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Archive Media Releases 2022

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  • 2022 Science Barometer Switzerland:

    2022 Science Barometer Switzerland: Majority of Swiss Trust Science, Some Remain Skeptical

    Swiss people’s interest and confidence in science increased during the pandemic but has now returned to pre-Covid levels, the 2022 edition of the Science Barometer Switzerland has shown. Online sources and instant messaging have become the preferred sources for people seeking information on science topics.
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  • Virology

    New Virus Discovered in Swiss Ticks

    The Alongshan virus was discovered in China only five years ago. Now UZH researchers have found the novel virus for the first time in Swiss ticks. It appears to be at least as widespread as the tickborne encephalitis virus and causes similar symptoms.
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  • Neuroeconomics

    Conflicting Motives Govern Sense of Fairness

    Researchers at UZH have investigated the motives influencing our perception of justice in resource distribution. They found that although people feel an aversion to inequality, they are also reluctant to harm others and to upend existing social hierarchies.
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  • Medicine

    Commercial Dishwashers Destroy Protective Layer in Gut

    Residue from rinse agents is left behind on dishes after they are cleaned in professional-grade dishwashers. This damages the natural protective layer in the gut and can contribute to the onset of chronic diseases, as demonstrated by researchers.
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  • NCCR Evolving Language

    Genes and Languages not Always Together

    Does the history of our languages match the history of our genes? A team of scientists at the University of Zurich and the Max-Planck-Institute have revealed a large number of matches – but also widespread mismatches in around 20 percent of cases, including in Malta, Hungary and Namibia.
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  • Biomedicine

    Immune System Reboot in MS Patients

    Blood stem cell transplantation is a radical but highly effective therapy for multiple sclerosis. An UZH study has now examined in detail the way in which the treatment curbs the autoimmune disease and how the immune system regenerates afterwards.
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  • Climate Research

    Vegetation Regulates Energy Exchange in the Arctic

    Global warming is changing the Arctic by causing permafrost thaw, glacier melt, droughts, fires and changes in vegetation. Different plant communities in the tundra play a key role in the energy exchange between land and the atmosphere but are not taken into account in climate models.
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  • Addictive Behavior

    Wodka, Benzos & Co: Gefährliche Mischung für Jugendliche

    At least 33 young people have died from polydrug use in Switzerland since 2018. Polydrug use refers to taking two or more psychoactive substances at the same time. The young adults are often unaware of the associated risks and rarely use the available services to minimize the risks.
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  • Paleobiology

    Vocal Communication Originated over 400 Million Years Ago

    Acoustic communication is not only widespread in land vertebrates like birds and mammals, but also in reptiles, amphibians and fishes. According to researchers at the University of Zurich, the evolutionary origin of vocal communication dates back more than 400 million years.
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  • Media Research

    Rising News Deprivation Has Negative Consequences for Democracy

    News media is reaching fewer and fewer people. Young adults consume just seven minutes of news per day on their smartphones. This poses a problem for democracy: news-deprived people are less interested in politics, have lower rates of participation in the political process and have less trust in political institutions.
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  • Neurolinguistics

    Literacy Influences Understanding of Speech

    Do people who can read and write understand spoken language better than those who are illiterate? Research carried out by a UZH researcher with collaborators in India has found that handwriting, specifically the type of writing system used for a language, influences how our brains process speech.
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  • Behavioral economics

    Early Self-Regulation Boosts Children’s Educational Success

    A study by the universities of Zurich and Mainz has shown that teaching children how to manage their attention and impulses in primary school has a positive long-term effect on their later educational success.
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  • Evolutionary Biology

    Threatened Aldabra Giant Tortoise Genome Decoded

    They can live for more than 100 years and weigh up to 250 kilograms – Aldabra giant tortoises. Researchers at the University of Zurich have now decoded the genome of Aldabrachelys gigantea, one of only two remaining giant tortoise species worldwide. The findings will help to ensure the long-term survival of the threatened species.
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  • Exhibition

    Collecting and Selling as a Business Model and Relationship Building

    A workspace exhibition at the Ethnographic Museum examines the commercial collecting practices of Borys Malkin, using objects and contemporary documents that came to Zurich in 1969.
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  • Dental Medicine

