Over 80,000 years ago, Neanderthals were already feeding themselves regularly on mussels, fish and other marine life. The first robust evidence of this has been found by an international research team with the participation of the University of Göttingen during an excavation in the cave of Figueira Brava in Portugal. Dr Dirk Hoffmann at the Göttingen Isotope Geology Department dated flowstone layers - calcite deposits that form like stalagmites…

Viruses must enter cells of the human body to cause disease. For this, they attach to suitable cells and inject their genetic information into these cells. Infection biologists from the German Primate Center - Leibniz Institute for Primate Research in Göttingen, together with colleagues at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, have investigated how the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 penetrates cells. They have identified a cellular enzyme that is…

In light of the rapidly increasing number of known coronavirus infections in Germany and Europe, scientists across the Göttingen Campus have expressed serious concerns. This is due to the latest estimate of the number of cases expected in the coming weeks and the number of intensive care beds available in Germany. Although the measures taken by the Federal Government and the individual states to limit the increase are restrictive, the researchers…

Egyptian blue is one of the oldest manmade colour pigments. It adorns, for instance, the crown of the world famous bust of Nefertiti. But the pigment can do even more. An international research team led by Dr Sebastian Kruss from the Institute of Physical Chemistry at the University of Göttingen has produced a new nanomaterial based on the Egyptian blue pigment, which is ideally suited for applications in imaging using near infrared spectroscopy…

An international team of geologists has found evidence that a large proportion of the elements that are important for the formation of oceans and life - such as water, carbon and nitrogen - only arrived on the planet Earth relatively recently in its history. This goes against the common notion that these elements were already present right at the beginning of the Earth's evolution. In fact, most of the water only found its way to our planet by…

No other infectious disease kills more people than tuberculosis. It is caused by mycobacteria, which mainly attack the lungs but can also affect almost any other organ. To fight the pathogens, the fatty acid factory of the bacteria is an important starting point. The fatty acid synthase (FAS) is considered one of the most complex cellular machines. But how it is controlled remains a mystery to scientists even after 50 years of intensive research.…

Different stars can exhibit very different levels of activity. The Sun’s coronal mass ejections, flares and sunspots – all signs of solar activity – are rather feeble on an astronomical scale. Other stars are up to ten times more active, for example sporting huge starspots that cover a large portion of their disc. While researchers have long identified the magnetic fields generated in the interior of stars in a dynamo process as drivers of…

The increase in diet-related illness has led to a high burden of costs for society. However, German policymakers, in comparison with their international counterparts, have so far been reluctant to make political interventions that support healthy eating habits among its citizens. The concern is that serious interventions, such as imposing taxes or even bans, will be unpopular. Researchers at the University of Göttingen have now shown, in fact,…

In the past, there has been much excitement over research that purported to show a link between changes in a woman’s cycle and how attracted she was to men behaving in different ways. However, research at the University of Göttingen using the largest sample size to date questions these results. The new research showed that shifts in women’s cycles did not affect their preferences for men’s behaviour. The researchers found, however, that when…

Groundwater is the largest source of freshwater, one of the world’s most precious natural resources and vital for crops and drinking water. It is found under our very feet in the cracks and pores in soil, sediments and rocks. Now an international research team led by the University of Göttingen has developed the first global computer model of groundwater flow into the world’s oceans. Their analysis shows that 20% of the world’s sensitive coastal…