Photo: Unsplash Theories were introduced as far back as the 1960s about the possible existence of superheavy elements. Their most long-lived nuclei could give rise to a so-called “island of stability” far beyond the element uranium. However, a new study, led by nuclear physicists at Lund University, shows that a 50-year-old nuclear physics manifesto must now be revised. The heaviest element found 

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/nuclear-physicists-voyage-towards-mythical-island - 2025-09-11

Mikael Dolsten Lund University welcomes Mikael Dolsten, head of research at Pfizer, as invited speaker to a webinar: ”Pfizer Rapid Response: Rising to Meet the Crisis” on February 12th at 15.45-17.15. Preregistration is required. Mikael Dolsten, head of research at Pfizer, who led the development of Pfizer’s and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine, was recently appointed as visiting professor at Lund Univ

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/webinar-mikael-dolsten-head-research-pfizer - 2025-09-11

Photo: Mostphotos Researchers at Lund University in Sweden believe they have identified a gene variant that can cause cerebral small vessel disease and stroke. The study is published in Neurology Genetics. ”The patients we have studied are from the same extended family, and several of them have been diagnosed with cerebral small vessel disease and suffered strokes. After tissue examination and usi

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/new-gene-variant-linked-stroke - 2025-09-11

Researchers have discovered individual traits in fungi in their hunt for food. Maze-like structure made of silicone (Photo: Kristin Aleklett Kadish) Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have discovered the individual traits of fungi, and how their hyphae – that is, the fungal threads that grow in soil - behave very differently as they navigate through the earth’s microscopic labyrinths. The st

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/soldiers-snakes-and-marathon-runners-hidden-world-fungi - 2025-09-11

Photo: Charlie Cornwallis The world's largest bird, the ostrich, has problems reproducing when the temperature deviates by 5 degrees or more from the ideal temperature of 20 °C. The research, from Lund University in Sweden, is published in Nature Communications. The results show that the females lay up to 40 percent fewer eggs if the temperature has fluctuated in the days before laying eggs. Both

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/ostriches-challenged-temperature-fluctuations - 2025-09-11

Human models used in the experiment (Photo: Gabor Horvath) A study by researchers from Sweden and Hungary shows that white, painted stripes on the body protect skin from insect bites. It is the first time researchers have successfully shown that body-painting has this effect. Among indigenous peoples who wear body-paint, the markings thus provide a certain protection against insect-borne diseases.

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/body-painting-protects-against-bloodsucking-insects - 2025-09-11

The image to the right was taken with the specially designed camera (Photo: Cynthia Tedore) Using a specially designed camera, researchers at Lund University in Sweden have succeeded for the first time in recreating how birds see colours in their surroundings. The study reveals that birds see a very different reality compared to what we see. Human colour vision is based on three primary colours: r

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/unique-camera-enables-researchers-see-world-way-birds-do - 2025-09-11

“We must understand the ageing process itself in order to help people with conditions such as Alzheimer’s and dementia, and to possibly enable us to prevent these diseases from arising”, says Henrik Ahlenius of the Stem Cell Centre at Lund University. His aim is to develop an experimental model for human nerve cell ageing that enables the researchers to understand why a disease is triggered. In th

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/how-do-dementia-diseases-affect-our-brains - 2025-09-11

Our health in later life is shaped not only by the way we live, what our childhood was like or our time in our mothers’ wombs. Even our parents’ health and lifestyle at the time of our conception may affect our health. Peter M Nilsson, professor of clinical cardiovascular research at Lund University, is calling for a major investment in health and lifestyle advice for adolescents and those plannin

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/live-healthily-sake-your-future-children - 2025-09-11

Parkinson’s disease, a condition whose complications worsen as the years go by, can mean that getting older becomes particularly challenging. How can life be made easier for these individuals, so that they can continue to be active and participate in society? This is the aim of a multi-year study that examines the interplay between health and home among people ageing with Parkinson’s disease. Sinc

