Press Releases

This does not happen very often. Just under a year ago, Laurens Molenkamp received the Europhysics Prize for discovering the quantum spin Hall effect. Now the American Physical Society has conferred on the Würzburg physicist the 2012 Buckley Prize for the same work.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a severe disease of the nervous system, which leads to death within a short period of time. A team of scientists has now succeeded in identifying a trigger factor of this disease. Researchers at the University of Würzburg also participated in the search.

A movement in a clockwise direction feels progressive, as though facing the future. The opposite direction, by contrast, represents a backward focus. This sounds plausible. What sounds surprising, however, is a finding by Würzburg psychologists.

Trap closes, insect dies: the plant known as the Venus flytrap relies on an ingenious mechanism for capturing tiny creatures. Researchers from the University of Würzburg are now providing new insights into how this insect trap works in the magazine PNAS.

A blood test that reliably reveals at an early stage whether a person has contracted a tumour: This is the dream of many a physician. In their quest of such a test, researchers have now taken one step forward. Medical scientists of the Würzburg University Women’s Clinic were also involved.