agriculture's impact on insect diversity is more severe than previously thought, according to a new study from the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg. It has long been known that agriculture contributes to the decline in insect biodiversity. The loss of host plants, frequent mowing, and pesticide use all deprive many species of their habitats.

To the point Complex communication: Researchers studying the social networks of monk parakeets in Spain uncovered a link between an animal-s social ties and the calls that it makes. Levels of sociality: They spent two years recording the social lives, as well as all screeches, squawks and whistles, of over 300 parrots-linking what individuals say to very specific levels of sociality.

Bonn researchers develop method for describing and predicting critical transitions in networked systems The global climate is in an imbalance. Potential "tipping elements " include the Greenland ice sheet, coral reefs, and the Amazon rainforest. Together they form a network that can collapse if just one individual component tips.

An alloy of aluminum, magnesium and scandium is strong and does not become brittle even when exposed to relatively large amounts of hydrogen Aluminum alloys are known for their light weight and corrosion resistance - properties that make them ideal materials for a CO2-free economy. Whether in the lightweight construction of vehicles or as storage tanks for green hydrogen, the demand for aluminum will continue to increase with the transition to sustainable technologies.

The marine worm Ramisyllis multicaudata , which lives within the internal canals of a sponge, is one of only two such species possessing a branching body, with one head and multiple posterior ends. An international research team led by the Universities of Göttingen and Madrid is the first to describe the internal anatomy of this intriguing animal.

An international research team made up of scientists from Freie Universität Berlin and the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in conjunction with Université de Lorraine in Metz, France, has achieved a significant breakthrough in the chemistry of fluorinated compounds. With the aid of quantum chemical simulations they were able to prove for the first time that heavy fluorine atoms can also "tunnel," or in other words, transform between two states.

New isotopic evidence deciphers breastfeeding and weaning trends in ancient Iberia What did babies eat 1500 years ago? International researchers led by the University of Bonn and the Nova University of Lisbon reconstructed the diet of children in Roman and medieval Portugal using state-of-the-art isotope methods to answer this question.

A recent study by the Universities of Jena, Bielefeld and Münster provides evidence that some results of behavioural experiments with insects cannot be fully reproduced. So far, possible reproducibility problems have been little discussed in this context. If an experiment is repeated under similar conditions, the results should be the same.

To the point The researchers used the video game Minecraft to study social learning processes in a dynamic, realistic environment. The study shows that adaptability-i.e., the flexible shift between individual and social learning-is crucial for success. Using new computer-based methods to track gaze data and model decision-making, the researchers were able to precisely describe and predict individual and social learning strategies.

Bonn researchers link immune cells to higher risk of duodenal carcinoma in hereditary FAP People with the hereditary disease familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) have a greatly increased risk of developing a malignant tumor of the duodenum. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation2 at the University of Bonn have now discovered a mechanism in the local immune system that can drive the development of cancer.