Which factors increase the risk for armed conflict and war? What circumstances make conflict resolution more likely to be successful? Today, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) releases a new dataset which opens up new possibilities for the study of armed conflict. Using these data, useful findings relating to climate change and armed conflict have already been made.
The rules of school are simple: it is all about watching the kid nearest to you and making sure you do what they do. Researchers at the mathematics department at Uppsala University, together with biologists at Sydney University have shown that fish apply similar rules when travelling in small shoals.
Knowledge about the development of the nervous system is of the greatest importance to understand the function of the brain and brain disorders. Researchers at Uppsala University have examined the key step when genes are read and found that genes that are active in the brain are transcribed with a special mechanism. The findings, reported in the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology.
During human evolution our ancestors mated with Neanderthals, but also with other related hominids. In this week’s online edition of PNAS, researchers from Uppsala University are publishing findings showing that people in East Asia share genetic material with Denisovans, who were named from the cave in Siberia where they were first found.
Newborn mice that are exposed to Bisphenol A develop changes in their spontaneous behavior and evince poorer adaptation to new environments, as well hyperactivity as young adults. This has been shown by researchers at Uppsala University. Their study also revealed that one of the brain’s most important signal systems, the cholinergic signal system, is affected by Bisphenol A.
An international research team led by Kerstin Lindblad-Toh at the Broad Institute, US and Uppsala University, Sweden has mapped and compared the genomes of 29 mammals. The findings, published in Nature, reveal millions of new regulatory elements in the human genome. The new knowledge is important for our understanding of how mutations in human genes give rise to diseases.
Environmental toxicants such as dioxins, PCBs, and pesticides can pose a risk for cardiovascular disease. For the first time a link has been demonstrated between atherosclerosis and levels of these kinds of toxicants in the blood. The study, carried out at Uppsala University, is being published online this week in ahead of print in the prestigious journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
The earth’s most successful bacteria are found in the oceans and belong to the group SAR11. Researchers from Uppsala University now provide an explanation for their success and at the same time call into question generally accepted theories about these bacteria. In their analysis they have also identified a rare and hitherto unknown relative of mitochondria, the power stations inside cells.