The more plant species live in grasslands and forests, the more insect species find a habitat there. However, the presence of more plant species does not only increase insect species richness, ie the number of species, but also insect abundance, ie the number of individuals. Simultaneously, animal diversity is not only determined by plant diversity, but also by the physical structure of the plant communities. These are the results of an…

An international team, including researchers from the University of Göttingen, argues in a perspective article recently published in “Science” that new plant breeding technologies can contribute significantly to food security and sustainable development. Genome editing techniques in particular, such as CRISPR/Cas, could help to make agriculture more productive and environmentally friendly. The researchers advocate the responsible use and support…

Most of Saturn's 62 moons orbit their giant planet at a great distance outside the main rings. Only slightly more than a handful of small, irregularly shaped bodies, so-called ring moons, are an exception. In the final months of NASA's Cassini mission, the space probe was able to take the most accurate look yet at five of these bizarre, partly ravioli-shaped bodies and the space environment to which they are exposed. The results of these…

How can communities living together in rural areas be developed to ensure that they continue to exist and thrive? Much emphasis has been placed on innovation within urban areas. However, new research shows that rural communities can also play a pivotal role in generating solutions for sustainability.  Using the village of Heckenbeck in southern Lower Saxony as an example, researchers from the University of Göttingen investigated what these…

The Functional Imaging Laboratory was established in July 2015 with the appointment of Susann Boretius to the W3 professorship "Functional Imaging" at the University of Göttingen. Almost four years later, on 11 March 2019, the Scientific Advisory Board of the DPZ, consisting of external members, assessed the new department for the first time - and was highly impressed. When Susann Boretius came to the DPZ in the summer of 2015, the imaging…

Forces that are exerted by a living cell or a microorganism are tiny and often not larger than a few nanonewtons. For comparison, one nanonewton is the weight of one part in a billion of a typical chocolate bar. Yet, for biological cells and microbes, these forces are enough to allow cells to stick to a surface or microbes to propel themselves towards nutrients. Scientists from Finland and Germany now present a highly adaptable technique, called…

The agricultural scientist Professor Matin Qaim from the University of Göttingen was recently elected Fellow of the American Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA). The fellowship is the highest US American recognition in agricultural economics for outstanding and continuous scientific achievements. The AAEA has been honouring fellows since 1957. Qaim is the first German agricultural economist to receive this award. The AAEA honours…

Three innovative 20-metre-long rotor blades that were developed within the context of the SmartBlades2 project will be assessed under natural weather and wind conditions in Boulder, Colorado (USA) over the next four months. For this purpose, the rotor blades, which were designed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy Systems (IWES) and built by the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR), have been…

The Göttingen scientists Professor Ayelet Shachar from the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity and Dr Melina Schuh from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry have been awarded the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize 2019 - the most important research award in Germany. We congratulate them on this great success. More information

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is the most common hereditary neuropathy and affects more than two million people worldwide. Researchers at the Max-Planck-Institute for Experimental Medicine and the University Medical Center of Göttingen now hope to use lecithin, a harmless dietary supplement to treat the incurable illness. In Germany alone, at least 30,000 people suffer from Charcot-Marie-Tooth neuropathy, which belongs to the class of rare…