Latest news with #Bayreuth
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Germany launches 'cultural buildings offensive' to restore landmarks
Germany's culture authorities have pledged to restore the country's worn and crumbling architectural heritage, with a slew of eminent buildings from various eras in line for renovation. "The cultural infrastructure needs strengthening," new Culture Commissioner Wolfram Weimer said on Saturday during a visit to the Venice Biennale of Architecture. "That's why we are promoting and accelerating numerous construction projects in the cultural sector," he added. Weimer said some projects are already under way, such as the renovation of the Luther House in the eastern German city of Wittenberg and the synagogue in the southern city of Augsburg. St Paul's Church in Frankfurt, completed in the 19th century, and more contemporary buildings such as the German Photo Institute in Dusseldorf, for example, will now qualify for renewal under a so-called "cultural buildings offensive," he said. Others under consideration for refurbishment or new construction include Richard Wagner's festival theatre in Bayreuth, the German Port Museum in Hamburg, the Görlitz city hall and the extension of Leipzig's German National Library, according to Weimer. Weimer, who took office in early May under the government of new conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz, also mentioned the planned German-Polish House in Berlin and the remodelling of concentration camp memorials in Dachau, Ravensbrück and Sachsenhausen. "Due to their high visibility, cultural buildings make a direct contribution to the appeal and strength of Germany," he said. "Cultural buildings are part of our identity as a cultural nation. They promote social cohesion, as they make stimulation and encounters possible," he added. Investments also promote employment in construction and the skilled trades, the minister said. With opposition support, Germany's previous government authorized new infrastructure spending of €500 billion ($567 billion). Exactly how this money is to be spent is still under discussion.
Fast Company
22-05-2025
- Science
- Fast Company
The world's first genetically modified spider could lead to new ‘supermaterials'
Researchers funded by the U.S. Navy have used gene-editing technology to make house spiders produce red fluorescent silk. This might seem like a quirky scientific novelty, but the breakthrough is a critical step toward modifying spider silk properties and creating new 'supermaterials' for industries ranging from textiles to aerospace. The team at Germany's University of Bayreuth, led by Professor Thomas Scheibel, successfully applied CRISPR-Cas9—a molecular tool that acts as 'genetic scissors' to cut and modify DNA sequences—to spiders for the first time. The study, published in the scientific journal Angewandte Chemi e, demonstrates how this technology introduces modifications that enhance the extraordinary properties of spider silk, turning it into a next-generation supermaterial. In a press release, professor Thomas Scheibel, chair of biomaterials at the University of Bayreuth and senior author of the study, said, 'Considering the wide range of possible applications, it is surprising that there have been no studies to date using CRISPR-Cas9 in spiders.' His team injected a solution containing CRISPR-Cas9 components into female Parasteatoda tepidariorum, a common house spider species. To facilitate the process, the spiders were anesthetized with carbon dioxide and manually held under a microscope. The solution, which included a gene encoding a red fluorescent protein (called mRFP), was delivered into the eggs within the females' abdomens before mating with males so the resulting baby spiders could carry the gene modification. What are scientists trying to do? The experiment set two objectives: first, to disable a gene called sine oculis, responsible for the development of all spider eyes, in order to study its function. And then second, to insert the fluorescent protein gene into the MaSp2gene, which produces the silk thread spiders use to move hunt, hike, and chill out. In modified specimens, disabling sine oculis caused total or partial eye loss, confirming its critical role in visual development. According to the study, without this gene spiders fail to form eye structures, though the cornea develops normally. But the breakthrough with far-reaching industrial implications is the silk modification. The injected fluorescent protein gene successfully integrated into the MaSp2 gene, causing fibers produced by the modified spiders to glow red under ultraviolet light. According to Scheibel, they 'have demonstrated, for the first time worldwide, that CRISPR-Cas9 can be used to incorporate a desired sequence into spider silk proteins, thereby enabling the functionalisation of these silk fibres.' He says that the ability to apply CRISPR gene-editing to spider silk is very promising for materials science research—for example, it could be used to further increase the already high tensile strength of spider silk.' This accomplishment was no small feat. Spider