The search for the world's oldest ice in Antarctica is entering a decisive phase. In this major European project, researchers in Antarctica are attempting to extract drill cores containing climate information from the past 1.5 million years. The University of Bern is playing an important role in this.

With the support of Mobilière Cooperative, the University of Bern has been able to establish an endowed Professorship for Climate Impact and Public Health in the Built Environment. It is endowed with two million Swiss francs in total and is to investigate an important aspect of climate change which has so far only been insufficiently explored in Switzerland.

An international team of researchers involving the University of Bern has investigated the consequences of deforestation and degradation of tropical forests. They were able to show that there are "winner" and "loser" species, whereby the displacement of the "losers" can lead to a decline in the ecological functions of tropical forests.

Researchers at the University of Bern, in collaboration with international partners, have discovered that a 'gene desert' section of the genome plays an important role in the development of the embryo and the heart in both mice and humans. The study provides further evidence for the significance of gene-free DNA segments in gene regulation and offers approaches for early detection of cardiac diseases.

An international research team led by the University of Bern and the Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology in Jena has excavated one of the most significant and ancient burial mounds in Siberia. These discoveries provide valuable insights into the cultural origins of the Scythians, a horse-riding culture of the Eurasian Steppe, and have now been recognized by Archaeology Magazine as one of the "Top 10 Archaeological Discoveries of 2024."

Rats release trapped companions, subsequently enabling them to collaborate for acquiring food. Experiments conducted at the University of Bern established this connection between obliging liberation behaviour and coordinated cooperation. These results may point towards a biological basis for empathy, presenting new perspectives on the evolutionary origins of compassionate behaviour.

An interdisciplinary study from the University of Bern reveals that gut bacteria play a crucial role in converting arsenobetaine into toxic arsenic compounds. Results show that arsenobetaine, commonly found in seafood and previously considered harmless, is partly transformed into toxic arsenic compounds by the action of gut bacteria in the mammalian body. These findings raise new questions about the safety of seafood consumption.

Large parts of the potential habitats of freshwater fish in Switzerland are negatively affected by human activities. Researchers at the University of Bern have shown this in a new study using explainable artificial intelligence methods. Measures to protect biodiversity and potential fish habitats will be developed based on the study.