Ants understand if a place is easily crowded just by looking at it, and use this knowledge to avoid overcrowded food sources in advance, without actually seeing the overcrowding
Woody plants are unusually common on oceanic islands. Scientists at the University of Bayreuth, together with research partners in Italy, Great Britain, Norway and Spain, have now discovered a new explanation for this phenomenon: With the lignification of biomass, many plant species native to oceanic islands have protected themselves from the impact of frequent volcanic eruptions, during which large areas are covered with huge amounts of ash. Woody plants can survive even in ash layers of up to half a metre. Using the example of the Canary Island of La Palma, the European team presents its explanatory approach in the journal "npf biodiversity".
The whiskered brome (Bromus grossus) is an ancient cereal species that is known to have been cultivated and used as a food resource as early as the Bronze Age. Today, however, it is threatened with extinction. In joint research work, the University of Bayreuth, the Bezirkslehrgut Bayreuth and the company IREKS in Kulmbach have investigated whether the grain from this species is suitable for brewing beer. The result is two tasty beers: a Pilsner and a Hefe-Weizen.
Around one third of people with heart disease suffer from sleep problems. In a paper published in the journal Science, a team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) shows that heart diseases affect the production of the sleep hormone melatonin in the pineal gland. The link between the two organs is a ganglion in the neck region. The study demonstrates a previously unknown role of ganglia and points to possible treatments.
Conflict experience and resolution underlying obedience to authority: A group of researchers from Regensburg, Göttingen and Würzburg took up this challenge and investigated the conflict experience of obedient participants using the so-called "bug destruction task".
There is news from the immune system: Dendritic cells migrate in a network along the outside of blood vessels. Local cytokines keep this dynamic network stable.
Specific nerves may be stimulated artificially, for example to treat pain. The finer the nerves, the more difficult it is to attach the required electrodes. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and NTT Research have now developed flexible electrodes produced with 4D printing technology. On contact with moisture, they automatically fold and wrap themselves around thin nerves.
Antibodies are crucial, not only for treating tumors and infections. Sometimes, however, the immune reaction they trigger can be too strong and end up causing more damage, for example in the case of people infected with Covid-19. Problems such as these can often be avoided by finetuning antibodies, as Prof. Dr. Falk Nimmerjahn from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and two of his colleagues in the Netherlands and in the UK have now reported in the journal Nature Immunology.
How do leafcutter ants measure the size of the leaf pieces they cut off? A study by the University of Würzburg now provides answers.
How do solitary bees and wasps recognize their homes? Biologists Dr. Sylvie Vandenabeele and Professor Thomas Schmitt investigated this question. They were able to demonstrate the importance of olfactory markers.
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