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Extreme weather and climate events such as droughts and floods in Europe can be linked to shifts in the jet stream over the Atlantic.

An international research team led by the University of Bern and Brown University in the US state of Rhode Island may have solved the mystery of the reddish color of Mars. The team identified the water-rich iron mineral ferrihydrite as the main culprit of the characteristic reddish Martian dust. This discovery could not only explain the planet's color, but also point to a wetter, potentially habitable Martian past.

Researchers from the University of Bern, in collaboration with the University of Science and Technology Houari Boumediene in Algeria, have made significant progress in astrobiology. In a recently published study, they were able to detect fossil microorganisms in Messinian gypsum, which is found in Algeria, using the Bernese mass spectrometer LIMS.

Meteoroid impacts create seismic waves that cause Mars to shake stronger and deeper than previously thought: This is shown by an investigation using artificial intelligence carried out by an international research team led by the University of Bern. Similarities were found between numerous meteoroid impacts on the surface of Mars and marsquakes recorded by NASA's Mars lander InSight.

Around one in ten diagnoses is wrong. In an extensive study, a research team led by Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, and the University of Bern has investigated whether an AI-based diagnostic system could improve diagnostic quality. The result is surprising: despite high expectations, the system that was tested showed no measurable advantage over conventional diagnostic processes.

A study by the University of Bern and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the USA concludes that ocean circulation in the North Atlantic, which includes the Gulf Stream, has not weakened over the past 60 years. These results contradict previous assumptions. We owe the mild climate in Europe to the ocean circulation in the North Atlantic, which not only transports heat northwards from the equator, but also distributes oxygen and nutrients in the ocean.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

Researchers at the University of Bern have developed a new model for the emergence of consciousness. The model suggests that one day artificial agents, i.e. systems which imitate human thought, could gain consciousness. To regulate our interaction with such systems, the researchers propose an agreement between humans and machines: the 'Human-AI Deal'.

Researchers at the University of Bern and Bern University Hospital have developed a test to simplify the diagnosis of allergies. Its effectiveness has now been confirmed in clinical samples from children and adolescents suffering from a peanut allergy. The results could fundamentally improve the clinical diagnosis of allergies in future.

A team of scientists including researchers from the University of Bern, the University of Geneva and the NCCR PlanetS used the ESPRESSO Spectrograph to discover a sub-Earth mass exoplanet orbiting Barnard's star, the second-closest star system to the Sun. This discovery helps to understand planetary formation around red dwarfs and provides insights into the diversity of planetary systems in our cosmic neighbourhood.

A research team led by Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, and the University of Bern has shown that a high percentage of kidney stones are excreted without symptoms. This finding should be incorporated into the future treatment of patients with recurrent kidney stones. Kidney stones are caused by the deposition of minerals and salts in the kidneys and can lead to severe pain when passing through the urinary tract.

A recent study led by Inselspital, Bern University Hospital and the University of Bern shows that stents with a degradable polymer coating offer no long-term advantage over conventional stents. However, patients who consistently take their cholesterol-lowering medication have a lower risk of complications following stent implantation.

In the USA, the world's most extensive neutrino experiment, DUNE, is being built at Fermilab. The University of Bern is playing a key role in this by developing the "ND-LAr" detector, which features new technology and an innovative design to observe neutrinos. The prototype of the "ND-LAr" has now been successfully tested and has detected its first neutrinos.

An international team of researchers led by the University of Bern has used observation-based computer modelling to find an explanation for how macromolecules can form in a short time in disks of gas and dust around young stars. These findings could be crucial for understanding how habitability develops around different types of exoplanets and stars.

A team including researchers from the Laboratory for High Energy Physics at the University of Bern has successfully measured the interaction rates of neutrinos at unprecedented energies using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. A better understanding of these elusive elementary particles can help answer the question of why there is more matter than antimatter in the universe.