Young people make intensive use of digital networks to read, write and comment on literary texts. But their reading behavior varies considerably depending on whether the title is from the world of popular or classic literature, as revealed by a new study that takes the reading platform Wattpad as an example.
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A letter in the Basel papyrus collection describes day-to-day family matters and yet is unique in its own way: it provides valuable insights into the world of the first Christians in the Roman Empire, which is not recorded in any other historical source. The letter has been dated to the 230s AD and is thus older than all previously known Christian documentary evidence from Roman Egypt.
The University Council has elected Prof. Dr. Caroline Klaver as Professor of Genetic Epidemiology of Ophthalmic Diseases in a joint professorship with the University of Rotterdam. Prof. Dr. Luzius Cavelti was appointed as the new Professor of Tax Law at the Faculty of Law.
On Friday, 30 November 2018, the University of Basel held a traditional ceremony to celebrate its Dies Academicus – for the 558th time. The writer Hansjörg Schneider and the blockchain developer Vitalik Buterin were made honorary doctors along with the hospice founder Verena Grether, the medical engineer Robert Riener, the federal judge Thomas Stadelmann, the neuroscientist Thomas R. Insel, the theologian Hans-Martin Barth, and the illustrator Armin Coray. The Alumni Prize was awarded to the economist Beatrice Weder di Mauro.
The world’s insectivorous birds consume annually 400 to 500 million tons of prey and they thereby use as much energy as the megacity New York. As zoologists calculated, insectivorous birds especially in forested areas play a significant role in the suppression of pest insects.
Parkinson's disease was first described by a British doctor more than 200 years ago. The exact causes of this neurodegenerative disease are still unknown. In a study recently published in eLife, a team of researchers led by Prof. Henning Stahlberg from the Biozentrum of the University of Basel has now questioned the previous understanding of this disease.
In conjunction with the global budget for the 2018 – 2021 performance period, the University of Basel decided to examine the possibility of a general increase in tuition fees. After in-depth evaluations and ongoing discussions, the University Council has decided to retain the current tuition fees. The University of Basel considers it important to be able to continue to offer attractive and competitive conditions for students from both Switzerland and abroad.