genomes are complex, and their embryonic development—marked by unique cell migration stages—complicates genetic editing, according to the researchers. In fact, only 7% of egg sacs that were treated with the CRISPR solution contained modified offspring, a low efficiency rate typical for species with large broods (common house spiders carry about 250 spiders per sac). Additionally, the spiders they used are cannibalistic nature, which required them to be reared in isolation (not all spiders are cannibalistic in nature, but many do eat their males after mating and others eat each other). The race for 'super silk' It's a very promising development indeed. Spider silk is one of nature's strongest materials. Certain types of spider silk are significantly lighter and tougher than Kevlar. Silk is also far more elastic, which means it can stretch and return to its original shape without losing its strength. To top all this, spider silk production by spiders (or other animals, more on this later) does not involve the industrial processes, high energy consumption, and pollution associated with the manufacturing of synthetic materials like Kevlar. This is a major area of interest for biomimicry and sustainable materials. Until now, modifying spider silk's properties required costly, lab-based post-extraction processing, which is difficult to scale. This study shows that altering silk directly within the organism is feasible, paving the way for custom-designed silks with enhanced properties. While spider silk remains unmatched in natural performance, CRISPR-edited silkworms are emerging as scalable alternatives. Silkworms can be farmed en masse (unlike solitary, cannibalistic spiders), and recent advances show their engineered silk reaches 1.3 GPa tensile strength, comparable to high-tensile steel, which is a steel alloyed with chromium, molybdenum, manganese, nickel, silicon, and vanadium. Companies like Kraig Biocraft Laboratories already use CRISPR to produce spider-silk hybrids in silkworms, targeting industries like textiles and medical sutures. However, spider silk holds unique advantages over those genetically modified silkworms. Its dragline fibers are inherently stronger and 10 times finer. Using the method developed by Scheibel's team, potential CRISPR-enhanced spiders are likely to gain more superpowers, like getting closer to Kevlar or gaining better electrical conductivity. Where super silk might be used In medicine, spider silk's biocompatibility makes it ideal for dissolvable surgical sutures that reduce scarring and artificial tendons mimicking natural elasticity. Researchers are also developing 3D-printed scaffolds infused with silk proteins to regenerate bone or cartilage, leveraging silk's porous structure to support cell growth. For drug delivery, silk microcapsules could release medications at controlled rates, improving treatments for chronic diseases. New applications can integrate silk in sensors for real-time health monitoring in implants or conduct electricity for flexible electronics. The U.S. Navy's funding of the research makes sense too, given its interest in lightweight body armor. Spider silk can outperform Kevlar, while its elasticity reduces blunt-force trauma. In aerospace, silk composites could replace carbon fiber, cutting aircraft weight by 40% and improving fuel efficiency. NASA already explores silk-based materials for radiation shielding in space habitats, capitalizing on its strength-to-weight ratio. Companies like AMSilk and Spintex engineer spider silk proteins into biodegradable textiles, reducing reliance on synthetic fabrics derived from fossil fuels. Adidas has prototyped ultralight running shoes with silk midsoles, while Airbus tests silk-based cabin panels to lower aircraft emissions. Spintex claims that its energy-efficient spinning process—1,000 times more efficient than plastic production—could revolutionize sustainable fashion, addressing the industry's 10% global carbon footprint. Right now, Scheibel's team is already exploring CRISPR edits to add moisture-responsive shrinking or toxin-detecting color changes to silk. Once they achieve whatever new wundersilks they—or the U.S. Navy—have in mind, they will have to come up with a way to mass-produce them. This evokes images of farms full of millions of genetically modified spiders, which sounds as fun as a rave with 10,000 zombies from The Last of Us. But the spider farms may never happen: As the researchers mention, many spiders are cannibals and the success rate of modification is still very low, so this will be a challenge. That is what makes genetically modified silkworms ideal to make spider-like silks, as they have been farmed for silk production since the neolithic, about 6,000 years ago, when Yangshao culture in China realized that silkworms could be raised to harvest cocoons that then got weaved to create silk fabric. The solution may be taking the successful spider DNA modifications they develop and using other animals to produce them, like silkworms or goats (yes, spider-goats are a thing). I'll leave you at this point. Good luck in your dreams tonight, my arachnophobic friends.
