news 2017

Water on Earth is the precondition for life as we know it. But where does it come from, and how long has it been here? Scientists currently discuss two possibilities: Either water was here at an early stage, during the main phase of Earth's formation, or Earth was initially completely dry and water only arrived later - through the impacts of comets or 'wet' asteroids originating from the outer areas of the solar system.

Humans can be trained to use echolocation to estimate the sizes of enclosed spaces. LMU researchers now show that the learning process involves close coordination between sensory and motor cortex. In principle, humans need not rely solely on vision for orientation. Some blind persons make use of self-generated sounds to estimate their position and orientation in an enclosed space relative to reflecting surfaces.

Based on a study of the optical properties of novel ultrathin semiconductors, LMU researchers have developed a method for rapid and efficient characterization of these materials. Chemical compounds based on elements that belong to the so-called transition metals can be processed to yield atomically thin two-dimensional crystals consisting of a monolayer of the composite in question.

Messenger RNAs bearing the genetic information for the synthesis of proteins are delivered to defined sites in the cell cytoplasm by molecular motors. LMU researchers have elucidated how the motors recognize their mRNA freight. Messenger RNAs carry the information for the assembly of proteins from the DNA in the cell nucleus to the sites of protein synthesis in the cytoplasm, and are crucial for cell function.

Research news Depression poses a risk for cardiovascular diseases in men that is just as great as that posed by high cholesterol levels and obesity. Researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the Helmholtz Zentrum München and the German Center for Cardiovascular Disease (DZHK) have compared depression to the five most common risk factors.

A genetic variant that is particularly prevalent in people of African ancestry confers protection against malaria. LMU researchers have now shown how it modulates the properties of white blood cells that play a major role in immune defenses and inflammation. Virtually the entire population of sub-Saharan Africa, and some 70% of African Americans, carry a gene variant (allele) which results in a trait referred to as Duffy-negative.

Research news A large global new partnership called 'MultipleMS', coordinated by Karolinska Institute in Sweden, has been awarded 15 million euro from the European Commission in the Horizon2020 program to find novel and better treatments for Multiple Sclerosis (MS). In this project, 21 universities and companies from Europe and the USA will unite efforts to tailor the development and application of therapies to the individual MS patient.

LMU researchers show, for the first time, that the orientation of the plane of division of neural stem cells at a specific stage during embryonic development determines the capacity of the adult brain to replace nerve cells. Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, but also strokes or other types of traumatic brain damage, result in the death of nerve cells in the brain.