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Scientists find that sex is the leading factor explaining differences in hearing sensitivity, with women having significantly more sensitive hearing than men. Hearing problems are on the rise worldwide, and whilst hearing sensitivity is well known to decrease with age, little research has been done on the other biological and environmental factors that influence it, such as sex, ear side, language, ethnicity and local environment.

Göttingen research team constructs network of self-learning infomorphic neurons   Novel artificial neurons learn independently and are more strongly modeled on their biological counterparts. A team of researchers from the Göttingen Campus Institute for Dynamics of Biological Networks (CIDBN) at the University of Göttingen and the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS) has programmed these infomorphic neurons and constructed artificial neural networks from them.

In vertebrates, the skeleton of different regions of the body arises from different precursor cells. Researchers at the University of Basel have now discovered that these skeletal cells do not just differ in their developmental origin, but also in their gene regulation - which may be a key to the vertebrates' evolutionary success story.

Würzburg researchers present a new strategy against the life-threatening fungus Aspergillus fumigatus. They combine RNA molecules and an antifungal agent in nanoparticles. Fungal infections are on the rise globally. According to a study by the Manchester Fungal Infection Group , in 2022, approximately 6.5 million people were infected by a pathogenic fungus, and about 3.8 million died as a result - nearly twice as many as in 2012.

A new study has revealed that African Elephants have an extraordinary ability to meet their colossal food requirements as efficiently as possible. Data from over 150 elephants demonstrated that these giants plan their journeys based on energy costs and resource availability. The findings - published in the "Journal of Animal Ecology" - could provide crucial information to help protect these animals and their habitats.

Humans are having a highly detrimental impact on biodiversity worldwide. Not only are the numbers of species declining, but the composition of species communities is also changing. This is shown by a study by Eawag and the University of Zurich published in the scientific journal "Nature". It is one of the largest studies ever conducted on this topic.

Humans are having a highly detrimental impact on biodiversity worldwide. Not only is the number of species declining, but the composition of species communities is also changing. These are the findings of a study by Eawag and the University of Zurich published in the scientific journal Nature. It is one of the largest studies ever conducted on this topic.

A team from the University of Geneva and the HUG have shown that people diagnosed with ADHD have an increased risk of developing dementia with age. An adult brain affected by attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity (ADHD) presents modifications similar to those observed in individuals suffering from dementia.

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University's College of Engineering Neuroscience Institute have developed a cutting-edge method to identify muscle activity in densely packed regions like the forearm. Using high-density surface electromyography (HD-sEMG) sensors alongside other techniques such as peripheral nerve stimulation, spatial filtering and ultrasound imaging, this approach offers more accurate identification of muscle activity.

Life needs sufficient phosphorus. However, the element is scarce, not only today but also at the time of the origin of life. So where was there sufficient phosphorus four billion years ago for life to emerge? A team of origin-of-life researchers has an answer. Along with nitrogen and carbon, phosphorus is an essential element for life on Earth.

Why is sleep so important for learning and memory? Neuroscientists from the Csicsvari group at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) provided new insight into this essential function by monitoring neuronal activity in rat brains for up to 20 hours of sleep following spatial learning.

Researchers from Bonn and Tübingen revise an established theory of stimulus processing in nerve cells during memory processing How does the brain retain a sequence of events in memory? Researchers from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), the University of Bonn, the University Hospital Tübingen and the University of Tübingen investigated this question.

A team from the University of Geneva shows that individual training improves brain-machine decoding of imagined speech, offering new hope for people with language disorders. Brain-machine interfaces have the potential to transform care for individuals who are unable to speak. However, decoding internal language remains highly challenging due to the low-amplitude brain signals involved.

Researchers have identified a key gene in the regulation of nerve circuits in "Caenorhabditis elegans", a small worm often used in research. This gene, also present in humans, is associated with a rare form of infantile epilepsy. Their work suggests that an excessive release of neuropeptides could play a key role in this disease, opening up new research prospects.

Who were our earliest ancestors? The answer could lie in a special group of single-celled organisms with a cytoskeleton similar to that of complex organisms, such as animals and plants. researchers made these findings in a new study. Ten years ago, nobody knew that Asgard archaea even existed. In 2015, however, researchers examining deep-sea sediments discovered gene fragments that indicated a new and previously undiscovered form of microbes.

A pioneering study has revealed how climate change is impacting glacier-fed streams and the essential microbiomes they contain - which could change radically by the end of this century. Climate change is causing the world's glaciers to disappear at an alarming rate. Scientists have been studying and modeling this process for years, but until now, no research group has specifically examined how glacier melt will affect glacier-fed streams and their ecosystems.

Although persons with haemophilia have nowadays reached a similar life expectancy as the general population in regions of the world with access to safe and effective therapies, little is known about the biological ageing process in the people with this congenital bleeding disorder. In a study recently published in the journal "Haematologica", researchers from the MedUni Vienna have now shown that people with haemophilia have a significantly increased biological age.

Researchers have developed an irreversible inhibitor of the transcription factor cJun, which drives certain difficult-to-treat cancers. For the first time scientists have identified promising drug candidates that bind irreversibly with a notoriously "undruggable" cancer protein target, permanently blocking it.

A new special volume, initiated and edited by researchers from the University of Bern, examines the biological roots of the division of labor - from microorganisms to humans.

The parts of the brain that are needed to remember words, and how these are affected by a common form of epilepsy, have been identified by a team of neurologists and neurosurgeons at UCL. The new study, published in Brain Communications , found that shrinkage in the front and side of the brain (prefrontal, temporal and cingulate cortices, and the hippocampus) was linked to difficulty remembering words.