https://phys.org/ en-us Latest news from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Neanderthals hunted European pond turtles (Emys orbicularis) in Central Europe, though probably not for food. The careful cleaning of carapace elements at Neumark-Nord indicates that shells were reused, perhaps as small containers or scoop-like implements, according to an international research team. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-neanderthals-central-europe-pond-turtles.html Archaeology Wed, 08 Apr 2026 10:20:03 EDT news694860183 Gravitational waves could be responsible for the production of dark matter during the early phases of our universe's formation, according to results of a new study by Professor Joachim Kopp from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and the PRISMA Cluster of Excellence in cooperation with Dr. Azadeh Maleknejad from Swansea University. Their work, published in Physical Review Letters, presents new calculations that explore a novel mechanism for the formation of dark matter through so-called stochastic gravitational waves. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-gravitational-candidates-dark.html General Physics Wed, 01 Apr 2026 12:40:02 EDT news694258335 An acute pulmonary embolism occurs when a blood clot blocks one or more vessels in the lung. In patients at moderate or high risk, the blockage can impair the heart's ability to pump blood through the lungs to such an extent that it becomes life-threatening. About 15% of those affected die as a result of acute pulmonary embolism. Blood-clot-dissolving medications, known as thrombolytics, can effectively dissolve vascular blockages. However, they increase the risk of severe bleeding, particularly in the brain. For this reason, they are generally used only in the most severe cases. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-catheter-clot-treatment-early-collapse.html Mon, 30 Mar 2026 17:10:09 EDT news694106641 A research team led by Dr. Dandan Gao from the Department of Chemistry at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) has developed a new method for the sustainable production of ammonia and formic acid. Ammonia is indispensable in modern agriculture and, like formic acid, an important industrial feedstock. Conventionally, ammonia is produced using the Haber-Bosch process, which is extremely energy-intensive and causes significant CO₂ emissions. It is also possible to produce ammonia via electrolysis, i.e., using electrical current, but this remains a relatively young field of research. Electrolysis offers a sustainable alternative for production because it can be powered by renewable electricity. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-component-catalyst-boosts-ammonia-nitrate.html Analytical Chemistry Fri, 06 Feb 2026 12:11:21 EST news689602201 Whether heart failure develops and how it progresses depends not only on physical factors, but also on external influences and the duration of exposure, according to scientists at University Medical Center Mainz in collaboration with an international research group. Their systematic review, published in Nature Reviews Cardiology, revealed that both individual risk factors, such as high blood pressure and lack of exercise, and stressful environmental factors, such as poor air quality, noise, and heat, are important starting points for preventing the disease and more effectively reducing the number of people affected. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-environmental-exposures-heart-failure-previously.html Cardiology Mon, 26 Jan 2026 19:10:02 EST news688655440 Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have developed a method that gives access to the valuable raw materials formate and hydrogen from the waste product glycerol. Formates are the salts of formic acid and are widely used in the chemical industry, while hydrogen can serve, for example, as an energy carrier to power vehicles. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-catalyst-enables-free-production-hydrogen.html Analytical Chemistry Sun, 25 Jan 2026 15:50:01 EST news688319028 While probing the escape reflex in the fruit fly Drosophila, researchers at Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz (JGU) and the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, found that the synapses of one of the participating neurons can learn. This plasticity likely leads to the synapse not being functional anymore at old age, thus abolishing the escape reflex. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-price-plasticity-neurons-function-age.html Neuroscience Fri, 23 Jan 2026 11:46:29 EST news688391161 What effect does it have on our well-being when we put our smartphones aside for a while or otherwise disconnect from digital media? Alicia Gilbert, a research associate at the Department of Communication at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), together with two colleagues from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), examined this question. The results of their study were published in Communication Research. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-digital-media.html Social Sciences Tue, 20 Jan 2026 15:59:20 EST news688147141 The city of Pompeii was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have now reconstructed the city's water supply system based on carbonate deposits—particularly the transition from wells to an aqueduct. