wire - news in brief

Across all regions, in more than three quarters of cases deaths were preceded by at least one end-of-life decision. (Image: Istock.com/LPETTET) Today, almost two thirds of deaths in Switzerland are foreseeable due to old age or terminal illness. This means that difficult end-of-life decision have to be made.

Each year the European Research Council (ERC), open to both junior and established researchers, awards substantial funding for outstanding fundamental research.

Scientists from the Universities of Bern, Zurich and Oxford as well as the Latvian Biomedical Research & Study Centre led by Prof. Martin F. Bachmann (University Clinic of Rheumatology, Immunoloy and Allergology, University of Bern) have developed a new therapeutic vaccine technology based upon enhanced virus like nanoparticle conjugates.

More than 4,000 people worldwide die from tuberculosis every day. This means the disease tops the list of the most common causes of death that result from a single pathogen.

Virtually all mental health disorders come with difficulties in interpersonal relations that in the long run negatively affect the progression of the disease. The associated health an social restrictions can only be marginally improved by current forms of therapy. One of the reasons for this is that there has been very little research into the basic neurobiological principles and in particular the neurochemical mechanisms of these kinds of disorders.

What are the reasons a mother does or does not breastfeed? What effect does the decision have on the child, the mother, and society? Although there is a lot of scientific evidence for the health benef

The Science Barometer Switzerland published in 2016 showed a clear picture: Swiss people are interested in science and research, and think they are worth supporting. "This main finding doesn't mean, however, that all Swiss people have the same attitude toward science. A differentiated picture emerges by dividing the population into groups," explains Julia Metag, professor at the University of Fribourg.

Ecological studies have demonstrated positive relationships between plant diversity and ecosystem functioning. Forests with higher functional diversity are generally more productive and stable over long timescales than less diverse forests. Diverse plant communities show increased resource use efficiency and utilization, enhanced ecosystem productivity and stability and can better cope with changing environmental conditions - an insurance effect of biodiversity.

Two species of Indonesian orangutans had previously been officially described and recognized - the Pongo abelii , living on the island of Sumatra, and the Pongo pygmeaeus , endemic to Borneo. In 1997, researchers at the Australian National University discovered an isolated population of orangutans in Batang Toru, a region within the three Tapanuli districts in North Sumatra.

DNA contains the blueprint of an entire organism. Based on the information in this blueprint, every cell knows what it must become and what function it must perform. Throughout the entire lifespan of an organism, the genetic information has to be read correctly to ensure that genes are active at the right time and in the right cells.

A conventional camera and an event camera (on the right) picture the same building. The latter reports changes in brightness for each pixel.

For many poor farmers in India and Africa, finger millet is a major staple food. The crop species is not only a rich source of minerals like calcium, iron, magnesium and zinc, and it contains many vitamins and essential amino acids.

The dramatic, worldwide loss of biodiversity is one of today's greatest environmental problems. The loss of species diversity affects important ecosystems on which humans depend. Previous research predominantly addressed short-term effects of biodiversity in small experimental plots planted with few randomly selected plant species.

Big data, digitalisation, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things - these terms are on everybody's lips these days, but what exactly do they mean?

The video and sound installations, sculptures, and pictures on display at the exhibition aim to build new bridges between art and the natural sciences.

CUTISS is a company with a vision: To use personalized skin grafts to heal people all over the world with skin defects, including burn victims.

Young adults have a natural sleep requirement of about 9 hours a day on average, older adults 7.5 hours.

Even today, Malaria is one of the greatest medical challenges worldwide, killing hundreds of thousands of people every year. In the past, people have adapted to the threat of malaria in various ways. These methods range from interventions in the environment like draining swamps, to genetic adaptations in the human body.

Possible look of the newly discovered predatory fish species Birgeria americana with the fossil oft he skull shown at bottom right (Artwork: Nadine Bösch) The most catastrophic mass extinction on Earth took place about 252 million years ago - at the boundary between the Permian and Triassic geological periods.

If severe infections result, the body must form more white blood cells to fight off infectious agents. Hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow are responsible for their production. These cells, which renew themselves throughout a person's lifetime, form all cells of the hematopoietic system.

