Duckweeds - for many aquatic animals like ducks and snails, a treat, but for pond owners, sometimes a thorn in the side. The tiny and fast-growing plants are of great interest to researchers, and not at least because of their industrial applications - for example, to purify wastewater or generate energy.

Part 2 of the series "Under lock and key at Münster University": the vacuum machine at the Institute of Physics is used to investigate spin phenomena The yellow stickers can already be seen from a distance: "Laser beam", "High voltage - danger to life", "No unauthorized access". The locked door with the warning notices is located at the end of a long, dark corridor on the fourth floor of the Institute of Physics at the University of Münster.

Alligators use neural maps to localize the source of a sound the same way birds do. The results of a new study strongly suggest that dinosaurs also used this strategy, offering an additional insight into evolutionary mechanisms. The ability to identify the direction to a source of sound is a matter of survival for most animals.

03/22/2019 Direct coupling of two molecules of nitrogen: chemists from Würzburg and Frankfurt have achieved what was thought to be impossible. This new reaction is reported and opens new possibilities for one of the most inert molecules on earth. Constituting over 78 % of the air we breathe, nitrogen is the element found the most often in its pure form on earth.

Study by Research Team at Freie Universität Led by Biology Professor Stephan Sigrist on Conditions for Improving Memory Formation in Aging Humans No 063/2019 from Mar 21, 2019 Humans are not only capable of forming memories but also recalling these memories years later. However, with advancing age many of us face difficulties with forming new memories, a process usually referred to as age-induced memory impairment.

In order for the heart to work properly, it must exert muscular force. This involves the coordinated contraction of numerous sarcomeres, the smallest contractile units of heart muscle. Muscle contraction is brought about by the activity of conventional motor proteins, which pull on thin filaments to shorten sarcomeres.

Meadows adjacent to high-intensity agricultural areas are home to less than half the number of butterfly species than areas in nature preserves. The number of individuals is even down to one-third of that number. These are results of a research team led by Jan Christian Habel at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Thomas Schmitt at the Senckenberg Nature Research Society.

03/20/2019 Two proteins work hand in hand to ensure that the tumour cells of neuroblastoma can grow at full speed. In "Nature", a Würzburg research team shows how the proteins can do this. Anyone who has ever studied the molecular basis of breast cancer will probably have heard of the abbreviation BRCA1 - this is a protein that protects the cells of breast tissue against cancer.

Cleantech start-ups in the USA that cooperate with government research agencies outperform their competitors both in terms of patents and funding. That is the conclusion of a study by the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the University of Maryland and the University of Cambridge. In the cleantech sector, where development processes can extend over many years, public-private partnerships could prove valuable in other countries, too.

Most of the people who stroll across the Leonardo campus are unlikely to notice a narrow, single-storey building. The construction in question is about 25 metres long and five metres wide. It is adorned with red and white stripes, has a corrugated iron roof, and is surrounded by a wire mesh fence which is about 1.5 metres high.

Pharmacists and international partners present highly sensitive test system for anti-inflammatory drugs Life An international research team led by Friedrich Schiller University in Jena has developed a highly sensitive cell model to study the complex effects - and side effects - of anti-inflammatory drugs, with the ultimate aim of preventing chronic inflammation.

Tumors are very different at cellular and molecular level making them difficult to diagnose and treat. A team from Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Helmholtz Zentrum München has now shown that harmless purple bacteria are capable of visualizing aspects of this heterogeneity in the tumors.

Wild tobacco plants gain an advantage by the timely sending of hungry caterpillars to the competition Life Plants cannot run away from animals which eat them, but many species have their own ways of defending themselves; they produce chemicals which dont do hungry creepy-crawlies any good. In this way, wild tobacco plants strike back at the caterpillars of the tobacco hawk moth.

One of the greatest global challenges is the efficient use of renewable sources in order to meet the increasing demand for energy and feedstock chemicals in the future. In this context, biomass is a promising alternative to existing fossil sources such as coal or oil. Cellulose plays a decisive role here because it accounts for the largest fraction of the natural carbon storage.

In the recently published final report of the nationwide initiative "Plant Biotechnology of the Future", a project by scientists of the University of Münster has been selected as one of six research highlights of the programme. Between 2011 and 2018, plant researchers from all over Germany worked on 27 projects with 125 subprojects - funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

An Economic Study Conducted by Freie Universität Berlin and the University of Connecticut No 054/2019 from Mar 12, 2019 According to a study, the market value of a company can rise if it reacts quickly to negative publicity from a celebrity endorser. The study by Professor Sascha Raithel from Freie Universität Berlin and Professor Stefan J. Hock from the University of Connecticut shows that if a company responds to an endorser's gaffe within 72 hours, their market value can increase by 2.1% over the next four weeks of trading.

Psychologists study the effects of mobility on young adults A new job, an academic career or a romantic relationship - there are many reasons for young people to move. But this does not necessarily lead to happiness. Satisfaction increases when people can identify with the region in which they live.

As different as the term "dynamic" is used and understood in science, so diverse are the research areas of the University of Münster, in which dynamic even plays a central role in the title. Prof. Christopher Deninger and Prof. Mario Ohlberger from the Cluster of Excellence "Mathematics Münster", the lawyer Prof. Nils Jansen from the Cluster of Excellence "Religion and Politics" and the biochemist Prof. Lydia Sorokin from Cells-in-Motion Cluster of Excellence explain what they understand by the term in their research.

International research consortium investigates development of CO2 emissions in 18 countries The efforts of developed economies to reduce their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by boosting the use of renewable energy sources and increasing energy efficiency are beginning to pay off. This is the result of a study conducted by an international team of researchers that includes scientists from Heidelberg.

02/25/2019 Icefish live in an environment that should be deadly for them. Scientists have now investigated how they still manage to exist there and what evolutionary adaptations they have had to undergo in order to do so. You really don't want to have to live there: In the Arctic Ocean around the South Pole, the water temperature is just below minus two degrees.