News from the Göttingen Campus

International researchers demand the active protection and support of diversity, equity and inclusion in science
In the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists are facing great challenges because they have to reorient, interrupt or even cancel research and teaching. A team of international scientists with participation from the University of Göttingen published an international appeal which highlights the precarious situation of many scientists and calls for a collective effort by the entire scientific community, especially those in leadership…
The first map of rockfalls on the Moon shows 136,610 events - and indicates that the oldest lunar landscapes are still evolving.
Individual boulders on steep slopes and cliffs can slide, roll, and bounce into the valley below, a process known as rockfall. This happens with boulders on Earth – and on the Moon. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany and ETH Zurich have analyzed an archive of more than two million images of the lunar surface and present the first global map of rockfalls on the Moon in today’s edition of Nature…
Ein elektronisches Frühwarnsystem soll helfen Infektionen in Krankenhäusern früh zu erkennen und Übertragungswege von SARS-CoV-2 aufzuspüren. UMG-Forscherteam im HiGHmed-Konsortium beteiligt an der Entwicklung der neuen Software SmICS.
Im Kampf gegen das neue Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 setzt die Universitätsmedizin Göttingen (UMG) auf einen elektronischen Helfer: Über das Computer-basierte Frühwarnsystem SmICS lassen sich Infektionen, Verdachtsfälle und mögliche Übertragungswege im Klinikbetrieb aufspüren und so frühzeitig eindämmen. Die von Forscher*innen an der UMG mitentwickelte Software wird seit Mitte Mai 2020 im Rahmen einer ersten Pilotphase eingesetzt. Bundesweit ist das…
The star Kepler-160 and its companion KOI-456.04 are more reminiscent of the Sun-Earth system than any previously known exoplanet-star pair
The star Kepler-160 is probably orbited by a planet less than twice the size of the Earth with a star-planet distance that could permit planetary surface temperatures conducive to life. The newly discovered exoplanet, which was found by a team of scientists led by the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Göttingen is more than just another potentially habitable world. One of the key properties making it resemble the Sun-Earth…
Research team led by the University of Göttingen succeeds in coupling free electrons to optical resonators
When you speak softly in one of the galleries of St Paul’s cathedral, the sound runs so easily around the dome that visitors anywhere on its circumference can hear it. This striking phenomenon has been termed the ‘whispering gallery’ effect, and variants of it appear in many scenarios where a wave can travel nearly perfectly around a structure. Researchers from the University of Göttingen have now harnessed the effect to control the beam of an…
Latest scientific findings give hope for people with incurable retinal degeneration
Humans rely dominantly on their eyesight. Losing vision means not being able to read, recognize faces or find objects. Macular degeneration is one of the major reasons for visual impairment, round the globe, close to 200 million people are affected. Photoreceptors in the retina are responsible to capture the light coming from the environment through the eye. Diseased photoreceptors lose their sensitivity to light, which can lead to impaired…
Modes of transport such as planes and trains underpin mass mobility in the modern age. However, they are also suspected of facilitating the spread of the Coronavirus. But how do virus particles actually spread within passenger compartments? And how is this affected by ventilation? This is currently under investigation at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR). The findings may help to better understand the challenges facing mobility during the COVID-19 pandemic and thus contribute towards finding solutions.
Modes of transport such as planes and trains underpin mass mobility in the modern age. However, they are also suspected of facilitating the spread of the Coronavirus. But how do virus particles actually spread within passenger compartments? And how is this affected by ventilation? This is currently under investigation at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR). The findings may help to better understand the…
Artificial intelligence reveals mechanism for kin selection in a wild primate
More like mom or dad? Human babies always get this curious look in their face combined with the question whom the child resembles most. The answers vary depending on the degree of kinship, gender and the time of assessment. Mandrills, monkeys living in Equatorial Africa, may recognize facial features coding relatedness better than humans. Scientists at the German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research in Göttingen, together with…
Researchers at the University of Göttingen see risk to corporate development
The financial crisis has caused discussions on the appropriateness of executive compensation. As a result, there have been initiatives in many countries to insert “clawback provisions” into executive contracts. The intention is to prevent behaviour by board members that is oriented towards short-term goals by allowing companies to recoup compensation already paid out to executives under certain conditions. However, researchers at the University…
Together with his team, Stefan H. E. Kaufmann has advanced the development of a new vaccine against tuberculosis, which could also serve as an interim solution for Covid-19. The infection biologist will continue his research with an emeritus group in Göttingen.
Kaufmann has been researching the pathogens of epidemics such as AIDS, SARS, MERS, and tuberculosis throughout his whole scientific career. For four decades, the tubercle bacillus has been a particular focus of the Max Planck researcher. No other infectious disease kills more people: Last year 10 million people worldwide newly developed tuberculosis disease, and 1.5 million people died from it. It is caused by mycobacteria, which mainly attack…