    Genetic Defects Lead to Enamel Malformations

    Mutations in a certain molecule result in severe damage in the structure and mineral composition of tooth enamel in mice, according to a study conducted at the UZH Center of Dental Medicine. The researchers combined genetic, molecular and imaging techniques.
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  • Medicine

    Immunotherapy Reduces Lung and Liver Fibrosis in Mice

    Chronic diseases often lead to fibrosis, a condition in which organ tissue suffers from excessive scarring. UZH researchers have now developed an immunotherapy that specifically targets the cause – activated fibroblasts – while leaving normal connective tissue cells unharmed.
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  • 2022 Fall Semester

    UZH Student Numbers Remain High

    Most teaching in the 2022 Fall Semester at the University of Zurich will take place on site. According to provisional figures, some 27,800 students are enrolled at UZH, which is slightly below last year’s numbers.
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  • Climate change

    Longer, hotter and more frequent heat waves in Swiss cities

    Hot days followed by sweltering nights without any temperature relief in between might become a new norm towards the end of the 21st century. Researchers from the University of Zurich have analyzed the frequency, intensity and length of such extreme events for five Swiss cities. Lugano and Geneva would be most affected.
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  • Medicine

    High Cholesterol, Overweight and Reduced Physical Stamina Are Long Covid Sequelae in Young Adults

    Healthy young people with just a mild Covid infection can sometimes suffer temporary post-infection consequences such as tiredness, loss of smell and taste or reduced fertility. They usually recover well. In the longer term, metabolic disorders and cardiovascular complications are possible.
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  • Exhibition

    Albert Einstein

    The doctoral certificate of Nobel laureate Albert Einstein has returned to the University of Zurich thanks to a donation and is now on display in the entrance hall of UZH’s main building. The famous physicist obtained his doctorate from the University of Zurich in 1906.
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  • Medical genetics

    Genetic Testing Before Pregnancy Detects up to Half of the Risk

    Are would-be parents carrying a genetic risk of serious illnesses that they could potentially pass on to their children? Researchers at the University of Zurich have now shown that a maximal variant of this test detects the risk in 44 percent of couples who are related by blood, and in just 5 percent of other couples.
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  • Medicine

    Artificial Intelligence Improves Treatment in Women with Heart Attacks

    Heart attacks in women are more likely to be fatal than in men. Researchers at the University of Zurich have now developed a novel artificial-intelligence-based risk score that improves personalized care for female patients with heart attacks.
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  • Evolutionary Biology

    Frogs Use Brains or Camouflage to Evade Predators

    How do frogs protect themselves from predators? Some species rely on cognitive predator evasion, using their large brains and strong hind legs. For species exposed to high predation pressure, effective camouflage to avoid being detected in the first place may be preferable.
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  • Paläontology

    New 3D Model Shows: Megalodon Could Eat Prey the Size of Entire Killer Whales

    International researchers in collaboration with UZH used an exceptionally preserved fossil to create a 3D computer model of the full body of a megadolon. Their results suggest that the megalodon could fully consume prey the size of today’s killer whales.
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  • Climate Change

    Extreme Heat and Drought Require More Systematic Risk Assessment

    Simultaneous extreme heat and drought have consequences in a variety of areas – for example the economy, health and food production. In addition, due to complex socio-economic connections, such extreme events can cause knock-on effects.
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  • Plant Biology

    Global Spread of Powdery Mildew through Migration and Trade

    The worldwide distribution of one of the most important cereal pathogens is the result of human activity. Researchers at the University of Zurich have traced the history and spread of wheat powdery mildew along wheat trade routes and found that mixing of genetic ancestries of related powdery mildew species played a central role in the evolution and adaptation of the pathogen.
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  • Anthropology

    Communication Makes Hunting Easier for Chimpanzees

    Chimpanzees use communication to coordinate their cooperative behavior – such as during hunting. When chimpanzees produce a specific vocalization, known as the “hunting bark”, they recruit more group members to the hunt and capture their prey more effectively.
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  • Biochemistry

    Individual Cells Are Smarter Than Thought

    Humans make decisions based on various sensory information which is integrated into a holistic percept by the brain. But how do single cells make decisions? Much more autonomously than previously thought, as researchers from the University of Zurich have now shown. Cells base their decisions not only on outside signals like growth factors, but also on information they receive from inside the cell. This can even lead to treatment-resistant cancer cells.
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  • Communication science

