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A ball-rolling dung beetle (Photo: Chris Collingridge)

When the South African dung beetle rolls its dung ball through the savannah, it must know the way as precisely as possible. Scientists have now discovered that it does not orient itself solely on the position of the sun.

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Alfred Forchel, the President of the University of Würzburg, (centre) at the awarding ceremony of the honorary doctorate in Haifa with Professor Peretz Lavie, the President of the Technion, (left) and Technion Vice President, Professor Adam Schwartz.

A renowned physicist and good friend of Israel: Prof. Dr. Alfred Forchel, the President of the University of Würzburg, has received a special honour in recognition of his research and commitment to international research partnerships.

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Cells divide after activation of YAP (green staining) – but only if the MMB protein complex is intact. Image: AG Gaubatz

When two proteins work together, this worsens the prognosis for lung cancer patients: their chances of survival are particularly poor in this case.

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The Würzburg team of the WASCAL-DE Coop project (from the left): Steven Hill, Lisa Schramm, Dr. Michael Thiel, Mengjie Warmuth and Dr. Sarah Schönbrodt-Stitt. (Photo: Robert Emmerich / University of Würzburg)

A research centre in West Africa examines strategies to address the climate change. Its German partner is the University of Würzburg; the Federal Ministry of Education and Research is funding the initiative with 3.7 million euros.

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The activity of the TPC1 ion channel in the vacuole membrane (yellow) is essential for the excitability of the vacuole. On the left is a plant cell, in the middle the vacuole with chloroplasts (red) and a 3D reconstruction of the TPC1 crystal structure.

Researchers have filled two knowledge gaps: The vacuoles of plant cells can be excited and the TPC1 ion channel is involved in this process. The function of this channel, which is also found in humans, has been a mystery so far.

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The ViLeArn team of the University of Würzburg (from left): Marc Erich Latoschik, Silke Grafe, Florian Kern, Gabriela Greger and Peter Kullmann. Jennifer Tiede is missing.

People meet in Virtual Realities to work, to train, to talk from avatar to avatar without traveling, or just to be entertained. Can this Social-VR also successfully be used in university teaching?

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A woman is holding a controller for a game console in her hand. Researchers have wondered whether video games make people fat.Eine Frau hält einen Controller für eine Spielekonsole in der Hand. Forscher haben sich gefragt, ob Videospiele dick machen.

Are children, teenagers and adults who spend a lot of time playing video games really more obese? A meta study conducted with the University of Würzburg has looked into this question. The cliché is true – but only for adults.

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Max Schmitt

He studied German philology at the University of Würzburg and will never forget discussing his first term paper with his prof. Today, Max Schmitt manages a text agencies and loves playing with words.

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Flashes on the Moon

05/31/2019
Professor Hakan Kayal next to the moon telescope (Photo: Tobias Greiner)

On the moon flashes and other enigmatic light phenomena can be observed again and again. With a new telescope, a professor at the University of Würzburg wants to get to the bottom of these phenomena.

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The Bavarian research network ForDigitHealth wants to contribute to a health-promoting use of digital technologies. (Image: SIphotography / iStock)

Through the research network ForDigitHealth, five Bavarian universities are jointly researching the stress that digitisation causes in humans. The Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts is funding this initiative with 3.35 million euros.

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The graphic illustrates the interplay between topology (blue ring) and strong correlation (electron spins; coloured arrows on the square grid). This is what the Würzburg Collaborative Research Centre ToCoTronics is all about.

A great success for Würzburg's physics department: its Collaborative Research Centre was rated as excellent and is now entering its second funding phase. The German Research Foundation is providing 12 million euros for this purpose.

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Dr. Ana Rita Brochado investigates the effect of antibiotics on bacteria.

Bacteria can quickly become resistant to antibiotics. Which mechanisms are responsible for this and how to counteract it? Dr. Ana Rita Brochado, who is setting up a new Emmy Noether Junior Research Group at the University of Würzburg, is investigating this.

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Dr. Ataru Sotomura in the Japanese city of Nara. The JMU scientist leads a research group in Japan.

A new research project studies the history of East Asian art and culture at Kyoto University in Japan which is known for its excellence. It is headed by a Würzburg scientist, Dr. Ataru Sotomura.

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Graphic of a RNA molecule

Getting an accurate picture of the real-time transcriptional activity of a cell: This is the goal of a new research project at the University of Würzburg which is funded by the European Research Council.

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