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/living-parkinsons-challenge-everyday-life - 2025-09-11

Even though childhood cancer is rare, it affects around 350 children and adolescents under the age of 18 each year in Sweden. That is almost one child every day. Due to improved treatment, 80 per cent of these children survive their cancer. Why do children develop cancer? That mystery has yet to be solved. Children suffer from other types of cancer than adults and the determining factor is the gen

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/high-survival-rate-after-childhood-cancer-what-cost - 2025-09-11

Lao Saal wants to understand the special aberrations that occur in our genetic material, that causes and promotes different types of cancer. Lao Saal has a mission; to make it possible to – just by testing a blood sample – reveal, not only if you have cancer, but also which therapies may be most effective, and how well is the cancer actually responding to treatment. His idea is to trace the geneti

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/service-cancer-patients - 2025-09-11

In the major population survey, Malmö Offspring Study, researchers are trying to discover how our intestinal flora is affected by diet and the consequences this has on health. “We have about one and a half kilos of bacteria in our intestines”, says Louise Brunkwall – doctoral student in the research group Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease – Genetic Epidemiology. The Malmö Offspring Study is base

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/bacteria-important-gut-feeling - 2025-09-11

Birgitta Svenningsson and Paul Miller with their collegues at MERGE combine experimental data from local-level studies with advanced ESMs, thereby improving the ability to predict the climate for larger areas in the next 100 years. The climate issue is one of the biggest global societal challenges of our time. Research on where the climate is heading is an important part of that work, both to moni

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/climate-models-point-way-towards-future - 2025-09-11

The robot at the hospital somewhere in Sweden is connected and ready to operate. The surgeon, who is in another country, controls the advanced surgery. This is the future: wireless surgery via the internet. But will we be able to trust the speed and security of this wireless connection through the cloud?It should work, with the help of the faster 5G technology and by bringing the cloud closer to t

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/fast-and-secure-computer-power-when-needed - 2025-09-11

We were all small, newborn infants once. But some of us were perhaps too small as newborns? A child that is born “small for gestational age” means that they have not grown according to their normal curve during the foetal period. By studying the group of small newborns in epidemiological, or register, studies, researchers follow what happens to these infants later in life. This knowledge is of gre

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/even-sprat-can-thrive-being-born-small-gestational-age - 2025-09-11

Refugee camp in the Beqaa, with Mashaal Hamoud and Doha Adi (Sawa) and Helen Avery, MECW. When war is over it is crucial to make the right infrastructure decisions to avoid future conflicts and social tensions. At MECW the research project “Infrastructure choices in post-conflict situations: Opportunities for sustainability and resilience?” looks into the rebuilding process in the Middle East and

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/learning-past-looking-towards-future-mending-societies-after-fighting-stops - 2025-09-11

The CT-scanned feather details (left) need to be converted to a complete 3D model of the feather (right) in order to develop numerical tools to realise a geometric model of the feather. This model in turn will be the basis for the development of a highly Birds are masters of flight and can even outperform aircraft. Bar-tailed godwits, for example, can fly from Alaska to New Zealand – 11 600 km – i

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/making-aircraft-wing-feather - 2025-09-11

Photo: Shutterstock Variations and changes in the genetic code in our cells are of great significance for many of the most widespread diseases. In recent years, researchers have made important progress in finding new ways to correct the genes that are causing problems. They have developed a technique that enables changes to the genetic sequence in living cells.  “It is possible to cut out the bad

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/new-gene-technique-inspired-bacterias-immune-defence - 2025-09-11

Faster, more efficient, thinner, more energy-saving! These are some of the watchwords used in the development of better mobiles, solar cells and LED lighting. The common denominator for improving transistors in electronics or lighting diodes are ultra-small semi-conductors known as nanowires. Using a new “supermicroscope”, Reine Wallenberg, professor of solid state physics, is studying how nanowir

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/new-technology-shows-how-nanowires-are-born - 2025-09-11