news 2014

Cognitive biologists revealed that ravens do understand and keep track of the rank relations between other ravens. Such an ability has been known only from primates. Like many social mammals, ravens form different types of social relationships - they may be friends, kin, or partners and they also form strict dominance relations.

Experiments at the Vienna University of Technology can explain the behaviour of electrons at tiny step edges on titanium oxide surfaces. This is important for solar cell technology and novel, more effective catalysts. It can be found in toothpaste, solar cells, and it is useful for chemical catalysts: titanium dioxide (TiO2) is an extremely versatile material.

Objects with sizes in the nanometer range, such as the molecular building blocks of living cells or nanotechnological devices, are continuously exposed to random collisions with surrounding molecules. In such fluctuating environments the fundamental laws of thermodynamics that govern our macroscopic world need to be rewritten.

Sea anemone shows a genomic landscape surprisingly similar to human genome, but also displays regulatory mechanisms similar to plants The team led by evolutionary and developmental biologist Ulrich Technau at the University of Vienna discovered that sea anemones display a genomic landscape with a complexity of regulatory elements similar to that of fruit flies or other animal model systems.

A Surprise in Materials Chemistry: At Vienna University of Technology, materials for lightweight construction, protective clothing or sports equipment can be produced at high temperatures and high pressures. This process is faster, better and more eco-friendly than other techniques. The earth's crust works like a pressure cooker.

The team of Francesca Ferlaino, University of Innsbruck, discovered that even simple systems, such as neutral atoms, can possess chaotic behavior, which can be revealed using the tools of quantum mechanics. The ground-breaking research opens up new avenues to observe the interaction between quantum particles.

Ultrathin layers made of Tungsten and Selenium have been created at the Vienna University of Technology. Experiments show that they may be used as flexible, semi-transparent solar cells. It does not get any thinner than this: The novel material graphene consists of only one atomic layer of carbon atoms and exhibits very special electronic properties.

In the Research Group of Nuno Maulide, a chemist working at the University of Vienna, a new chemical synthesis for ?-arylated Carbonyl derivatives was developed. Members of this class of substances typically possess interesting biological and pharmacological properties and often find applications as medicines.

Whenever a new material is discovered, scientists are eager to find out whether or not it can be superconducting. This applies particularly to the wonder material graphene. Now, an international team around researchers at the University of Vienna unveiled the superconducting pairing mechanism in Calcium doped graphene using the ARPES method.

Computational biologists show that averaging is not always a good thing when it comes to analyzing protein crystal structures.

As an international team of researchers including Benjamin Marzeion from the Universitiy of Innsbruck reports, climate change and sea-level rise may cause trillions in damage to world's coasts. Coastal regions have to adapt to sea-level rise soon. Prompt action is needed most in Asia and Africa. Coastal regions may face massive increases in damages from storm surge flooding over the course of the 21st century.

A new study, by Faculty of Mathematics postdoctoral fellow Tatsuya Sasaki, provides insights into how voluntary rewarding promotes cooperation in joint enterprises. It may help explain how reward funds rise (and fall) and how rewarding is better than punishing in establishing cooperation. The study is published online in the Royal Society journal "Biology Letters".

New findings from the team of Claudine Kraft at the Max F. Perutz Laboratories (MFPL) of the University of Vienna and the Medical University of Vienna give insights into how cells dispose of their waste. Malfunctions in this process have been linked to Alzheimer's disease and cancer. The study is published online in the renowned scientific journal Molecular Cell.

The five fingers of our feathered friends: New research results on the evolution of bird wings In general, land vertebrates have five fingers or toes per hand or foot. Many animal groups, however, have modified this recipe in the course of evolution. For example, camels have only two and horses only one fully developed toe.