news 2017

Research news Childhood obesity is often attributed to a lack of exercise. So what about sports among elementary school students' A team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) pursued this question and collected the results of fitness tests for first-year students over a period of one decade. Their study shows that students did not lose their strength.

Worldwide survey of antibiotics researchers indicates uncertainty about number of deaths - New survey tool helps gather global expert opinions on existential issues No 316/2017 from Nov 15, 2017 Researchers say that it is difficult to quantify the true extent of the threat of antibiotic resistance for humanity.

Research news Trees in metropolitan areas have been growing faster than trees in rural areas worldwide since the 1960s. This has been confirmed for the first time by a study on the impact of the urban heat island effect on tree growth headed by the Technical University of Munich (TUM). The analysis conducted by the international research team also shows that the growth of urban trees has already been exposed to changing climatic conditions for a long period of time, which is only just beginning to happen for trees in rural areas.

Research news Scientists in Munich have completed the first detailed simulation of the Sumatra earthquake that triggered a devastating tsunami on Christmas 2004. The results of the largest-ever rupture dynamics simulation of an earthquake offer new insights into the underlying geophysical processes. It was performed on the SuperMUC supercomputer at the Leibniz Supercomputing Center (LRZ) of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences in Munich.

Research news A healthy heart beats about two billion times during a lifetime - thanks to the interplay of more than 10,000 proteins. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (MPIB) and the German Heart Centre at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have now determined which and how many individual proteins are present in each type of cell that occurs in the heart.

Research news Computer Tomography (CT) is a standard procedure in hospitals, but so far, the technology has not been suitable for imaging extremely small objects. In PNAS, a team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) describes a Nano-CT device that creates three-dimensional x-ray images at resolutions up to 100 nanometers.

What are the effects of LED lighting and the climate on different types of sports turf? At the greenhouse laboratory center Dürnast, this question is addressed by TUM researchers. Their findings serve as a basis for the development of new lighting systems for professional football. If, in the Bundesliga, a football match doesn't go too well, it is common to blame the lawn: "Der Rasen ist schuld!" - which shows how much importance the professionals attach to the turf.

Researchers at the universities of Münster, Exeter and Oxford have developed a miniature "abacus" which can be used for calculating with light signals. With it they are paving the way to the development of new types of computer in which, as in the human brain, the computing and storage functions are combined in one element - in contrast to conventional computers, in which the two are separated in line with the so-called Von Neumann Principle.

Research news Professor Michael Schemann from the Department of Human Biology at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) is part of a consortium that intends to investigate the role of nerves in normal and diseased colon functions over the next three years. S. Department of Health through the National Institute of Health (NIH).

Two such different organisms as plants and humans developed from a common precursor cell. Traces of this over one-billion-year kinship remain anchored in the genetic material of both organisms. An international team of plant researchers led by Dr Markus Wirtz and Rüdiger Hell of Heidelberg University has looked more closely into one such trace - the TOR protein.

Research news Heart attacks pose a greater threat to women than to men. A team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has determined that in the first year after a heart attack women are subject to a significantly higher mortality risk than men with similar case histories. The scientists are urging doctors to provide intensive support to female heart attack patients, above all in the first 365 days after the event.

Compared to their counterparts twenty years ago, today's 65-year-olds not only feel younger but are generally healthier overall - and enjoy greater life satisfaction. That is just one of the latest results of the Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study on Adult Development and Aging (ILSE) that was launched in 1993 at the Institute of Gerontology at Heidelberg University.

Research news Obesity leads to the release of cytokines into the bloodstream which impact the metabolism of breast cancer cells, making them more aggressive as a result. Scientists from Technical University of Munich (TUM), Helmholtz Zentrum München, and Heidelberg University Hospital report on this in Cell Metabolism .

Research news For the first time ever, scientists have measured electromagnetic and gravitational signals generated by the collision of neutron stars. In a special research project led by the Technical University of Munich (TUM), physicists with the Collaborative Research Center 1258 "Neutrinos and Dark Matter" team recorded the aftermath of the powerful event.

Research news Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is characterized by restless, painful legs that do not settle down at night. The causes are largely unknown. An international team led by the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Helmholtz Center has now carried out the world's largest genome-wide association study on the genetic causes of the disorder.

Research news The Technical University of Munich (TUM) was successful in all subsidy lines in the first two rounds of the German Excellence Initiative, held in 2006 and 2012. Now TUM has set its sights for the third time on the highly endowed support program for leading German universities: TUM is participating in five initiatives for research clusters which were judged successful by an international expert panel in the pre-selection round and which are now being called on to submit complete applications.

The element carbon and its compounds form the basics for life on Earth. Short-duration flash-heating events in the solar nebula prior to the formation of planets in our solar system were responsible for supplying the Earth with a presumably ideal amount of carbon for life and evolution. This shows a carbon chemistry model developed by Heidelberg University researchers.

Research news A new method allows surgeons to reconstruct entire heart valves from the patient's own tissue. This surgical procedure is currently only used at a handful of centres in the world. Recently, PD Dr. Markus Krane, Deputy Director of the Cardiovascular Surgery Department of the German Heart Centre Munich, has also used the new method on patients in Munich.

New insights into the development of the vascular system: researchers in the team of Dr Carmen Ruiz de Almodóvar of the Heidelberg University Biochemistry Center have discovered a crucial biological step that regulates the formation of blood vessels. They were able to show that the proteins YAP and TAZ play an important role in this process.

A team under the direction of chemist Peter Comba is investigating radioactive metal complexes for use in the diagnosis and treatment of tumours. In their recent studies at Heidelberg University's Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, the researchers demonstrated that developing radiopharmaceutical tracers based on indium and actinium shows great promise for new radiopharmaceuticals.