Opera singers have to use the extreme limits of their voice range. Many pedagogical and scientific sources suggest that the highest pitches reached in classical singing can only be produced with a so-called "whistle" voice register, in analogy to ultrasonic vocalizations of mice and rats.
A team of researchers led by Philip Walther at the University of Vienna carried out a pioneering experiment where they measured the effect of the rotation of Earth on quantum entangled photons.
An international team of astronomers led by the University of Vienna has deciphered the formation history of young star clusters, some of which we can see with the naked eye at night.
Car tires contain hundreds of chemical additives that can leach out of them. This is how they end up in crops and subsequently in the food chain. Researchers at the Center for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science at the University of Vienna and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have now detected these chemical residues in leafy vegetables for the first time. Although the concentrations were low, the evidence was clear, a finding that is also known for drug residues in plant-based foods.
An international research team around Marcus Sperling, a researcher at the Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna, has sparked interest in the scientific community with pioneering results in quantum physics: In their current study, the researchers reinterpret the Higgs mechanism, which gives elementary particles mass and triggers phase transitions, using the concept of "magnetic quivers."
A team of chemists from the University of Vienna, led by Nuno Maulide, has achieved a significant breakthrough in the field of chemical synthesis, developing a novel method for manipulating carbon-hydrogen bonds. This groundbreaking discovery provides new insights into the molecular interactions of positively charged carbon atoms.
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Researchers at the University of Vienna, along with collaborators from France, Germany, Switzerland and the USA, have achieved a major breakthrough in understanding how genetic drivers influence the evolution of a specific photosynthesis mechanism in Tillandsia (air plants). This sheds light on the complex actions that cause plant adaptation and ecological diversity. The results of their study are now published in Plant Cell.
Europe's forests have already been severely affected by climate change. Thousands of hectares of trees have already died due to drought and bark beetles. Scientists from the University of Vienna and the Technical University of Munich have now investigated which trees can be used for reforestation.
The single-celled organism Naegleria fowleri ranks among the deadliest human parasites. Researchers around Matthias Horn and Patrick Arthofer from the Center for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science at the University of Vienna, in an international collaboration, have discovered viruses that infect this harmful microbe. Named Naegleriavirus, these belong to the giant viruses, a group known for their unusually large particles and complex genomes.
An international collaboration of researchers, led by Philip Walther at University of Vienna, have achieved a significant breakthrough in quantum technology, with the successful demonstration of quantum interference among several single photons using a novel resource-efficient platform.
Prolonged droughts followed by sudden bursts of rainfall – how do desert soil bacteria manage to survive such harsh conditions? This long-debated question has now been answered by an ERC project led by microbiologist Dagmar Woebken from the Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science (CeMESS) at the University of Vienna.
According to a research team led by palaeontologists from the University of Vienna, the net-like leaf veining typical for today’s flowering plants developed much earlier than previously thought, but died out again several times.
An international research team led by a researcher from the University of Vienna has for the first time directly detected stellar winds from three Sun-like stars by recording the X-ray emission from their astrospheres, and placed constraints on the mass loss rate of the stars via their stellar winds. The study is currently published in Nature Astronomy.
An international research team is attracting the attention of experts in the field with computational results on the behavior of ring polymers under shear forces: Reyhaneh Farimani, University of Vienna, and her colleagues showed that for the simplest case of connected ring pairs, the type of linkage – chemically bonded vs. mechanically linked – has profound effects on the dynamic properties under continuous shear. In these cases novel rheological patterns emerge. In addition to being recently published in the prestigious journal Physical Review Letters, the study received an "Editors' Suggestion" for its particular novelty.
In a new study recently published in the journal Papers in Palaeontology, an international team of scientists led by palaeobiologist Julia Türtscher from the University of Vienna has explored the puzzling world of rays that lived 150 million years ago and discovered a previously hidden diversity – including a new ray species.
Many studies on the climate crisis focus on researching temperature extremes on a global scale. Scientists at the University of Vienna have now uncovered an error in an established calculation method, leading to a systematic underestimation in the frequency of heat days.
