https://phys.org/ en-us Latest news from Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg Households with high incomes are the main beneficiaries of subsidy programs supporting the clean energy transition. A team of researchers from the University of Freiburg, Stanford University, Indiana University and the University of Pennsylvania has analyzed why this is the case and how energy policy can be made more equitable. The results have now been published in the journal Nature Reviews Clean Technology. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-energy-subsidies-benefit-high-income.html Environment Sat, 28 Mar 2026 17:30:01 EDT news693760746 Cancer cells are subjected to high mechanical pressure that leads to a rupture of the nuclear envelope when migrating through narrow tissue structures, as in the case of metastasis. DNA would normally leak out in the process, causing damage to the cell. However, researchers at the University of Freiburg's Cluster of Excellence CIBSS—Center for Integrative Biological Signaling Studies succeeded in demonstrating that a protective mechanism takes effect at this moment. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09-actin-scaffold-cell-nucleus-survival.html Medical research Mon, 29 Sep 2025 13:30:05 EDT news678370014 How does a plant manage to quickly adapt its growth to changing environmental conditions? A research team at the University of Freiburg led by plant physiologist Prof. Dr. Jürgen Kleine-Vehn has discovered a previously unknown mechanism for this: A cellular degradation machinery acts in the background like a switch that decides whether the plant hormone auxin is available or not. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-growth.html Plants & Animals Mon, 22 Sep 2025 11:14:03 EDT news677758441 Increasing tree species diversity is often regarded as a way to make forests more resilient to climate change. However, a new international study led by the University of Freiburg shows that diversity can have both positive and negative effects on forests' drought resilience. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-tree-species-forests-drought-resilient.html Ecology Thu, 18 Sep 2025 12:36:04 EDT news677417761 An international study led by the University of Freiburg, published in Global Change Biology, has found that forests with many tree species can store significantly more carbon than those with only one species. https://phys.org/news/2025-02-species-forests-outperform-monocultures-carbon.html Environment Tue, 25 Feb 2025 15:24:04 EST news659719442 A Franco-German research team, including members from the University of Freiburg, shows that supramolecular chemistry enables efficient spin communication through hydrogen bonds. The work is published in the journal Nature Chemistry. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-avenues-quantum-supramolecular-chemistry-qubit.html Condensed Matter Tue, 28 Jan 2025 12:38:03 EST news657290282 An oxygen sensor protein protects the enzymatic machinery of biological nitrogen fixation from serious damage, and its use in biotechnology could help to reduce the use of synthetic fertilizer in agriculture in the future. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-protein-biological-nitrogen-fixation-oxidative.html Biotechnology Wed, 15 Jan 2025 12:49:04 EST news656167742 Filling gaps in data sets or identifying outliers—that's the domain of the machine learning algorithm TabPFN, developed by a team led by Prof. Dr. Frank Hutter from the University of Freiburg. This artificial intelligence (AI) uses learning methods inspired by large language models. TabPFN learns causal relationships from synthetic data and is therefore more likely to make correct predictions than the standard algorithms that have been used up to now. https://techxplore.com/news/2025-01-machine-algorithm-enables-faster-accurate.html Computer Sciences Thu, 09 Jan 2025 14:24:05 EST news655655041 A team of evolutionary biologists has demonstrated that ants learn from experience. Led by Dr. Volker Nehring, research associate in the Evolutionary Biology and Animal Ecology group at the University of Freiburg, and doctoral student Mélanie Bey, the team repeatedly confronted ants with competitors from another nest. The test ants remembered the negative experiences they had during these encounters. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-ants-grudges.html Plants & Animals Wed, 08 Jan 2025 08:45:46 EST news655548344 Recycling takes place in our cells at all times: in a process called autophagy, cell components that are no longer needed are enclosed by membranes and broken down into their basic building blocks. This vital process prevents the formation of harmful aggregates and makes nutrients available again. https://phys.org/news/2025-01-cell-recycling-weak-molecular-interactions.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 07 Jan 2025 12:04:03 EST news655473841 Whether cells in the human body survive or die under stress depends, among other things, on their mitochondria. Scientists at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Freiburg have now shown that a sudden stop in energy production in mitochondria prevents normal cell death or so-called apoptosis and instead triggers an inflammatory response. The results of this research were published in the journal Immunity. