Issue #10 — Attraction

For you science lovers out there, this Valentine's issue of Basically, Science is all about Attraction.

Discover how snapdragons in the Pyrenees are attracting fewer pollinators, see wound-healing cells cling together to form 'railroads' and discover a black hole re-writing what we thought we knew.

Hybrid Snapdragons Attract Fewer Bees

When two closely related snapdragon species meet, they do not merge smoothly. In hybrid zones where yellow and magenta flowers interbreed, pollinators are less attracted, leading to fewer visits and reduced pollination. New work shows how this loss of attraction acts as a natural brake on mixing, allowing distinct species to persist even when they grow side by side.

Wound-healing Cells Connect to Form 'Trains'

Cells on the move rarely travel alone. They cling, align, and fall into step. Experiments and simulations show that wound-healing cells can form 'trains' in narrow lanes, held together by adhesion and a shared sense of direction. The result is a migration strategy shaped by a balance of attraction and repulsion, and tuned by the geometry of the environment.

Are Roots Attracted by Gravity? It Depends

Typically plants are guided by gravitropism, but in some conditions, researchers have found plants will switch off gravity-sensing abilities in search of moisture. This adaptability allows them to prioritize favorable directions without overcommitting resources. The behavior reveals how changing attractions at the cellular level facilitate an efficient foraging strategy.

An EIGER JWST image of the luminous quasar J1148+5251, an extremely rare active SMBH of 10 billion solar masses (blue box) with two "baby quasars" (red boxes). © NASA, ESA, CSA, J. Matthee (ISTA), R. Mackenzie (ETH Zurich), D. Kashino (National Observatory of Japan), S. Lilly (ETH Zurich)

Baby Quasars Are Too Big, Too Fast

Some black holes in the early universe appear to have grown far faster than expected. New observations suggest that these 'baby quasars' may have started from unusually large seeds, giving gravity an early advantage in pulling in surrounding material. If confirmed, this head start could help explain how supermassive black holes emerged so quickly, before self-limiting feedback slowed their growth.

Sandra Siegert was presented with the Lower Austrian 'Wissenschafts-Preis' in 2025. Her startup 'Syntropic Medical' focuses on new treatment options for depression.

The Immune System and the Brain: Sandra Siegert

Drawn to questions at the intersection of brain development and disease, Sandra Siegert studies how neural circuits form and change. Using retinal organoids, her research group investigates how immune cells interact with developing tissue and how these interactions affect growth and function. Recent work shows how infection-like signals attract microglia into these systems and the importance of immune cells when modeling the developing brain.

Uber Co-Founder Donates for AI Research at ISTA

The Institute has received a donation of 5 million Euro from Canadian philanthropist and entrepreneur Garrett Camp to help advance AI as a trustworthy, human-centered technology that benefits society. This is Camp’s first gift to a European research institution and reflects his long-standing commitment to advancing responsible, human-centered AI.