Keyword: University Communications

A research team at the University of Turku discovered a link between the interplay of certain simultaneously occurring genetic changes in the HOXB13 and CIP2A genes, aggressiveness of prostate cancer, high risk of developing the disease, and poorer survival rates of patients. Prostate cancer is a major challenge in health care with over one million new cases and 300,000 deaths from it each year worldwide.

The European Remembrance Programme of the European Commission has granted funding for the interdisciplinary project “#NeverAgain: Teaching Transmission of Trauma and Remembrance through Experiential Learning”. Over the next two years, the project aims to address the concealed hatreds, prejudices and normalised oppressions that are learnt through the unhealed and transmitted traumas perpetuated in our everyday lives through seemingly harmless everyday practices.

Fourth grade schoolchildren in two schools, Pääskyvuori school in Turku and Dhaka Joy & Hope in Bangladesh, started getting to know each other and the virtual learning environment by throwing a ball and playing hide and seek. In a globally unique experiment, fourth graders will get to develop and experiment with a new kind of learning environment together with the researchers. Working with pupils and teachers, the researchers are gathering ideas for building new ways of learning.

Turku Summer School, which was jointly organised by the University of Turku, Turku University of Applied Sciences and Study in Turku, attracted record-breaking 83 students from nearly 30 different countries to summery Turku.

​Students learning the basics of the Finnish language.

The importance of grandmothers in the lives of their grandchildren has changed. The shared lifetime between grandmothers and their grandchildren has a fundamental effect on how grandparents and grandchildren influence each other. A study conducted by biologists at the University of Turku, based on Finnish parish registers, indicates that, in this agrarian society, the shared lifetime of grandchildren and their grandmothers was short.

Researchers from the Amazon Research Team of the University of Turku have succeeded in producing distribution maps for a selection of important tropical tree species in Peruvian lowland Amazonia. This was achieved by using machine learning methods that combine satellite imagery and field data. The study shows that it is possible to model tree species distributions at a spatial resolution that is fine enough to facilitate the practical management of forest resources.

Stars substantially more massive than our Sun end their lives in a poweful supernova explosion. However, it is unclear what happens in the latest stages of the stars’ lives before their explosive final fate. An international team of astronomers led by Dr Francisco Förster from the University of Chile and including Dr Hanindyo Kuncarayakti from the University of Turku has now found evidence that these stars lose weight shortly before their death.

The Opening Day of the academic year 2018–2019 was celebrated on Tuesday, 4 September. The day began with the Opening Carnival and continued with the Opening Ceremony, where Rector Kalervo Väänänen officially opened the new academic year.

​The Opening Carnival was held in bright autumn sunshine and accompanied by the Sohon Torwet brass band.

Suomipassi - The Finnish passport - is a mobile application that can be used in everyday life situations. The language application was developed at the University of Turku and it is also used in the Finnish language courses of the exchange students and international degree students.

Scientists have discovered a link between certain genetic mutations, the aggressiveness of prostate cancer, risk of developing the disease and poorer survival rates of patients. The gene, called ANO7, could play a vital role in improving diagnosis of prostate cancer patients. There are over 50,000 new cases and 11,000 deaths from prostate cancer each year in the UK.