New issue DPZ aktuell published
Tamarins are small primates that live in the rainforest of South America. Like many other monkey species, they feed on fruit and excrete the seeds with their feces. It was already known that they also spread plants. However, it was not yet known how effective their influence was. DPZ researchers have investigated this question at the research station in Peru. You can read more about this on page 3.
DPZ scientists in Senegal used a slightly different experiment to analyze the alarm calls of the West African green monkeys. This monkey species has no alarm call, which signals danger from the air. In contrast, their close relatives, the East African vervet monkeys, warn their conspecifics against predators from above with special vocalizations. In order to investigate the evolution of the alarm call system, the researchers had a drone fly over a group of West African green monkeys at a height of 60 meters and later played the sounds to the animals. You can read how the animals reacted and what conclusions the scientists draw from this on page 11.
The aim of a new research project at the DPZ is to record and evaluate movement disorders caused by Parkinson's disease or strokes with the help of artificial intelligence. Within the cross-campus project "Deep Movement Diagnostics", which is funded by the Volkswagen Foundation with 1.2 million euros, three-dimensional reconstructions of movement patterns are to be used to standardize and accurately record mobility impairments and thus improve diagnosis and therapy measures. Read more about the project on page 14.
In addition, you will learn about the latest findings on the occurrence and replication of herpes viruses, read what some of our scientists learned during communication training and how DPZ scientists demonstrated for the freedom of science at this year's March for Science.
We hope you enjoy reading.
"DPZ aktuell" is published four times a year. The magazine can be subscribed to free of charge. If you are interested, you can find further information here. Of course, the magazine is also available in-house: You can find it at the reception or in the library.