Gizmodo
21-05-2025
- Science
- Gizmodo
Biologists Engineer Spiders to Spin Glowing Red Silk
CRISPR-modified spiders have bright and colorful silk. And also no eyes. Researchers have, for the first time ever, used CRISPR gene editing on spiders. While the genetically-modified critters lack the ability to give you spidey senses, they do spin glowing silk. In a study published in the journal Angewandte Chemie, researchers at the University of Bayreuth created the world's first CRISPR-modified spiders, some of which produced red fluorescent silk, and some of which had no eyes. CRISPR-Cas9 is a powerful gene editing system that has revolutionized our ability to treat disease and probe the human genome. CRISPR has been used to edit the genomes of animals, plants, and microbes, and now, a species of common house spider (Parasteatoda tepidariorum). Genetically modifying arachnids posed a unique set of challenges. A lot of spiders like to eat each other, so breeding them can be, well, tough. They also have very complex genomes—which were duplicated early in spider evolution. After some early failed attempts, the researchers settled on injecting the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing machinery, along with a gene for red fluorescent protein, into unfertilized spider eggs. The goal was to insert, or 'knock in' the red fluorescent protein gene into the part of the spider genome that produces a protein found in silk. That was easier said than done. The process required the researchers to anesthetize female spiders and drive a tiny needle into their abdomens. After recovery, they bred the female spiders with the males of the same species. The next generation of spiders, they found, spun colorful, fluorescent red silk, showing that the researchers had successfully edited the spider genome. 'We have demonstrated, for the first time worldwide, that CRISPR-Cas9 can be used to incorporate a desired sequence into spider silk proteins, thereby enabling the functionalisation of these silk fibres,' Thomas Scheibel, senior author on the study and a biochemist at the University of Bayreuth, said in a statement. The researchers also experimented with CRISPR-KO, a gene editing tool that knocks out, or inactivates, a specific gene. They used this to knock out a gene called 'so,' which was thought to be important for eye development. The gene was, indeed, important. The resulting CRISPR-KO-modified offspring were born sans eyes (or with fewer eyes than normal). What's creepier, eight eyes or no eyes? Spider silk is stronger than steel, featherlight, and has tear resistance, making it a particularly useful material for things like clothes and surgical sutures. The researchers said that this experiment could open the door to create silk with new properties. 'The ability to apply CRISPR gene-editing to spider silk is very promising for materials science research – for example, it could be used to further increase the already high tensile strength of spider silk,' Scheibel said. So, maybe some glowing red clothes are in our future.
Forbes
20-05-2025
- Science
- Forbes
Climate Change And Land Use Changes Threaten Native Bee Populations
Warming temperatures at night combined with habitat destruction are the cause of large population declines in wild native bee populations. The world's insect population is collapsing, with more than 40% of all insect species facing extinction (ref). The most affected insect groups include our old friends, the butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera), bees and wasps (Hymenoptera) and dung beetles (Coleoptera). This impending collapse poses grave threats to global food security, to the proper functioning of global ecosystems and to global biodiversity, and is particularly severe for solitary bee species, which are especially sensitive indicators of ecosystem health. A recently published study reports that the complex interplay between climate change and human land use – agriculture and urbanisation – is the main problem underlying the rapid decline of insect populations. Already, scientists report that intensive agriculture is the main driver of population declines in unrelated animals such as birds and insectivorous mammals. But how do land use changes and climate change interact with each other to impact insect communities in different habitats? To better answer this question, ecologist Cristine Ganuza, a postdoc at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, and a large team of scientists from the University of Bayreuth, the Technical University of Munich, and Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences, collaborated to investigate how the effects of warmer temperatures act in concert with intensified land use practices. Using several field survey methods, the researchers examined 179 plots in 60 study regions across Germany. These plots comprised one of four habitat types: forest, grassland, arable land and human settlements (Figure 2, also see Figure 3). As they predicted, Dr Ganuza and collaborators found that pollinator diversity increased as human land-use intensity declined (also ref). The researchers also found that bee populations living in forest environments were extraordinarily resilient to the stresses of warmer days; surprisingly, increased daytime temperatures in these natural landscapes even correlated with higher bee abundance and diversity. Unfortunately, this beneficial climate warming effect was not seen for bees living in urban settings, where their numbers plunged by 65%. This finding highlights the detrimental effects of excessive heat combined with habitat destruction. But what specifically was harming the insects? Although bees are active during the day when it's generally warmer, Dr Ganuza and collaborators found that warmer nighttime temperatures, particularly when combined with urbanization, were harmful, creating 'climate traps' where bees and other insects struggle to survive despite environmental protections. Further, warmer nighttime temperatures consistently diminished both the richness and abundance of bees across all habitat types investigated. This is especially worrying because global climate change is increasing nighttime temperatures faster than daytime temperatures. 