What is the value of nature?

Nearly a quarter of the land area on Earth is covered by permanently frozen ground thawing only in summer and only on the surface. Permafrost is most prevalent in Russia and in Central Northern Siberia the ground can be frozen up to 1,500 metres in depth. Permafrost stores enormous amounts of methane, which are released when the ground thaws and...more

Helmholtz researchers from the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences have found out how the ice mass covering Antarctica has changed over time. They evaluated data from the gravity field satellite mission GRACE and looked at the two regions, which apparently are particularly susceptible to climate change: Large ice shelves on the Antarctic...more

The worldwide production of cement uses more than two percent of overall energy consumption and is responsible for over five percent of CO2 emissions. KIT researchers around Dr Peter Stemmermann have developed a more climate friendly cement. They have now received the German Material Efficiency Award (Deutscher Materialeffizienz-Preis) awarded by...more

Polar tornados or polar depressions could occur more rarely in the coming decades. In addition, the areas of origin of polar depressions could move further north in future. This was found out by scientists around Prof. Dr Hans von Storch and Dr Matthias Zahn from the Helmholtz Centre Geesthacht by using mathematical models and global atmospheric...more

Epithelial cells not only form the body's skin and mucous tissues but cover also all surfaces of the various organs, where they fulfil highly specialised tasks as a compound structure. Whether the tissue can fulfil its function depends also on how well and closely epithelial cells are interlinked. MDC scientists around Dr Max Werth, Katharina...more

There may be more pleasant appointments,but a colonoscopy can pay out for people as of 55 years of age. This is the conclusion Prof. Dr Hermann Brenner from the German Cancer Research Centre draws after evaluating with his team the nationwide data from the past eight years. Since 2003, around four million people between 55 and 84 years of age have...more

Metformin, a medication used for type 2 diabetes, could possibly also be effective in counteracting Alzheimer's disease. This was shown by scientists from the  German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), the University of Dundee and the Max-Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics. They found out, that the diabetes drug Metformin...more

Lymph nodes are the immune system's market squares: This is where cells exchange information as regards pathogens that have entered the body and where they prepare the defence. "What looks like a chaotic abundance of many thousands of cells from the outside, really is a highly structured process", says Prof. Dr Michael Meyer-Hermann....more

Sugar-roasted almonds, gingerbread hearts, roast goose: The Christmas season is also a season of indulging. One or two kilos may remain put after the holidays but how surplus weight affects the risk for diabetes and cardiovascular diseases also depends on where the fat settles: The so-called pear type with more fat around the hips is healthier...more

In order to further optimise the shape of trains, the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) has taken up operations of two new research facilities at the DLR site Göttingen. In this worldwide unique tunnel simulation facility, the DLR experts investigate the aerodynamics of high-speed trains, in particular during entry into a tunnel: In this event, the...more

3-D images are much sought after not only in cinema but also in science: HZB scientists around Dr Ingo Manke now for the first time managed to depict the differently magnetised fields inside magnetic materials in a threedimensional manner. For this, they scanned the probe with neutron radiation that is slightly diverted by magnetic fields,...more

In early November, heavy lead ions were for the first time successfully accelerated and collided in the LHC. The pre-accelerator for heavy ions was developed and built at the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research. GSI physicists are involved in the experiment ALICE, where reactions between heavy ions at high energy levels are measured. The...more

DESY's free-electron laser FLASH now produces wavelengths of 4.12 nanometres. In this wavelength range, soft X-ray radiation can penetrate water by several micrometres whereas carbon absorbs it to a large extent. This enables, for instance, images of biological objects within small droplets or pictures of cells with a resolution in the 10...more

Around 25 million Euro are being invested in building a highly modern nanoelectronics laboratory at the Research Centre Jülich. Materials, processes and structures in the nanometre range for the next generation of semiconductors for future chips are to be developed at this Helmholtz Nanoelectronic Facility (HNF). Using 9.8 million Euro funds from...more

News from the Beijing office: Chinese PhD Students: Germany on 2nd Rank Each year, China sends up to 6,000 young people abroad for their PhD degree via the China Scholarship Council Programme (CSC). Approximately 2,000 of these go to the USA, yet with around 550 students Germany is the second most favourite destination for young scientists,...more