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-11-discovery-mitochondrial-mechanism-options-inflammatory.html Immunology Tue, 26 Nov 2024 13:47:03 EST news651851221 If conventional speaking valves for tracheostomized patients are used improperly, dangerous overpressure can occur, which can cause serious complications and even death. In a collaboration between the Freiburg Botanical Garden, the Medical Center—University of Freiburg and the Cluster of Excellence livMatS of the University of Freiburg, researchers developed a speaking valve with an integrated pressure release valve and an acoustic warning signal, inspired by the trapping mechanism of the carnivorous bladderwort plant Utricularia vulgaris. https://techxplore.com/news/2024-11-biomimetic-valve-technology-safety-features.html Engineering Wed, 20 Nov 2024 16:51:03 EST news651343862 Adhesive tape or sticky notes are easy to attach to a surface, but are difficult to remove. This phenomenon, known as adhesion hysteresis, can be fundamentally observed in soft, elastic materials: Adhesive contact is formed more easily than it is broken. https://techxplore.com/news/2024-03-surface-roughness-adhesion-soft-materials.html Engineering Fri, 08 Mar 2024 10:05:03 EST news629114701 Alongside the occasional bison and elk, red deer are Europe's largest native wild animal. An international study led by wildlife ecologists from the University of Freiburg has now investigated the factors that affect the red deer population in a particular area. The researchers were able to show that the population density of the animals in Europe is primarily influenced by human hunting and land use and not by large predators such as wolves, lynx and brown bears. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-red-deer-populations-europe-humans.html Plants & Animals Wed, 10 Jan 2024 14:40:02 EST news624120001 More than 65,000 men fall ill with prostate cancer each year in Germany. Of these, 12,000 develop a treatment-resistant form that eventually ends in death. Now, a team of researchers from the Medical Faculty at the University of Freiburg has developed an active substance that might represent a future treatment option. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-01-newly-inhibitor-potential-prostate-cancer.html Medical research Tue, 09 Jan 2024 11:18:04 EST news624021481 Solvated dielectrons are the subject of many hypotheses among scientists, but have never been directly observed. They are described as a pair of electrons that is dissolved in liquids such as water or liquid ammonia. To make space for the electrons a cavity forms in the liquid that the two electrons occupy. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-emergence-solvated-dielectrons.html Quantum Physics Fri, 26 May 2023 10:42:33 EDT news604316549 Researchers from Freiburg and Kiel discovered that actin acts in the cell nucleus and is partly responsible for the expression of male sexual characteristics https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-03-components-cytoskeleton-effect-sex-hormones.html Genetics Mon, 27 Mar 2023 12:50:03 EDT news599140201 Strong electric fields can be used to create pores in biomembranes. The method is known as electroporation. Inducing such defects in membranes in a targeted manner is an important technique in medicine and biotechnology, but also in the treatment of foodstuffs. https://phys.org/news/2023-03-refuting-standard-electroporation.html Biotechnology Thu, 09 Mar 2023 11:20:16 EST news597583212 Researchers from Freiburg and Strasbourg have discovered a strong immunological effect of the molecule LecB—and a way to prevent it. https://phys.org/news/2023-03-p-aeruginosa-bacteria-molecule-paralyzes.html Cell & Microbiology Wed, 01 Mar 2023 15:11:14 EST news596905864 Using new microscopic methods in combination with machine learning-based image analysis, researchers from Freiburg have discovered new structures on the surface of living B cells that affect the distribution and possibly the function of their antigen receptors. The researchers' study has been published in The EMBO Journal. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-01-newly-surface-affect-immune-function.html Medical research Wed, 11 Jan 2023 13:51:04 EST news592667462 CRISPR-Cas is versatile: Besides the controversial genetically modified organisms (GMOs), created through gene editing, various new scientific studies use different orthologues of the effector protein Cas to detect nucleic acids such as DNA or RNA. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-11-sars-cov-minutes-gene-scissors.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 25 Nov 2022 10:24:04 EST news588594241 Chemists from Freiburg have succeeded in converting polynuclear transition metal carbonyls into their homoleptic complex cations using typical inorganic oxidants. In their work, the research team of Malte Sellin, Christian Friedmann and Prof. Dr. Ingo Krossing from the Institute of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry and Maximilian Mayländer and Sabine Richert from the Institute of Physical Chemistry at the University of Freiburg show that the anthracene derivative with a half-step potential of 1.42 Volts vs. Fc0/+ can be converted to the radical de-electronating salt by a nitrosonium salt. https://phys.org/news/2022-08-chemists-reagent-de-electronation.html Analytical Chemistry Wed, 10 Aug 2022 11:44:53 EDT news579350687 Dangerous situations can develop when cyclists are overtaken by cars. How threatened or safe cyclists feel during an overtaking maneuver depends on the type of road. They expect to be safer on roads with a speed limit of 30 kilometers per hour (kph), as well as on living streets, bike streets, and roads with cycle lanes. If cars are allowed to drive faster and infrastructure for cyclists is absent, cyclists expect more dangerous overtaking maneuvers. But in reality, the passing distance of cars are actually contrary to this subjective impression of safety. On streets with reduced speed limits or bikeways, cyclists are passed with just as little or even less space than on other roads. This is shown in a study carried out by Dr. Rul von Stülpnagel of the Institute of Psychology and Nils Riach and Rafael Hologa of the Institute of Environmental Social Science and Geography of the University of Freiburg. The results have been published in the specialist journal Transportation Research Part F: Psychology and Behaviour. https://techxplore.com/news/2022-08-reality-safe-maneuvers-bicycle-traffic.html Automotive Wed, 03 Aug 2022 10:38:21 EDT news578741898 A team led by Artur Schneider and Prof. Dr. Ilka Diester from the Institute of Biology III and Prof. Dr. Thomas Brox from the Department of Computer Science at the University of Freiburg have developed a new system that records the 3D movement of freely nameable body points: "FreiPose" uses several cameras and a special network architecture to recognize defined body points and track them. The method enables researchers to exclude movement influences of certain body parts in their analysis that are not of interest. The group presents their new method in the journal Neuron. