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Across all continents, butterfly species are changing their distribution ranges to an extent that until now has been underestimated, as evidenced in an international study that analyzed more than 6,100 documented changes in the ranges of 1,758 species. Nearly 80 percent of these changes are linked to climate change and extreme weather events. To capture these global trends as comprehensively as possible, the researchers also analyzed publications that were not published in English. In addition, 68 experts contributed observations, including biologist Elia Guariento from Eurac Research. Today, the study was published in the Nature Ecology & Evolution journal.

Using a variety of samples and methods, the researchers were able to differentiate which microorganisms were already present in the body during his lifetime and which only colonized it after his death – both during the time in the glacier and over three decades of preservation. In samples of internal tissue, the researchers were able to detect genetic material from bacteria belonging to Ötzi’s original gut flora. A surprising finding is the presence of cold-adapted yeast species, likely originating from the glacial environment, that have persisted on Ötzi’s body to the present day. These cold-tolerant yeasts may also hold potential for industrial applications. The study was published in the reputable Microbiome journal.

A study analyzed water from 80 springs in the Central-Eastern Alps, revealing that, in valleys with certain very common rock types, springs originating from permafrost and glacial areas are characterized by high levels of heavy metals. The phenomenon is linked to local geology and the retreat of ice, and affects springs originating from glaciers, rock glaciers, recently formed moraines and debris cones – landscape features that also serve as important Alpine water reservoirs.

Researchers identified the pathogen’s genetic material while examining a tooth from a naturally mummified skull housed at MUNARQ – the National Museum of Archaeology in La Paz. Using a method that reassembles previously unknown genomes from numerous short DNA fragments, they reconstructed a nearly complete, ancient genome of *Streptococcus pyogenes.* The reconstructed genome shows clear similarities to modern strains of the globally widespread bacterium, which can cause a variety of illnesses ranging from harmless throat infections to scarlet fever and life-threatening toxic shock syndrome. Despite the pathogen’s great medical significance: scarlet fever was historically one of the leading causes of death among children, little is known about its evolutionary history. This finding now shows that the bacterium was already circulating among indigenous populations in South America before European colonization: the young man from whom the tooth originated lived between 1283 and 1383 AD. The study was made possible by a cooperation agreement between Eurac Research and the Bolivian Ministry of Cultures and has been published in Nature Communications.

March 2023, avalanche simulation in the Dolomites at an altitude of approximately 2000 m. Over fifty centimeters of snow covering 24 volunteers lying face down. Half of them have a device integrated into their backpacks that draws air from the snow surrounding their backpacks and pumps it into the upper chest area. The other half have similar backpacks, but with a non-functioning (sham) device. Of the “control group,” four of the 12 volunteers asked for the experiment to be stopped because they did not feel well, and seven remained buried for a median duration of 6.4 minutes before their oxygen saturation fell below 80 percent and the experiment was stopped as required by protocol. No trial in the group equipped with the functioning device was stopped due to oxygen saturation dropping below 80 percent: the median burial time was 35 minutes, the maximum duration planned for the experiment. (In one case, the test was stopped earlier, but not because of hypoxemia.) In other words, in a real-life situation, emergency services or the victim’s companions would likely have had more than five times as much time to respond, and potential cardiac arrest would occur much later. The details of the results were published in one of the most prestigious and widely read international medical-scientific journals, JAMA.

The analysis of ancient DNA from individuals who lived between approximately 8,000 and 3,500 years ago in the eastern Italian Alps reveals changes over time in the genomic structure of prehistoric alpine groups and the genetic impact of migrations that occurred in western Eurasia since prehistory.

When a research team from Eurac Research entered the warehouses of the National Archaeological Museum in La Paz a couple of years ago, they were stunned to find more than 50 mummified individuals and over 500 pre-Columbian skulls, preserved with good intentions but in conditions that put them at risk of contamination by fungi and bacteria. This is a situation that often occurs in countries that cannot devote large sums of money to the conservation of cultural heritage, but also in countries such as Italy, where the heritage is so vast that it is difficult to take care of everything. The problem of protecting organic cultural heritage also arises when it needs to be transported or studied. Environmental conditions can have a significant impact on the most sensitive items, such as mummified human remains, textiles, paper, and wood. A research team coordinated by Eurac Research has been experimenting with conservation techniques and materials for years and has now developed an innovative, versatile, and inexpensive system called the Conservation Soft Box. It was recently presented in an article in the Journal of Cultural Heritage and at the 11th World Congress of Mummy Studies in Cuzco, Peru.

In vitro brain organoids enable the study of the nervous system, while organ-on-chip technology allows researchers to explore the integration and interaction of neural tissues with other organ systems. At Eurac Research’s Institute for Biomedicine, scientists are cultivating various types of organoids in the laboratory. These tiny, three-dimensional structures, derived from human stem cells, replicate features of specific human organs. When placed on a ‘chip,’ the organoids are studied to observe their development and responses to stimuli and drugs. Researchers can also connect different organoids—such as those representing the liver and heart, or different regions of the brain—to study how they interact with one another, simulating human physiology in an increasingly realistic way. This innovative approach advances our understanding of diseases and supports the testing of treatments, with a strong emphasis on ethical medical research, health, and prevention.

From March 22 to April 12, the center of Bolzano will host BEEhold, an exhibition celebrating the diversity and importance of South Tyrolean wild bees through thirty photographs displayed in shop windows. The initiative, organized by Eurac Research, promoted by BZ Heartbeat and financed by Stiftung Südtiroler Sparkasse /Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio, is inspired by a study associated with the Biodiversity Monitoring South Tyrol project.

Researchers from Eurac Research have found three specimens of pygmy shrew (*Sorex minutus*) at over 3,000 meters in altitude at two alpine sites in South Tyrol. This discovery sets a new European record, as the species had never been observed above 2,500 meters above sea level before. The question now arises: has *S. minutus* been living at such heights for a while, or is this discovery evidence of a recent upward migration tied to global warming?

From 23 percent less in the northern Alps to a decrease of almost 50 percent on the southwestern slopes: between 1920 and 2020, snowfall across the entirety of the Alps has decreased on average by a significant 34 percent. The results come from a study coordinated by Eurac Research and were published in the International Journal of Climatology. The study also examines how much altitude and climatological parameters such as temperature and total precipitation impact on snowfall.

Grape varieties, cultivation areas and the climate of 1085 European wine regions. All this information at your fingertips. A research team from Eurac Research has recently put this large set of data together for the first time and created the Winemap by Eurac Research web application ([https://winemap.eurac.edu](https://winemap.eurac.edu/)). The data can be used to determine which regions will suffer most from the rise in temperature and what options are available to make viticulture more climate resilient. The results of the study have been published in the renowned Nature Communications journal.

237 adult mummies from around the world were analyzed by the HORUS group, an international research team who were supported by Eurac Research experts. The study used computer tomography (CT) scans to detect atherosclerosis – it was present in more than 37 per cent of the mummies analyzed. In a separate study led by Christina Wurst a molecular geneticist from Eurac Research, the remains of 22 mummified individuals showed that different genetic risk factors for atherosclerosis were present in all the mummies examined. All this supports the assumption that people all over the world and at all times have suffered from the disease. The study by the HORUS group was recently published in the renowned European Heart Journal.

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.