    High-Quality Media Coverage of Ukraine War

    In times of war, the media fulfill a vital function as information providers. The quality of coverage about the war in Ukraine has been relatively high, a study by the University of Zurich has now shown. Swiss media have been offering reports on the war from various perspectives, providing background information and using images carefully. However, the media depend on external sources and have failed to cover some regions indirectly affected by the conflict.
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  • Developmental Psychology

    Social Development of Infants Unaffected by Covid-19 Pandemic

    Health issues and loss, social isolation and mental health problems – the pandemic has had a drastic effect on our society. But how have the youngest members of society been coping with these changes? Researchers at the University of Zurich have found that the presence of parents and caregivers is enough to mitigate the pandemic’s negative effects on the social development of infants.
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  • Language Science

    Gestures Can Improve Understanding in Language Disorders

    When words fail, gestures can help to get the message across – especially for people who have a language disorder. An international research team has now shown that listeners attend the gestures of people with aphasia more often and for much longer than previously thought. This has implications for the use of gestures in speech therapy.
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  • Psychology

    New Sibling Diagnosis for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

    The World Health Organization (WHO) recently listed a new sibling diagnosis for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), termed complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD). An international team with the involvement of the University of Zurich has now summarized the symptoms of the long-awaited new diagnosis and issued guidelines for clinical assessment and treatment.
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  • Medicine

    Nitric Oxide Does Not Improve Babies’ Recovery after Heart Surgery

    Infants undergoing heart surgery are connected to a heart-lung machine and given nitric oxide as an anti-inflammatory. Researchers from the Universities of Zurich and Queensland have now conducted the world’s largest study of its kind, showing that using nitric oxide does not improve children’s recovery after surgery.
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  • Finance

    Sustainable Investments by Private Banks Are Becoming Almost Standard Practice

    Private banks across Europe are meeting more client demands, new regulations and pressure from stakeholders with better qualified advisors. A new study carried out at the University of Zurich shows that banks are rising to the challenge of investing sustainably with varying degrees of success.
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  • Biodiversity

    Drought-Exposure History Improves Recovery of Grassland Communities from Subsequent Drought

    When a plant community is exposed to drought, the different species undergo evolutionary changes. An international study with UZH participation now shows that this leads to improved resilience to future drought stress over time.
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  • Medicine

    A World Premiere: for the First Time, a Human Liver Was Treated in a Machine and then Successfully Transplanted

    The multidisciplinary Zurich research team Liver4Life has succeeded in doing something during a treatment attempt that had never been achieved in the history of medicine until now: it treated an originally damaged human liver in a machine for three days outside of a body and then implanted the recovered organ into a cancer patient. One year later, the patient is doing well.
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  • Exhibition

    On Honeymoon? Ethnographic Museum Shines Light on Research into East Africa Collection

    A German couple goes on a honeymoon to East Africa and return with hundreds of objects, including everyday items, jewelry, musical instruments and tools. This collection is now stored in the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich. The new workspace exhibition “Honeymoon?” provides insights into how research is conducted on these objects based on five key questions. The exhibition invites visitors to rethink their views on museum collections and adds to the ongoing discussion on provenance research.
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  • Biodiversity

    Satellite Monitoring of Biodiversity Moves Within Reach

    Global biodiversity assessments require the collection of data on changes in plant biodiversity on an ongoing basis. Researchers from the universities of Zurich and Montréal have now shown that plant communities can be reliably monitored using imaging spectroscopy, which in the future will be possible via satellite. This paves the way for near real-time global biodiversity monitoring.
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  • Anthropology

    Watch dolphins line up to self-medicate skin ailments at coral “clinics”

    If a human comes down with a rash, they might go to the doctor and come away with some ointment to put on it. Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins get skin conditions, too, but they come about their medication by queuing up nose-to-tail to rub themselves against corals. In the journal iScience on 19 May, researchers show that these corals have medicinal properties, suggesting that the dolphins are using the marine invertebrates to medicate skin conditions.
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  • Award