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-05-tracking-method-enables-neuronal-movement.html Neuroscience Tue, 31 May 2022 16:47:17 EDT news573234431 Pine cones open when dry and close when wet. In this way, pine seeds are released only under advantageous conditions, namely when it is dry and the seeds can be carried far by wind. Opening and closing is of particular interest to researchers because the actuation is passive, that is, it does not consume metabolic energy. This is why the pine cone has already served as a model for biomimetic flap systems that react to moisture and are used, for example, in building envelopes to regulate the climate. https://phys.org/news/2022-05-insights-movement-cone-scales.html Plants & Animals Tue, 31 May 2022 09:08:38 EDT news573206916 In the field of optogenetics, scientists investigate the activity of neurons in the brain using light. A team led by Prof. Dr. Ilka Diester and Dr. David Eriksson from the Optophysiology Laboratory at the University of Freiburg has developed a new method to simultaneously conduct laminar recordings, multifiber stimulations, 3D optogenetic stimulation, connectivity inference, and behavioral quantification on brains. Their results are presented in Nature Communications. "Our work paves the way for large-scale photo-recording and controlled interrogation of fast neural communication in any combination of brain areas," Diester explains. "This can help us unravel the rapid and multilayered dialogs between neurons that maintain brain function." https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-02-neurons-brain.html Neuroscience Tue, 22 Feb 2022 08:30:01 EST news564740997 An international team of researchers from the Sharjah Archaeology Authority/United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Universities of Tübingen and Freiburg as well as Oxford Brookes/England led by Dr. Knut Bretzke from the University of Tübingen and Prof. Dr. Frank Preusser from the Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Freiburg has uncovered startlingly new results that show Paleolithic humans repeatedly occupied the rock shelter site of Jebel Faya in Southern Arabia between 210,000 and 120,000 years ago; shattering previously held ideas about when, and how, humans first moved into Arabia from Africa. The researchers have published their findings in the current issue of Scientific Reports. https://phys.org/news/2022-02-early-human-settlement-arabian-peninsula.html Archaeology Tue, 01 Feb 2022 11:23:30 EST news562937004 A team led by Prof. Dr. Tobias Schätz, Professor of Atomic and Quantum Physics at the Institute of Physics at the University of Freiburg, Dr. Pascal Weckesser, Fabian Thielemann and colleagues, demonstrate magnetic Feshbach resonances between a single barium ion and lithium atoms at near absolute zero temperature. The researchers found that depending on the strength of the external magnetic field, the expansion of the ion and atoms can be controlled. "At these ultracold temperatures, the collisions between particles reveal their quantum mechanical nature," explains Schätz. "Our research has shown that we're learning a bit more about the possibilities for controlling the quantum mechanical properties of wave-particle duality." The group published their findings in the journal Nature. https://phys.org/news/2021-12-feshbach-resonances-ion-ultracold-atoms.html Quantum Physics Thu, 16 Dec 2021 09:39:03 EST news558869940 Stained molecules in the cell nucleus, the inner life of a synaptic cleft, or the surface of a floral leaf: Modern microscopes enable researchers to examine processes that are otherwise invisible and located in tiniest structures of organisms. However, the wide variety of available instruments and image editing techniques confront scientists with a challenge: Experiments from different laboratories are often impossible to reproduce and difficult to compare. The University of Freiburg initiative "Quality Assessment and Reproducibility for Instruments & Images in Light Microscopy" (QUAREP-LiMi) seeks to overcome this challenge. Since 2020, 350 experts from 29 countries have been working to standardize and better document microscopic imaging. The journal Nature Methods is devoting its December 2021 issue to the topic. In addition to studies, the issue features proposals and demands from researchers in an effort to develop and establish new quality standards. https://phys.org/news/2021-12-standards-biological-imaging.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 07 Dec 2021 08:02:19 EST news558086536 Poor ethical standards, unclear consent processes, stigmatizing presentation: Six researchers, Dr. Veronika Lipphardt, holder of the Professorship of Science and Technology Studies, the sociologists Dr. Mihai Surdu and Dr. Nils Ellebrecht, and the mathematician Prof. Dr. Peter Pfaffelhuber, all four from the University of Freiburg, the bioethicist Dr. Matthias Wienroth of Northumbria University/UK, and the human geneticist Prof. Dr. Gudrun A. Rappold from Heidelberg University Hospital, examined several hundred publications and five databases. Matthias Wienroth of Northumbria University/UK, and human geneticist Prof. Dr. Gudrun A. Rappold of Heidelberg University Hospital have examined several hundred publications and five databases and discovered numerous problematic aspects in the handling and interpretation of DNA data from the Roma population group. The issues center around poor ethical standards, unclear consent processes and a stigmatizing portrayal of this group. The researchers have presented their findings and subsequent recommendations in Nature. The New York Times also reported the findings. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-11-sensitivity-dna-samples-minorities.html Medical research Thu, 18 Nov 2021 09:48:58 EST news556451335