Photo: Bengt Hansson, Qinyang Li, Lukas Schärer There are significant gaps in our knowledge on the evolution of sex, according to a research review on sex chromosomes from Lund University in Sweden. Even after more than a century of study, researchers do not know enough about the evolution of sex chromosomes to understand how males and females emerge. Greater focus on ecological aspects would incr

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/knowledge-gap-origin-sex - 2025-09-11

Photo: Maria Lindh Individual neurons can learn not only single responses to a particular signal, but also a series of reactions at precisely timed intervals. This is what emerges from a study at Lund University in Sweden. “It is like striking a piano key with a finger not just once, but as a programmed series of several keystrokes”, says neurophysiology researcher Germund Hesslow.The work constit

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/neurons-can-learn-temporal-patterns - 2025-09-11

Malin Lindstedt (Photo: Charlotte Carlberg-Bärg) Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have developed a method which determines not only whether a chemical or substance is allergenic, but also how strong its potential for causing hypersensitivity is. This will aid in the establishment of so-called threshold values – or how much of a substance is safe to use in a product. Until now, the only way

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/new-test-method-aims-predict-allergenic-potency-chemicals - 2025-09-11

Emma Sparr (Photo: Gunnar Menander) Cholesterol, a naturally occurring compound at the lung surface, has been shown to have a clear effect on the properties of this nanoscale film that covers the inside of our lungs. Cholesterol levels in this system may affect the lung’s function, according to researchers at Lund University in Sweden who have published a new study on the significance of cholester

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/cholesterol-key-player-lung-surface - 2025-09-11

IT IS HIGH TIME that we start thinking about how we define life, according to a group of Lund University researchers. An army of intelligent robots is growing in front of us, but also opportunities to alter people’s DNA, create super babies and, perhaps, to encounter life in space.“Human beings have always dreamed of playing God. With the help of new technology, we are able to reduce unnecessary s

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/designer-babies-and-intelligent-robots-how-new-life-challenging-humankind - 2025-09-11

Albert Salehi (Photo: Sara Liedholm) There has been no known link between diabetes and vitamin A – until now. A new study suggests that the vitamin improves the insulin producing β-cell´s function. The researchers initially discovered that insulin-producing beta-cells contain a large quantity of a cell surface receptor for vitamin A.“There are no unnecessary surface receptors in human cells. They

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/role-vitamin-diabetes - 2025-09-11

Equipment used to study the silver nanoclusters. Photo: Marcelo Alcocer Researchers have now managed to pinpoint what happens when light is absorbed by extremely small nanoclusters of silver atoms. The results may have useful application in the development of biosensors and in imaging. By combining chemistry and nanotechnology, the research community in recent years has developed a kind of extreme

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/silver-atom-nanoclusters-could-become-efficient-biosensors - 2025-09-11

Researchers have identified an antioxidant – richly occurring in broccoli – as a new antidiabetic substance. A patient study shows significantly lower blood sugar levels in participants who ate broccoli extract with high levels of sulforaphane. “There are strong indications that this can become a valuable supplement to existing medication,” says Anders Rosengren, Docent in Metabolic Physiology at

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/broccoli-focus-when-new-substance-against-diabetes-has-been-identified - 2025-09-11

Photo: August Thomasson Biologists at Lund University, together with their colleagues from Portugal and the UK, have now proven that the endangered São Tomé grosbeak is the world’s largest canary – 50 per cent larger than the runner-up. The São Tomé grosbeak is one of the rarest birds in the world and can only be found on the island of São Tomé in the West African Gulf of Guinea. After the bird wa

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/worlds-largest-canary - 2025-09-11

Photo: Kennet Ruona Important pieces of the puzzle to understand what drives diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are still missing today. One crucial obstacle for researchers is that it is impossible to examine a living brain cell in someone who is affected by the disease. With the help of a new method for cell conversion, researchers at Lund University in Sweden have found a way to produ

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/large-scale-production-living-brain-cells-enables-entirely-new-research - 2025-09-11

