The right to vote is an important part of a democracy. But not everyone makes use of it. A researcher at the University of Basel has investigated the possible causes of this.
Over time, the English language has acquired quite a few Yiddish words, such as bagel. Some are now no longer even recognizable as such. Linguist Julia Landmann from the University of Basel has collected these terms and classified them according to their social history.
Researchers from Switzerland and Kenya have investigated how climate change, urbanization and malaria control measures affect the risk of malaria in Kenya. The results show that despite a general decline, the risk of malaria has increased significantly in some regions.
Drug tolerant bacteria pose a major challenge, because they can survive antibiotic therapies and cause recurrent infections. Researchers at the University of Basel have discovered how a dangerous human pathogen causing pneumonia uses a kind of molecular “sleeping pill” to enter a dormant state and by that persist antibiotic treatment. The findings suggest that this survival strategy may play an important role during chronic infections.
Tiny diatoms in the ocean are masters at capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the environment. They fix up to 20 percent of the Earth’s CO2. A research team at the University of Basel has now discovered a protein shell in these algae that is necessary for efficient CO2 fixation. This groundbreaking discovery can provide ideas for bioengineering approaches to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere.
Children who participate in the activities of the Swiss Youth+Sport program are more likely to maintain an active lifestyle as they grow older.
As a general rule, regular physical activity is healthy. A research team from the University of Basel has now found that the intensity of the activity impacts the mortality risk.
In many countries in Africa, up to nine out of ten children suffer from a skin problem, and there are far too few local dermatologists. Artificial intelligence could help with diagnosis, but needs to be trained with the relevant images, so researchers have created a new data set for dark skin tones.
In 2022, Dr. Özgür Genç together with Professor Peter Scheiffele from the Biozentrum, University of Basel, founded the startup Translation-X with the goal of developing novel therapeutics for autism spectrum disorders. They have now received 150’000 Swiss Francs investment from the Venture Kick initiative.
