https://phys.org/ en-us Latest news from Friedrich Schiller University of Jena Groundwater is considered the largest reservoir of liquid freshwater on Earth and a habitat for complex microbial communities that drive essential biogeochemical cycles. Until now, the role of viruses that infect microorganisms in this hidden ecosystem was largely unknown. An international research team has, for the first time, created a comprehensive picture of viral diversity and function in a groundwater system. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-invisible-actors-groundwater-revealing-role.html Ecology Wed, 04 Feb 2026 14:40:01 EST news689431049 Deep beneath the Earth's surface, in the pores and crevices of rock, live huge communities of microorganisms. They are invisible to the naked eye—yet they play a central role in the quality of our groundwater and in global cycles of matter. A research team led by Dr. Martin Taubert from the Cluster of Excellence "Balance of the Microverse" at the University of Jena has shown that life in the subsurface follows two fundamentally different strategies—with far-reaching consequences for environmental research and practice. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-microorganisms-surfaces-groundwater.html Ecology Mon, 02 Feb 2026 15:39:40 EST news689269079 Even some 200 years after his death, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's scientific curiosity continues to yield new insights. This has now been demonstrated by biologists at Friedrich Schiller University Jena while closely examining the amber collection of the Weimar poet and polymath. In one of the pieces, they discovered a fossilized ant approximately 40 million years old which, thanks to its excellent state of preservation and extensive analyses, provides valuable information about the insect species. The researchers report their findings in the journal Scientific Reports. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-exceptionally-ant-goethe-amber.html Paleontology & Fossils Mon, 26 Jan 2026 10:22:36 EST news688645322 Researchers from the Cluster of Excellence Balance of the Microverse at the University of Jena and the Leibniz-HKI, together with international partners, have uncovered a mechanism that determines how our gut microbiome processes healthful plant compounds. The chemical cookbook of gut bacteria varies from person to person—and is often disrupted in chronic diseases. The findings pave the way for personalized nutrition plans that specifically promote balance in the microbiome. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-12-power-gut-enzymes-healthy-affects.html Health Wed, 03 Dec 2025 13:20:03 EST news683989869 Groundwater commonly contains methane, but the amount of this important greenhouse gas that can escape to surface waters or the atmosphere is highly uncertain. A team from the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry and University of Jena has shown that microbes in groundwater significantly reduce methane emissions, as revealed in a study published in PNAS. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-microbes-groundwater-methane-curbing-global.html Earth Sciences Tue, 14 Oct 2025 11:50:04 EDT news679661401 People all over the world largely agree on what the color blue looks like or what the shape of a ball feels like. But when it comes to describing odors, opinions often differ. This is because, unlike the processing of wavelengths of light in the brain, which makes it possible to determine colors relatively clearly, it is still not easy to deduce the smell of substances in our environment from their chemical composition. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-02-aromatic-lexicon-comprehensive-fragrance-database.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 28 Feb 2025 11:19:04 EST news659963941 Researchers from the University of Jena and the Leibniz Institutes in Jena have published new findings on the adaptability of the microalgae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The interdisciplinary study, largely carried out by scientists from the Cluster of Excellence Balance of the Microverse, shows how the tiny green alga can adapt its shape and metabolism under natural conditions without changing its genome. https://phys.org/news/2024-12-interdisciplinary-reveals-mechanisms-microscopic-algae.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 06 Dec 2024 14:00:14 EST news652716001 Two-dimensional materials such as graphene are not only ultrathin, but also extremely sensitive. Researchers have therefore been trying for years to develop highly sensitive biosensors that utilize their properties. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-chemists-graphene-based-biosensor-paving.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 27 Nov 2024 12:14:50 EST news651932080 Candida parapsilosis is a yeast fungus that can colonize the skin and digestive tract of humans and is usually harmless. However, it can cause severe wound and tissue infections, including life-threatening septicemia, in people who are immunocompromised as a result of cancer or organ transplants or with serious medical conditions requiring prolonged hospitalization. