Citizen science project: Animal snap shots with the wildlife camera

What's happening in our backyards when we sleep at night? Biologists from the University of Konstanz and the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Radolfzell are using motion activated wildlife cameras to find out which wild animals are exploring our gardens and lawns. Help them discover the animals in your backyard! Find out more in our online magazine.

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In-cell distance determination by EPR reveals essential structural information about biomacromolecules under native conditions. For the first time, the pulsed EPR technique RIDME (relaxation induced dipolar modulation enhancement) was utilized for distance measurements inside cells. It provides a five-times improved sensitivity as compared to the previously used double electron-electron resonance approach. Copyright: Research group Professor Malte Drescher, University of Konstanz

New technique for in-cell distance determination

Researchers from the University of Konstanz, Bielefeld University and ETH Zurich demonstrate for the first time that the pulsed EPR technique RIDME (relaxation-induced dipolar modulation enhancement) can be used for in-cell distance determination in biomacromolecules. Applied within the cell, RIDME improves significantly on conventional double electron–electron resonance (DEER) measurements.

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The figure shows a group of eight termites, four soldiers and four workers, exploring a circular arena. The tracks can later be used to calculate group level summary statistics such as polarisation and rotation. Code for this is also available on the corresponding example notebook. Copyright: Helder Hugo dos Santos

New tracking tool for animal movement and behaviour

Researchers from the University of Konstanz, the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and the University of Neuchâtel develop a new image-based automated tracking tool for the advanced study of animal movement and behaviour. Tracktor is open access, open source and capable of tracking unmarked organisms in noisy environments.

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A cleaner wrasse interacts with its reflection in a mirror placed on the outside of the aquarium glass. Note that the mirror itself cannot be seen in this photo because the aquarium glass itself becomes reflective at the viewing angle of the camera, according to Snell’s law. This is not the case for the fish itself, which sees the aquarium glass as transparent because of its direct viewing angle. Copyright: Alex Jordan

Are fish aware of themselves?

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Radolfzell, the University of Konstanz, and Osaka City University report that cleaner wrasse respond to their reflection

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