news 2024

Can virtual actors strengthen the trust of people with a migration background in the police? A research team from the University of Würzburg has investigated this. The results surprised even those responsible. Intelligent virtual agents can help to strengthen the trust of people with a migration background in institutions such as the police.

Just a matter of the head? Not at all: Psychologist Dr. Barbara Schmidt from Jena University Hospital investigated the influence of hypnosis on our physical performance in a study now published in the journal "Scientific Reports". The results showed that hypnosis can not only increase the subjective feeling of strength, but also objective strength - with long-lasting effects.

Göttingen archaeology team uncovers representative room - colonnaded courtyards with fountains For more than 20 years, archaeologists from the University of Göttingen have been researching how people lived and traded in Sicily in the past. Now they have made another important discovery: In the province of Catania, they excavated the remains of a Roman house with a mosaic floor from the 2nd to 4th century AD.

Researchers analyse binding of nucleons in atomic nuclei at the quark-gluon level for the first time / Bridge from nuclear to particle physics In particle physics, quarks are known as the building blocks of nucleons - protons and neutrons - as well as their binding through the strong nuclear force mediated by gluons.

In Germany, around 17,000 people are diagnosed with gastric cancer every year. The disease is one of the leading causes of tumour-related deaths. This is due to late diagnosis and the rapid spread of tumour cells throughout the body. In two international clinical trials, a team of scientists involving the University of Leipzig Medical Center have investigated a drug that can prolong patients' survival.

Current findings from a Jena-Zurich research project form an important basis for the creation of artificial symbioses with specific properties that could be used for biotechnological applications in the future. For example, they could be used in Medicine, agriculture or environmental technology to protect plants against illnesses or to modify fungi so that they produce certain enzymes or active pharmaceutical ingredients.

Joint discovery by an Armenian-German team in the ancient city of Artaxata Archaeologists from the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia and the University of Münster have discovered the remains of a previously unknown early Christian church in the ancient city of Artaxata. The find consists of an octagonal building with cruciform extensions.

Climate change not main driver of shift in distribution of European forest plants   The movement of plant species across Europe has mainly been attributed to climate change. However, a new study shows that other environmental factors play an important role. An international research team led by the University of Ghent, with the participation of the University of Göttingen, examined the biodiversity of forests in relation to climate change and the input of nitrogen and sulphur.

New research reveals nitrogen deposition, and to a lesser extent climate change, unexpectedly as the key driver behind surprising westward shifts in the distribution of plants. These are the results of a study published in the journal Science, in which three researchers from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) were involved, among them Professor Dr Markus Bernhardt-Römermann from the University of Jena.

Researchers at the University of Leipzig Medical Center have deciphered a new mechanism that plays a central role in the development of diabetic kidney disease. Their study focuses on a coagulation protein. It can be detected in urine samples from patients in the early stages of the disease and can be used as a diagnostic marker.

MINFLUX microscopy allows the determination of distances within biomolecules using an optical microscope A team led by physicists Steffen Sahl and Stefan Hell at the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen and the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg has succeeded in measuring distances within biomolecules using a light microscope, down to one nanometer and with Éngström precision.

Light pollution is more serious than expected: Moths not only lose their orientation directly under street lamps. Their flight behaviour is also disturbed outside the cone of light. The increasing use of artificial light at night is one of the most dramatic man-made changes on earth. Streetlights and illuminated buildings are significantly changing the environment for nocturnal animals.

Plants can extract even the smallest traces of the important nutrient potassium from the soil. A team led by Würzburg biophysicist Rainer Hedrich describes how they achieve this in 'Nature Communications'. Potassium is one of the nutrients that plants need in large quantities. However, the amount of potassium in the soil can vary greatly: potassium-poor soils can contain up to a thousand times less of this nutrient than potassium-rich soils.

Researchers are breeding protein-rich rice varieties that cause minimal increase in blood sugar levels Rice is a staple food for over four billion people. By nature, it contains a lot of carbohydrates but very little protein. A team of researchers from the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines and the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology in Potsdam, Germany, has now identified the genes that control the carbohydrate composition and protein content of rice.

Researchers from Bonn and Aachen elucidate the role of individual brain neurons in human odor perception We often only realize how important our sense of smell is when it is no longer there: food hardly tastes good, or we no longer react to dangers such as the smell of smoke. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), the University of Bonn and the University of Aachen have investigated the neuronal mechanisms of human odor perception for the first time.

Researchers study marks on spearheads creating reference data to understand fighting in past   How can we tell whether and how a prehistoric weapon was used? How can we better understand the dexterity and combat skills involved in Bronze Age spear fighting? A research team including Göttingen University present a new approach to answering these questions: they simulated the actual fight step-by-step to get new insights into fighting styles and the formation of marks on the weapons.

Using ammonia is regarded as a promising method of transporting hydrogen. However, an efficient process is also needed to convert it back into hydrogen and nitrogen. An international research team has gained new insights into the mode of operation of an iron catalyst that can be used to split ammonia into nitrogen and hydrogen.

Thanks to these results, researchers now better understand how α-latrotoxin works. "The toxin mimics the function of the calcium channels of the presynaptic membrane in a highly complex way," explains Christos Gatsogiannis.

A new study reveals groundbreaking findings on visual navigation in the brain of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster An international research team from Freie Universität Berlin and the University of California Santa Barbara has conducted the first systematic analysis of all synaptic connections in the brain of an adult animal in a groundbreaking study.

Genome instability can cause numerous diseases. Cells have effective DNA repair mechanisms at their disposal. A research team at the University of Würzburg has now gained new insights into the DNA damage response. Whenever cells divide, there is a high risk of damage to the genetic material. After all, the cell has to duplicate its entire genetic material and copy billions of genetic letters before it divides.