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-11-molecular-method-tracks-outbreak-drug.html Genetics Tue, 19 Nov 2024 16:21:04 EST news651255661 The origin of eukaryotes is considered one of the greatest enigmas in biology: according to current doctrine, two prokaryotes, a so-called Asgard archaeon and a bacterium, are believed to have merged. The bacterium is said to have developed into a mitochondrion. Thanks to its mitochondrion, this eukaryotic ancestor had enough energy available to develop into the more complex cells known today. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-team-impossible-unicellular.html Evolution Wed, 28 Aug 2024 10:05:03 EDT news644058301 A team of scientists from the Cluster of Excellence "Balance of the Microverse" has discovered a previously unknown rejuvenation mechanism in unicellular organisms. They studied unicellular microalgae, which serve as the basis of food chains in the oceans. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-rejuvenation-mechanism-unicellular.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 26 Aug 2024 08:58:03 EDT news643881481 An international team of researchers of the Cluster of Excellence "Balance of the Microverse" at the University of Jena has investigated the mechanism that makes some types of bacteria reflect light without using pigments. The researchers were interested in the genes responsible and discovered important ecological connections. Their findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://phys.org/news/2024-07-bacterial-glitter-possibilities-sustainable-technologies.html Cell & Microbiology Mon, 08 Jul 2024 15:54:43 EDT news639672879 A research team from the University of Jena has developed a small optical lens, only a few millimeters in size, whose refractive behavior changes in the presence of gas. As reported by the researchers in the journal Nature Communications, this "intelligent" behavior of the micro-lens is enabled by the hybrid glass material from which it is made. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-optical-lens-gas.html Analytical Chemistry Wed, 26 Jun 2024 10:10:04 EDT news638614991 In Europe, 1.55 million people die every year due to a poor diet. This is the conclusion of a recent study by Friedrich Schiller University Jena, the Institute for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Economics (INL) and the nutriCARD Competence Cluster. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-05-cardiovascular-deaths-due-unbalanced-diet.html Health Thu, 16 May 2024 14:37:03 EDT news635089021 A research team led by Dr. Serge Krasnokutski from the Astrophysics Laboratory at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy at the University of Jena had already demonstrated that simple peptides can form on cosmic dust particles. However, it was previously assumed that this would not be possible if molecular ice, which covers the dust particle, contains water—which is usually the case. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-peptides-interstellar-ice-presence-molecules.html Astrobiology Wed, 17 Apr 2024 14:50:03 EDT news632584201 Viruses need hosts. Whether it's measles, the flu or coronavirus, viral pathogens cannot multiply or infect other organisms without the assistance of their hosts' cellular infrastructure. However, humans are not the only ones affected by viruses: animals, plants and even microorganisms can all serve as hosts. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-defense-microverse-small-rna-molecules.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 04 Apr 2024 12:01:15 EDT news631450870 A research team at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany has now found a bacterium that forms a team with a green alga. Both microorganisms support each other in their growth. Additionally, the bacterium helps the microalga to neutralize the toxin of another, harmful bacterium. The fundamental understanding of algal-bacterial interactions also plays an important role in climate protection, as it can help to understand and thus protect this ecologically important partnership. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-green-algae-bacteria-contribute-climate.html Ecology Tue, 02 Apr 2024 11:26:08 EDT news631275964 A diet based on resistant starch promotes a favorable composition of the gut microbiome in obese people. This leads to weight reduction and measurable positive health outcomes such as improved insulin sensitivity. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-02-fiber-pounds-resistant-starch-weight.html Overweight & Obesity Thu, 29 Feb 2024 10:33:03 EST news628425181 A material coating, whose light refraction properties can be precisely switched between different states, has been developed by an interdisciplinary research team from the Chemistry and Physics departments at the University of Jena. The team, led by Felix Schacher, Sarah Walden, Purushottam Poudel, and Isabelle Staude, combined polymers that react to light with so-called metasurfaces. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-polymer-based-tunable-optical-components.html Nanophysics Fri, 23 Feb 2024 10:47:40 EST news627907657 Klebsiella pneumoniae is one of the most common and most dangerous bacterial pathogens impacting humans, causing infections of the gastrointestinal tract, pneumonia, wound infections, and even blood poisoning. https://phys.org/news/2024-02-mechanism-cell-division-bacterial-pathogen.