'The fact that night-time temperatures have such an impact on diurnal insects is significant. Precisely because average night-time temperatures rise even faster than daytime temperatures,' Dr Ganuza said. Do hot nights affect bees in the same way they affect humans? Are they, like humans, unable to sleep on a hot night, making them unable to function at their best during the day? Or are they dying during the night because of the heat? 'We do not find it likely that they die from excessive heat during the night,' Dr Ganuza replied in email. 'However, the problem is worse for bees than for humans. This is because bees are ectothermic organisms, which means that they cannot regulate their body temperatures as we humans do.' 'Bee metabolism is determined by external temperature conditions,' Dr Ganuza explained in email. 'Therefore, warm nights might keep bees metabolically active when they should be resting. This could stop their bodies from recovering properly, and a high metabolism can also consume fat (i.e. 'energy') reserves.' Dr Ganuza emphasized the importance of this insight because it helps scientists understand how physiological stresses during rest periods may undermine daytime activity and survival. 'While this is just a hypothesis, we do know that flying takes a lot of energy for bees,' Dr Ganuza continued. 'If they are tired and weak after a hot night, they might have trouble foraging for food and could be more likely to get eaten by birds or other animals.' In short, understanding how these climate change and land use changes operate in concert will be pivotal for developing conservation strategies that buffer insect populations against rapid climatic changes. A bumblebee in flight. (Public domain) Public Domain Dr Ganuza and collaborators found that the combined stresses of climate warming and land use intensity did vary across insect trophic levels. On one hand, insects higher in the food chain – predatory insects – showed a greater tolerance to elevated temperatures but, on the other hand, they were harmed by simplified landscapes that are devoid of natural vegetation – agricultural fields. This study's findings have important implications for agriculture and land management practices because many predatory insects play a critical role in natural pest control. This damaging effect can be somewhat mitigated by maintaining a mosaic of farmland interspersed with natural habitats that are suitable for supporting insects that are crucial to sustainable food production. Additionally, the study's findings advocate strongly for the protection and restoration of heterogeneous landscapes that maintain connectivity between forest and grasslands, thereby allowing native insects to move around between these natural habitats. Therefore, the preservation and creation of interconnected natural habitats within agricultural and urban areas is of great importance. Such measures are critically important because pollinators and predators respond differently to environmental stresses and to increasing nighttime temperatures, and these differences may upset the balance between these groups of insects that are crucial for proper ecosystem function. Such an imbalance could end up threatening vital ecosystem functions such as pollination and natural pest regulation, which are the foundation for both biodiversity and human agriculture. Probably the most worrying finding is the implication that even subtle climatic shifts can amplify existing human pressures on ecosystems in complex and unexpected ways. For example, as environmental temperatures continue their upward trajectory, understanding the intricacies of insect responses – especially among critical pollinators like bees – will be essential for safeguarding global food security and, indeed, for protecting life on Earth. Dr Ganuza and collaborators meticulously documented how the interaction between climate warming and land use forms a complex web of threats that cannot be addressed in isolation. Dr Ganuza and collaborators' meticulous study calls for urgent, nuanced responses to insect declines that take into consideration the synergistic effects of climate warming and land-use change, to prevent more irreversible losses to biodiversity and ecosystem services. Cristina Ganuza, Sarah Redlich, Sandra Rojas-Botero, Cynthia Tobisch, Jie Zhang, Caryl Benjamin, Jana Englmeier, Jörg Ewald Ute Fricke, Maria Haensel, Johannes Kollmann, Rebekka Riebl, Susanne Schiele, Johannes Uhler, Lars Uphus, Jörg Müller and Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter (2025). Warmer temperatures reinforce negative land-use impacts on bees, but not on higher insect trophic levels, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 292(2046):20243053 | doi:10.1098/rspb.2024.3053 Cristina Ganuza, Sarah Redlich, Johannes Uhler, Cynthia Tobisch, Sandra Rojas-Botero, Marcell K. Peters, Jie Zhang, Caryl S. Benjamin, Jana Englmeier, Jörg Ewald, Ute Fricke, Maria Haensel, Johannes Kollmann, Rebekka Riebl, Lars Uphus, Jörg Müller, and Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter (2022). Interactive effects of climate and land use on pollinator diversity differ among taxa and scales, Science Advances 8:18 | doi:10.1126/ © Copyright by GrrlScientist | hosted by Forbes | Socials: Bluesky | CounterSocial | Gab | LinkedIn | Mastodon Science | Spoutible | SubStack | Threads | Tribel | Tumblr | Twitter
