Every week, scilog features an exemplary project funded by the FWF. The presentations shed light on scientific questions and report on recent insights gained in basic research. The projects not only reflect the great variety of scientific disciplines, but also the range of support options offered by the Austrian Science Fund.
Hormonal disorders can have far-reaching health consequences such as metabolic diseases. In a study funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, a group of researchers from Graz has now proven the positive effect of vitamin D on blood sugar levels. Continue reading “Vitamin D suitable also as a therapeutic supplement”
The search for specific therapies for multiple sclerosis has prompted an international research group to investigate how immune cells can cross the blood-brain barrier and trigger inflammatory processes in nerve tissue. The results obtained by the Center for Brain Research in Vienna show that the development of this inflammatory disease is dominated by two types […] Continue reading “How immune cells cross the blood-brain barrier”
In a project financed by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, a research group from Graz is developing methods to make graphics hardware for video games more flexible for use with various applications. This also has an impact on the programming of supercomputers. Continue reading “Making gaming hardware fit for new tasks”
An interdisciplinary research group in Graz looked for biomarkers that could already provide indications during the first year of life of developmental disorders such as fragile X syndrome, which are still detected (too) late. The researchers analysed early-childhood vocalisation and movement patterns of children with a definite diagnosis. Continue reading “Shortening the path to diagnosis”
With the support of the FWF, Hannes Schuler investigates fruit tree pests and their parasitic ‘lodgers’. He wants to find out which Wolbachia bacteria occur in which cherry fruit fly species, how they are transferred and what this means for the successful reproduction of the flies. Continue reading “Cherry-picking among flies”
The minutes of the meetings of the Habsburg Monarchy’s Council of Ministers were largely decimated by the 1927 fire at the Palace of Justice in Vienna. Historians are piecing together step by step the records that did survive. Most recently their work focused on the years between 1914 and 1918. The issue of food shortages […] Continue reading “Welfare state born out of crisis”
In the context of a project funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, sound recordings of African prisoners of war made during the First World War were for the first time taken out of the archives and investigated. Neglected to date, these sources provide valuable audio testimony of the Great War, colonial policy of the […] Continue reading “The colonial echo of the First World War”
In a project funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, a research group led by psychologist Laura Bishop is investigating how people who play classical music together communicate with each other. To this end she is working on a computer system that can play music like a human being. Continue reading “Exploring communication in music ensembles”
A research team in Salzburg rewrites the origins of American theatre history. Their research reveals that theatrical life was more prestigious than previously assumed. Comedy in particular served as an important reflection of political circumstances, and it was also used by women as a medium for voicing their concerns. Continue reading “Women’s polemics and the American Revolution”
In a project funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, a research group from Innsbruck has explored how the local accuracy of weather forecasts for snowfall can be improved by means of past weather observations. Continue reading “Statistics for snow forecasting”