The Sponsorship Association of the German Primate Center – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research awards the PhD Prize to outstanding doctoral theses in which studies on monkeys play a central role. The prize is endowed with 1000 euros and is supported by the MacLean-Erkelenz Foundation. This year's winner is neuroscientist Zurna Ahmed. She is investigating how movements are planned in the brain. For her project, she developed a novel…

Stars that contain comparatively large amounts of heavy elements provide less favorable conditions for the emergence of complex life than metal-poor stars, as scientists from the Max Planck Institutes for Solar System Research and for Chemistry as well as from the University of Göttingen have now found. The team showed how the metallicity of a star is connected to the ability of its planets to surround themselves with a protective ozone layer.…

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded Prof. Dr. Sami Solanki of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) one of the prestigious ERC Advanced Grants. Over the next five years, the funding, totaling 2.5 million euros, will make it possible to fundamentally advance and complete our picture of the Sun's magnetic field. To this end, Solanki is relying on a new generation of space missions and solar observatories that are…

The first brains in the world of animals marked a decisive step in evolution. Living beings could now process information and identify opportunities as well as dangers. But how did the first brains evolve and what form did they take? Fred Wolf from the University of Göttingen and the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization together with Pawel Burkhardt from the Michael Sars Centre at the University of Bergen, Norway, will receive…

Branching marine worms are extremely rare: bizarre creatures with one head but a body that branches repeatedly into multiple posterior ends. Only three such species are known, and one of these worm species has just been awarded a place in the top-ten marine species from 2022 by the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS). Named Ramisyllis kingghidorahi after King Ghidorah, Godzilla’s monster enemy, the new species was first described by an…

Drama or comedy? Couples who want to spend Sunday evenings together in front of the TV but like different movie genres face this question again every weekend. Do they agree on a movie and watch it together? Or does each one watch "their" favorite movie alone? And when they watch TV together, do they take turns picking? Researchers at the German Primate Center – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research in Göttingen have studied how monkeys and…

Is there life on other planetary bodies? Jupiter's moon Europa could provide an answer to this question: it is believed to harbour an ocean of water beneath its icy surface. But how might an exploration mission to the Jovian satellite be conducted without contaminating the landing site? To find out, researchers at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) in Göttingen have carried out investigations in a unique…

Optogenetics, the control of genetically modified cells with light, has revolutionized the life sciences and medicine. It allows the activity of cells and their networks to be controlled in a targeted manner via light pulses. This opens up completely new perspectives for the therapy of dysfunctions of sensory systems, such as hearing and vision. The potential of optogenetic treatments for the functional recovery of sensory systems and their…

The honeycomb-like patterns that often occur in salt deserts, including Death Valley and Chile, look like something from another world. A team that included researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Göttingen, Germany, explain the origin of the mysterious patterns for the first time. Around the globe, honeycomb-like patterns form in salt deserts, for example in the Badwater Basin of Death Valley in…

Göttingen and Heidelberg Universities will in future offer a joint Master's degree in the interdisciplinary programme "Matter to Life". Göttingen University President Professor Metin Tolan and the Rector of Heidelberg University, Professor Bernhard Eitel, signed an agreement to this effect yesterday in Göttingen. This kind of programme and degree are unique in Germany. Built on the approach of the Max Planck School (MPS) of the same name, from…