Archive

From species’ temperature preferences to the major ecological challenges for society - this range of topics will be covered by Christian Hof's inaugural lecture on 20 November 2024.

Plants adapt their water consumption to environmental conditions by counting and calculating environmental stimuli with their guard cells. Plant researchers from Würzburg report this in ‘Current Biology’.

Light pollution is more serious than expected: Moths not only lose their orientation directly under street lamps. Their flight behaviour is also disturbed outside the cone of light.

Plants can extract even the smallest traces of the important nutrient potassium from the soil. A team led by Würzburg biophysicist Rainer Hedrich describes how they achieve this in ‘Nature Communications’.

Genome instability can cause numerous diseases. Cells have effective DNA repair mechanisms at their disposal. A research team at the University of Würzburg has now gained new insights into the DNA damage response.

Dangerous mixtures: pesticides in combination can have unexpected effects on the development of honeybees. This is shown by a new study from the Biocenter.

Numerous studies have shown that the older the father, the higher the risk of disease for the offspring. Human geneticists at the University of Würzburg have now taken a closer look at the processes responsible for this.

At the University of Würzburg (JMU), Dimitrios Papadopoulos is investigating RNA-based mechanisms maintaining aggressive pediatric tumors. He has now been awarded one of Europe's most coveted fellowships for young scientists.

It's not just us humans who suffer from heatwaves. Researchers at the University of Würzburg discovered that hot temperatures rob bumblebees of their sense of smell – and makes them struggle when searching for food.

Researchers from Würzburg and Berlin present a new molecule for visualising the sphingomyelin metabolism. This offers prospects for innovative therapeutic approaches in infection research.

Chlamydiae are sexually transmitted pathogens that can apparently survive in the human gut for a long time. Researchers from Würzburg and Berlin report this in the journal PLOS Pathogens.

An international research team has sequenced the largest genomes of all animals – those of lungfish. The data will help to find out how the ancestors of land vertebrates managed to conquer the mainland.

In an emergency, ants bite off injured limbs of fellow ants to ensure their survival. Whether they take this radical step depends on the location of the wound.

The University of Würzburg is part of a new Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) in which innovative therapeutic strategies against cancer are being sought. Another CRC with Würzburg participation will be extended.

Christian Hof is head of the new Chair of Global Change Ecology at the University of Würzburg. His research focuses on how climate change and human activities affect species and biodiversity.