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 20 Feb 2024 11:40:37 EST news627651629 An international research team has successfully conducted ultra-precise X-ray spectroscopic measurements of helium-like uranium. The team, which includes researchers from Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the Helmholtz Institute Jena (both in Germany), has achieved results demonstrating their success in disentangling and separately testing one-electron two-loop and two-electron quantum electrodynamic effects for extremely strong Coulomb fields of the heaviest nuclei for the first time. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-team-precise-heaviest-atoms.html General Physics Thu, 25 Jan 2024 12:13:03 EST news625407181 Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. The development of breast cancer often originates from epithelial cells in the mammary gland—the very cells that specialize in milk production during and after pregnancy. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-01-special-rna-shown-suppress-formation.html Medical research Tue, 16 Jan 2024 12:30:32 EST news624630629 Researchers at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany have carried out the first comprehensive analysis of some 20 mummy fragments from collections in the University's archives and have presented their findings in Annals of the History and Philosophy of Biology. https://phys.org/news/2024-01-exploring-german-mummy.html Archaeology Tue, 02 Jan 2024 12:45:03 EST news623421901 Separating carbon dioxide molecules from gas mixtures requires materials with extremely fine pores. Researchers from Friedrich Schiller University Jena, in cooperation with the University of Leipzig and the University of Vienna, have now found a novel way to do this. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-glass-sifts-carbon-dioxide.html Materials Science Wed, 20 Dec 2023 10:25:19 EST news622290317 Eyewitness statements are one of the key sources for identifying perpetrators—and one of the most error-prone. For example, the Innocence Project—an organization that works to clear up miscarriages of justice in the U.S.—states that incorrect eyewitness statements played a role in 64% of the cases in which it was able to secure the release of people who had been wrongly convicted. Further research is needed to find out why eyewitnesses are so often wrong, and this will require extensive visual material. https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-vr-sequences-eyewitness-statements.html Computer Sciences Thu, 14 Dec 2023 11:57:03 EST news621777421 In work published in Science, the team led by Prof. Dr. Ulf Peschel reports on measurements on a sequence of pulses that travel thousands of kilometers through glass fibers that are only a few microns thin. The researchers were surprised by the results. https://phys.org/news/2023-03-pulses-exotic-gas.html Optics & Photonics Fri, 10 Mar 2023 10:29:27 EST news597666563 For the first time, researchers have recorded live and in atomic detail what happens to the material in an asteroid impact. The team of Falko Langenhorst from the University of Jena and Hanns-Peter Liermann from DESY simulated an asteroid impact with the mineral quartz in the lab and pursued it in slow motion in a diamond anvil cell, while monitoring it with DESY's X-ray source PETRA III. https://phys.org/news/2023-02-asteroid-impact-motion.html Planetary Sciences Tue, 07 Feb 2023 10:53:25 EST news594989600 If mechanoluminescent materials are subjected to external mechanical stress, they emit visible or invisible light. Such excitation can occur due to bending or gentle pressure, for example, but also completely contact-free through ultrasound. In this way, the effect can be triggered remotely and light can be brought to places that normally tend to be in the dark, for example in the human body. If the ultrasound treatment is to be used at the same time to generate local heat, it is important in such a sensitive environment to observe closely the temperatures that occur. Material scientists at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany have now developed a mechanoluminescent material that can not only be used to generate a local heat input by means of ultrasound, but also provides feedback on the local temperature at the same time. They report on their research results today in the journal Advanced Science. https://phys.org/news/2022-06-emission-temperature-ultrasound.html Condensed Matter Fri, 17 Jun 2022 10:39:33 EDT news574681171 Life on Earth runs in 24-hour cycles. From tiny bacteria to human beings, organisms adapt to alterations of day and night. External factors, such as changes in light and temperature, are needed to entrain the clock. Many metabolic processes are controlled by the endogenous clock. Scientists at the University of Jena have now studied the molecular rhythms of the endogenous clock in the "green lineage." In a current publication in the journal Plant Physiology, the team led by Prof. Maria Mittag of the Matthias Schleiden Institute provides an overview of their genetic basis. https://phys.org/news/2022-04-photosynthetic-endogenous-clocks.html Plants & Animals Tue, 05 Apr 2022 13:26:36 EDT news568383993 Researchers from the Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy have discovered a new clue in the search for the origin of life, by showing that peptides can form on dust under conditions such as those prevailing in outer space. These molecules, which are one of the basic building blocks of all life, may therefore not have originated on our planet at all, but possibly in cosmic molecular clouds. https://phys.org/news/2022-02-team-clue-extraterrestrial-peptides.html Astrobiology Thu, 10 Feb 2022 14:16:36 EST news563724992