news 2025

An international team led by Fabian Garmroudi has succeeded in producing new, efficient thermoelectric materials that could compete with state-of-the-art materials, offering greater stability and lower cost. Thermoelectric materials enable the direct conversion of heat into electrical energy. This makes them particularly attractive for the emerging "Internet of Things", for example for the autonomous energy supply of microsensors and other tiny electronic components.

A recent study led by the Medical University of Vienna shows that the haematocrit value, i.e. the proportion of red blood cells in blood volume, has a direct influence on blood sugar levels. The researchers were able to show that an increase in the number of red blood cells directly causes a decrease in blood sugar.

Researchers identify the benefits of participating in art-viewing activities Simply looking at visual art, visiting a museum, or having art in your hospital room can enhance well-being, particularly repeated engagement, which can increase the meaning we feel in life, according to a new international study led by researchers from the University of Vienna.

Together with the company BRAVE Analytics, researchers at TU Graz have developed a method for detecting nanoplastics in liquids and determining their composition. Microplastics and the much smaller nanoplastics enter the human body in various ways, for example through food or the air we breathe. A large proportion is excreted, but a certain amount remains in organs, blood and other body fluids.

Differences between the fireplaces indicate ingenious use Whether for cooking, heating, as a light source or for making tools - it is assumed that fire was essential for the survival of people in the Ice Age. However, it is puzzling that hardly any well-preserved evidence of fireplaces from the coldest period of the Ice Age in Europe has been found so far.

Multiple antibiotic resistance is auxiliary to bacterial fitness and adaptability Could a gene regulatory network in gut microbes have evolved its elaborate and tightly regulated molecular machinery only to pump out antibiotics indiscriminately? Researchers from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) show this is an auxiliary function.

A recent study reports the first direct observation of merging star clusters in the nuclear region of dwarf galaxies in Nature . The team was studying observations from the Hubble Space telescope, which were led by Francine Marleau from the University of Innsbruck. This detection confirms the feasibility of this formation route for nuclei in dwarf galaxies, which has long been debated.

The preservation of at least some glacier ice in the Tyrolean Alps depends largely on whether the global temperature limit of +1.5 °C is maintained. If the global average temperature rises above this, all glaciers in the region can be expected to disappear completely - many of them within the next few years.

First report of a new DNA marker outside of microbes, important for sperm function Could it be that one of only three known markers directly targeting the DNA does not exist outside the realm of microbes? Now, researchers led by Xiaoqi Feng at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) have demonstrated that this marker-N4-methylcytosine (4mC)-is essential for sperm development and maturation in the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha , a key organism in plant evolution.

Body signals such as heartbeat and breathing accompany us constantly, often unnoticed as background noise of our perception. Even in the earliest years of life, these signals are important as they contribute to the development of self-awareness and identity. However, until know little has been known about whether and how babies can perceive their own body signals.

A temporary bacterial infection of the skin can cause long-lasting changes in the immune system and increase allergic inflammation. This is the result of a study led by the Medical University of Vienna and the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine, which has just been published in the leading journal "Science Immunology".

Quantum states can only be prepared and observed under highly controlled conditions. A research team from Innsbruck, Austria, has now succeeded in creating so-called hot Schrödinger cat states in a superconducting microwave resonator. The study, recently published in Science Advances , shows that quantum phenomena can also be observed and used in less perfect, warmer conditions.

Special anatomical structures in the throat greatly enrich the vocal repertoire of New World monkeys A recent investigation led by voice scientist Christian T. Herbst from the University of Vienna and colleagues from Anglia Ruskin University provides new insights into the vocal capabilities of New World monkeys, the group of all'original primates of the American continent: They can produce "voice breaks" similar to human yodeling, but support a much wider range of frequencies.

Organoids have revolutionized science and medicine, providing platforms for disease modeling, drug testing, and understanding developmental processes. While not exact replicas of human organs, they offer significant insights. The Siegert group at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) presents a new organoid model that reveals details of the developing nervous system's response to viral infections, such as Rubella.

This novel antibiotic activates an existing "suicide" mechanism in gonococci The increase of microbes resistant to antibiotics is a growing problem. These include, for example, Neisseria gonorrhoeae , a bacterium which causes gonorrhea. Researchers from the universities in Konstanz and Vienna discover a new class of antibiotic that selectively targets Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Phosphorylation serves as a key on-and-off switch in cell signaling, such as in the Akt pathway, which regulates cell growth and is often upregulated in cancer. Master students Tarik Husremovic and Vanessa Meier from the Leonard lab at the Max Perutz Labs now reveal, in a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), that the phosphatases PHLPP1 and PHLPP2 - previously believed to dephosphorylate Akt and suppress tumor growth - are neither phosphatases nor tumor suppressors.

A recent study on fish allergies has gained new insights into the reactivity to parvalbumins, the main allergens in fish. A research team from Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences and the Medical University of Vienna, together with international colleagues, examined the IgE reactivity to parvalbumins from 12 different freshwater fish species from Austria.

Pulmonary fibrosis is a severe, chronic disease that predominantly affects people at an advanced age. Since there are currently no specific treatments, lung transplantation often remains the only option to prolong the patient's life. A research team from MedUni Vienna has now discovered that an ageing immune system plays a significant role in the development and progression of the disease.

A research team from the Medical University of Vienna has investigated structural changes in kidneys of patients with hypertension and type 2 diabetes. The results show that high blood pressure can lead to abnormalities in the podocytes, specialised cells in the renal filter, even without other pre-existing conditions such as diabetes.

Research into elementary particles and their interactions is of central importance for our understanding of the universe. A team from the Universities of Innsbruck and Waterloo shows how a new type of quantum computer opens a door into the world of particle physics. The standard model of particle physics provides the best description to date of the forces and particles that make up our world.