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-hygienic-conditions-pompeii-early-poor.html Archaeology Tue, 13 Jan 2026 09:30:04 EST news687517802 Two new studies show how climate influences behavior, communication, and genome evolution—driving adaptation in a long-running conflict. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-climate-arms-ants-social-parasites.html Evolution Mon, 15 Dec 2025 12:03:30 EST news685022581 Why does lead behave so differently from every other atomic nucleus when struck by electrons? A team of physicists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) has taken an important step toward answering this question, only to find that the mystery is even deeper than previously thought. The findings were published in the journal Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-puzzle-electron-deepens.html General Physics Wed, 03 Dec 2025 10:17:20 EST news683979422 Islamophobia in Western Europe is driven far more by anti-immigrant nativism and authoritarian attitudes than by religious belief, new research from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) shows. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-anti-muslim-prejudice-rooted-nativist.html Social Sciences Fri, 21 Nov 2025 08:26:03 EST news682935961 Nitrogen-based fertilizers are essential for modern agriculture, and compounds like ammonia and urea are also widely used in industry. However, their conventional production and use pose major environmental challenges. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-pulsed-electrolysis-harvest-nitrogen-air.html Biotechnology Fri, 31 Oct 2025 11:26:03 EDT news681128762 How do volcanoes work? What happens beneath their surface? What causes the vibrations—known as tremor—that occur when magma or gases move upward through a volcano's conduits? Professor Dr. Miriam Christina Reiss, a volcano seismologist at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), and her team have located such tremor signals at the Oldoinyo Lengai volcano in Tanzania. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-volcanoes-scientists-exact-magma-movement.html Earth Sciences Mon, 13 Oct 2025 10:01:04 EDT news679568461 Typically, the charge of electrons is used to store and process information in electronics-based devices. In spintronics, the focus is instead on the magnetic moment or on magnetic vortices, so-called skyrmions—the goal is smaller, faster, and more sustainable computers. To further increase storage density, skyrmions will not only be two-dimensional in the future, but will also conquer the third dimension. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-dimension-storage-physicists-hybrid-skyrmion.html Condensed Matter Mon, 06 Oct 2025 12:50:05 EDT news678973522 Online meetings are exhausting—this phenomenon, dubbed "zoom fatigue," was widely reported in the media during the COVID-19 pandemic. "And this was certainly what happened during lockdown," points out Junior Professor Hadar Nesher Shoshan of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU). "But we have found out by means of a recent study that this is no longer the case under the conditions that prevail today. In fact, it seems that video meetings are not more exhausting than face-to-face meetings." The results of the study are published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-fatigue.html Social Sciences Mon, 29 Sep 2025 14:30:03 EDT news678375002 When model cell membranes bind to biomaterials, it is not the binding strength but the speed of the receptors in the membranes that is crucial. This was discovered by an international research team led by chemist Professor Dr. Shikha Dhiman from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-molecular-movement-cell-membranes-biomaterials.html Cell & Microbiology Fri, 19 Sep 2025 13:37:59 EDT news677507873 Natural ecosystems are intricate webs where species can interact directly, like predators and prey, or influence one another through a chain of environmental effects. But can these indirect interactions be powerful enough to permanently alter a species' genetic makeup? According to researchers at the Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), the answer is a definitive yes. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-species-interact-profoundly-evolution.html Evolution Wed, 27 Aug 2025 12:50:01 EDT news675517282 Reactions are typically driven by heat. However, in recent years, light has also established itself as an energy source, as it allows chemical reactions to be controlled with exceptional precision. This process is known as photochemistry. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-common-metal-unusual-power-manganese.html Analytical Chemistry Wed, 27 Aug 2025 11:50:03 EDT news675514201 Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) and the Helmholtz Institute Mainz (HIM) have developed a novel method for investigating the internal structure of atoms and discovered previously unknown atomic transitions in samarium, a rare earth element. Their findings were published in the journal Physical Review Applied. