Newsportal

A fireball in the sky, accompanied by a bang, amazed hundreds of eyewitnesses in northern Germany in mid-September last year. The reason for the spectacle was a meteoroid entering the Earth's atmosphere and partially burning up. Experts at the “Institut für Planetologie” at Münster University have been studying a part of the meteorite.

The Universities of Twente (UT) and Münster (WWU) have maintained a close partnership for many years. Now they want to deepen their strategic partnership and identify further cooperation and strengthen existing research networks. A three-part series highlights special features and plans of the partnership. Part III: Research cooperation and "Collaboration Grants".

With climate change, the declining availability of arable land, and dwindling fossil resources, the ecological challenges worldwide are huge. The German Ministry of Education and Research has therefore dedicated Science Year 2020 to the issue of "Bioeconomy". Researchers at the University of Münster are also working on aspects of the subject.

Superconductors are regarded as promising components for quantum computers, but so far they only function at very low temperatures. Scientists at Münster University now, for the first time, demonstrated a so-called energy quantization in nanowires of high-temperature superconductors. The study has been published in the journal "Nature Communications".

Scientists from the Universities of Münster and São Paulo discussed their research at a scientific workshop and a Winter School. Two participants reported in a video about their experience and the German-Brazilian cooperation.

The human immune system can easily recognize fungi because their cells are surrounded by a solid cell wall of chitin and other complex sugars. Researchers at Münster University found out that a fungal pathogen, Cryptococcus neoformans, uses an enzyme to hide from the human immune system. The study was published in the journal "PNAS".

After the disaster of the Arab Spring, the modern myth of revolution initially lost some of its attractiveness, but the myth has been revived again in the wake of the latest wave of mass protests in many countries across the world. In this guest commentary for the University newspaper wissen|leben, Prof. Thomas Apolte takes a look at the issue, which is also the subject of his latest book.

The creation of knowledge and its transfer to society is part of the public cultural heritage and therefore a central goal of the University of Münster. Whether museums, senior guest programme and children's university, support for start-ups, teacher education or science communication: The University of Münster understands knowledge transfer as an active exchange.

Knowledge transfer at German universities has been becoming increasingly important for some years now and, more and more, is being recognized as an academic achievement. Dr. Annette Barkhaus, deputy head of the Research Department at the German Council of Science and Humanities, describes in an interview the challenges of knowledge transfer for German universities and research institutions.

Whether it is citizen science, the creation of a climate conducive to entrepreneurship or the training of tomorrow's teachers: At the University of Münster, knowledge transfer to society is lived out in very different ways. The three examples have one thing in common – they convey university research.

The creation of knowledge and its transfer to society is part of the public cultural heritage and therefore a central goal of the University of Münster. Whether museums, senior guest programme and children's university, support for start-ups, teacher education or science communication: The University of Münster understands knowledge transfer as an active exchange. In a dossier, support department communication and public relations examines the topic in all its many facets.

To mark the first Humboldt Day on 30 January at the University of Münster, Prof Hans-Christian Pape, president of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and researcher at Münster University, talks in this interview about international academic mobility, the University’s Research Alumni Strategy and the importance of the financial support provided by the Humboldt Foundation.