The extreme summer high water of July 2021 showed how vulnerable and unpredictable the Meuse (Maas) is. Researchers from Wageningen University & Research (Hermjan Barneveld and Ton Hoitink) and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Willem Toonen), among others, discovered that the bottom of the Maas changed drastically in a short time.

International research team study surrounding landscapes, biodiversity and human well-being Villages, often separated from larger towns and cities, consist of clusters of households and a few public buildings. Despite their long history, the biodiversity of European villages is not well understood compared to urban areas, forests, grasslands, or farmland.

A new study has shown that as early as the Stone Age, people in Africa traveled long distances to procure colorful stone, forming the raw material for the manufacture of tools. The study was led by Gregor D. Bader from the Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology and the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of.

Researchers at the University of Basel have developed mechanical models that can predict how effectively the different layers of a deep neural network transform data. Their results improve our understanding of these complex systems and suggest better strategies for training neural networks. Deep neural networks are at the heart of artificial intelligence, ranging from pattern recognition to large language and reasoning models like ChatGPT.

Caltech scientists have found a fast and efficient way to add up large numbers of Feynman diagrams, the simple drawings physicists use to represent particle interactions. The new method has already enabled the researchers to solve a longstanding problem in the materials science and physics worlds known as the polaron problem, giving scientists and engineers a way to predict how electrons will flow in certain materials, both conventional and quantum.

A research team led by Gregor Weihs has developed a method for the deliberate control of dark excitons in quantum dots. Using chirped laser pulses and a magnetic field, the physicists succeeded in controlling these optically inactive quasiparticles and harnessing their unique properties for the storage and processing of quantum states.

A research team at the Medical University of Vienna has systematically described the safety and efficacy of targeted immunotherapy in refractory idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) for the first time.

To curb global plastic pollution and to make plastics safer and more sustainable, countries are currently negotiating a global treaty. A new study with participation from Eawag and Empa published in Nature provides a comprehensive and systematic overview of all chemicals that can be present in plastics, their properties, uses, and hazards.

Researchers at Radboud University and the Radboudumc found that mothers with postpartum depression benefit from oxytocin nasal spray. The oxytocin causes mothers to respond more positively to their newborn child. 'Although extra oxytocin does not affect mothers' caregiving behavior and stress levels, it does contribute to better contact between mother and child.' Mothers with postpartum depression or a lighter form of it often feel sad, tired or anxious after the birth of their child.

How major organs work together to manage extreme physiological stresses such as lack of oxygen and sleep has been mapped for the first time by researchers from UCL and the University of Portsmouth. The study, published in the Journal of Physiology , aimed to find out what happens inside the body when people are tired, out of breath, or oxygen-deprived, by mapping how different parts of the body communicate during stress, potentially paving the way for earlier illness diagnosis.

Scientists have produced the first detailed characterisation of the changes that weight loss causes in human fat tissue By analysing hundreds of thousands of cells, the team found a range of positive effects, including clearing out of damaged, ageing cells, and increased metabolism of harmful fats. The researchers say the findings help to better understand how weight loss leads to health improvements at a molecular level, which in the future could help to inform the development of therapies for diseases such as type 2 diabetes.

A new paper published in Nature Communications reveals how the way tree species are arranged in a forest can help optimise ecosystem functioning and productivity. The study was conducted using empirical field data combined with advanced computer models and simulations by researchers at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Leipzig University, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).

Researchers have mapped the spread of infectious diseases in humans across millennia, to reveal how human-animal interactions permanently transformed our health today. We've long suspected that the transition to farming and animal husbandry opened the door to a new era of disease - now DNA shows us that it happened at least 6,500 years ago Eske Willerslev A new study suggests that our ancestors' close cohabitation with domesticated animals and large-scale migrations played a key role in the spread of infectious diseases.

New method enables large networks capable of processing the information of tomorrow The rapid rise in AI applications has placed increasingly heavy demands on our energy infrastructure. All the more reason to find energy-saving solutions for AI hardware. One promising idea is the use of so-called spin waves to process information.

News from By modeling different planting strategies and tree species mixtures, researchers offer insights for sustainable forest management, reforestation and climate change mitigation in a new study. The study was published in the journal Nature Communications and shows how the spatial arrangement of tree species can optimize the function and productivity of forest ecosystems.

New international research led by Professors Willy Baeyens and Yue Gao of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), published in the highly ranked journal One Earth , demonstrates that plankton is not only the basis of the marine food chain but also a crucial natural ally in combating global warming. In their publication, Prevalence of Multi-Micronutrient Limitation of Phytoplankton Growth in the Southern Ocean , the researchers offer new insight into the functioning and resilience of the Southern Ocean ecosystem.

A research team at the Medical University of Vienna led by Dietmar Herndler-Brandstetter has investigated how bone marrow niches orchestrate immune cell development and promote long-term survival and function of mature immune cells. The study reveals that stromal cell subtypes have a different capacity to produce the survival cytokine interleukin 15 (IL-15) and thereby differently regulate the development and survival of immune cells.

ANCIENT DNA A new study maps infectious diseases across millennia and offers new insight into how human-animal interactions permanently transformed our health landscape. A research team led by Eske Willerslev, professor at the University of Copenhagen and the University of Cambridge, has recovered ancient DNA from 214 known human pathogens in prehistoric humans from Eurasia.

Discovering unsuspected flexibility in bacterial elongation, UdeM microbiologists rethink approach to fighting resistance to antibiotics. Not all bacteria grow the same way, even when they are closely related. In Caulobacter crescentus (left panel), the cell elongates from its center toward both ends (pink arrows), while in Asticcacaulis excentricus (right panel), growth occurs from the center, but in one direction only (pink arrow).

After nearly 15 years' research, scientists at the UdeM-affiliated CHU Sainte-Justine have developed a compound that has shown remarkable potential in preventing prematurity in mice. Every year, 15 million babies are born prematurely around the world. For these children, each additional day in the womb can have a decisive impact on their health and quality of life.