An important milestone has been reached in the commissioning of the instrument PHI (Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager) on board ESA's Solar Orbiter spacecraft: comprehensive tests have shown that the instrument's hardware is working perfectly. Over the past few days and weeks, scientists and engineers from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) have successfully commissioned all of the telescope’s operating modes. PHI…

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization show that two microscopic non-equilibrium chemically active particles, such as enzymes or catalytically active colloids, can have a vast range of complex interactions reminiscent of human relationships, instead of just simple attraction and simple repulsion. Chemically active particles, such as enzymes or colloids, can propel in a liquid by converting chemical energy into…

The music scholar Professor Birgit Abels from the University of Göttingen has received a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). The ERC will fund the project "Sound Knowledge: Alternative Epistemologies of Music in the Western Pacific Island World" (SoundKnowledge) for the next five years with around two million euros. In this project, Abels and her team research music-making in the Western Pacific Island World as a very…

Snow, which accumulates in many mountainous regions in winter and melts in spring and summer, makes a significant contribution to the supply of irrigation water in many river basins. The observed change in the climate is affecting the amount and timing of snowmelt. In a global study, an interdisciplinary research team led by the Ohio State University and including agricultural scientists from the University of Göttingen has investigated how a…

The immune system of non-human primates is very similar to ours. They can often infect themselves with the same pathogens that infect us humans and show similar symptoms. This makes them an important model for research into disease-triggering mechanisms and the resulting development of new drugs and agents to combat serious diseases.  The great importance of the use of animals in research is particularly evident in view of the current corona…

Corona research in Lower Saxony will receive almost 10 million Euros from the supplementary budget of the state government in order to develop new therapies, vaccines and efficient diagnostic tests as soon as possible. Funding will primarily be given to projects that promise rapid feasibility and are of clinical importance. The German Primate Center, which is involved in the search for existing active substances for the treatment of Covid-19…

Der Corona Virus breitet sich in Niedersachsen weiter aus. Die Zahl der bestätigten Verdachtsfälle steigt an. Weltweit gibt es Engpässe bei der Versorgung mit persönlicher Schutzausrüstung – auch an der UMG. So sind kreative Lösungen für die Versorgung mit Schutzmasken gefragt und willkommen. Eine Idee dazu hatte die Poliklinik für Zahnärztliche Prothetik (Direktor: Prof. Dr. Ralf Bürgers) an der UMG: Ziel war es, in möglichst kurzer Zeit eine…

Die tiefgreifenden Einschränkungen im alltäglichen Leben zeigen offenbar die erhoffte Wirkung. Denn in Deutschland geben die täglichen Fallzahlen Grund zum Optimismus. Und einer Modellrechnung von Forschenden des Max-Planck-Instituts für Dynamik und Selbstorganisation ist das auf die Kontaktsperre zurückzuführen, die seit dem 22. März gilt. Der Simulation zufolge hat diese Maßnahme die gefürchtete exponentielle Ausbreitung von Covid-19 gebrochen.…

On its seven-year journey to Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun, the European-Japanese space probe BepiColombo will reach an important milestone on Good Friday, 10 April. By flying close to Earth, it will change its trajectory and progress deeper into the centre of the solar system. During the manoeuvre, some of the 16 scientific instruments will be switched on, including two to which the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS)…

The number of confirmed cases for the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 officially issued by countries and widely commented on by national and international media outlets dramatically understates the true number of infections, a recent report from the University of Göttingen suggests. Dr Christian Bommer and Professor Sebastian Vollmer from Göttingen University have used estimates of COVID-19 mortality and time until death from a recent study…