When one imagines a swimmer, their image would probably be of either an Olympian performing the front-crawl, a Salmon fighting upstream, or a shark racing towards its prey. Most of us, however, would not consider Nature’s most common swimmers: single-celled organisms. For example: microalgae that swim towards light sources, or sperm cells that swim towards an ovum. For a physicist, cells are simply biochemical machines, which must obey…

Max Planck scientists Stefan Raunser (Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology) and Dirk Görlich (Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry) together with Mathias Gautel from King's College London, and Frank Schnorrer from the Developmental Biology Institute in Marseille, have been awarded one of the rare and highly endowed Synergy Grants from the European Research Council (ERC). Funds of 11 million Euros during the next six years will…

A few months before its launch, the final preparatory phase for the ESA space probe Solar Orbiter has begun. In the past few months, in the IABG laboratories in Ottobrunn, it has been shown that the probe can withstand the rigours of a multi-year research expedition to the sun. Now that all test have been successfully completed, the relocation to the US is imminent. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is supporting the mainly…

An international team of scientists led by the University of Goettingen has developed a new approach that enables researchers to more efficiently identify the genes that control plant traits. This method will enable plant breeders and scientists to develop more affordable, desirable, and sustainable plant varieties. The application will be most valuable for the fruit, vegetable and grain crops that not only end up on our dinner table, but are…

The balloon mission Sunrise, which aims a high-resolution telescope at the Sun from a flight altitude of more than 35 kilometers, is preparing for its next flight. The observatory is scheduled to embark on its third expedition in the summer of 2021. Preparatory work on the main mirror measuring one meter in diameter has already begun. At the Calar Alto Observatory in southern Spain, the mirror has now been coated with a new layer of aluminum.…

Stick and leaf insects are a diverse and strikingly bizarre group of insects with a world-wide distribution, which are more common in tropical and subtropical areas. They are famous for their impressively large body size, compared to other insects, and their remarkable ability to camouflage themselves as twigs, leaves or bark in order to hide from potential predators. A team of international researchers led by the University of Göttingen has now…

An international team of researchers with participation from the University of Göttingen has discovered the first large gas giant orbiting a small star. The planet was found orbiting the nearby red dwarf star GJ 3512. This discovery challenges scientists’ very understanding of how planets form: low-mass stars should have less available material to form planets. Moreover, this new gas giant is on an eccentric orbit, which suggests the presence of…

If global greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise unabated, the risk of extreme droughts simultaneously affecting central wheat-growing areas could increase three to fourfold by the end of the century. This is the conclusion of an international study involving the University of Göttingen. Even with a significant reduction in CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions, the scientists estimate the risk will double. The results were published in the…

Otto Lilienthal is considered to have been the very first aviator, but until now there had been no final proof that his designs were actually airworthy. Now, for the first time, there is video footage of flights performed by a historically accurate replica of the world's first biplane glider, which was designed by Otto Lilienthal. Markus Raffel, who works at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) in…

Proteins are essential for every living cell and responsible for many fundamental processes. In particular, they are required as bio-catalysts in metabolism and for signalling inside the cell and between cells. Many diseases come about as a result of failures in this communication, and the origins of signalling in proteins have been a source of great scientific debate. Now, for the first time, a team of researchers at the University of Göttingen…