news 2023

Euclid, the new space telescope launched by the ESA with the involvement of German researchers, has published its first color photographs from outer space. Never before has a telescope been able to produce such sharp astronomical images of such a wide expanse of sky while looking so deep into the distant universe.

Researchers improve measurement of the earth's rotation Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have succeeded in measuring the earth's rotation more exactly than ever before. The ring laser at the Geodetic Observatory Wettzell can now be used to capture data at a quality level unsurpassed anywhere in the world.

After more than a century, physicists aim to dethrone the tried-and-tested technology of the refrigerator, as cooling can be made more energy-efficient. The compressor technology used in today's refrigerators was invented more than a century ago. "The technology has been continuously optimized over the years, of course," says Daniel Hägele, physicist at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany.

MYC proteins play an important role in many types of cancer. A research team at the University of Würzburg has now succeeded in indirectly influencing these proteins - with clear consequences for the tumor. MYC family genes are essential for the human organism. According to current knowledge, they regulate the expression of most cellular genes.

Up to now, the results of climate simulations have sometimes contradicted the analysis of climate traces from the past. A team led by the physicist Thomas Laepple from the Alfred Wegener Institute in Potsdam and the climatologist Kira Rehfeld from the University of Tübingen has therefore brought together experts in climate models and climate tracks to clarify how the discrepancies come about.

Cytoplasmic lattices in the egg cell supply the early embryo as protein storage sites When mammals have offspring, they invest a lot. Unlike fish or frogs, the embryo cannot develop on its own. It has to implant in the uterus, where it is supplied with everything it needs to survive. Until this happens, the egg cell nourishes the early embryo.

Change in treatment can bring improvement in late stage As Parkinson's progresses, more invasive therapies are used that require brain surgery, for example. When these no longer deliver the desired results, physicians often conclude that treatment options are exhausted. A study led by researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) now shows that such patients can still benefit from a change in treatment.

Freiburg researchers achieved a significantly improved anti-tumour efficacy of CAR-T cells in a preclinical model CAR-T cell therapy is a last hope for many patients with blood, bone marrow or lymph gland cancer when other treatments such as chemotherapy are unsuccessful. A limiting factor of this otherwise very effective and safe therapy is that the cells used in the process quickly reach a state of exhaustion.

Researchers from the Universities of Freiburg and Ulm have developed a monolithically integrated photo battery using organic materials. Networked intelligent devices and sensors can improve the energy efficiency of consumer products and buildings by monitoring their consumption in real time. Miniature devices like these being developed under the concept of the Internet of Things require energy sources that are as compact as possible in order to function autonomously.

The penetration of viruses into cells can now be tracked with unprecedented accuracy thanks to Würzburg researchers and their innovative design for pseudoviruses. Pseudoviruses resemble impostors: although harmless, they are designed in such a way that they can hardly be distinguished from their dangerous relatives.

In the immune system's fight against cancer and infections, the T cells often lose their power. The team of Würzburg immunologist Martin Vaeth has found a possible explanation for this phenomenon. In the immune system, chronic infections and the defence against tumors often lead to the phenomenon of T cell exhaustion: In this process, the T lymphocytes gradually lose their function, which impairs their responses against cancer and infections.

Researchers from Heidelberg and London decode genetic programmes that underlie the development of sex-specific characteristics of mammalian organs The development of sex-specific characteristics is frequently seen in mammals. These characteristics stem from the activation of corresponding genetic programmes that until now have been largely undescribed by the scientific community.

In modern societies, there is great inequality in the amount of pension that men and women receive over the course of their lives. This inequality is a consequence of both the fact that some people live long lives and the fact that the amount of pension people receive varies widely. Although this inequality is larger than inequalities in wages, for example, it is rarely studied.

Life expectancy in the U.S. has stopped increasing since 2010, after decades of steady increase. Meanwhile, most other countries have continued to experience improvements in life expectancy. Previous research has suggested that the poor performance of U.S. is because of high mortality of the working age population.

An international team, led by Stefan Raunser, Director at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in Dortmund, in collaboration with Mathias Gautel at King's College London, has successfully obtained the world's first high-resolution 3D image of the thick filament in its natural cellular environment, utilizing a cutting-edge technique known as electron cryo-tomography.

Music hits that are made available for free by users on YouTube are less in demand on platforms such as Spotify or Apple Music. For the broad mass of lesser-known artists, on the other hand, uploading to YouTube by users can help them gain more attention and thus revenue via more lucrative platforms.

Smartbax nominated for Falling Walls award It all began with basic research: While conducting laboratory experiments, a team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) came across an active agent against multidrug-resistant bacteria with a fundamental difference to antibiotics developed to date. The researchers have since established a start-up to develop a new drug based on this agent.

A new collection of papers on artificial light at night show the impact of light pollution to be surprisingly far-reaching, with even low levels of artificial light disrupting species communities and entire ecosystems. Published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, the special theme issue, which includes 16 scientific papers, looks at the effects of light pollution in complex ecological systems, including soil, grassland, and insect communities.

Monitoring whether states are complying with disarmament treaties is not an easy task. An international team has been exploring remote monitoring with the help of two antennas and a couple of mirrors. An international research team has proposed a new method for monitoring nuclear disarmament treaties.

The focus lies on complex sound fields and their interaction with particles and cells An interdisciplinary research group combining mechanical engineering and biotechnology has taken up its work at the Institute for Molecular Systems Engineering and Advanced Materials (IMSEAM) of Heidelberg University.