In the past two decades, water frogs have spread rapidly in Central Europe. Using a new statistical model, researchers from the University of Basel were now able to show that local species such as the Yellow-bellied Toad and the Common Midwife Toad are suffering from the more dominant water frogs.
Graphene, a modified form of carbon, offers versatile potential for use in coating machine components and in the field of electronic switches. Since it produces almost no friction at all, it could drastically reduce energy loss in machines when used as a coating.
Archaeologist Dr. Monika Baumanová’s research focuses on the development of urban environments in Africa from the 14th to the 20th century. She is particularly interested in the interplay between spatial and social change. The visiting researcher, currently at the University of Basel’s Centre for African Studies, gives us an insight into her work.
The scientist, author and essayist Gottfried “Jeff” Schatz passed away last year. In his honor, the Biozentrum will host the Gottfried Schatz Memorial Symposium on April 1, 2016.
In the J.J. Bachofen Lectures the Department of Ethnology engages fundamental questions of the field. The event on March 18, 2016, centers around a core principle of anthropology: the affiliation of human beings to a single, collective world.
The University of Basel has joined the International Dual Career Network (IDCN). The global non-profit network supports partners of newly appointed professors as they explore their career options in the region after relocation.
Fuel cells generate electrical energy through a chemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen. To obtain clean energy, the splitting of water into its components of hydrogen and oxygen is critical. Researchers at the University of Basel study how sunlight can be used for this purpose.
About thirty percent of all medical drugs such as beta-blockers or antidepressants interact with certain types of cell surface proteins called G protein coupled receptors. Researchers at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel, in collaboration with scientists from the Paul Scherrer Institute, have now elucidated in detail how the structure of such a receptor changes when drugs bind and how the structural change transmits a signal to the cellular interior.
Errors in the formation of neurons can lead to neurodevelopmental disorders such as microcephaly, an abnormally small brain. Prof. Clemens Cabernard’s team at the Biozentrum, University of Basel, has examined a protein that is involved in the development of microcephaly.