University of Bern
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Red dwarf stars may host potential habitable exoplanets. Computer simulations to model how planets may form around these stars have found that many of them might be “water worlds,” covered in extremely deep oceans with icy cores – but don’t get your hopes up about habitability.
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If there is a ninth planet in the outer Solar System, what is it like and why hasn't it been spotted yet? A possible answer comes from a pair of astrophysicists at the University of Bern, who used models developed for studying exoplanets to determine the structure of the hypothetical Planet 9.
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Retinitis pigmentosa, age-related macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy are all conditions that send people blind. Researchers claim to have developed a new optogenic therapy to restore the sight of mice suffering such diseases.
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Using a technique in which better cells in the body to be selected at the expense of more damaged ones, researchers at the University of Bern in Switzerland have managed to significantly increase the lifespan of the common fruit fly.
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The WHO says we are "headed for a post-antibiotic era, in which common infections and minor injuries which have been treatable for decades can once again kill." A non-antibiotic lipid compound has been developed that treats severe bacterial infections and avoids the problem of bacterial resistance.
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Although cardiac pacemakers have saved countless lives, they do have at least one shortcoming – like other electronic devices, their batteries wear out. Swiss scientists, however, have developed a wristwatch-inspired device that can power a pacemaker via the beating of the patient’s own heart.
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A man-made molecule has been found to stop acute allergic reactions within seconds.