Warmer soils harbour a greater diversity of active microbes, according to a new study from researchers at the Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science (CeMESS) at the University of Vienna. The study, published in Science Advances, represents a significant shift in our understanding of how microbial activity in the soil influences the global carbon cycle and possible feedback mechanisms on the climate. Until now, scientists have assumed that higher soil temperatures accelerate the growth of microbes, thus increasing the release of carbon into the atmosphere. However, this increased release of carbon is actually caused by the activation of previously dormant bacteria.
Data from a representative sample of the Austrian population suggests that the relationship between nature contact and well-being is consistently stronger for people on lower than higher incomes.
A study by a scientific team from the University of Vienna and the MedUni Vienna, recently published in the top-class journal Cellular & Molecular Immunology, has a promising result from tumor research: The enzyme phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase (PHDGH) acts as a metabolic checkpoint in the function of tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) and thus on tumor growth. Targeting PHGDH to modulate the cancer-fighting immune system could be a new starting point in cancer treatment and improve the effectiveness of clinical immunotherapies.
Researchers at the University of Augsburg and the University of Vienna have discovered co-existing magnetic skyrmions and antiskyrmions of arbitrary topological charge at room temperature in magnetic Co/Ni multilayer thin films.
Neuroscientists from the University of Vienna and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm have investigated whether playing violent video games leads to a reduction in human empathy.
For the first time, scientists have succeeded in the stabilisation and direct imaging of small clusters of noble gas atoms at room temperature. This achievement opens up exciting possibilities for fundamental research in condensed matter physics and applications in quantum information technology.
How far microplastics travel in the atmosphere depends crucially on particle shape, according to a recent study by scientists at the University of Vienna and the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organisation in Göttingen: While spherical particles settle quickly, microplastic fibers might travel as far as the stratosphere.
Women from low socio-economic backgrounds consider themselves to be less talented than all other groups – even if they show the same performance levels. This is shown by a new study led by Christina Bauer at the University of Vienna.
Women from low socio-economic backgrounds consider themselves to be less talented than all other groups – even if they show the same performance levels.
A groundbreaking study led by David Berry and Alessandra Riva from the Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science (CeMESS) at the University of Vienna has significantly advanced our understanding of prebiotics in nutrition and gut health.
An international team of researchers from the United States, Austria, and Switzerland has demonstrated the first true supermirrors in the mid-infrared spectral region.
An international research team led by quantum physicist Markus Arndt (University of Vienna) has achieved a breakthrough in the detection of protein ions: Due to their high energy sensitivity, superconducting nanowire detectors achieve almost 100% quantum efficiency and exceed the detection efficiency of conventional ion detectors at low energies by a factor of up to a 1,000.
An international team of researchers around botanists at the University of Vienna, Austria, has now analyzed the morphological diversity of fossilized flowers and compared it with the diversity of living species.
A team of astrophysicists led by Núria Miret-Roig from the University of Vienna found that two methods for determining the age of stars measure different things: Isochronous measurement thereby determines the birth date of stars, while dynamical tracking provides information on when stars "leave their nest", about 5.5 million years later in the star clusters studied.
Today an international research team, including scientists from the University of Vienna’s Environment and Climate Hub, introduces a unique approach in fighting the climate crisis.
Octopuses are fascinating animals – and serve as important model organisms in neuroscience, cognition research and developmental biology. To gain a deeper understanding of their biology and evolutionary history, validated data on the composition of their genome is needed, which has been lacking until now.
The DNA double helix is composed of two DNA molecules whose sequences are complementary to each other. The stability of the duplex can be fine-tuned in the lab by controlling the amount and location of imperfect complementary sequences.
Published in Environment International, a groundbreaking study from the Institute of Biological Chemistry and Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science (CeMESS) at the University of Vienna, in collaboration with the University of Konstanz and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, reveals a microbial metabolite's role in inducing Parkinson's-like symptoms.
A German-Austrian team led by archaeologist Christiana Köhler from the University of Vienna is investigating the tomb of Queen Meret-Neith in Abydos, Egypt. She was the most powerful woman in the period around 3,000 BC.
