Domestic cats originated in North Africa and spread to Europe in the past 2000 years, according to DNA evidence, while in China a different species of cat lived alongside people much earlier
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Superconductivity for addressing global challenges
High‑energy physics has always been one of the main drivers of progress in superconducting science and technology. None of the flagship accelerators that have shaped modern particle physics could have succeeded without large‑scale superconducting systems. CERN continues to lead the efforts in this field. Its next accelerator, the High‑Luminosity LHC, relies on high-grade superconductors that were not available in industry before they were developed for high-energy physics. Tomorrow’s colliders will require a new generation of high‑temperature superconductors (HTS) to be able to realise their research potential with improved energy efficiency and long‑term sustainability.
Beyond the physics field, next‑generation superconductors have the potential to reshape key technological sectors. Their ability to transmit electricity without resistance, generate intense magnetic fields and operate efficiently at high temperatures makes them suitable for applications in fields as diverse as healthcare, mobility, computing, novel fusion reactors, zero‑emission transport and quantum technologies. This wide range of applications shows that advances driven by fundamental physics can generate broad societal impact far beyond the laboratory.
The Catalysing Impact – Superconductivity for Global Challenges event seeks to accelerate the transition from science to societal applications. By bringing together top-level researchers, industry leaders, policymakers and investors, the event provides a structured meeting point for technical expertise and strategic financing. Its purpose is not simply to present progress but to build bridges across sectors, disciplines and funding landscapes in order to move superconducting technologies from early demonstrations to impactful applications.
Why Do We Have a Consciousness?
What does it mean that we have consciousness — and why does nature care that we do? In a remarkable new convergence of philosophy, psychology, and comparative neuroscience, researchers at Ruhr University Bochum argue that consciousness is not a mysterious luxury, but a powerful evolutionary adaptation.
According to their analysis, conscious experience first emerged as a mechanism of basic arousal — a primordial alarm system to protect living organisms from immediate danger. ([RUB Newsportal][1]) As evolution proceeded, consciousness evolved further: general alertness enabled organisms to filter through overwhelming flows of sensory data, focus selectively, and detect complex correlations — a capacity indispensable for learning, planning, and survival in a dynamic world.
Finally, in some lineages including our own, a third layer arose: reflexive, self-consciousness. This allows us not only to perceive the world, but to perceive ourselves — our bodies, thoughts, sensations — across time. With it comes memory, foresight, self-awareness, and the ability to integrate personal history into projects and social lives.
What is especially striking: these researchers show that consciousness need not depend on a “human-style” cortex. Studies of birds — whose brain architecture is very different from mammals — reveal comparable functional capacities: sensory awareness, integrated information processing, and even rudimentary forms of self-perception. ([RUB Newsportal][1]) This suggests that consciousness, far from being a human special-case, may be a widespread evolutionary solution — one that can arise in diverse biological substrates when the right functional constraints are met.
In this light, consciousness emerges not as an ineffable mystery or a metaphysical afterthought, but as a natural phenomenon with concrete functions: for feeling, for alertness, for learning, for self-representation. Understanding it may not only tell us who we are — but also why it ever made sense for life to become conscious.
Press Release: Ruhr University Bochum
Metabolomic Investigation of Blood and Urinary Amino Acids and Derivatives in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Early Diabetic Kidney Disease
Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is the leading cause of end-stage renal disease; however, few biomarkers of its early identification are available. The aim of the study was to assess new biomarkers in the early stages of DKD in type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) patients. This cross-sectional pilot study performed an integrated metabolomic profiling of blood and urine in 90 patients with type 2 DM, classified into three subgroups according to albuminuria stage from P1 to P3 (30 normo-, 30 micro-, and 30 macroalbuminuric) and 20 healthy controls using high-performance liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF-ESI MS). From a large cohort of separated and identified molecules, 33 and 39 amino acids and derivatives from serum and urine, respectively, were selected for statistical analysis using Metaboanalyst 5.0. online software.
How a gene shapes the architecture of the human brain
Researchers around the world are studying how the human brain achieves its extraordinary complexity. A team at the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim and the German Primate Center—Leibniz Institute for Primate Research in Göttingen has now used organoids to show that the ARHGAP11A gene plays a crucial role in brain development. If this gene is missing, key processes involved in cell division and structure become unbalanced.
The human brain distinguishes us from other living beings like no other organ. It enables language, abstract thinking, complex social behavior, and culture. But how can this extraordinarily powerful organ develop, and how is it ensured that nerve cells and supporting cells form in exactly the right places to create the complexity of the human brain?
A team led by Dr. Julia Ladewig at the Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH) in Mannheim and Dr. Michael Heide at the German Primate Center (DPZ) in Göttingen has investigated this question at the molecular level.