On these pages you will find a selection of research news from the Leibniz Institutes.

  1. Like the earthworm
    11/21/2018 · INM-Leibniz Institute for New Materials

    Due to a dirt-repellent, lubricating layer earthworms are always clean. Inspired by this, researchers developed a friction-reducing material that might be applicable in industry or biomedicine.

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  2. New era for gene banks
    11/14/2018 · Leibniz Insitute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research

    In the past, practical applications of gene banks in breeding were limited. Now, researchers have characterised at the molecular level a collection of barley comprising more than 22.000 seed samples.

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  3. Arctic warming effect on jet stream
    11/02/2018 · Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research

    While the connection between stalling atmospheric waves and extreme weather events has been demonstrated by previous studies, researchers now found two crucial conditions that favor a slow jet stream.

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  4. Drained peatlands
    11/01/2018 · Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries

    Peatlands are the most efficient carbon sinks of terrestrial ecosystems. However, around one per cent of all bogs worldwide are lost each year. Researchers now concern measures of rewetting.

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  5. US Tech Companies Devour Smaller Rivals
    10/30/2018 · Centre for European Economic Research

    In the past decade, the US tech giants Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon bought a total of 313 companies. Economic researchers now give warning of the harm they do to the competition.

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  6. The picture shows a Rhodiola.

    Rhodiola improves memory
    10/26/2018 · IPB | LIN

    So far, no drugs are known to prevent age-related memory loss. A study now proves the memory-enhancing effect of a plant ester as an active ingredient from the medicinal plant Rhodiola rosea.

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  7. "Rocket" collects microplastics
    10/22/2018 · Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde

    Microplastics are omnipresent in the environment but at the same time difficult to record. Now, researchers have developed a novel device that collects very small particles without contamination.

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  8. Can old injured nerves regenerate?
    10/19/2018 · Leibniz Institute on Aging - Fritz Lipmann Institute

    The regenerative capacity of the nervous system declines during aging. Researchers found that a disturbed immune response leading to chronic inflammation is significantly involved in this.

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  9. Future Data Storage Technology
    10/18/2018 · Max-Born-Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy

    Magnetic stray fields cause problems when trying to generate particularly tiny bits. An invisibility cloak put over the structures could help to increase the information density of hard disk drives.

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  10. The picture shows a wheat field.

    Too hot or too dry?
    10/17/2018 · Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research

    The summer of 2018 saw losses in arable crops of up to 50 percent in some regions of Germany. As such weather extremes are likely to increase, adapting agriculture to climate change is crucial.

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  11. Fish undisturbed by flash photography
    10/16/2018 · Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries

    Fish experience stress, as do humans. Directors of display aquariums are anxious that flash lights may disturb the fish. The good news: you need not worry about taking snapshots of the Ram cichlid.

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  12. Why it doesn’t get dark when you blink
    09/25/2018 · German Primate Center

    Even though we constantly blink and move our head and eyes, we still see our world as a stable whole. How does the brain put together the visual information to form a conclusive image?

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  13. Solid material, mobile particles
    09/25/2018 · INM – Leibniz Institute for New Materials

    A newly developed material can “answer” temperature changes or, in the future, the presence of chemical substances and toxins with a color change.

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  14. Self-medicating lemurs
    08/09/2018 · German Primate Center – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research

    Researchers observe that red-fronted lemurs may chew on millipedes to rid themselves of intestinal parasites. They eat the millipedes because they secrete benzoquinone, a substance that is also known to repel mosquitoes.

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  15. Fairness pays off
    08/07/2018 · Halle Institute for Economic Research

    Employees become less productive even if it is their colleagues who are treated unfairly and not them. This was demonstrated in a behavioural economic experiment with 195 subjects.

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  16. The invisible made visible
    07/27/2018 · Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam

    Observations with X-ray satellites open a window to regions of the Universe that are invisible to human eyes. The first catalogue of X-ray sources in overlapping observations has now been published.

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  17. The picture shows a bookshelf.

    Predatory publishers harm academia
    07/25/2018 ·

    Predatory publishers that only simulate academic quality-assurance procedures harm the credibility of academia, which must develop greater awareness of this kind of business model.

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  18. Neptune's clouds
    07/19/2018 · Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam

    The atmosphere impairs the astronomical images. A technology used for the first time suppresses the blurred effects of the atmosphere and produces very sharp images of the universe.

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  19. Flipping the switch
    07/18/2018 · Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research

    Carbon pricing could make financial resources available for succeeding with the global Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations. At the same time, it could be a central contribution to meet global climate targets.

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  20. Big eyes but diminished brain power
    07/18/2018 · Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre

    Night-time activity makes its mark on fish brains: Despite having massive eyes, nocturnal fish have less brain tissue devoted to processing visual stimuli.

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