A recent investigation led by voice scientist Christian T. Herbst from the University of Vienna, published in Current Biology, delivers novel insights into how cats produce their purring sounds. A special ‚pad‘ embedded in the vocal folds might explain why the cats can produce these low-frequency sounds.
Recent research uncovers the resilience of certain soil microorganisms in the face of increasing drought conditions. While many bacteria become inactive during dry spells, specific groups persist and even thrive.
An international team of scientists led by microbiologist Alexander Loy from the University of Vienna has discovered a new intestinal microbe that feeds exclusively on taurine and produces the foul-smelling gas hydrogen sulfide.
In the case of boredom, we think of many situations in life but intuitively not of exams. However, an international team of academics led by Thomas Götz from the University of Vienna has now studied exactly this phenomenon of test boredom for the first time and found remarkable results.
Research is underway around the world to find alternatives to our current electronic computing technology, as great, electron-based systems have limitations. A new way of transmitting information is emerging from the field of magnonics: instead of electron exchange, the waves generated in magnetic media could be used for transmission, but magnonics-based computing has been (too) slow to date. Scientists at the University of Vienna have now discovered a significant new method: When the intensity is increased, the spin waves become shorter and faster – another step towards magnon computing. The results were published in the renowned journal Science Advances.
Computers and artificial intelligence (AI) are becoming increasingly important in the art world. AI-generated artworks fetch millions at auction, and artists routinely use algorithms to create aesthetic content. Now, a team of researchers from the University of Vienna has conducted experiments showing that, contrary to popular intuition, people perceive emotions and intentions when viewing art, even when they know the work was generated by a computer. The study was recently published in the journal "Computer in Human Behavior".
Ion channels play a crucial role in many cellular processes, including neuronal communication, muscle contraction or cell proliferation. Most multi subunit ion channels exist in two functional states, either closed or open. During gating, one should expect that all subunits undergo conformational changes. The absence of intermediate conduction levels is surprising and asks for an explanation. A team of researchers from the University of Vienna and the Washington University in St. Louis created a smart model system to answer this important question. The study is currently published in Nature Communications.
An international research study led by the University of Vienna (Austria) and the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE) in Barcelona (Spain), recently published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, provides a better insight into the evolutionary history of gorillas.
Routing signals and isolating them against noise and back-reflections are essential in many practical situations in classical communication as well as in quantum processing.
Have you ever been compelled to enter sensitive payment data on the website of an unknown merchant? Would you be willing to consign your credit card data or passwords to untrustworthy hands? Scientists from the University of Vienna have now designed an unconditionally secure system for shopping in such settings, combining modern cryptographic techniques with the fundamental properties of quantum light. The demonstration of such "quantum-digital payments" in a realistic environment has just been published in Nature Communications.
A study by researchers at the University of Vienna and the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna shows that information from body postures plays a similarly important role for dogs as it does for humans. The results offer new insights into how dogs and humans perceive each other and their environment. They confirm that the temporal lobe plays a central role in social communication and perception. The study is currently published in the journal Communications Biology.
To unveil the previously elusive behavior and stability of complex metal compounds found in aqueous solutions called 'POMs', researchers at the University of Vienna have created a speciation atlas now published in Science Advances. This achievement has the potential to drive new discoveries and advancements in fields like catalysis, medicine, and beyond.
Single photons have applications in quantum computation, information networks, and sensors, and these can be emitted by defects in the atomically thin insulator hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). Missing nitrogen atoms have been suggested to be the atomic structure responsible for this activity, but it is difficult to controllably remove them.
Paleobotanist Mario Coiro of the Institute of Paleontology at the University of Vienna and colleagues at the University of Montpellier (France) have made an important breakthrough in understanding the origin and geographic distribution of cycads. By combining genetic data with leaf morphological data from both fossil and living species for the first time, the researchers created a phylogenetic tree of these fascinating and endangered plants. The results of the study, which was funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, have now been published in the journal New Phytologist.