News — University of Bonn

Nerve cell activity shows how confident we are¹

Should I or shouldn't I? The activity of individual nerve cells in the brain tells us how confident we are in our decisions. This is shown by a recent study by researchers at the University of Bonn. The result is unexpected - the researchers were actually on the trail of a completely different evaluation mechanism. The results are published in the journal Current Biology.

Scientists reconstruct beetles from the Cretaceous²

About a year ago, researchers found fossil specimens of beetles in an amber deposit in Myanmar, thereby describing a new beetle family that lived about 99 million years ago. However, the scientists had not been able to fully describe the morphology of the insects in the amber sample, which is why the beetles were subsequently given the mysterious name Mysteriomorphidae. An international research team led by the University of Bonn and Palacky University (Czech Republic) has now examined four newly found specimens of the Mysteriomorphidae using computer tomography and has been able to reconstruct them. The results allow to draw conclusions about the evolution of the species during the Cretaceous period. The study has been published in the journal "Scientific Reports".

Lack of support prolongs unemployment³

Unemployed persons whose appointment with the responsible caseworker at the employment office is canceled unexpectedly remain unemployed for an average of twelve days longer. This is what Bonn economist Amelie Schiprowski established in a study by the Cluster of Excellence ECONtribute: Markets & Public Policy at the Universities of Cologne and Bonn.

⁴

Bonn alumnus Reinhard Genzel receives the Nobel Prize for Physics⁴

The astrophysicist Prof. Dr. Reinhard Genzel, a graduate of the University of Bonn, receives this year's Nobel Prize in Physics together with two other researchers. The Nobel Committee thus honors his contribution to the discovery of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way.

⁵

The Universities of Bonn and Cologne and Forschungszentrum Jülich found joint center for geoscience⁵

The University of Bonn, the University of Cologne and Forschungszentrum Jülich have founded a joint Center for Earth System Observation and Computational Analysis (CESOC). This creates a high-profile international focal point in the Rhineland for global Earth system observation with the aim of making strides toward a comprehensive understanding of our planet and better predicting changes.

⁶

"Immortal" in tree resin⁶

The phenomenon of using DNA from old fossils preserved in amber already inspired Hollywood – in the film Jurassic Park, scientists reproduce the DNA of dinosaurs extracted from a fossil mosquito embedded in a piece of amber and thereby resurrect them. In reality, however, the undertaking is much more difficult: all previous studies in which researchers took DNA samples from insects enclosed in tree resin were the results of modern environmental contamination and, in addition, were unreproducible, subsequently useless under the scientific method. An international team led by researchers at the University of Bonn now detected DNA from ambrosia beetles that were trapped in recent tree resin for less than seven years. The study was published in the journal "PLOS ONE".

⁷

From pandemic shock to recession⁷

The pandemic-related restrictions on economic activity resulted in a massive reduction in working hours in March and April 2020. Only the key professions and those jobs that could be done from home were largely spared. Once the strict corona rules were relaxed, the sectors that were particularly affected recovered relatively quickly, while other sectors recorded a significant drop in hours. This is shown in a new study based on Dutch data conducted by economists of the Cluster of Excellence ECONtribute, a joint initiative of the universities of Bonn and Cologne, and the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

⁸

Nerve cells let others "listen in"⁸

How many "listeners" a nerve cell has in the brain is strictly regulated. This is shown by an international study led by the University College London and the universities of Bonn, Bordeaux and Milton Keynes (England). In the environment of learning neurons, certain processes are set in motion that make signal transmission less exclusive. The results have now been published in the journal Neuron.

Previous 8 items ⁹
1¹⁰
...
110¹¹
111¹²
112⁹
113
114¹³
115¹⁴
116¹⁵
...
125¹⁶
Next 8 items ¹³

Links