Demand for mycorrhizal fungi in gardening and landscaping tasks is steadily climbing, given its ability to boost growth and yield as a natural fertilizer. In a successful first, scientists from the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry (IPB), partnered the INOQ GmbH and the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK) to develop a mycorrhiza substrate for commercial tomato production. Large-scale trials revealed that the fruit crop of mycorrhizal plants outperformed non-mycorrhizal control plants in terms of quality…
Trees and other plants release isoprene into the atmosphere. Oxidation processes result in compounds that are harmful to plants. Researchers at the University of Innsbruck have now uncovered a mechanism by which plants protect themselves from these compounds, and have thus discovered an important biogenic source of oxidized volatile organic compounds in the atmosphere. Plants release large quantities of the hydrocarbon isoprene into the atmosphere, about 600 million metric tons per year, half of which comes from tropical forests. This…
The goal of the TreeSatAI project is the development of artificial intelligence methods for the monitoring of forests and tree populations at local, regional and global level. The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Using freely accessible geodata from different sources (remote sensing data, administrative information, social media, mobile apps, monitoring libraries, open image databases) prototypes for deep learning based extraction and classification of tree and stand features for four different use cases…
Turbulence is an omnipresent phenomenon – and one of the great mysteries of physics. A research team from the University of Oldenburg has now succeeded in generating realistic storm turbulence in the wind tunnel of the Center for Wind Energy Research (ForWind). Strong storms often seem to leave behind random destruction: While the roof tiles of one house are blown away, the neighboring property may not be damaged at all. What causes these differences are wind gusts – or, as…
Five DFG-funded research centers harness international research synergies and foster the development of early career researchers. The “Research Network for Advancing Architecture, Engineering and Construction” (AdvanceAEC) brings together international researchers who strive to advance architecture, engineering and construction through digital technologies and an interdisciplinary approach. It aims to address the multifaceted ecological, economic and socio-cultural challenges the built environment is facing. Involved on the part of the University of Stuttgart are the Cluster of Excellence EXC 2120 (Integrative Computational Design…
Are you affected by your neighbours? So are nanoparticles in catalysts. New research from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, published in the journals Science Advances and Nature Communications, reveals how the nearest neighbours determine how well nanoparticles work in a catalyst. “The long-term goal of the research is to be able to identify ‘super-particles’, to contribute to more efficient catalysts in the future. To utilise the resources better than today, we also want as many particles as possible to be…
A team of researchers from Empa and Imperial College London developed drones that can attach sensors to trees to monitor environmental and ecological changes in forests. Sensors for forest monitoring are already used to track changes in temperature, humidity and light, as well as the movements of animals and insects through their habitats. They also help to detect and monitor forest fires and can provide valuable data on how climate change and other human activities are affecting the natural world….
A two-volume atlas presents and explains the impact sites of meteorites and asteroids worldwide Prof. Dr. Thomas Kenkmann, geologist from the University of Freiburg’s Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, together with mineralogist Prof. Dr. Wolf Uwe Reimold from the University of Brasilia, Brazil, and Dr. Manfred Gottwald from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) published an atlas providing a comprehensive overview of all known impact craters on every continent. The authors present the more than 200 terrestrial impact sites in…
Heidelberg scientists study glacial lake outburst flood in the Himalaya Researchers from the South Asia Institute and the Heidelberg Center for the Environment of Ruperto Carola investigated the causes of a glacial lake outburst with subsequent flooding in the Ladakh region of India. In order to frame the case study in a larger picture, the research team led by geographer Prof. Dr Marcus Nüsser used satellite images to create a comprehensive survey of glacial lakes for the entire Trans-Himalyan region…
Max Planck Innovation licenses process for the generation of organ-like tissue aggregates to biotech company StemoniX ***Sometimes hundreds of thousands of potential therapeutics need to be tested in large-scale, fully automated experiments to identify a single effective drug. Most compounds do not work as desired, and some are even toxic. Since the development of the induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) Cell technology in 2006, researchers have been able to produce stem cells from skin biopsies and blood samples. To approach physiological…
A porous organic material created at KAUST could significantly improve energy storage and delivery by supercapacitors, which are devices that are able to deliver quick and powerful bursts of energy. Supercapacitors use technology that is significantly different from the reversible chemical reactions used in rechargeable batteries. They store electrical energy by building up a separation of positive and electric charge and this ability enables them to supply quick bursts of energy needed, for example, to power the acceleration of electric…
Immune response: memory T cells are formed earlier than previously thought. For a person to acquire immunity to a disease, T cells must develop into memory cells after contact with the pathogen. Until now, the number of cells that do this was believed to depend above all on the magnitude of the initial immune response. A team of researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has now called this into question. When a virus enters the body, it is…
Can tomorrow’s energy supply be freed of CO2 Fraunhofer researchers want to answer that question with a consortium of partners in ZO.RRO, a joint project underway in the German state of Thuringia. They are developing a complex IT ecosystem to facilitate the systemic exit from fossil fuels – a package of IT solutions designed to slash greenhouse gas emissions. This research venture centers on system services, which account for up to 20 percent of CO2 emissins. Germany is off to…
Coral reefs under high levels of human influence react unpredictably to environmental stress. This was discovered by an international team of reef researchers led by the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) using a comprehensive data set of over 60 reef sites in the South Pacific. This finding is of fundamental importance for the conservation and management of coral reefs. Physical stress factors associated with climate change, such as frequent and violent storms or warming of the oceans, can…
A research team from Vetmeduni Vienna proved for the first time that the fitness costs of insecticide resistance mutations of the ACE locus is significantly influenced by ambient temperature: at higher temperature the fitness costs of the resistance mutations are substantially lower than in cold environments. Such temperature-dependent fitness effects are important for insecticide resistance management strategies-in particular in the light of the current climate change. Many insects, especially mosquitoes, are a widespread plague and therefore insecticides are widely used…
A hybrid implant coating made from antibacterial silver and an antibiotic will protect patients from infection in the future. The antibiotic is tailored to the patient’s unique requirements for even better protection. The AntiSelectInfekt project came about in collaboration with a research team from Charité-Universtitätsmedizin Berlin. Anyone who now receives an artificial knee, shoulder or hip joint at the hospital can expect the best-possible treatment and cutting-edge medicine. But implantation is not without its risks. On average, 1 to 2…
Feedback
