Published 30 June 2017 Photo: Michelle Wille An influenza infection in birds gives a good protection against other subtypes of the virus, like a natural vaccination, according to a new study. Water birds, in particular mallards, are often carriers of low-pathogenic influenza A virus. Researchers previously believed that birds infected by one variant of the virus could not benefit from it by buildi

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/birds-become-immune-influenza - 2025-07-27

Published 30 June 2017 Up to now, there has been uncertainty over whether microplastics from playgrounds is released into watercourses. A detailed study of a school playground in Lomma, Sweden, now clearly shows that microplastic is released into a nearby river. The soft rubber surfacing intended to protect our children is also threatening animal life, both at sea and on land. Rubber-based surface

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/playground-found-release-microplastic-nearby-river - 2025-07-27

Published 3 July 2017 Albert Salehi (Photo: Sara Liedholm) Research from King’s College in London, UK, and Lund University in Sweden could explain why diabetes drugs which have worked in animal experiments are not equally successful in humans. The researchers discovered differences – but also unknown similarities – in the function of insulin-producing beta cells. The team have mapped a category of

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/new-research-describes-differences-between-mice-and-humans - 2025-07-27

Published 4 July 2017 Remains of a ginkgo leaf preserved in fossil from the Jurassic era (Photo: Vivi Vajda) For the first time, researchers have succeeded in establishing the relationships between 200-million-year-old plants based on chemical fingerprints. Using infrared spectroscopy and statistical analysis of organic molecules in fossil leaves, they are opening up new perspectives on the dinosa

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/through-fossil-leaves-step-towards-jurassic-park - 2025-07-27

Published 4 July 2017 Magnus Paulsson (Photo: Björn Martinsson) The common and highly resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterium is a fatal threat to weakened and ill patients. A new study from Lund University in Sweden now shows that a combination treatment using two different types of antibiotics can reduce mortality up to five times. The findings are part of a new doctoral thesis, which also de

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/combining-antibiotics-proves-more-effective-against-common-infection - 2025-07-27

Published 6 July 2017 Photo: Max Lundberg The genetic make-up of a willow warbler determines where it will migrate when winter comes. Studies of willow warblers in Sweden, Finland and the Baltic States show that “migration genes” differ - depending on where the birds breed in the summer. The willow warblers that breed in southern Sweden migrate to West Africa, while those in northern Sweden, Finla

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/birds-migration-genes-are-conditioned-geography - 2025-07-27

Published 11 July 2017 Villa Nemo Architect student Ludvig Hofsten wanted to address the issues of rising sea levels and plastic waste in the ocean. He designed Villa Nemo, a project that sees the potential of living on water in the future; with both lifestyle and environmental benefits.  ”Our cities are becoming fairly dense, and there’s less space to build new houses. Quite a lot of cities are s

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/instead-floating-plastic-floating-houses - 2025-07-27

Published 12 July 2017 A new study has identified the four actions that would have the greatest impact on an individual’s greenhouse gas emissions: eating a plant-based diet, avoiding air travel, living car free, and having fewer children. The comprehensive study analysed 39 peer-reviewed articles, carbon calculators and government sources to quantify the most high-impact personal lifestyle choice

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/four-lifestyle-choices-most-reduce-your-carbon-footprint - 2025-07-27

Published 14 July 2017 Photo: Mathias Osvath Research from Lund University in Sweden shows that ravens can plan for different types of future events, while also demonstrating self-control and sensitivity to different lengths of time. Such skills are central to humans, and previous research has indicated that they are unique to humans and great apes. The new findings reveal that complex cognition c

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/ravens-parallel-great-apes-their-planning-abilities - 2025-07-27

Published 14 July 2017 Many animal species display flocking behaviour, but the fact that microorganisms do is not as well known. Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have now shown that algae and bacteria form flocks at very low concentrations of individuals, a finding that could increase our future understanding of how the organisms infect their host animals. Flocking behaviour in animals see

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/bacteria-never-swim-alone - 2025-07-27

