https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Berlin's newest panda twins have celebrated their first birthday with frozen vegetable treats and a candle made out of bamboo shoots. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-berlin-panda-twins-leni-lotti.html Plants & Animals Fri, 22 Aug 2025 10:40:01 EDT news675077985 At the Berlin synchrotron radiation source BESSY II, the largest magnetic anisotropy of a single molecule ever measured experimentally has been determined. The larger a molecule's anisotropy is, the better suited it is as a molecular nanomagnet. Such nanomagnets have a wide range of potential applications, for example, in energy-efficient data storage. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-synchrotron-largest-magnetic-anisotropy-molecule.html Condensed Matter Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:19:19 EST news654178756 Street art takes many forms, and the vibrant murals on the Berlin Wall both before and after its fall are expressions of people's opinions. But there was often secrecy around the processes for creating the paintings, which makes them hard to preserve. Now, researchers reporting in the Journal of the American Chemical Society have uncovered information about this historic site from paint chips by combining a handheld detector and artificial intelligence (AI) data analysis. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-uncovering-pigments-techniques-berlin-wall.html Analytical Chemistry Wed, 11 Dec 2024 11:22:04 EST news653138521 A study published in Nature Ecology and Evolution sheds light on the innovative practices of Central Europe's early cheese makers. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-archaeologists-ancient-cheese-makers-tree.html Archaeology Tue, 12 Nov 2024 15:08:57 EST news650646529 In most cases, antibiotics are a reliable form of protection against bacterial infections. They have saved billions of human lives since their introduction. This protection, however, is threatened by bacteria's resistance to classical antibiotics and by their aggressive pathogenicity. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-highlights-pathoblockers-future-alternative-antibiotics.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 16 May 2024 12:06:02 EDT news635079961 The traveling salesman problem is considered a prime example of a combinatorial optimization problem. Now a Berlin team led by theoretical physicist Prof. Dr. Jens Eisert of Freie Universität Berlin and HZB has shown that a certain class of such problems can actually be solved better and much faster with quantum computers than with conventional methods. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-quantum-combinatorial-optimization-problems-easily.html Quantum Physics Mon, 18 Mar 2024 14:49:03 EDT news629992141 Jason Dunlop, curator of Arachnida and Myriapoda at the Museum für Naturkunde, in Berlin, has identified a spider held at the museum for several years. In his paper published in the journal PalZ, he describes the features of the spider and also notes that it is the oldest spider fossil ever found in Germany. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-museum-curator-oldest-spider-fossil.html Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 07 Aug 2023 11:20:01 EDT news610624291 Between 1909 and 1913, the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin organized and financed the German Tendaguru Expedition (GTE) to southern Tanzania, at that time still the German colony of Deutsch-Ostafrika. With the participation of more than 500 local African excavation workers, a large number of porters, and two Berlin scientists, a total of more than 230 tons of fossil dinosaur material was taken to Berlin. https://phys.org/news/2023-02-contents-fossils-reconstructed-nondestructively.html Paleontology & Fossils Thu, 16 Feb 2023 09:15:02 EST news595761301 Berlin has enough space for urban gardening, and up to 82 percent of Berlin's vegetable consumption could be produced locally, a new study finds. "The amount of vegetables represents a significant share of the annual consumption," highlights Diego Rybski, an external faculty member from the Complexity Science Hub and a co-author of the paper that will appear in the April issue of Sustainable Cities and Society journal. https://phys.org/news/2023-01-berlin-fresh-vegetables-locally.html Ecology Tue, 24 Jan 2023 15:47:02 EST news593797621 The Berlin Zoo shut its doors to visitors Friday after one of its aquatic birds tested positive for avian flu, the facility said. https://phys.org/news/2022-11-berlin-zoo-door-visitors-bird.html Veterinary medicine Fri, 18 Nov 2022 10:50:36 EST news587991034 Summer is the ozone season: The harmful gas forms at ground level on hot, sunny days. In recent years, however, the rise in ozone levels over the summer months has not been as pronounced in Germany as it was previously. According to a new study, this is primarily due to a reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions. This trend can be observed across Germany's southwestern regions in particular, while Berlin lags behind. https://phys.org/news/2021-04-ozone-pollution-germany-falls-nitrogen.html Environment Mon, 26 Apr 2021 11:04:00 EDT news538653837 Researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW) and the Luxembourg National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) analyzed genetic material of red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) inhabiting Berlin and its surroundings. They identified two genetically distinct, adjacent "urban" and "rural" fox populations and revealed that physical barriers such as rivers or man-made structures reduce the exchange between these populations but also differences in human activity in these landscapes play a major role. The researchers suggest that avoidance of sites of human activity may drive foxes into costly trade-offs as they prefer to disperse along potentially dangerous transportation infrastructures. The study was recently published in the scientific journal Molecular Ecology. https://phys.org/news/2020-03-genetics-reveal-behavioral-physical-barriers.html Plants & Animals Thu, 05 Mar 2020 10:11:54 EST news502625511 Two panda cubs born at Berlin Zoo last year charmed local media on Wednesday, a day before their debut in front of the general