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-dual-spectroscopy-reveals-previously-unknown.html General Physics Mon, 25 Aug 2025 15:21:03 EDT news675354061 With the help of innovative large-scale simulations on various supercomputers, physicists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have succeeded in gaining new insights into previously elusive aspects of the physics of strong interaction. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-simulations-reveal-pion-interaction-higgs.html General Physics Fri, 22 Aug 2025 11:45:21 EDT news675081910 Whether in Belgium, Poland, or Ukraine, when asked about their nation's role under Nazi occupation, many Europeans today primarily see their own population as victims—or as heroes. This is the key finding of a cross-national study led by Dr. Fiona Kazarovytska from the Department of Social and Legal Psychology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), Germany. Together with Professor Roland Imhoff from JGU and Professor Gilad Hirschberger from Reichman University, Israel, she published the results in the journal Political Psychology. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-heroes-victims-rarely-collaborators-reveals.html Social Sciences Wed, 06 Aug 2025 14:50:02 EDT news673710133 Researchers from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), the University of Oxford, and the University of Innsbruck have deciphered the complex history of the ancient aqueduct system of Arles in Provence. This was made possible by aqueduct carbonates—limescale—that had deposited in the aqueducts, basins, and lead pipes, as well as lumps of aqueduct carbonate that had been used as building aggregate in the roof of the Baths of Constantine. The researchers published their findings in Geoarchaeology on June 28, 2025. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-limescale-deposits-reveal-ancient-arles.html Archaeology Tue, 01 Jul 2025 11:40:03 EDT news670588801 Physicists Prof. Dr. Ingo Rehberg from the University of Bayreuth and Dr. Peter Blümler from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz have developed and experimentally validated an innovative approach for generating homogeneous magnetic fields using permanent magnets. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-permanent-magnet-configurations-outperform-classical.html Condensed Matter Thu, 19 Jun 2025 10:31:04 EDT news669547861 Theories must stand up to practical testing, and this is especially true in physics. Researchers from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), Texas A&M University, Brookhaven National Laboratory, the University of Surrey in the U.K. and Michigan State University have achieved such a milestone: They were able to experimentally demonstrate for the first time that the ratio method can be used to study atomic nuclei, and in particular unstable halo nuclei—thus underscoring the importance of this new reaction observable. The team published their results on May 28, 2025, in Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-physicists-validate-ratio-method-halo.html General Physics Tue, 17 Jun 2025 11:24:57 EDT news669378291 In romantic relationships, the partners' satisfaction with their relationship can vary considerably over several days and even in the course of a single day. This is the result of a new psychological study on short-term satisfaction in romantic relationships published recently in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-roller-coaster-relationship-satisfaction-day.html Social Sciences Mon, 16 Jun 2025 14:25:54 EDT news669302741 How the brain largely maintains its function when neurons are lost—this is what researchers at the University Medical Center Mainz, the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) and Hebrew University (Jerusalem) have deciphered. They show that neuronal networks in the cerebral cortex reorganize within a short period of time, with other nerve cells taking over the tasks of the lost neurons. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-06-neighborly-brain-cerebral-cortex-networks.html Neuroscience Sat, 14 Jun 2025 10:20:01 EDT news669028714 Archaeologists often face major challenges when trying to connect new discoveries with information from old books: How can the findings of 200 years of archaeological research be combined with new data? https://phys.org/news/2025-06-archaeology-age-big-user-friendly.html Archaeology Wed, 11 Jun 2025 12:37:36 EDT news668864252 An international collaboration between four scientists from Mainz, Valencia, Madrid, and Zurich has published new research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shedding light on the most significant increase in complexity in the history of life's evolution on Earth: the origin of the eukaryotic cell. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-evolutionary-algorithmic-phase-transition-billion.html Evolution Thu, 17 Apr 2025 16:59:04 EDT news664127941 The end of a romantic relationship usually does not come out of the blue but is indicated one or two years before the breakup. As the results of a psychological study have demonstrated, the terminal stage of a relationship consists of two phases. First, there is a gradual decline in relationship satisfaction, reaching a transition point one to two years before the dissolution of the relationship. https://phys.org/news/2025-03-transition-romantic-relationships.html Social Sciences Fri, 21 Mar 2025 14:12:03 EDT news661785121