Minchao Wu The ongoing deforestation around the fringes of the Amazon may have serious consequences for the untouched deeper parts of the rainforest. A new research study shows that it is not only the climate that is adversely affected by deforestation. In fact, the very stability of the ecosystem in the entire Amazon region is altered when deforestation takes place in the outermost regions. It wa

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/deforestation-amazon-basin-could-disrupt-distant-rainforest-remote-climate-connection - 2025-09-11

Dan-Anders Jirenhed and Anders Rasmussen Almost everything we do – walking, talking, or drinking coffee – is completely dependent on accurate timing when activating many muscles at once. The prevailing theory has been that the exact timing of this type of movement is not voluntarily controlled, and the timing has therefore been assumed to be fully automated when learning movements. However, resear

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/surprisingly-exact-timing-voluntary-movements - 2025-09-11

Photo: Michelle Wille An influenza infection in birds gives a good protection against other subtypes of the virus, like a natural vaccination, according to a new study. Water birds, in particular mallards, are often carriers of low-pathogenic influenza A virus. Researchers previously believed that birds infected by one variant of the virus could not benefit from it by building up immunity against

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/birds-become-immune-influenza - 2025-09-11

Up to now, there has been uncertainty over whether microplastics from playgrounds is released into watercourses. A detailed study of a school playground in Lomma, Sweden, now clearly shows that microplastic is released into a nearby river. The soft rubber surfacing intended to protect our children is also threatening animal life, both at sea and on land. Rubber-based surfaces are increasingly comm

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/playground-found-release-microplastic-nearby-river - 2025-09-11

Albert Salehi (Photo: Sara Liedholm) Research from King’s College in London, UK, and Lund University in Sweden could explain why diabetes drugs which have worked in animal experiments are not equally successful in humans. The researchers discovered differences – but also unknown similarities – in the function of insulin-producing beta cells. The team have mapped a category of receptors, known as G

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/new-research-describes-differences-between-mice-and-humans - 2025-09-11

Remains of a ginkgo leaf preserved in fossil from the Jurassic era (Photo: Vivi Vajda) For the first time, researchers have succeeded in establishing the relationships between 200-million-year-old plants based on chemical fingerprints. Using infrared spectroscopy and statistical analysis of organic molecules in fossil leaves, they are opening up new perspectives on the dinosaur era. The unique res

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/through-fossil-leaves-step-towards-jurassic-park - 2025-09-11

Magnus Paulsson (Photo: Björn Martinsson) The common and highly resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterium is a fatal threat to weakened and ill patients. A new study from Lund University in Sweden now shows that a combination treatment using two different types of antibiotics can reduce mortality up to five times. The findings are part of a new doctoral thesis, which also describes some of the ba

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/combining-antibiotics-proves-more-effective-against-common-infection - 2025-09-11

Photo: Max Lundberg The genetic make-up of a willow warbler determines where it will migrate when winter comes. Studies of willow warblers in Sweden, Finland and the Baltic States show that “migration genes” differ - depending on where the birds breed in the summer. The willow warblers that breed in southern Sweden migrate to West Africa, while those in northern Sweden, Finland and the Baltic Stat

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/birds-migration-genes-are-conditioned-geography - 2025-09-11

Villa Nemo Architect student Ludvig Hofsten wanted to address the issues of rising sea levels and plastic waste in the ocean. He designed Villa Nemo, a project that sees the potential of living on water in the future; with both lifestyle and environmental benefits.  ”Our cities are becoming fairly dense, and there’s less space to build new houses. Quite a lot of cities are starting to look at the

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/instead-floating-plastic-floating-houses - 2025-09-11

A new study has identified the four actions that would have the greatest impact on an individual’s greenhouse gas emissions: eating a plant-based diet, avoiding air travel, living car free, and having fewer children. The comprehensive study analysed 39 peer-reviewed articles, carbon calculators and government sources to quantify the most high-impact personal lifestyle choices in developed countrie

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/four-lifestyle-choices-most-reduce-your-carbon-footprint - 2025-09-11