public. https://phys.org/news/2020-01-berlin-panda-twins-ready-debut.html Plants & Animals Wed, 29 Jan 2020 16:10:05 EST news499536205 The cuteness level at Berlin Zoo doubled on Monday when a pair of twin panda cubs made their public debut, with the zoo revealing the cuddly bundles of fur were both boys. https://phys.org/news/2019-12-boy-twin-male-pandas-charm.html Plants & Animals Mon, 09 Dec 2019 07:21:56 EST news495098513 Berlin zoo said Monday its resident panda Meng Meng had delivered twins, as it voiced delight at the first such births in the country. https://phys.org/news/2019-09-berlin-zoo-rare-birth-panda.html Plants & Animals Mon, 02 Sep 2019 04:35:42 EDT news486617738 Birds tweet and shears snip as one of Berlin's many urban gardeners tends her city centre allotment, but behind the tranquil scene a battle is raging over the real estate. https://phys.org/news/2019-06-berlin-allotment-holders-property.html Environment Fri, 28 Jun 2019 02:06:20 EDT news480906374 Sarah Darwin, the great-great granddaughter of British biologist Charles Darwin, was sleepless in Berlin when, to her "enormous surprise", she heard a nightingale warbling merrily outside her window. https://phys.org/news/2019-05-sleepless-berlin-nightingales-flock-scruffy.html Ecology Fri, 24 May 2019 03:00:01 EDT news477885002 A German price-comparison platform says it has filed suit against Alphabet Inc.'s Google search business, saying that Google has abused its dominant position by favoring its own price-comparison service in search results. https://phys.org/news/2019-04-german-price-platform-sues-google.html Business Fri, 12 Apr 2019 11:00:01 EDT news474285113 Germany's powerful BDI industry federation Thursday urged Berlin to trim its ambitions for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, saying the goal of close to zero by 2050 is unrealistic. https://phys.org/news/2019-04-german-industry-urges-berlin-scale.html Environment Thu, 04 Apr 2019 09:30:04 EDT news473587977 Berlin's latest zoo celebrity, a fluffy polar bear cub, has been named "Hertha" after the capital's football club, it was announced Tuesday. https://phys.org/news/2019-04-berlin-born-polar-cub-football-club.html Plants & Animals Wed, 03 Apr 2019 03:44:55 EDT news473481889 Campaigners in a bohemian district of Berlin celebrated Wednesday after Internet giant Google abandoned strongly-opposed plans to open a large campus there. https://phys.org/news/2018-10-google-abandons-berlin-office-hub.html Business Wed, 24 Oct 2018 16:40:01 EDT news459617402 A large forest fire raging 50 kilometres (30 miles) southwest of Berlin continued to spread early Friday after hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes. https://phys.org/news/2018-08-raging-forest-german-villages.html Environment Fri, 24 Aug 2018 12:24:57 EDT news454332289 The terrorist who killed 12 people and injured dozens more in the 2016 Berlin Christmas Market attack was removed from the country's surveillance list a month earlier, but he presented five specific warning behaviors prior to the attack according to later analysis. How a better awareness of these warning signs and an understanding of the perpetrator's history of radicalization might help improve future risk and threat assessment is the focus of the article "'Jihad Against the Enemies of Allah': The Berlin Christmas Market Attack from a Threat Assessment Perspective," published in Violence and Gender. https://phys.org/news/2017-09-lone-terrorist.html Social Sciences Wed, 13 Sep 2017 13:20:31 EDT news424527419 Chinese electronics giant Huawei on Saturday unveiled its first mobile personal assistant with artificial intelligence in Berlin, in hopes it will rival the dominance of Samsung's Bixby and Apple's Siri. https://phys.org/news/2017-09-china-huawei-unveils-mobile-ai.html Consumer & Gadgets Sat, 02 Sep 2017 13:35:56 EDT news423578145 Two long-awaited giant pandas from China will arrive in Germany in two weeks time, with Berlin rolling out the red carpet for the furry ambassadors' arrival. https://phys.org/news/2017-06-germany-giant-pandas.html Plants & Animals Tue, 13 Jun 2017 09:59:47 EDT news416566777 Different than expected, wild boars do not come to Berlin in order to use garbage or other anthropogenic food resources. In fact, also in the city they predominantly consume natural resources. This is the surprising result of a study conducted by the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW), financially supported by National Geographic and the "Stiftung Naturschutz Berlin". The researchers analysed the stomachs of 247 wild boars from Berlin and the surrounding countryside. The results have been published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE. https://phys.org/news/2017-04-urban-wild-boars-natural-food.html Ecology Thu, 13 Apr 2017 09:20:01 EDT news411291429 Archaeologists in Berlin have unearthed a large number of human bones from a site close to where Nazi scientists carried out research on body parts of death camp victims sent to them by sadistic SS doctor Josef Mengele. https://phys.org/news/2016-09-human-bones-nazi-site-berlin.html Archaeology Thu, 01 Sep 2016 06:44:12 EDT news391931044 When Cornelia Yzer woke to the news that Britain had voted to leave the European Union her initial reaction was disappointed. As an anglophile she was saddened by the thought of Britain leaving the club. https://phys.org/news/2016-07-berlin-aims-lure-british-startups.html Business Tue, 05 Jul 2016 13:00:01 EDT news386941625 Nokia Security Center Berlin, powered by Nokia Threat Intelligence Lab, today released research findings showing that in the mobile networks, smartphones pulled ahead of Windows-based computers and laptops, now accounting for 60% of the malware activity observed in the mobile space. The Nokia Threat Intelligence Report also reveals an increase in iOS-based malware, growing sophistication of Android malware and the rising threat of mobile ransomware. https://phys.org/news/2016-03-nokia-malware-smartphones-account-infections.html Software Wed, 02 Mar 2016 09:04:34 EST news376131859 Oscar winner Alex Gibney said Wednesday he hopes his new documentary "Zero Days" exposing the secret scope of the US cyber warfare programme will "rattle some cages" to trigger a debate about a global IT arms race. https://phys.org/news/2016-02-major-cyberattack-iran-berlin-fest.html Security Wed, 17 Feb 2016 13:20:27 EST news374937614