PRESS

The remains preserved in the early medieval cemetery were discovered in the late 1980s by the Provincial Cultural Heritage Office during restoration work on the small church of Santo Stefano. They consist of small grave goods and numerous bone remains comprising both complete skeletons and scattered bones. From an archaeological point of view, these findings raised two main questions: where did the people buried in the cemetery come from? And were the individuals found in one grave related to each other? Almost forty years later, the anthropological and genetic analyses carried out in Eurac Research’s laboratories provide answers and permit a glimpse into migratory flows and social organization in the early Middle Ages (4th-7th centuries AD).

Laura Battistel, a PhD student in cognitive and brain sciences at Eurac Research, conducts experiments on human perception using the Small Cube, one of three environmental simulation areas the terraXcube is divided into. Her study, a collaboration between terraXcube and CIMeC (Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento), shows that, on average, humans are able to perceive environmental temperature differences of 0.92 degrees Celsius. This is the first study in which environmental temperature perception has been evaluated. Previous studies had only ever focused on sensitivity to temperature changes in specific parts of the body. The discovery is part of a line of research on the impact of the environment on our perception and could have implications in the field of heating, ventilation and air conditioning in buildings. The results of Battistel’s experiments have just been published in the Scientific Reports journal.

Ötzi's genome was decoded for the first time more than 10 years ago. It was also the first time that the genome of a mummy had been sequenced. These results provided important insights into the genetic makeup of prehistoric Europeans. Advances in sequencing technology since then have now enabled a research team from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and Eurac Research to reconstruct his genome more accurately. The results of this recent analysis complete the Iceman’s genetic picture and cast aside some older theories: no genetic traces of the Steppe Herders from Eastern Europe were found in Ötzi's genome. In contrast, Ötzi’s genome has an unusually high proportion of genes in common with those of early farmers from Anatolia compared to other contemporary Europeans. In addition, the study yielded entirely new findings about the Iceman’s appearance that call into question his iconic portrayal: at the time of his death, Ötzi almost certainly did not have thick long hair, instead he had advanced hair loss and may have even been bald. Furthermore, his skin was darker than previously thought. Ötzi’s genes also show a predisposition to diabetes and obesity. These findings have just been published in Cell Genomics.

In the past few days, a small Cessna aircraft carrying an experimental technology flew over the Senales Valley in South Tyrol between Vernagt /Vernago Lake and Grawand /Croda delle Cornacchie. Over the course of two flights, over a clearly defined path, a sensor measured the heat exchange between snow and air. On the ground, along the same routes, eight teams led by Eurac Research experts measured snow depth with scaled rods and weighed the snow to determine its type. If analysis of the data collected proves the technology is reliable and the measurements match those taken on the ground, it could go on to be mounted on satellites to help monitor how snow depth changes over the course of the season more accurately, and how much melted snow slides downhill as a result. The study came about through a collaboration between Eurac Research, Milano Bicocca University and the Italian space agency (ASI), with the participation of the Office for Hydrology and Dams of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, the foresters of Naturns/Naturno, ARPA Valle d'Aosta (Regional Environmental Protection Agency) and the CNR IRPI (National Research Council), and the support of the Alpin Arena Schnals Senales.

As this year’s dry summer draws to a close we are all looking forward to a winter season filled with precipitation that is neither extreme nor destructive. A study by Eurac Research recently published in the Nature journal’s Scientific Reports paints a discouraging picture of recent decades. Between 1982 and 2020, the period of snow cover in mountain areas around the world decreased by an average of about 15 days. The Alps are in line with the average where the reduction in snow cover sits between 10 and 20 days. The study strengthens the results of earlier research by extending the observation period and has also helped to make a NASA model more accurate.

An inter-institutional cooperation agreement between the Eurac Research Institute for Mummy Studies in Bolzano, Italy and the Plurinational State of Bolivia’s Ministry of Cultures, Decolonization and Despatriarchalization has just been signed to establish a collaboration for the research and conservation of the Bolivian cultural heritage. In addition, the Institute of Mummies developed, constructed, and donated 10 long-term conservation chambers to safeguard the mummified remains of pre-Columbian individuals housed at MUNARQ - the National Museum of Archaeology in La Paz.

The consequences of a dry and warm winter such as that of last year, are felt the following summer when those who need water must share increasingly scarce resources. Being able to calculate how much water reserves are stored in the snow on the mountains in the early stages, helps to better manage resources and prevent conflicts. A team of researchers and entrepreneurs from MobyGIS, Eurac Research, and Sinergise, were funded by the European Space Agency to create the first service that monitors the Alps in their entirety and provides high-resolution real-time maps. The prototype can be tested free of charge for about six months before commercialization.

During an emergency medical intervention, measuring vital parameters is not always possible. Victims are often uncooperative, spaces uncomfortable and the equipment one can carry very limited, just think of a helicopter rescue or the scene of a car accident. Eurac Research in collaboration with the companies Minnova Med and Kerr Srl has patented a space-saving, noninvasive and easy-to-use instrument that measures core temperature as well as oxygen saturation and heart rate. It looks like a headset for listening to music, uses sensors placed in the external ear canal and has been tested in the terraXcube extreme environment simulator, in temperatures ranging from -10 to 20 degrees.

We perceive highly processed fermented foods such as beer or cheese primarily as a hallmark of modern times. However historical texts do confirm that milk was fermented in ancient Egypt and, the world's oldest evidence for the actual consumption of blue cheese has now been revealed by a team of researchers. The evidence in question comes from Hallstatt salt mine in Austria in the form of exceptionally well-preserved fecal remains from the Bronze Age to the Baroque period which demonstrate the presence of two fungal species used in the production of blue cheese and beer. The combination of archaeological and molecular analysis has proven particularly fruitful, providing surprising insights both into prehistoric dietary habits and food production. The study results will be published today, October 13, in the renowned journal Current Biology.

Plaque – horrible stuff, right? Well yes, but not entirely: old tooth plaque also known as dental calculus samples provide a valuable source of information about our oral microbiota and its development. A team of researchers from Eurac Research and the University of Trento, examined the calculus of twenty human skeletal remains from South Tyrol and Trentino dating from the Neolithic period to the Early Middle Ages. The team discovered two previously unknown species of a common microorganism in our bodies called Methanobrevibacter. Thanks to the application of a bioinformatics method not yet established in mummy research, the research group was also able to reveal that on a temporal axis of 50,000 years, the diversity of this organism in our oral flora has declined sharply in recent centuries. The results of the study have now been published in the renowned journal "Microbiome".

For many people home renovations are stressful: they are expensive, involve noisy and time-consuming construction sites, and often having to choose from the extensive range of technological solutions on the market can be confusing. In the framework of the European project 4RinEU, a research team led by Eurac Research has developed different packages to improve energy efficiency and comfort. The packages can be chosen according to individual budget and the weather patterns where one lives and have been tested on several pilot sites in Europe.