Published 11 August 2017 Image by: Mostphotos Every year, just over 1000 people are diagnosed with kidney cancer in Sweden. The three most common variants are clear cell, papillary and chromophobe renal cancer. Researchers compare the gene expression in tumour cells from a kidney cancer patient with cells from healthy tissue to figure out in which part of the kidney the cancer began and what went

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/improved-analysis-kidney-cancer - 2025-07-27

Published 11 August 2017 Photo edited by Marco Klein Heerenbrink For the first time, researchers have observed that birds that fly actively and flap their wings save energy. Biologists at Lund University in Sweden have now shown that jackdaws minimise their energy consumption when they lift off and fly, because the feathers on their wing tips create several small vortices instead of a single large

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/jackdaws-flap-their-wings-save-energy - 2025-07-27

Published 16 August 2017 To the left a roach, to the right a bream. In between a hybrid of the two species. Photo: Christian Skov A new study from Lund University in Sweden increases knowledge of how boundaries and barriers are maintained between different species in the animal world. According to theory, crosses between two species, known as hybrids, may not survive encounters with natural predat

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/predators-preserve-existing-animal-species - 2025-07-27

Published 25 August 2017 Photo: Wikimedia Commons Biologists at Lund University in Sweden are now able to show that the receptors enabling the primitive moth species, Eriocrania semipurpurella, find an individual of the opposite sex, probably evolved from receptors which help the moth perceive the fragrances of plants. “Love is in the air” is a known expression. And it’s true, at least for moths.

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/plant-odourant-detection-sex-pheromone-communication - 2025-07-27

Published 29 August 2017 Brain research is constantly taking new steps forward and currently permeates large parts of the University. Brain research is in a phase of rapid development, not least thanks to the continuous emergence of new technology. During the Science Week The Amazing Brain from 4 to 10 September (link to programme on lunduniversity.lu.se), Lund University will invite the public on

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/dizzying-dive-human-brain - 2025-07-27

Published 30 August 2017 During Lund University’s 350th anniversary year, the whole of the King’s House will be open to the public for the first time. Starting on 6 September, the art exhibition On the Thresholds of Knowledge will display thirteen works by international and local artists throughout the building. The 16th century edifice is one of the oldest in Lund and housed the University for ma

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/thresholds-knowledge-jubilee-art-exhibition-kings-house-lund - 2025-07-27

Published 30 August 2017 Photo: Tomas Persson Copying the behaviour of others makes us effective learners and allow skills, knowledge and inventions to be passed on from one generation to the next. Imitation is therefore viewed as the key cognitive ability that enabled human culture to grow and create such things as language, technology, art and science. Decades of research has shown that apes, in

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/both-chimpanzees-and-humans-spontaneously-imitate-each-others-actions - 2025-07-27

Published 31 August 2017 The picture shows representative patterns of tau protein accumulation as assessed with positron emission tomography in patients with early-onset (<65 years, left) and late-onset (>65 years, right) Alzheimer’s disease. Copyright Annie Hallén/Michael Schöll Alzheimer’s disease can lead to several widely divergent symptoms and, so far, its various expressions have mainly been

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/new-possibility-studying-how-alzheimers-disease-affects-brain-different-ages - 2025-07-27

Published 1 September 2017 When fluids are handled on a micrometer scale (which is extremely small), they behave differently, which researchers can benefit from (Credit: Jason Beech / Tegenfeldt Group) It began with the inkjet printers in the 1950s but is now rapidly developing in the medical technology industry. It's about the art of controlling and influencing extremely narrow fluid flow, also k

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/conference-faster-test-response-popular-and-flowing-technology - 2025-07-27

Published 4 September 2017 The research study contributes to our basic understanding of random matrices and the theory of quantum chaos. Researchers have now succeeded in formulating a mathematical result that provides an exact answer to the question of how chaos actually behaves. The researchers have analysed chaotic states at the atomic level. What does chaos look like in the smallest of worlds

https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/equation-reveals-characteristics-quantum-chaos - 2025-07-27