    Swiss Science celebrates Hansjörg Wyss

    More than half a billion Swiss francs have been granted over 10 years to groundbreaking research projects in Switzerland within three different Wyss Centers or Academy in Zurich, Geneva and Bern. This makes entrepreneur and philanthropist Hansjörg Wyss one of the major private donors for Swiss science. Wyss was celebrated today as the laureate of the 2022 Gallatin Award of the Swiss American Chamber of Commerce. The laudatio was given by Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin.
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  • Palaeontolgy

    Previously Unknown Dolphin Species Was Present in Switzerland

    Twenty million years ago, the Swiss Plateau region, or “Mittelland”, was an ocean in which dolphins swam. Researchers at the University of Zurich’s Paleontological Institute have now discovered two previously unknown species related to modern sperm whales and oceanic dolphins, which they identified based on ear bones.
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  • Annual Press Conference

    UZH Graduates Successful at Launching Careers

    Graduates of the University of Zurich quickly find their place on the job market and earn significantly higher incomes than the Swiss average. UZH facilitates the transition into professional life through various programs that bridge the gap between academia and business, encourage innovative spirit and foster entrepreneurship. The University also wants to improve the situation of junior researchers by providing them with a wide range of career paths.
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  • Evolution

    Complex Human Childbirth and Cognitive Abilities a Result of Walking Upright

    Childbirth in humans is much more complex and painful than in great apes. It was long believed that this was a result of humans’ larger brains and the narrow dimensions of the mother’s pelvis. Researchers at the University of Zurich have now used 3D simulations to show that childbirth was also a highly complex process in early hominins species that gave birth to relatively small-brained newborns – with important implications for their cognitive development.
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  • Dies academicus

    Five Women and Two Men Awarded Honorary Doctorates by UZH

    The University of Zurich celebrates its 189th anniversary virtually on Saturday, awarding honorary doctorates to ecumenist Dorothea Sattler, Polish human rights commissioner Hanna Machińska and gender medicine pioneer Vera Regitz-Zagrosek. Veterinarian Debbie Jaarsma, theoretical physicist Ruth Durrer, educational economist Eric Bettinger and forensic phonetician Peter French also received honorary degrees.
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  • Geriatric Medicine

    Three Simple Interventions for Cancer Prevention in Older People

    A combination of high-dose vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids and a simple home strength exercise program (SHEP) can cumulatively reduce the risk of cancer in healthy adults over the age of 70 by 61 percent, the international DO-HEALTH study led by the University of Zurich has shown. It is the first study to test the combined benefit of three affordable public health interventions for the prevention of invasive cancers. The results could influence the future of cancer prevention in older adults.
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  • Covid-19

    Tackling the Consequences of Long Covid

    A research team at the University of Zurich has helped people affected by Long Covid identify the problems they most urgently want scientists to tackle, through a collaborative citizen science approach. The topics identified as most pressing include the development and clinical testing of effective therapies, appropriate healthcare structures, increased awareness as well as better data on children and adolescents affected by the disease.
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  • Space Research

    Universities Space Research Association Elects UZH as a Member University Elects University of Zurich as a Member University

    The University of Zurich (UZH), a renowned university in Switzerland, has joined the ranks of Universities Space Research Association (USRA). Elected by USRA’s current university members, UZH was formally inaugurated into the Association on March 25, 2022, bringing the membership of the Association to a total of 115 universities.
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  • Evolutionary Biology

    A Single Gene Controls Species Diversity in an Ecosystem

    To test if a single gene could affect an entire ecosystem, a research team of the University of Zurich conducted a lab experiment with a plant and its associated ecosystem of insects. They found that plants with a mutation at a specific gene foster ecosystems with more insect species. The discovery of such a “keystone gene” could change current biodiversity conservation strategies.
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  • Exhibition

    Fossil Treasures of the Alpstein

    A new special exhibition at the University of Zurich’s Zoological and Paleontological Museum showcases sublime fossils found in the Alpstein massif in eastern Switzerland, taking visitors on a journey through time to the marine wildlife of the Cretaceous and Eocene more than 100 million years ago. The exhibition, conceived by the Natural History Museum in St.Gallen, is based on a book by UZH paleontologist Christian Klug and Peter Kürsteiner.
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  • Anthropology

