A research team led by the University of Göttingen found that the label ‘climate neutral’ makes food appear significantly more climate-friendly than it actually is. Even when information about how the damage to the climate is being offset was explained, this did not stop consumers having the wrong perception about the product. In contrast, a traffic light labelling system – from red (meaning very harmful to the climate) to green (meaning less…

Approximately four weeks after the successful Moon and Earth flyby of ESA’s space probe Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE), the scientific and technical teams at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany have analyzed the first observational data from their two instruments on board. The data not only reveal that both the Submillimetre Wave Instrument (SWI) and the Jovian Electron and Ion Sensor (JEI) of the Particle…

Ensuring the survival of 20 Asian langur species is the goal of an international team of primate experts and conservationists. In their recently published action plan, they identify the most important endangerment risks and show ways to prevent the species from becoming extinct. Habitat loss due to massive deforestation, hunting for the animals' meat, poaching for the pet trade and climate change are the biggest problems for the animals. The…

Non-reciprocal interactions allow the design of more efficient molecular systems. In their new paper, scientists from the department “Living Matter Physics” at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS) propose a mechanism on how energy barriers in complex systems can be overcome. These findings can help to engineer molecular machines and to understand the self-organization of active matter. In both physics and biology,…

The balloon-borne solar observatory Sunrise III has embarked on its research flight: at 6.24 AM (CEST) this morning, the observatory lifted off safely from Esrange Space Center near the small town of Kiruna in northern Sweden. Carried by a giant helium balloon, the stratospheric flight of several days now leads westwards along the Arctic Circle across the Atlantic to Canada. During the journey, Sunrise III will peer into a layer of the Sun that…

The German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) has made significant progress in developing turbines for efficient and climate-compatible aircraft engines in collaboration with Rolls-Royce Deutschland. Researchers have deployed a trick carried over from many modern aircraft wings: attaching 'winglets' to the tips of the turbine blades to increase engine efficiency. Winglets and other technologies are already being…

A research team led by Stefan Pöhlmann from the German Primate Center (DPZ) and Christina Karsten from the University of Duisburg-Essen has discovered that the type of cells in which a virus originates can influence its infectivity. The cells of origin also influence resistance to antibodies and lectins, sugar-binding proteins with potential therapeutic benefits. In cell culture experiments with the SI virus – a model virus for HIV – the team has…

An international study involving researchers from the University of Göttingen investigated the evolution of flowering plants in extraordinary detail using advanced DNA sequencing technology. The researchers discovered that there was an evolutionary explosive development of flowering plants producing enormous diversity. Over 130 million years ago, this explosion in diversity gave rise to more than 80 per cent of the major lineages of flowering…

After more than three years of pandemic with around 20 million deaths, it is common knowledge that COVID-19 is an insidious disease. The causing virus, SARS-CoV-2, literally kept the world on tenterhooks for a long time. It mainly infects the lung cells and triggers a wide range of symptoms with an often uncertain course of the disease. Thanks to vaccination, the pandemic is largely over, but there are still unanswered questions, such as what the…

Filamentous cyanobacteria buckle at a certain length when they encounter an obstacle. This was discovered by the research group of Stefan Karpitschka, group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization and professor at the University of Konstanz. The results provide an important basis for the use of cyanobacteria in modern biotechnology. Cyanobacteria are one of the oldest and most important life forms in the world – for…