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Pollen not only plays a role in allergies, but also influences the local weather. Especially in spring, when large amounts are released, it contributes to the formation of ice in clouds, which can increase rainfall. A recent study led by the Institute for Meteorology at Leipzig University is the first to prove this outside the laboratory.

An international research team has decoded the genome of the longest-lived known vertebrate: the Greenland shark. It is huge and has special repair capabilities. The Greenland Shark ( Somniosus microcephalus ), an elusive dweller of the depths of the northern Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean, is the world's longest-living vertebrate, with an estimated lifespan of about 400 years.

Bright yellow deposits in Consus Crater bear witness to dwarf planet Ceres' cryovolcanic past - and revive the debate about its place of origin. The dwarf planet Ceres has a diameter of almost 1000 kilometres and is located in the asteroid belt. In the television series -The Expanse-, Ceres gained new fame as the main base of the so called -belters-: in this series, which is based on real physics, humans colonize the asteroid belt for mining.

Special features of the Arctic climate, such as the strong reflection of the sun's rays on the light-colored snow surface or the low position of the sun, intensify global warming in the Arctic. However, researchers are constantly faced with the challenge of mapping the climatic processes responsible for this in order to make reliable weather forecasts.

Satellite and street view images provide basis for more precise evaluation of the environmental conditions that favor the presence of Aedes aegypti The Aedes aegypti mosquito is responsible worldwide for the spread of infectious diseases such as dengue, Zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever. To combat the widely transmitted diseases affecting millions, detailed mosquito distribution maps with data on the spatial and temporal spread of populations are of major importance.

The chemical composition triggers upwelling of mantle currents from Earth's interior / Findings published in "Nature Geoscience" journal Researchers around the world investigate the dynamic processes in Earth's deep interior, hundreds to thousands of kilometers below the surface. These processes drive plate movements and volcanism but still keep many secrets.

We humans benefit from the oceans' tremendous capacity to absorb greenhouse gases. Due to the low temperature of the water, the Arctic Ocean absorbs an especially large amount of CO2 in relation to its size. Due in part to climate change, this effect will be less pronounced in the future. A new study released by Universität Hamburg's Cluster of Excellence CLICCS shows how much CO2 is released into the atmosphere in the Arctic Ocean by the erosion of coastal permafrost.

As summer temperatures rise, the health risks caused by heat increase. This particularly affects urban areas and cities such as Heidelberg with a high building density and limited green spaces. The heat island effect, which describes the higher temperatures in inner-city areas compared to the surrounding area, leads to an increase in heat-related illnesses, especially among vulnerable population groups such as the elderly, children and people with pre-existing conditions.

Geological studies of a drill core combined with computer models show that large ice sheets first formed only in East Antarctica The glaciation of the Antarctic began approximately 34 million years ago, but the initial phase of glaciation did not encompass the entire continent - as previously assumed.

Researchers from the University of Münster analysed 202 fragments At the beginning of this year, on 21 January, a huge fireball was visible over the German state of Brandenburg. It was the result of a small celestial body entering the Earth's atmosphere, bursting and falling to the ground in numerous fragments near Ribbeck in the Havelland.

Research team led by Göttingen University expands the applications of oxygen isotope measurements   Measuring temperatures from Earth's past is important for understanding the development of its climate. Ancient ocean temperatures are most commonly reconstructed by analysing the ratio of different oxygen atoms in the calcium carbonate remains of fossils.

Researchers at Heidelberg University are studying the formation of this characteristically blue-colored crystal in volcanic melts Sapphires are among the most precious gems, yet they consist solely of chemically "contaminated" aluminum oxide, or corundum. Worldwide, these characteristically blue-colored crystals are mainly found in association with silicon-poor volcanic rocks.

Rocks undergo changes over millions of years. Yet it is possible to extract information from them about the climate at the time of their formation. Fluids circulating underground change rocks over the course of time. These processes must be taken into account if they are to be used as a climate archive.

For the first time, the recovery of unique geological samples combined with sophisticated modelling provides surprising insights into when and where today's Antarctic ice sheet formed. In recent years global warming has left its mark on the Antarctic ice sheets. The "eternal" ice in Antarctica is melting faster than previously assumed, particularly in West Antarctica more than East Antarctica.

Researchers from the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (SHEP) at the University of Tübingen and the Senckenberg Natural History Museum in Görlitz have studied the role of the desert grass Stipagrostis sabulicola in the African Namib Desert. In their study, published in the journal Scientific Reports , they show that the plant is able to absorb moisture from fog events and thus forms an essential basis of an - altogether unexpectedly complex - food web in the drought-stricken landscape.

Led by the University of Bremen, RWTH paleoclimate researcher Professor Thorsten Bauersachs and colleagues have now published their results on the glaciation of West Antarctica in the journal Science Advances. It has been more than 30 million years since West Antarctica was last largely ice-free. In the last 30 million years, however, it has been extensively glaciated.

Research team compares wild bee networks at a small scale and at landscape level   Traditionally, interactions between plants and their pollinators are analysed on the basis of visits to flowers. A research team led by the University of Göttingen studied wild bees on chalk grassland. The researchers analysed both the networks showing visits to flowers and the networks where pollen was transported.

A team of researchers at the Universities of Tübingen and Göttingen has found that certain minerals with characteristic shapes could indicate the activity of bacteria in hydrothermal vents - or black smokers - in the deep ocean several billion years ago. This represents a major step in our understanding of the origin of life.

Newly discovered symbiosis probably plays a major role in marine nitrogen fixation Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology have discovered a new partnership between a marine diatom and a bacterium that can account for a large share of nitrogen fixation in vast regions of the ocean.

Special features of the Arctic climate, such as the strong reflection of the sun's rays off the light snow or the low position of the sun, amplify global warming in the Arctic. However, researchers are often faced with the challenge of modelling the underlying climatic processes in order to be able to provide reliable weather forecasts.