Press Releases

New Sorghum Variety Developed at KIT Shows Increased Sugar Accumulation and Can be Used for Energy and Materials Production – Scientists Report in Industrial Crops & Products

Using small-angle scattering at the PTB X-ray beamline of BESSY II, an HZB team was able to experimentally investigate the colloidal chemistry of perovskite precursor solutions used for solar cell production. The results contribute to the targeted and systematic optimization of the manufacturing process and quality of these exciting semiconductor materials.

KIT Researchers Develop Autonomous Electric Bus System for Public Transport in Munich in Cooperation with SWM (Munich City Utilities) and Vehicle Manufacturer EBUSCO

Researchers at the MDC, the BIH and Charité have developed methods for performing comprehensive analyses of fixed tumor tissue samples. These analyses make it possible to shed new light on the clinical course of various cancer types, as the team reports in Nature Communications.

In addition to experimentally generated data, fundamental research in physics also works with synthetically generated data. Acquisition of such data with currently available simulation methods is, however, time consuming and ties up immense computer capacity. A new project by the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY, Hamburg), the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and the Center for Advanced Systems Understanding (CASUS, Görlitz) at the HZDR, is testing an approach with which data on physical systems behavior can be generated more quickly using neural networks. The “SynRap” project was selected for funding through a competitive process. The fifteen winning teams are to receive a total of 6.2 million euros over the next few years to carry out their projects through the Helmholtz Association’s Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Unit Helmholtz AI.

At KIT, Talents from the Southwest Region of Germany Present their Inventive Concepts to Qualify for the International Finals in Berlin

Researchers have succeeded for the first time in demonstrating the role of hypothalamic astrocytes in obesity-related hypertension. In addition, they showed that the hormone leptin is involved in the increase of blood vessels in the hypothalamus of obese mice, contributing of hypertension. Helmholtz Zentrum München led the study and collaborated with Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, the Technical University of Munich and the German Diabetes Center.

Pesticides safeguard agricultural yields by controlling harmful insects, fungi, and weeds. However, they also enter neighbouring streams and damage the aquatic communities, which are crucial for maintaining biodiversity, are part of the food web and support the self-purification of water. In a nationwide monitoring programme, a consortium of scientists led by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) has shown that the governmental thresholds for pesticides are generally too high and that even these excessively high levels are still exceeded in over 80% of water bodies. As they published in the scientific journal Water Research the loss of biodiversity can only be halted if the environmental risk assessment of pesticides is radically revised.  

ESA Has Selected Four Candidates for a New Earth Observation Satellite – KIT’s Proposal Focuses on Changes in the Earth's Atmosphere

Diverse messenger RNAs are produced in cells by “alternative splicing.” The Leducq Foundation is now supporting a transatlantic network dedicated to investigating this process in heart muscle cells and how changes in this process contribute to disease. Professor Michael Gotthardt of the MDC and Professor Leslie Leinwand of the University of Colorado Boulder are coordinating the project.