How do rising temperatures and more hot days affect cities, especially the heat stress on public squares? And what needs to be done in response to climate change? A team of Heidelberg University geographers led by Dr Kathrin Foshag investigated these questions using locations in the Heidelberg urban area.

Protecting nerve cells from losing their characteristic extensions, the dendrites, can reduce brain damage after a stroke. Neurobiologists from Heidelberg University have demonstrated this by means of research on a mouse model. The team, led by Hilmar Bading in cooperation with Junior Professor Dr Daniela Mauceri, is investigating the protection of neuronal architecture to develop new approaches to treating neurodegenerative diseases. The current research findings were published in the journal "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences".

How can the economy be restructured to lower carbon emissions? What steps towards decarbonisation have nations already taken and how successful have they been? These are the questions to be addressed in a research project whose participants include scientists from the Institute for Political Science at Heidelberg University.

Selectively increasing the levels of a certain protein in nerve cells that play a key role in memory storage boosts memory performance, as demonstrated in experiments on mice by a group of scientists at Heidelberg University led by Dr Ana Oliveira. The responsible protein is Dnmt3a2 - a so-called epigenetic factor that chemically modifies the genome and thus influences memory processes. By increasing the levels of Dnmt3a2, the researchers from the Interdisciplinary Center for Neurosciences were able to modulate the reactivation of the relevant neurons, quite precisely in fact.

One goal of science is to find physical descriptions of nature by studying how basic system components interact with one another.

The heads of the respective university institutions are responsible for all forms of on-campus operations with due regard for protective measures. Information about restricted on-campus operations has been published in the newsletter of the administration "Caroline" and sent to all dean's offices and heads of institutions and facilities.

Heidelberg University succeeded in gaining funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) in the latest approval round for three, internationally visible collaborative research centres. In physics, the collaborative research centre (CRC) studying isolated quantum systems in experimental and theoretical investigations will continue its work in the second funding period (CRC 1225).

Mergers between black holes and neutron stars in dense star clusters are quite unlike those that form in isolated regions where stars are few. Their associated features could be crucial to the study of gravitational waves and their source. Dr Manuel Arca Sedda of the Institute for Astronomical Computing at Heidelberg University came to this conclusion in a study that used computer simulations. The research may offer critical insights into the fusion of two massive stellar objects that astronomers observed in 2019. The findings were published in the journal "Communications Physics".