news 2017

Research news Another ten years - that is approximately how long sustainable forestry will be able to satisfy the continuously growing demand for wood. In Germany and Europe, new concepts are therefore being discussed for more responsible and efficient industrial use of the renewable, but still limited wood resources.

Research news Active components on buildings such as blinds whose design was copied from naturally occurring solutions - that is the subject of the research conducted by a team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the University of Freiburg, and the University of Stuttgart. The aim is to equip them with drive elements that can move without any electrical energy input.

Research news How serious is the loss of species globally? Are material cycles in an ecosystem with few species changed? In order to find this out, the "Jena Experiment" was established in 2002, one of the largest biodiversity experiments worldwide. Professor Wolfgang Weisser from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) reports on two unexpected findings of the long-term study: Biodiversity influences almost half the processes in the ecosystem, and intensive grassland management does not result in higher yields than high biodiversity.

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.

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.

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 Money isn't always everything: Taiwanese rice farmers are willing to produce in a more environ-mentally friendly fashion if this would earn them an eco-label for their products. For such a label, they are even prepared to accept lower compensation payments for a reduction in the use of fertilizers.

How did environmental and climatic changes early on in human history influence cultures - and what conclusions can be drawn relative to climate change today? These questions are the subject of a three-week expedition aboard the research vessel METEOR that will take an international team of geoscientists and archaeologists, led by researchers from Heidelberg University, into the eastern Mediterranean.

German-Canadian-Japanese Team of Researchers Published Findings about Okhotsk Culture in PLOS ONE Science Journal ' 062/2017 from Mar 30, 2017 According to a study conducted by paleontologists and archaeologists, the diets of prehistorical and early historical hunter-gatherer societies were more diverse than previously thought.

Research news Plants possess molecular mechanisms that prevent them from blooming in winter. Once the cold of win-ter has passed, they are deactivated. However, if it is still too cold in spring, plants adapt their blooming behavior accordingly. Scientists from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have discovered genetic changes for this adaptive behavior.

Genetic studies of cichlid fishes suggest that interspecies hybrids played a prominent role in their evolution. Analysis of a unique fossil cichlid from the Upper Miocene of East Africa now provides further support for this idea. The cichlids constitute one of the most diverse families of freshwater fishes in tropical habitats.