Following the success of the Bern solar wind sail on the Apollo Moon missions of the U.S. space agency NASA in the 1960s, the Physics Institute at the University of Bern is to return to the Moon as early as 2027 with the LIMS mass spectrometer as part of the NASA Commercial Lunar Payoad

The canton of Bern wants to establish itself as a leading international medical location by 2030. To achieve this, the Insel Group, the University of Bern, and the technology innovation center, CSEM, will combine their exceptional medical expertise and work together on research and development projects. Their goal is to strengthen the competitiveness of local industrial businesses and start-ups.

An international group of researchers with participation from the University of Bern is using new concepts to search for efficient and durable electrocatalysts for the energy transition. They are being funded by the European Research Council (ERC) with 10 million euros.

To ensure the quality of teaching, research, and service and to restore the credibility of ISNO, the University of Bern has taken various measures. The lecturer who published the unacceptable X-postings will be terminated without notice. In addition, an administrative investigation of the entire institute has been initiated. During this investigation, the Institute Co-Director Serena Tolino will be relieved of her duties.

In just 16,000 years, more than cichlid 500 species, distributed throughout the entire food web, have evolved in Lake Victoria. This explosion of biodiversity was made possible by repeated cycles of fusion and diversification in evolutionary lineages, as researchers from Eawag and the University of Bern have described in the "Science" and "Nature" journals. The results underscore that it is not just species that need protection, but entire "species swarms".

The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) has awarded funding to three projects led by the University of Bern as part of the SPIRIT program, promoting cross-border and collaborative research endeavors. These research initiatives delve into topics concerning potentially habitable exoplanets, female entrepreneurship in Switzerland and Colombia, and the combined use of medication and psychotherapy for depression treatment in Zimbabwe.

With methods of so-called geoengineering, the climate could theoretically be artificially influenced and cooled. Bernese researchers have now investigated whether it would be possible to prevent the melting of the West Antarctic ice sheet by artificially "dimming the sun". The results show that artificial influence does not work without decarbonization and entails high risks.

Unlike their relatives, individuals of the poison frog Allobates femoralis are not poisonous but are captivating due to their different behavioral profiles: They successfully reproduce with different strategies depending on whether they are bold, aggressive or explorative. In addition, certain character traits are already present in this species at the tadpole stage. This is shown in two recently published studies by the University of Bern.

Indian author Amitav Ghosh's bestsellers open up a new view of the world by linking colonial history(s) with current issues of migration, global inequality and the worldwide climate crisis. The Institute for Social Anthropology invites the award-winning intellectual to this year's "Anthropology Talks" in Bern. In a public reading at the Stadttheater Bern, Ghosh will enter into conversation with research, culture and civil society.

Treatment of the chronic inflammatory bowel disease ulcerative colitis often produces unsatisfactory results. Researchers at the University of Bern have now developed a lipid gel that is administered directly to the inflamed part of the intestine, where it remains and releases its active substance evenly. This could result in a new, targeted therapy approach with fewer side effects.

To assess biodiversity goals, reports are typically based on entire countries. Researchers from the Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment at the University of Bern and the University of Lausanne challenge this country-level analysis regarding conservation efforts for mountain biodiversity. They emphasize that significant sub-national differences are being overlooked and highlight the need for cross-country conservation initiatives.

The Dr. Josef Steiner Cancer Research Award 2023, endowed with 1 million Swiss francs and originally referred to as the "Nobel Prize for Cancer Research", is awarded to Dr. Inigo Martincorena of the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK, for his research into the development of cancer. The prize will be awarded on Friday, October 6, 2023 at the University of Bern.

Blood poisoning caused by a fungal infection is a severe, life-threatening condition. Researchers at the University of Bern have now discovered a mechanism that helps a yeast fungus to spread more easily within the body. The immune system, of all things, plays a major role in this process. These findings could open up new therapeutic avenues for blood poisoning caused by yeast, but also for other invasive fungal infections.

Corn roots secrete certain substances that affect the quality of the soil. In certain fields, this effect increases the yield of wheat planted after corn in the same soil by more than 4%. This has been demonstrated by researchers at the University of Bern. Although the findings from several field experiments show that such effects are highly variable, they could nevertheless contribute in the long term to making the cultivation of cereals more sustainable without additional fertilizers or pesticides.