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Research arises from curiosity. From time immemorial, human beings want to know about the meaning of the world around them and the laws governing it. Perhaps scientists are simply particularly curious humans. It is a pity that they sometimes struggle to tell others about what their work is about. Increasing numbers of science organisations agree...more

Party time at the northernmost research site in the world: On 26 April, the Arctic station AWIPEV on Spitsbergen celebrated the ten-year anniversary of the German-French co-operation between the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) and the Institut Polaire Paul Emile Victor (IPEV). The celebrations were...more

Six Helmholtz Association centres are involved in planning the three large-scale research projects the implementation of which was rated as particularly urgent by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) upon recommendation by the German Council of Science and Humanities. After their acceptance into the "Roadmap for Research...more

Rare metals are used in many hightech products such as mobile phones. Since only small amounts are required while at the same time being of particular importance, these are called also strategic metals. Their reclamation from discarded products is often quite difficult. They are well hidden and their extraction requires a lot of effort. The...more

These days, a given disease is usually treated with a standard method; for example, tumours are treated either with radiotherapy or chemotherapy. However, the same disease tends to manifest itself differently in each individual and everyone reacts differently to a given form of treatment. The reasons for this lie in the genetic material, the...more