news

Environment - Life Sciences - 09.05.2018

Mixed forests: ecologically and economically superior
Mixed forests are more productive than monocultures. This is true on all five continents, and particularly in regions with high precipitation. These findings from an international overview study, in which the Technical University of Munich (TUM) participated, are highly relevant for forest science and forest management on a global scale.

History / Archeology - Environment - 04.05.2018

New Research Project on Household Communities of the Living and the Dead in the Neolithic Period
Excavations continue in Ba'ja in the south of present-day Jordan No 089/2018 from May 04, 2018 A new research project based at Freie Universität's Institute of Ancient Near Eastern Archeology is investigating Neolithic households and burial culture at the Ba'ja site in the south of present-day Jordan.

Environment - Earth Sciences - 18.04.2018

Possible for the first time: reliable three-month forecasts for European winters
Thanks to a novel method, the quality of seasonal forecasts for the winter in many parts of Europe can now be significantly improved. To date, reliable forecasts could mostly be made for the Tropics. A team led by Dr. Mikhail Dobrynin and Prof. Johanna Baehr from Universität Hamburg's Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN) has now released its findings in Geophysical Research Letters.

Life Sciences - Environment - 10.04.2018

Why some beetles fly on alcohol
Research news The Ambrosia beetle looks specifically for drunken trees to nest. Now researchers have found out why he is doing this: it is due to his sophisticated agricultural system. The beetle optimises its harvest with alcohol as a "weedkiller". If on a warm summer's evening in the beer garden, small beetles dive into your beer, consider giving them a break.

Environment - Life Sciences - 19.03.2018

Thawing permafrost produces more methane than expected
In a seven-year laboratory study, Dr. Christian Knoblauch from Universität Hamburg's Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN) and an international team have shown, for the first time, that significantly more methane is produced by thawing permafrost than previously thought. The findings, published today Climate Change, make it possible to better predict how much greenhouse gas could be released by the thawing of the Arctic permafrost.

Environment - Life Sciences - 11.01.2018

Species identification in the water bottle
Research news Environmental DNA analysis makes it possible to detect water organisms without having to capture them first. For the first time, a team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) systematically investigated the effect of various environmental factors on environmental DNA analyses. By doing so, the researchers have made an important step towards the standardized application of this method for the monitoring of water bodies.

Environment - 11.12.2017

Cascade utilisation is also positive for wood
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.

Architecture - Environment - 30.11.2017

Climate-friendly architecture thanks to natural folding mechanisms
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.

Environment - Life Sciences - 28.11.2017

Loss of species destroys ecosystems
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.

Civil Engineering - Environment - 13.11.2017

Urban trees are growing faster worldwide
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.

Sport - Environment - 06.11.2017

A scientific view on football turf
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.

Astronomy / Space Science - Environment - 28.09.2017

It Takes the Right Amount of Carbon
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.

Environment - 02.06.2017

Eco-label in exchange for less chemicals on rice fields
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.

Environment - History / Archeology - 31.03.2017

In Search of Connections Between Climatic and Cultural Change
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.

History / Archeology - Environment - 30.03.2017

Diets in Prehistoric and Early Nonagrarian Societies Were More Diverse than Previously Thought
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.

Life Sciences - Environment - 16.03.2017

Outwitting climate change with a plant ’dimmer’?
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.

Life Sciences - Environment - 05.02.2017

On mosaics and melting-pots
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.

Politics - Environment - 01.12.2016

Negotiating the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
German Research Foundation Supports New Research Group at Freie Universität Berlin ' 423/2016 from Dec 01, 2016 A new research project at Freie Universität Berlin is dealing with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The German Research Foundation (DFG) has approved a grant for the sub-project "CONNECT: Networking and Influence of International Secretariats Environmental and Disability Policy over Time" at the Division of Educational Research and Social Systems.

Environment - 13.10.2016

Forest Management Yields Higher Productivity through Biodiversity
Research news Scientists have conducted the first worldwide study of biodiversity and its impact on the productivity of forests. Data from more than 770,000 observation points from 44 countries were evaluated for this purpose. The samples included in the study comprised 8,700 species of trees from mangroves to trees in tropical rainforests, Central Europe, tundras, and dry savannas to populations in Mediterranean forests.

Environment - 14.09.2016

Trees Transpire for a Cool City
Research news Small-leaved limes do not transpire to the same extent in all environments as a study by Mohammad Rahman from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) concludes. During the summer heat, transpiration - the loss of water from the leaves - from those trees grown in open green squares cools us down more effectively than grown in narrow, paved squares.