Present-day lithium batteries are efficient but involve a range of resource and environmental problems. Using materials from alfalfa (lucerne seed) and pine resin and a clever recycling strategy, Uppsala researchers have now come up with a highly interesting alternative. Their study will be presented soon in the scientific journal ChemSusChem.
If we embrace lifestyle changes and new technology, we improve our prospects of staying healthy in old age, getting good care and reducing our dependence on others. This is the message of a new report summarising the conclusions from the conference Uppsala Health Summit in June.
A new Swedish study shows that adolescents who suffer from sleep disturbance or habitual short sleep duration are less likely to succeed academically compared to those who enjoy a good night’s sleep. The results have recently been published in the journal Sleep Medicine.
The genetic changes that transformed wild animals into domesticated forms have long been a mystery. An international team of scientists has now made a breakthrough by showing that many genes controlling the development of the brain and the nervous system were particularly important for rabbit domestication. The study is published today in Science and gives answers to many genetic questions.
In a study published in Nature Genetics, researchers from Uppsala University present the first global analysis of genome variation in honeybees. The findings show a surprisingly high level of genetic diversity in honeybees, and indicate that the species most probably originates from Asia, and not from Africa as previously thought.
In a new study published in Nature Communications, research scientists from Uppsala University present for the first time a large-scale study of the significance of genetic, clinical and lifestyle factors for protein levels in the bloodstream. The results of the study show that genetics and lifestyle are determining factors for protein levels.
More than 80 percent of all drug candidates in the pharma R&D suffer from poor solubility and are therefore rejected early in the drug discovery process. Now Uppsala University researchers show that the new material Upsalite®, has great potential for development of new formulations of these rejected drugs.
Crows like to select mates that look alike. In a large-scale genomic study, published in Science today, a team of researchers led by Uppsala University found that this behaviour might be rooted in their genetic make-up, revealing a likely common evolutionary path that allows for separating populations into novel species.
At 33, conflicts in the world last year increased by one compared to 2012. This is reported by peace researchers at Uppsala University’s Conflict Data Program. The number has remained stable over the past decade. However, 2012 saw an increase in the number of battle-related deaths and two out of five people dying in battles, died in Syria.
A new study from Uppsala University demonstrates that elderly humans carrying a common variant of the fat mass and obesity gene FTO also have a shifted endocrine balance. Low blood concentrations of the satiety hormone leptin and high blood concentrations of the hunger promoting hormone ghrelin makes carriers of the FTO gene put on weight. The findings are published in the journal Diabetes.
In a new study, published in Nature Communications today, researchers from the Department of Medical Cell Biology at Uppsala University describe findings that offer new clues as to why insulin secretion might fail in diabetes and open the possibility of discovering novel drugs.
In a new study published today in the journal Plos One, researchers at Uppsala University show that the harmful effect of smoking is aggravated if the person has high blood levels of PCB. This indicates that environmental contaminants interact with other risk factors for various diseases – a field the researchers claim is under-researched.