news 2023

Geologists from Heidelberg and Frankfurt simulate thermo-mechanical behaviour of a white schist from the Alps Movements of rocks from deep in the Earth to the surface could occur under different circumstances than previously thought, challenging our current understanding of plate tectonics and mountain-building.

Plants emit odours for a variety of reasons, such as to communicate with each other, to deter herbivores or to respond to changing environmental conditions. An interdisciplinary team of researchers from Leipzig University, the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) carried out a study to investigate how biodiversity influences the emission of these substances.

Researchers led by Göttingen University determine factors for chemical development in crater lakes on Earth In southern Germany just north of the Danube, there lies a large circular depression between the hilly surroundings: the Nördlinger Ries. Almost 15 million years ago, an asteroid struck this spot.

In a study published in the journal "Scientific Reports," researchers from the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (SHEP) at the University of Tübingen show that early humans of the Middle Paleolithic had a more varied diet than previously assumed. The analysis of a site in the Zagros Mountains in Iran reveals that around 81,000 to 45,000 years ago, the local hominins hunted ungulates as well as tortoises and carnivores.

In a study recently published in "Nature Water", the Analysis of Hydrological Systems group at the University of Potsdam, together with an international team, investigates the extent to which global water models agree with each other and with measured data. Using a new evaluation approach, the researchers can show in which climate regions the models agree and where they differ.

News from The Collaborative Research Centre "Arctic Amplification: Climate Relevant Atmospheric and Surface Processes and Feedback Mechanism (AC)³", which is headed by meteorologist Professor Manfred Wendisch from Leipzig University, is to enter its third funding phase. This was announced today (24 November 2023) by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

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.

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.

A research team led by the Department of Biology at Éniversität Hamburg has discovered, for the first time, the predatory amphipod Rhachotropis abyssalis in 3 different oceans up to 20,000 kilometers apart. In each case, the animals live at depths of more than 3 kilometers. The findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports .

Climate research: New findings on temperature tipping points Climate researchers around the world are sounding the alarm about exceeding critical temperature values on the Earth. If temperatures pass what are called tipping points, the results could be catastrophic. An international team of researchers, including members from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), has now demonstrated in simulations that the temperature tipping point for the Greenland ice sheet can be exceeded in certain cases for a short time, as long as extreme countermeasures are taken afterwards.

They were formed on the Moon more than three billion years ago, brought back to the Earth about 50 years ago, and recently arrived on the campus of the University of Bayreuth: samples of Moon rocks collected by NASA Apollo missions 16 and 17. The US national space agency has made them available to the Bavarian Research Institute of Experimental Geochemistry and Geophysics (BGI) of the University of Bayreuth for scientific investigations.

Research team led by Göttingen University describe early occurrence of irregular sea urchins in the depths of the oceans Right at the bottom of the deep sea, the first very simple forms of life on earth probably emerged a long time ago. Today, the deep sea is known for its bizarre fauna. Intensive research is being conducted into how the number of species living on the sea floor have changed in the meantime.

Researchers from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland use stalagmites to document the significance of orbital insolation for abrupt changes in ice age climate In past ice ages, the intensity of summer insolation affected the emergence of warm and cold periods and played an important role in triggering abrupt climate changes, a study by climate researchers, geoscientists, and environmental physicists suggests.

Research team uncovers global centers of evolutionarily unique and endemic plants Understanding the origins and preservation of biodiversity is crucial as human impact continues to threaten our planet's rich variety of life. Often overlooked, narrow-ranged and evolutionary unique species play a vital role in shaping biodiversity.

Research team uncovers global centers of evolutionarily unique and endemic plants. Understanding the origins and preservation of biodiversity is crucial as human impact continues to threaten our planet's rich variety of life. Often overlooked, narrow-ranged and evolutionary unique species play a vital role in shaping biodiversity.

The Arctic is warming two to three times faster than the rest of the world. This phenomenon is known as Arctic amplification. To understand this warming, the DFG-funded Transregional Collaborative Research Centre (AC)³ was established in 2016. It includes modelling and data analysis efforts as well as observational elements.

Research team led by Göttingen University compares form and function of island and mainland plants Oceanic islands provide useful models for ecology, biogeography and evolutionary research. Many ground-breaking findings - including Darwin's theory of evolution - have emerged from the study of species on islands and their interplay with their living and non-living environment.

Expedition with Bonn participation investigates carbon dioxide binding by weathering on the seafloor The Belgian research vessel RV Belgica is currently underway in the waters of Iceland. Two researchers from the University of Bonn are also on board. The goal of the mission is to better understand a natural thermostat of the Earth: the weathering of rocks at the bottom of the sea.

Researchers from Freie Universität Berlin have discovered phosphorus in the subsurface ocean of Saturn's moon Enceladus The search for extraterrestrial life in our solar system has just taken a giant leap forward. A team of researchers led by Professor Frank Postberg, a planetary scientist at Freie Universität Berlin, has discovered new evidence that the subsurface ocean of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus contains a key building block for life.

Archaea cultivated in the laboratory are active even at high temperatures and without oxygen The seafloor is home to around one-third of all the microorganisms on the Earth and is inhabited even at a depth of several kilometers. Only when it becomes too hot does the abundance of microorganisms appear to decline.