Modelling human psychology
A human being's psychological make-up depends on an array of emotional and motivational parameters, such as desire, suffering or the need for security. In addition, it includes spatial and temporal...
View ArticleESO's La Silla Observatory will host new planet hunter
Developed and built by the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, and the University of Montreal, NIRPS (Near Infra Red Planet Searcher) is an infrared spectrograph designed to detect Earth-like...
View ArticleThe return of the comet-like exoplanet
Astronomers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland and collaborators used the Hubble Space Telescope to study an exoplanet that had been observed losing its atmosphere, forming an enormous...
View ArticleA new approach to high insulin levels
Diabetes is characterised by a deficiency of insulin. Its opposite is a condition called congenital hyperinsulinism—patients produce the hormone too frequently and in excessive quantities, even if they...
View ArticleGeologists study the drying up of the Mediterranean Sea 5.96 million years ago
We already know that climate change influences such Earth processes as erosion and fluctuations in sea levels. But do surface processes in turn have an influence on volcanic activity? This was the...
View ArticleDrought—a cause of riots
The scientific community has been working on the possibility of a relationship between periods of drought and rioting for several years. The University of Geneva (UNIGE), operating in partnership with...
View ArticleOur muscles measure the time of day
Biological clocks throughout the body trigger the release of the hormone melatonin during sleep, induce the secretion of digestive enzymes at lunchtime or keep us awake at the busiest moments of the...
View ArticleTubules to stop cell growth
TORC1 is an enzyme complex that controls the normal growth of cells. However, when it is too active, it can promote diseases such as cancer. A study led by biologists from the University of Geneva...
View ArticleA single photon reveals quantum entanglement of 16 million atoms
Quantum theory predicts that a vast number of atoms can be entangled and intertwined by a very strong quantum relationship, even in a macroscopic structure. Until now, however, experimental evidence...
View ArticleAn architect gene is involved in the assimilation of breast milk
A family of "architect" genes called Hox coordinates the formation of organs and limbs during embryonic life. Geneticists from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the Swiss Federal Institute of...
View ArticleResearchers report toothy findings in odontode-bearing catfish study
Certain species of catfish are covered with bony plates bristling with thin teeth, similar to extinct vertebrate lineages. These teeth, which regularly fall out and grow back, are used for defense and,...
View ArticleExploring disease predisposition to deliver personalized medicine
Geneticists from the University of Geneva have taken an important step towards true predictive medicine. Exploring the links between diseases and tissue-specific gene activity, they have been able to...
View ArticleA new weapon against malaria: Scientists have discovered a new target to...
Malaria is a parasitic disease transmitted between humans through the bite of the female anopheles mosquito. Endemic in large tropical zones, Plasmodium falciparum kills more than 500'000 people per...
View ArticleLending late neurons a helping hand
During the foetal stage, millions of neurons are born in the walls of the ventricles of the brain before migrating to their final location in the cerebral cortex. If this migration is disrupted, the...
View ArticleHas protecting marine species become a job for statisticians?
Fishermen have no way of separating the fish they catch when they cast their nets at sea. Protected species and fish with no market value—the hammerhead shark, for example—end up being trapped and...
View ArticleThe anatomy of a 'cosmic snake' reveals the structure of distant galaxies
We have a fair understanding of the fundamental mechanisms that regulate star formation in galaxies, from the interstellar matter to the diffuse clouds distributed in space whose gravitational...
View ArticleDo dark matter and dark energy exist?
Researchers have hypothesized that the universe contains "dark matter." They have also posited the existence of "dark energy." These two hypotheses account for the movement of stars in galaxies and for...
View ArticleResearchers developed an initial prototype of a solid sodium battery with the...
Phones, laptops, electric cars - batteries are everywhere. And to meet the expectations of today's consumers, these batteries are increasingly light, more powerful and designed to last longer....
View ArticleWhen magma prevents volcanic eruptions
A spectacular proof of our planet's activity, calderas are huge topographic depressions, similar to flat-bottomed craters, with a diameter of several tens of kilometres. They are formed by large...
View ArticleType 2 diabetes has hepatic origins
Affecting as many as 650 million people worldwide, obesity has become one of the most serious global health issues. Among its detrimental effects, it increases the risk of developing metabolic...
View ArticleDown's syndrome research breaks new ground
Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is one of the most common genetic diseases. Researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and ETH Zurich (ETHZ), Switzerland, have recently analysed the...
View ArticleTo proliferate or not to proliferate? A cellular spring replies
The epithelium, a tissue made up of closely juxtaposed cells, forms the glands and covers the outer surface of the human body as well as its internal cavities, such as the lungs or intestines. There...
View ArticleAction games expand the brain's cognitive abilities
The human brain is malleable—it learns and adapts. Numerous research studies have focused on the impact of action video games on the brain by measuring cognitive abilities, such as perception,...
View ArticleVoices and emotions: the forehead is the key
Gestures and facial expressions betray our emotional state but what about our voices? How does simple intonation allow us to decode emotions – on the telephone, for example? By observing neuronal...
View ArticleOrbital mayhem around a red dwarf
In the collective imagination, planets of a solar system all circle in the equatorial plane of their star. The star also spins, and its spin axis is aligned with the spin axes of the planetary orbits,...
View ArticleSardines take us to the sources of biodiversity in the Amazon River
The Amazon River harbors the largest biodiversity of freshwater fish in the world. What is the origin of this abundance of species? Researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, have...
View ArticleThe Down's syndrome 'super genome'
Down's syndrome – also known as trisomy 21 – is a genetic disorder caused by an additional third chromosome 21. Although this genetic abnormality is found in one out of 700 births, only 20 percent of...
View ArticleA new ecosystem approach to fight antibiotic resistance
The World Health Organization (WHO) has deemed antibiotic resistance to be one of the three greatest threats to human health today, as bacteria become increasingly resistant and too few treatments are...
View ArticleDecoding syllables to show the limits of artificial intelligence
For the last decade, researchers have been using machine learning to decode human brain activity. Applied to neuroimaging data, these algorithms can reconstitute what we see, hear, and even what we...
View ArticleCutting off tumour supplies
For a tumour to grow, it must develop blood vessels that supply nutrients and oxygen. Preventing tumour vascularization is therefore an interesting anti-tumour therapy that has been explored over the...
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