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  • Spruce trees’ reconquest of Sweden after the last Ice Age took 10,000 years

    A new study from scientists at Uppsala University shows that it took more than 10 millennia from when the first spruces returned to Sweden after the glacial stage of the last Ice Age until the species became widespread. This sluggish rate of initial dispersal has surprised the researchers, since the spruce might have had good prospects of expanding its range.

  • Armed CAR-T cells to better fight cancer

    Immunotherapy is increasingly becoming a successful way to treat cancer. Researchers at Uppsala University have now developed armed CAR-T cells that reinforce the immune defence against cancer and that could increase the possibilities to successfully treat solid tumours. The study has been published in the journal Nature BioMedical Engineering.

  • PTSD Coach Sweden has information about post-traumatic stress, simple exercises and measure the user’s post-traumatic stress over time.

    Mobile app reduces post-traumatic stress

    Support offered by a phone app can relieve post-traumatic stress and depression. A new study from Uppsala University’s National Centre for Disaster Psychiatry involving 179 patients shows that a dedicated PTSD app, PTSD Coach, helps adults suffering from mental health issues after traumatic events.

  • Eliminating the bottlenecks for use of lithium-sulfur batteries

    Energy storage in lithium-sulfur batteries is potentially higher than in lithium-ion batteries but they are hampered by a short life. Researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden have now identified the main bottlenecks in performance.

  • Transforming space and society in Kiruna

    When the Swedish government and LKAB first shared responsibility for developing Kiruna a hundred years ago, they focused mostly on practical issues. How does one build a city in a “desolate wilderness”? Since 2004, these ideas have taken on new meaning when examining what it means to transform a city to continue mining. This is the focus of a new thesis in cultural anthropology.

  • View from the archaeological site Arapouco towards the Sado Valley, Portugal. Photo: Rita Peyroteo-Stjerna

    Mummification in Europe may be older than previously known

    Mummification of the dead probably was more common in prehistory than previously known. This discovery was made at the hunter-gatherer burial sites in the Sado Valley in Portugal, dating to 8 000 years ago. A new study, headed by archaeologists at Uppsala University and Linnaeus University in Sweden and University of Lisbon in Portugal, presents new evidence for pre-burial treatments such as desi

  • The unstable southern flank of the Merapi volcano during a partial collapse in 2019. Credit: GFZ Potsdam

    Hidden weaknesses within volcanoes may cause volcano collapse

    Lava domes form at the top of many volcanoes when viscous lava erupts. When they become unstable, they can collapse and cause a hazard. An international team of researchers has analysed summit dome instabilities at Merapi Volcano, Indonesia. The researchers hope that by understanding the inner processes, volcano collapses can be better forecasted.

  • Artistic reconstruction of the Seiche wave surging into the Tanis river, bringing in fishes and everything in its path while impact spherules rain down from the sky. Credit: Joschua Knüppe

    The reign of the dinosaurs ended in spring

    The asteroid which killed nearly all of the dinosaurs struck Earth during springtime. This conclusion was drawn by an international team of researchers after having examined thin sections, high-resolution synchrotron X-ray scans, and carbon isotope records of the bones of fishes that died less than 60 minutes after the asteroid impacted. The team presents its findings in the journal Nature.

  • Maxilla and tooth from the specimen excavated at Cabeço da Amoreira in Portugal, used for biomolecular analyses in this study. Photo: Rita Peyroteo Stjerna

    350 years old remains in a Stone Age site in Portugal

    An African man who lived just 350 years ago was buried in a prehistoric shell midden in Amoreira in Portugal, well known by archaeologists for the cemeteries of the last hunter-gatherers living in the area, 8 000 years-ago. To investigate this burial researchers from Uppsala University and Universidade de Lisboa combined biomolecular archaeology, ancient DNA, and historical records.

  • More chemicals, fewer words: exposure to chemical mixtures during pregnancy alters brain development

    By linking human population studies with experiments in cell and animal models, researchers have provided evidence that complex mixtures of endocrine disrupting chemicals impact children’s brain development and language acquisition. With their novel approach, the scientists show that up to 54 per cent of pregnant women were exposed to experimentally defined levels of concern.

  • Ancestors of legionella bacteria infected cells two billion years ago

    Researchers at Uppsala University have discovered that the ancestors of legionella bacteria infected eukaryotic cells as early as two billion years ago. It happened soon after eukaryotes began to feed on bacteria. These results, described in a new study published in Molecular Biology and Evolution, also contributes to the chicken-or-egg debate about whether mitochondria or phagocytosis came first

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