    Popular Male Dolphins Produce More Offspring

    The reproductive success of male dolphins is not determined by strength or age, but via social bonds with other males. The better integrated males are in their social network, the more offspring they produce, a new study by an international team of researchers led by the University of Zurich has shown using long-term behavioral and genetic data.
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  • Awards

    Three UZH Researchers Awarded ERC Consolidator Grants

    Three researchers at the University of Zurich have been awarded much coveted ERC Consolidator Grants by the EU. Funding in the amount of 6 million euros over five years will not be provided by EU, but instead covered by the federal government as promised.
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  • Developmental Psychology

    Frequent External Childcare Can Affect Children’s Behavior

    How does childcare outside of the family affect the development of children and adolescents? The survey suggests that the more time children spend in external daycare, the more likely they are to exhibit problematic behavior; however, this behavior generally disappears at the end of primary school.
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  • Neuroscience

    Astrocyte Networks in the Mouse Brain Control Spatial Learning and Memory

    Astrocytes form large networks of interconnected cells in the central nervous system. When these cell-to-cell couplings are disrupted in the brain of adult mice, the animals are no longer able to store spatial information. The astrocytes network is thus essential for spatial learning and memory formation, as neuroscientists of the University of Zurich now show.
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  • Medicine

    Patients Share Their Experiences

    What do people with multiple sclerosis, dementia or chronic pain go through? What are their experiences of medical practices or hospitals like? What kind of support do they find helpful? The new dipex.ch platform launched by Zurich researchers makes patient experience reports publicly available.
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  • Immunology

    Multiple Sclerosis: Study with Twins Untangles Environmental and Genetic Influences

    Researchers at the University of Zurich and Munich’s LMU Klinikum hospital have studied the immune system of pairs of monozygotic twins to identify the influence of the environment and of genetics in cases of multiple sclerosis. In the process, they may have discovered precursor cells of the disease-causing T cells.
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  • Neuroscience

    Illuminating Real-Time Brain Dynamics of Neuropeptides with a Fluorescent Biosensor

    Neuropeptides play fundamental roles in modulating cellular and circuit functions within the brain. One such signaling molecule – orexin – regulates arousal and wakefulness, and its failure can lead to constant daytime sleepiness (narcolepsy). University of Zurich researchers have now developed a fluorescent orexin biosensor to observe this molecule "live" in the living mouse brain.
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  • Climate Change

    Arctic Winter Warming Causes Cold Damage in the Subtropics of East Asia

    Due to climate change, Arctic winters are getting warmer. An international study by UZH researchers shows that Arctic warming causes temperature anomalies and cold damage thousands of kilometers away in East Asia. This in turn leads to reduced vegetation growth, later blossoming, smaller harvests and reduced CO2 absorption by the forests in the region.
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  • Exhibition

    "Planet Digital": Digital research and design join forces

    Self-learning algorithms, rare earths, and robots bestowing blessings: In the Planet Digital exhibition, organized by the University of Zurich and the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, innovative research teams meet up with creative minds from the fields of design and art. In around 25 installations, they invite visitors to experience the science of digitalization with all their senses.
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  • Covid-19

    Immunological Memory Provides Long-Term Protection against Coronavirus

    Exposure to SARS-CoV-2 by infection or vaccination generates immune cells that provide long-term immunity. These long-lived memory T cells play a key role in preventing severe cases of Covid-19. Researchers at the University of Zurich have now discovered how these memory T cells form.
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  • Delinquency

    Understanding Who Commits Which Crimes

    Why do some young men turn to crime, while others don’t? An international study shows that preferences such as risk tolerance, impatience and altruism as well as self-control can predict who will commit crime. Risk-tolerant, impatient young men are more likely to commit property crime, while people with low self-control tend to commit violent, drug and sexual offenses.
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  • Anthropology

    Cracking Chimpanzee Culture

    Chimpanzees don’t automatically know what to do when they come across nuts and stones. Researchers at the University of Zurich have now used field experiments to show that chimpanzees thus do not simply invent nut cracking with tools, but need to learn such complex cultural behaviors from others.
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  • Covid-19

    School Closures Led to More Sleep and Better Quality of Life for Adolescents

    The school closures in spring 2020 had a negative effect on the health and well-being of many young people. But homeschooling also had a positive flipside: Thanks to sleeping longer in the morning, many teenagers reported improved health and health-related quality of life.
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