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Our actions are motivated by the goals we want to achieve. However, little is known about the mechanism in our brains that allow us to make the right decisions to reach our goals. Researchers at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI) and the University of Basel now identified the sequence of events taking place in a mouse brain when the mouse behaves in a certain way to obtain a reward. And how it can adapt its behavior when the reward is not the one expected.
Today we have constant access to news from all over the world through various channels. How do we determine whether to believe something or dismiss it as “fake news”? Researchers from the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Basel have studied how people make judgments of truth.
They are at the forefront in the fight against viruses, bacteria, and malignant cells: the T cells of our immune system. But the older we get, the fewer of them our body produces. Thus, how long we remain healthy also depends on how long the T cells survive. Researchers at the University of Basel have now uncovered a previously unknown signaling pathway essential for T cell viability.
The latest survey in the University of Basel's Swiss Corona Stress Study shows that psychological stress remains high during the pandemic. However, there are significant differences in the stress factors experienced by vaccinated and unvaccinated people, in particular relating to stress caused by coronavirus measures and fear of the health consequences of Covid-19.
Human anatomy still has a few surprises in store for us: researchers at the University of Basel have discovered a previously overlooked section of our jaw muscles and described this layer in detail for the first time.
During the current pandemic, face masks have become part of everyday life. In many places their use is now a given. However, face mask mandates came to Switzerland fairly late in comparison with other countries. In April 2020, and again in October of the same year, Dr. Bettina Zimmermann, a bioethicist from Basel, asked people in German-speaking Switzerland how they perceived face masks and when they wore them.
The way that politicians use social media can influence how they are perceived by voters. Policy-oriented messages contribute to a more professional impression, while too much private content can have a negative effect. These are the findings of a study conducted with the participation of the University of Basel.
What happens in the brain when simply hearing becomes listening? To answer this question, researchers at the University of Basel have traced the neuronal fingerprint of the two types of sound processing in the mouse brain.
Antibiotics cure many bacterial infections. However, some patients suffer a relapse. A research group at the University of Basel has now discovered why some bacteria can survive antibiotic therapy. The team uncovered where the bacteria hide in the body and how the body's own immune system also plays an important role.
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