The research, carried out by scientists at the University of Zurich and University of Tasmania, used detailed records collected during the commercial whaling of the 20 th century and collated by the International Whaling Committee (IWC) - to look at the effects of overharvesting on whale populations, and used this historic data to help develop methods which can be applied to species of current conservation concern.

A lack of physical activity increases the risk for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases as well as diabetes and cancer.

Dark matter is one of the basic constituents of the Universe, five times more abundant than ordinary matter.

Renal cell carcinoma is one of the most frequent and deadly urogenital cancers. Even if the tumors are treated, they ultimately end in metastasis in about half of the patients. 90 percent of these patients die within five years. Thanks to new kinds of immunotherapies, the outlook of this patient group has improved, but the treatment only works for a minority of patients.

The situation is alarming: The invasive Asian fungus has recently led to mass mortality of fire salamanders in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

The wolf was eradicated in Switzerland and from large parts of continental Europe including France and Germany by the end of the 19th century. Following legal protection, the wolf population started naturally increasing and expanding, and in 1995 its presence was confirmed in Switzerland. Sightings have increased since.

Anxiety in social situations is not a rare problem: Around one in ten people are affected by social anxiety disorder during their lifetime. Social anxiety disorder is diagnosed if fears and anxiety in social situations significantly impair everyday life and cause intense suffering. Talking in front of a larger group can be one typical feared situation.

Humans perceive everyday things and experiences differently and attach different meaning to pieces of music, for instance. In the case of psychiatric disorders, this perception is often altered. For patients suffering from addictions, for instance, drug stimuli are more meaningful than for people without an addiction.

Prof. Michael Schaepman, PhD Department of Geography University of Zurich Phone +41 44 635 51 60 E-mail Prof. Bernhard Schmid, PhD Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental St

Syphilis has plagued humankind for over 500 years. After the first reported outbreaks struck Europe in 1495, the disease spread rapidly to other continents and swelled to a global pandemic. When treatment with the antibiotic penicillin became available in the mid-twentieth century, infection rates started to decrease dramatically.

A year ago, the University of Zurich conducted its first parabolic flight for test purposes from Swiss soil. Now a second aircraft is ready for lift-off to research zero gravity: Tomorrow (Saturday), an Airbus A310 ZERO-G is set to take off from the air force base in Dübendorf equipped with scientific experiments from the Universities of Zurich, Basel, Lucerne and ETH Zurich.

In the study, people chose between a payoff that only benefitted themselves and a payoff that benefitted them less but also benefitted another person. (Image: iStock.com/eljule). Should I buy a new car now or save the money for retirement? Such situations require self-control in order to resist the immediately tempting offer for the sake of more important outcomes in the future.

This year's Swiss Human Relations Barometer focuses on the topic "loyalty and cynicism" - specifically, the tension between how employees experience and demonstrate both loyalty and cynicism, the latter being a negative, even derisive, attitude that employees develop toward their employers.

Sleep is vital for humans. If adults remain awake for longer than usual, the brain responds with an increased need for deep sleep. This is measured in the form of "slow wave activity" using electroencephalography (EEG). In adults, these deep-sleep waves are most pronounced in the prefrontal cortex - the brain region which plans and controls actions, solves problems and is involved in the working memory.

The bacterium Mycoplasma pneumoniae has been under suspicion for quite a while. Now, researchers at the University of Zurich, the University Children's Hospital Zurich, and the Erasmus University in Rotterdam have proved without a doubt that it is the culprit. In fact, mycoplasma is not only responsible for respiratory tract infections such as pneumonia in children and adults, it can also trigger Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) in infected individuals.

The University of Zurich has proven that it can meet several US elite universities at eye level when it comes to recruiting the best talents.

Prof. Alexandra Trkola, PhD Institute of Medical Virology University of Zurich Phone +41 44 634 53 80 E-mail Website Prof. Huldrych Günthard, MD Department of Infectious Diseases and Hos

Buzzwords like Industry 4.0 or Big Data and the massive spread of digital technology, such as smartphones, apps or vehicles with state-of-the-art computers, all show one thing: Thanks to digitization, our society, our world of work and our free time are in the throes of a fundamental transformation.

This simulation shows how two galaxies merge over a period of 15 millionen years. The red and the blue dots illustrate the two black holes (image: Astrophysical Journal).