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Many claim that people too easily anthropomorphise animal behaviour. But what’s the story regarding laughter – is it something unique to humans? Cognitive scientist Peter Gärdenfors explains why we often overlook the laughter of a parrot and why slapstick is a type of humour appreciated by both humans and animals. ”Aristotle thought that it was only humans who laugh, but he was wrong,” says Peter
https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/can-animals-laugh - 2026-05-27
The African Union’s organisation for development cooperation (AUDA-NEPAD) sent a delegation to Lund in May to strengthen and further develop cooperation concerning education for African professionals. For the second year in succession, there is a contract education course on innovation policy and innovation leadership through the Department of Economic History. In May, the African participants had
https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/lund-university-cooperation-sustainable-development-africa - 2026-05-27
This article is over 5 years old, and the information may therefore be outdated. Researchers at Lund University in Sweden can now reveal what the Danish King Hans had planned to offer when laying claim to the Swedish throne in 1495: a two-metre-long Atlantic sturgeon. The well-preserved fish remains were found in a wreck on the bottom of the Baltic Sea last year, and species identification was mad
https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/atlantic-sturgeon-kings-pantry-unique-discovery-baltic-sea-wreck-1495 - 2026-05-27
How do birds avoid collision when flying in dense foliage and other cramped environments with many obstacles? And what does flying in such complex environments entail for the birds? These were the questions Per Henningsson of Lund University in Sweden pondered before engaging the help of the family’s own pet budgie to get some answers. His study has now been published in Royal Society Open Science
https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/pandemic-restrictions-enabled-unique-bird-study - 2026-05-27
Lao Saal has a mission; to make it possible to – just by testing a blood sample – reveal, not only if you have cancer, but also which therapies may be most effective, and how well is the cancer actually responding to treatment. His idea is to trace the genetic material that escapes from tumours and into the blood circulation. “It’s a great feeling when you can go the whole way from having an idea
https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/service-cancer-patients - 2026-05-27
This article is over 5 years old, and the information may therefore be outdated. In the current extraordinary situation, voluntary initiatives and ideas have taken off at Lund University, at several different faculties. Everyone is helping where they can. In times of significant pressures on society, many people want to contribute to ensure the functioning of healthcare and education. When it bec
Infertility, Alzheimer’s disease and decentralised infrastructure. These are the research areas of the three researchers at Lund University who are receiving a total of SEK 50 million in funding from the ERC. The researchers are human geographer Johan Miörner, Camila Consiglio, researcher in systems immunology, and Jacob Vogel, who studies neurodegenerative diseases. Read more about their research
https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/three-promising-researchers-awarded-erc-starting-grants - 2026-05-27
This article is over 5 years old, and the information may therefore be outdated. An international study led from Lund University in Sweden shows that 30 per cent of the energy in a certain type of light-absorbing iron molecule disappears in a previously unknown manner. By closing this loophole, the researchers hope to contribute to the development of more efficient solar cells using this iron-base
https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/iron-based-solar-cells-track-becoming-more-efficient - 2026-05-27
An international study led by researchers at Lund University in Sweden shows that the rapid increase in land use in the world's tropical areas is affecting the global carbon cycle more than was previously known. By studying data from a new satellite imaging system, the researchers also found that the biomass in tropical forests is decreasing. Vegetation fills a very important function in the carbo
https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/increasing-tropical-land-use-disrupting-carbon-cycle - 2026-05-27
What happens when we get out of the driver's seat and our vehicles become autonomous? Mathematician Viktor Larsson is developing methods to enable cars and drones to see their surroundings. This is his insight into the self-driving present and future. Cameras, satnav, laser, radar and sensors. To earn the prefix ‘self-driving’, or ‘autonomous’, vehicles need a range of technologies capable of both
https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/road-self-driving-future - 2026-05-27
When researchers at Lund University in Sweden performed advanced analyses of sputum from the airways of severely ill Covid-19 patients, they found high levels of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). It is already a known fact that NETs can contribute to sputum thickness, severe sepsis-like inflammation and thrombosis. After being treated with an already existing drug, the NETs were dissolved and
https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/drug-dissolved-net-structures-airways-severely-ill-covid-19-patients - 2026-05-27
This article is over 5 years old, and the information may therefore be outdated. In recent years, it has become increasingly clear to researchers that the protein galectin-3 is involved in inflammatory diseases in the brain. A study led by researchers at Lund University in Sweden now shows the de facto key role played by the protein in Alzheimer’s disease. When the researchers shut off the gene th
https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/researchers-block-protein-plays-key-role-alzheimers-disease - 2026-05-27
Physical geographer Lina Eklund is tracking the destruction of Gaza week by week using satellite images. Her analyses could be significant if, once the fighting between Israel and Hamas is over, questions of possible war crimes are raised at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Lina Eklund, associate senior lecturer at the Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science and rese
https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/destruction-gaza-monitored-space - 2026-05-27
This article is over 5 years old, and the information may therefore be outdated. Edouard Berrocal, a researcher in combustion physics at Lund University, has been awarded one of the most prestigious grants available to young researchers: an ERC Starting Grant. The grant is worth EUR 1.5 million and will enable him to spend the next five years investigating what happens in the crucial moment at the
https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/erc-starting-grant-researcher-combustion - 2026-05-27
A research team at Lund University in Sweden has discovered a mechanism that helps acute myeloid leukemia cells to evade the body’s immune system. By developing an antibody that blocks the mechanism, the researchers could restore the immune system’s ability to kill the cancer cells in laboratory trials and in mice. The discovery is published in Nature Cancer. In brief:Facts about the study: peer-r
https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/new-mechanism-revealed-how-leukemia-cells-trick-immune-system - 2026-05-27
This article is over 5 years old, and the information may therefore be outdated. This year, Sweden celebrates a century of democracy and fair elections are seen as self-evident. How did our democracy develop and how did we get rid of election fraud? A political scientist at Lund University in Sweden has now examined the country’s election fraud history and its underlying causes – from 1719 to the
https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/how-sweden-became-one-worlds-most-stable-democracies - 2026-05-27
This article is over 5 years old, and the information may therefore be outdated. Crashing computers or smartphones - and security loopholes that allow hackers to steal millions of passwords - could be prevented if it were possible to design error-free software. To date, this is a problem that neither engineers nor current supercomputers have been able to solve. A major reason for this is the compu
https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/biological-supercomputers-be-powered-molecular-motors - 2026-05-27
In a unique study carried out in drinking water pipes in Sweden, researchers from Lund University and the local water company tested what would happen if chlorine was omitted from drinking water. The result? An increase in bacteria, of course, but after a while something surprising happened: a harmless predatory bacteria grew in numbers and ate most of the other bacteria. The study suggests that c
https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/predatory-bacteria-provide-hope-chlorine-free-drinking-water - 2026-05-27
This article is over 5 years old, and the information may therefore be outdated. A researcher from Lund University in Sweden has managed to install a huge curtain in a remote cloud forest in South America. The aim is to study how these valuable forests are affected if clouds are elevated due to global warming. The world’s cloud forests are facing the threat of rapid climate change, as global warmi
https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/giant-curtain-will-help-scientists-study-threats-against-cloud-forests - 2026-05-27
This article is over 5 years old, and the information may therefore be outdated. “For us in the social sciences, it is very important to highlight that there is no simple link between climate change and migration”, says Dr. Angela Oels, a visiting professor at the Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS). “In fact, multiple factors influence the decision to migrate.” Angela Oels
https://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/article/climate-migration-focus-official-cop21-side-event - 2026-05-27
