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A great success for the Faculty of Medicine at Münster University: The German Research Foundation is providing a further 5.7 million euros in funding for the Clinical Research Unit "Male Germ Cells". The Research Unit has been investigating the causes of male infertility since 2017.

For the University of Münster, knowledge transfer comprises active exchanges between the University and the surrounding region. Over the past six months, the University’s Communications and PR Department has presented a wide-ranging dossier on the subject, also taking in the challenges posed. In concluding the series, we look beyond the University of Münster.

The number of people infected by the coronavirus is decreasing, and there is more and more easing of restrictions in public life. In Germany at least, the worst seems to be over. Or is this merely the calm before the next pandemic storm? Norbert Robers spoke to virologist Prof. Stephan Ludwig about the danger of new epidemics and about the lessons learned from this current crisis.

In June, the Brazil Centre of Münster University celebrates its tenth anniversary. For more than 50 years, the University has maintained diverse and close contacts in the fields of research, teaching and transfer. The central tasks of the Brazil Centre include, for example, advising researchers and students and coordinating and accompanying Brazilian research delegations.

Molecular switches – they are the molecular counterparts of electrical switches and play an important role in many processes in nature. Nanotechnologist at Münster University now produced a photographic film at the atomic level and thus tracked the motion of a molecular building block. The result was a light-controlled "pedalo-type motion", going forward and backward.

Scientists from the international XENON collaboration under participation of Münster University announced today that data from their XENON1T, the world's most sensitive dark matter experiment, show a surprising excess of events. The scientists say to have observed an unexpected rate of events, the source of which is not yet fully understood.

It’s not only the Student Admissions Office and the Career Service that will be moving into the “Botanicum”. The International Office will be moving there too. At the same time, the International Centre “Die Brücke” in Wilmergasse will be closing its doors – and instead there will be offers and events for international students in the “Botanicum”.

Behavioural biologists at Münster University have now been able to demonstrate for the first time that male guinea pigs are still able to adapt their hormone systems to changes in their social environment in adulthood. The study has been published in the journal "Proceedings of the Royal Society B".

Which groups of people hoarded all that toilet paper during the peak phase of the Corona pandemic? Psychologists at Münster Universit have looked into this question. In an online study at the end of March they interviewed more than 1,000 adults from 35 countries. The main result: people who feel threatened, who are particularly emotional and conscientious, were more likely to stockpile.

A mysterious cloud containing radioactive ruthenium-106, which moved across Europe in 2017, is still bothering Europe's radiation protection entities. Researchers at the Universities of Hannover and Münster found out that the cloud did not originate from military sources but rather from civilian nuclear activities. The study has been published in “Nature Communications”.

Research delivers facts and findings. It is not only during these times of the coronavirus that science communication should ensure that these issues are explained in an easy-to-understand way. Which standards should journalists and scientists observe, during a crisis? Prof. Bernd Blöbaum from the Department of Communication at the University of Münster discusses the question in this interview.

Which forces and mechanisms determine the height of mountains? Scientists from Münster University and the German Research Centre for Geoscience have found a surprising answer to this question: It is not erosion and weathering of rocks that determine the upper limit of mountain belts, but an equilibrium of forces in the Earth's crust. The study is published in "Nature".