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.
With the support of the FWF, a group of researchers from Innsbruck examined 100 test subjects in a sleep laboratory and achieved widespread recognition for their collection of standard values for healthy sleep. While even healthy individuals move about more than expected while sleeping, muscle twitching during dreams can be a harbinger of neurodegenerative diseases. Continue reading “How much twitching is normal during sleep?”
In a project funded by the FWF, a research group from Vienna has investigated how a wide variety of employee scheduling issues can be analysed within one umbrella framework and solved with the help of computers. Continue reading “How computers help to find the optimal schedule”
With the support of the FWF, social anthropologist Leonardo Schiocchet conducted a Lise-Meitner project exploring Austrian-Palestinian encounters, which are marked not so much by clear concerns and affiliations as by generations, values and experiences. Based on the results, he has developed a new research approach for the characterisation of cultural communities abroad. Continue reading “The diversity of Austro-Palestinian encounters”
Resource-friendly construction starts with the building material used. In a project funded by the FWF, researchers who explored composite systems combining timber and lightweight wood-concrete came to the conclusion that these materials can be used as structural elements. Continue reading “Timber is gaining ground”
In a project financed by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, a Viennese research group developed a simulation environment for debris flows and avalanches that can represent both solid and liquid material at the same time and thus simulate complex natural events. Continue reading “A model for landslides involving water and rock”
In a project funded by the FWF, a research group from Innsbruck investigated how cancer cells in the large intestine can be made to glow in order to facilitate early detection. Continue reading “Luminescent nanoparticles help with early cancer detection”
Supported by funding from the Austrian Science Fund FWF, a team from the Max F. Perutz Laboratories deciphered the mechanism of the TTP protein as a time-switch for the programmed cell death of white blood cells. A targeted death of these cells prevents an excessive immune reaction, but could also be used as a therapeutic […] Continue reading “Time-switch for immune cells”
In their newly conquered province, the Banat of Temeswar, the Habsburgs took first steps towards creating a “modern bureaucracy” at the beginning of the 18th century. Research funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF has now shown how their staff management developed in concrete terms. Continue reading “Courageous staff for building up a bureaucracy”
With the support of the Austrian Science Fund FWF, economist Alyssa Schneebaum has investigated how social and biographical characteristics affect a person’s educational and work trajectory. To this end, she analysed EU and US statistics on prosperity and living conditions using a multidimensional approach from gender studies. Continue reading “Educational biographies: migrant children catch up more quickly”
The media sector is undergoing massive change. This raises new questions, especially with regard to global developments. If media companies want to operate across national borders they must take cultural aspects into account, as was shown in an international research project supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF. Continue reading “Less global than expected”