Newsportal

The world - especially the world of mathematics - is full of mysteries. Particularly interesting and exciting are those that yield unexpected results that run counter to our intuition. Such thought experiments are the subject of the lecture "Paradoxe Phänomene in der Mathematik" which will be held online on 29 September 2020, 7:30 pm, in German. All interested persons are invited.

The Faculty for Mathematics and Computer Science has set up the MATHRIX Assistant Professor Programme to support gender equality in the mathematical sciences. Assistant professor Dr. Mira Schedensack held the post until 2019 and, looking back, she says, “The MATHRIX Professorship enabled me, for the first time, to carry out research really independently.”

A team of researchers headed by Münster University physiologist Prof. Wolfgang Linke has shown that oxidative stress, in combination with the extension of the heart walls, triggers a change in cardiac stiffness. A key role is played by the giant protein titin. This newly discovered mechanism is relevant, e.g., in cases of an acute heart attack. The results have been published in the journal “PNAS”

Researchers at Münster University have discovered that glial cells – one of the main components of the brain –not only control the speed of nerve conduction, but also influence the precision of signal transduction in the brain. The research results have been published in the journal Nature Communications.

Dr. Manuel van Gemmeren from the Institute of Organic Chemistry at Münster University receives a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). This highly prestigious award is worth 1.5 million euros.

How can the lithium-ion battery (LIB) be further improved? To answer this question, MEET scientists around Lenard Hanf developed new methods for capillary electrophoresis. For the first time, this enables a detailed analysis of the transition metal dissolution from LIB cathode materials or the current collector – such as manganese or copper.

The coronavirus has turned the work and private lives of many people upside down. The challenge now is to find solutions and develop adaptation strategies to deal with the pandemic in everyday life. Especially travel and stays abroad are currently highly problematic. In an interview, Maria Homeyer explains the challenges facing the Welcome Centre of the International Office of Münster University and how the welcome culture is being maintained

The European research initiative on Future Battery Technologies, BATTERY 2030+, starts the next phase to develop high-performance batteries for a climate-neutral society. The consortium, the MEET Battery Research Center at the University of Münster is part of, will coordinate and monitor the specifically determined research activities contributing to the large-scale project now.

Organs in animals and in humans have one thing in common: they are bounded by so-called epithelial cells. Researchers at the Institute of Animal Physiology at the University of Münster have found out how two proteins called Anakonda and M6 interact in epithelial cells in fruit flies in order to produce a functioning barrier at corner points between three of those cells.

Ecosystems are threatened by rapid climate change. A team of researchers with participation of Münster University has now discovered that certain plant species can evolve very quickly under drought conditions. This means that the modified plant traits are genetically fixed and passed on to the next generation. The study has been published in the journal "Ecology Letters".

An organized programme of child abduction and enforced Germanization was a central element of the Nazis’ racial policy between 1939 and 1945. “The children who were abducted are still today a forgotten group of victims,” says Dr. Isabel Heinemann, Professor of Modern History at the Department of History. She is conducting a research project into the paths their migration and their lives took.

A team of researchers with participation of Münster University tested the imitations of nature in an experiment. For their study, they removed ‘unrealistic’ communities from the analysis of data from two large-scale experiments. The results that have now been published in Nature Ecology & Evolution show that previous findings are, indeed, reliable.