Research News
670 Tonnes to Treat Cancer
Gantry Radiation Therapy: The patient lies under a radiation delivery apparatus, which is set to precise specifications by a computer controlled robot. Photo: Universitätsklinikum HeidelbergIt is 25 metres long, 13 metres wide and three storeys high: the University Hospital Heidelberg's new ion radiation control device (Gantry) at the Heidelberger Ionenstrahl-Therapiezentrum (HIT - Heidelberg Ion Radiation Therapy Centre). The combination of proton and heavy ion radiation, developed by the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research, is unique in the world and, moreover, it is the world's largest rotating particle radiation control device. For the first time ever, it allows for...more
Earthquake Research: No Forecast, but Knowledge of Threat
The conviction of Italian seismologists in consequence of the L'Aquila earthquake once again highlighted the fact that earthquakes cannot be predicted. Yet why should this be so, what with plate tectonics providing such an excellent and well-established concept for explaining the processes on and within our planet?more
What Fathers Contribute
Strengthening the immune system prior to birth no longer is a matter involving only mothers: For the first time, on the model of the broadnosed pipefish, researchers from the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, have demonstrated that fathers, too, have an influence on the immune system of their offspring. In vertebrates, the mother...more
Calcium Pump Booster
Using the X-ray source DORIS at the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, a research team has discovered that, in the event of high levels of calcium, the calcium pumps in our body cells switch on a booster. The results have been published in the esteemed journal "Nature". Calcium is an important control signal for numerous processes...more
Helmholtz international - Nov 2012
The Brussels Helmholtz Office reports on possible cuts in EU research funding and on the first anniversary of "Science Europe", an organisation to represent research in europe. Furthermore there are reinforced cooperations between european and chinese universities. Also European X-Ray Laser Project XFEL representatives at the Deutsches...more
