Other May News in Brief
Professor Elvira Brattico from MIB in BBC podcast on sound
At this year’s international science festival in Gothenburg, Professor Elvira Brattico, from the Center of Excellence Music in the Brain (MIB) at Aarhus University, was one out of three participants in a panel debate arranged by the BBC World Service’s CrowdScience. Together with two other experts, Professor Brattico discussed how music has evolved to this day and why humans seem to be programmed to cherish the beauty of music, with a point of departure on music and musicality.
Listen to Professor Brattico’s contribution in a podcast from the BBC here
More information can be found at MIB’s website here
CellPAT and former CDNA center develop a new research method for large nanostructures
A collaboration between researchers from the Center of Excellence CellPAT and a previous DNRF center, the Center for DNA Nanotechnology (CDNA) at Aarhus University, has resulted in the development of a new method to construct large multi-antibody nanostructures. The new method, which has been published in the Wiley Online Library, use DNA nanotechnology to connect ordinary antibodies from blood to small pieces of protein attached to short strings of DNA with more efficiency. The method adds complex functions to the structures, enabling them to function as medicaments or to prolong the molecules’ life span. The advantages of the newly developed method for DNA nanostructures include production that can be scaled to sizes and dimensions relevant for clinical use as well as scientific experiments with cells.
Read the scientific article at Wiley Online Library here
More information about the study can be found in a press release from EurekAlert here
Professor Carsten Rahbæk comments on new IPBES report from the UN
Professor and head of center Carsten Rahbæk, from the Center of Excellence CMEC at the University of Copenhagen, made a statement in two articles in Information and Berlingske on the occasion of the UN’s new so-called IPBES report regarding the world’s biodiversity. Professor Rahbæk noted that the report’s documentation is “brutal” and alarming given the critical condition nature is in as a result of the human-made climate crisis. According to Professor Rahbæk, we are “in full swing, cutting the branch on which we sit.”
Read the article in Information here (in Danish)
Read the article in Berlingske here (in Danish)
CGG maps five millennia of horse domestication with genomes
Researchers from the DNRF’s Center for GeoGenetics at the University of Copenhagen are behind a large international study that has mapped the historical evolvement for horse domestication in the world for the past 5000 years. The mapping was conducted by the help of the hitherto largest genetical data collection of non-human genomes. The research has led to more significant discoveries and the results indicate that breeding methods have made the horses today look completely different genetically than the ones that lived only a few hundred years ago. The study was recently published in the scientific journal the Cell.
Read the scientific article in the Cell here
More information about the study can be found in ScienceDaily here
Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz appointed to the Vera Rubin Presidential Chair for Diversity in Astronomy
Professor of astronomy and astrophysics Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz, who is one of the DNRF’s Niels Bohr professors, has been appointed to the Vera Rubin Presidential Chair for Diversity in Astronomy at the University California Santa Cruz. The chair was established in 2018 to advance diversity, equity, and inclusive excellence within the research field of astronomy. Furthermore, the endowed chair is named after the astronomer Vera Rubin, who – besides her excellent research – was a major figure in promoting and supporting young female researchers as well as researchers from various backgrounds.
Read more about Professor Ruiz’s appointment in a press release from UC Santa Cruz here