Scientists Have Figured Out Why Childbirth Became So Complex and Dangerous
A study finds that complex human childbirth and cognitive abilities are a result of walking upright. Childbirth in humans is much more complex and painful…
University of Zurich News
Satellite Monitoring of Biodiversity Advances To Protect Threatened Ecosystems
Internationally comparable data on biodiversity is needed to protect threatened ecosystems, restore destroyed habitats and counteract the negative effects of global biodiversity loss. Current biodiversity…
Cracking Chimpanzee Culture – More Similar to Human Culture Than Often Assumed
Chimpanzees don’t automatically know what to do when they come across nuts and stones. Researchers at the University of Zurich have now used field experiments…
Exposure to Harmless Coronaviruses Boosts COVID-19 Immunity
Infections with the novel coronavirus and vaccination lead to strong antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2. Immune responses to other human coronaviruses, which mostly only cause harmless…
New Algorithm Flies Drones Faster Than World-Class Human Racing Pilots
To be useful, drones need to be quick. Because of their limited battery life, they must complete whatever task they have — searching for survivors…
Neuromorphic Chip: Artificial Neurons Recognize Biosignals in Real Time
Researchers from Zurich have developed a compact, energy-efficient device made from artificial neurons that is capable of decoding brainwaves. The chip uses data recorded from…
New Technology Makes Cancer Tumors Eliminate Themselves
A new technology developed by University of Zurich researchers enables the body to produce therapeutic agents on demand at the exact location where they are…
Earliest Homo Populations in Africa Had Primitive Ape-Like Brains – Just Half the Size of Today’s Humans
The human brain as we know it today is relatively young. It evolved about 1.7 million years ago when the culture of stone tools in…
Intriguing New Results From Large Hadron Collider Challenge Leading Theory in Physics
Scientists at UZH and CERN have just released new intriguing results. According to the international research collaboration that runs the Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb)…
A New Way of Forming Planets – A Decades Old Puzzle Solved?
In the last 25 years, scientists have discovered over 4000 planets beyond the borders of our solar system. From relatively small rock and water worlds…
Eavesdropping Marmosets Understand Other Monkeys’ Conversations – And They Judge
Humans continuously observe and evaluate interactions between third parties to decide with whom to interact in the future. But it is difficult to measure what…
How Stars Form in Nearby Galaxies
How stars form in galaxies remains a major open question. Robert Feldmann sheds new light on this topic with the help of a data-driven re-analysis…
150 Year-Old Mystery Solved: Bizarre Giraffe-Necked Reptile Was a Surprisingly Adaptable Hunter
Its neck was three times as long as its torso, but had only 13 extremely elongated vertebrae: Tanystropheus, a bizarre giraffe-necked reptile which lived 242…
How Venus Flytraps Snap: Sophisticated Trapping Mechanism Revealed in New Research
Venus flytraps catch spiders and insects by snapping their trap leaves. This mechanism is activated when unsuspecting prey touch highly sensitive trigger hairs twice within…
Developing Complex Culture in the Stone Age: Hunter-Gatherer Networks Accelerated Human Evolution
Humans began developing a complex culture as early as the Stone Age. This development was brought about by social interactions between various groups of hunters…
Absolutely Massive Extinct Turtle Weighed 2,500 Pounds and Had Giant Horned Shell
The tropical region of South America is one of the world’s hot spots when it comes to animal diversity. The region’s extinct fauna is unique,…
Astronomers Discover A New Class of Super-Earths
Researchers at the Universities of Zurich and Cambridge have discovered a new, exotic class of planets outside our solar system. These super-Earths were formed at…
Scientists Reveal Jupiter Grew in Different, Distinct Phases
With an equator diameter of around 143,000 kilometers (89,000 miles), Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and has 300 times the mass…