Complex biological systems are more than the sum of their parts – their properties emerge from the dynamic interaction of their components, such as molecules or cells. PhD researchers now have the opportunity to develop their own theoretical perspective on these systems as part of an international Doctoral Network. A European consortium initiated by researchers from the University of Göttingen, the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and…

In the early days of our Solar System, huge oceans of red-hot magma covered each of the four inner planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. The heat required to melt the rock came from the decay of radioactive elements or from violent impacts. Gases escaped from the magma, creating the first atmospheres. Such magma oceans and their pristine atmospheres are likely to still exist today on young, still hot exoplanets outside our Solar System. The…

In turbulent fluids, mixing of the components happens easily. However, in more viscous fluids such as those enclosed within cellular compartments, the intermixing of particles and molecules is much more challenging. As time also plays a role in such systems, the slow mixing by molecular movement is typically not sufficient and efficient stirring strategies are thus required to maintain functionality.

Lemurs are among the best-known representatives of Madagascar's animal kingdom. They make up more than 15 percent of all primate species living today – even though the island covers less than one percent of the earth's land surface. An international research team involving the German Primate Center – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research (DPZ) has now shown: The species diversity of lemurs is not the result of a single large radiation, as is…

One hundred years ago, the institute invited guests in the auditorium on Wilhelmsplatz to celebrate the opening of the institute. A century later, Eberhard Bodenschatz, managing director of the MPI-DS, welcomed over 300 guests back to the same venue. Among them was Falko Mohrs, Minister for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony. “We are proud to have you here as a Max Planck Institute,” said Mohrs in his speech. Patrick Cramer, President of the Max…

University of Göttingen Professors – Lutz Ackermann, Timo Betz and Jörg Enderlein – have each been awarded Proof of Concept (PoC) grants by the European Research Council (ERC). These grants provide top-up funding of €150,000 over 18 months to outstanding researchers, who have already received ERC funding, so that they can build on the innovation potential of their findings. This enables Europe’s top scientists to develop initiatives that boost…

The widespread assumption that males always take on the dominant role in primates has been refuted by new research findings. Scientists from the German Primate Center in Göttingen, the University of Montpellier and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig have investigated the power relations between males and females in 121 primate species in a large study. Their results show that clear dominance of one sex over the…

The European exoplanet mission PLATO, which will be launched into space at the end of next year, has reached an important milestone. The optical bench with its 26 cameras has now been assembled in the clean rooms of the aerospace company OHB System AG in Oberpfaffenhofen (Germany). The cameras are the eyes of the mission. They will enable PLATO to peer at a total of a quarter of a million stars in the Milky Way and detect exoplanets in the stars’…

Like all complex organisms, every human originates from a single cell that multiplies through countless cell divisions. Thousands of cells coordinate, move and exert mechanical forces on each other as an embryo takes shape. Researchers at the Göttingen Campus Institute for Dynamics of Biological Networks (CIDBN), the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organisation, and the University of Marburg have now discovered a new way that embryonic…

Stochastic dynamics in small systemsAtoms and molecules are continuously in thermal motion in their microscopic world. As a result, small biophysical systems, such as molecular machines, are subject to random dynamics. In his doctoral thesis, Cai Dieball investigated the properties of these random dynamics along individual motion paths, known as trajectories, from the perspective of mathematical physics. He focused on the mathematical concept of…