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In the summer series “Summer, Sun, Cactus”, members of the university share how they experience the warmer months. Rather than adopting a strictly academic approach, they offer a more light-hearted perspective. In Part 8, Sandhra Ganesh, like all the other participants, is pictured in front of the camera with the eponymous cactus from our Botanic Garden.

The extent to which peatlands respond to rising temperatures depends on water levels. A research team led by the University of Münster has shown that lower water levels lead to a greater increase in CO₂ emissions as temperatures rise. A higher water level can mitigate this effect. These findings are based on the largest dataset to date on the annual CO₂ balance of peatlands.

A prestigious award for Dr Victoria Sakti: the social and cultural anthropologist has been awarded a total of two million euros by the European Research Council for her research in Indonesia, Colombia and Zimbabwe. Her project focuses on ageing in different social and cultural contexts.

In the latest Shanghai Ranking, the University of Münster achieves an excellent position within Germany, ranking between sixth and eleventh. In an international comparison, it is ranked in the 151st to 200th group.

For more than 100 years, scholars had assumed that the rulers of the ancient Assyrian Empire in the Near East, from 1000 to 609 BC, were listed in full in a king list. Assyriologists Dr. Alexander Edmonds (University of Münster) and Prof. Eckart Frahm (Yale University) have now been able to prove that there were three further kings, who were almost completely erased from history.

A research team led by the universities of Münster, Hanover, and Halle has shown that the mitochondria, the “powerhouses” of cells, are already ready for action in dry plant seeds. Their internal structure is fully developed and their “machinery” is complete.

Psychological interventions are effective in treating post-traumatic stress disorders in children and adolescents. But are they also safe? An international research team led by Dr Thole H. Hoppen and Professor Nexhmedin Morina come to a clear conclusion in a meta-study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

A research team involving Professors Christos Gatsogiannis and Bart Jan Ravoo has shown that peptides carrying a flat carbon network aggregate into long fibres in water. Using cryo-electron microscopy, the researchers analysed the structure with record resolution.

For ten years, Prof Dr Johannes Wessels has presided over the University of Münster. He made far-reaching decisions, received numerous guests, conducted business trips and expanded his expertise every day. Looking back, he says he rarely reflected on his days as a “normal researcher”. Instead, he is grateful for the many fascinating insights he has gained.

A German-Turkish team has surveyed the Ararat glacier for the first time at an altitude of over 5,000 metres. Beneath the melting ice could lie a unique climate and cultural archive dating back thousands of years. The team, comprising archaeologists and glaciologists, has now identified the best location from which to extract ice cores in future.

The Rectorate’s Office has launched three new internal funding lines – IDEAS, START and ADVANCED – which support innovative ideas, new collaborations and competitive research proposals. In an interview with Kathrin Kottke, Prof Dr Monika Stoll, Vice-Rector for Research, explains why unconventional ideas deserve a chance, why failure is part and parcel of research, and why sometimes it comes down to drawing lots.

The German Research Foundation (DFG) has awarded Dr. Robin J. Sroka with approximately 1.3 million euros in funding as part of the Emmy Noether Programme. Over the next six years, this will enable the mathematician to establish his own research group “Cohomology and K-Theory: Exploring New Connections”.