uni.news

» Published on 25. Mai 2012

A mating dance with Popeye arms

German Research Foundation (DFG) funds Bielefeld project on the love life of locusts

In the animal world, it is not always the strongest that prevails – sometimes, it is the most beautiful. A well-known example is the peacock. The peahen chooses the partner with the most attractive tail fan. A research team at Bielefeld University headed by the evolutionary biologist Dr. Holger Schielzeth is now studying how far a comparable mechanism is involved in mate choice among locusts. The male Siberian locust (Gomphocerus sibiricus) has swollen front legs. The scientists are now studying how far female locusts prefer the male with the most powerful swellings and select their mates accordingly. The German Research Foundation is funding the project for five years as part of its Emmy Noether Programme.

» Published on 23. Mai 2012

Bielefeld University popular with researchers from abroad

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation publishes its rankings

Bielefeld University has gained one of the top places in the 2012 Humboldt Rankings. It has taken third place in the popularity scale for researchers from abroad in the natural sciences. The University is also a good address for engineers. Bielefeld University came 13th. In the overall ranking of German higher education institutes, Bielefeld came eleventh out of a total of 79 universities. The ranking is based on the number of guest researchers for every 100 professorships.

» Published on 16. Februar 2012

Bielefeld mathematician receives China's top award for international scientific cooperation

Professor Andreas Dress honoured in Peking

The Bielefeld mathematician Professor Dr. Andreas Dress has been honoured with the 'International Science and Technology Cooperation Award' for his scientific achievements and for setting up the Max Planck Partner Institute for Computational Biology in Shanghai. This award, considered to be China's top award for international scientific cooperation, was given to Andreas Dress in a ceremony held on the 14th of February in Peking's Great Hall of the People. Andreas Dress taught and researched at Bielefeld University from its foundation in 1969 until his retirement in 2003. His scientific interests range from topology and classical algebra across structure formation processes and visualization procedures, to the application of combinatorics in biology and chemistry.

» Published on 17. Januar 2012

Decoding sweet secrets

Biologists at Bielefeld University and the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics identify the genome sequence of the sugar beet

Success for researchers at Bielefeld University's Center for Biotechnology (CeBiTec) headed by Professor Dr. Bernd Weisshaar and at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin headed by Dr. Heinz Himmelbauer: They have decoded the genome sequence of the sugar beet. What makes the sugar beet such an interesting case is its only distant relationship to previously decoded plants. This should generate completely new knowledge on plant construction and function.

» Published on 4. Januar 2012

Songbirds recognize relatives by their smell

Biologists at Bielefeld University make new discovery in zebra finches

The behavioural scientists Dr. Tobias Krause and Dr. Barbara Caspers from Bielefeld University have discovered that songbirds use their sense of smell for social communication and can apply this to distinguish relatives from non-relatives. The scientists' study is being published today (4 January) in the online version of the journal Biology Letters published by the renowned British Royal Society. Only recently, the two biologists were able to confirm that songbirds – in contrast to previous claims in the textbooks – have a sense of smell.

» Published on 23. Dezember 2011

Taking stem cells from the nose for new medical treatments

Bielefeld biologist's research team develop method for isolating and cultivating adult stem cells

A research team headed by the cell biologist Professor Dr. Barbara Kaltschmidt from Bielefeld University has successfully cultivated stem cells from the human nose and transformed them into nerve, bone, fat, and cartilage cells. The researchers report that one advantage of their method is that it can be used to produce large numbers of cells in a very short time. This can lead to new treatments of acute and chronic face injuries. They have now published their findings in the journals "Stem Cells and Development" and "European Cells & Materials".

» Published on 19. Dezember 2011

New supercomputer for Bielefeld's high-energy physicists

Federal and state governments investing 1.1 million Euros

Bielefeld University's Faculty of Physics is getting a new high-performance computer. Researchers will be using it to study strongly interacting matter in order to learn about the properties of matter as it existed in the early universe immediately after the Big Bang.  The supercomputer, costing 1.1 million Euros, is being financed with federal and state government funds. On Wednesday 25 January from 4 p.m. onwards, it will be presented at an inauguration colloquium in the university lecture hall H2.

» Published on 25. Oktober 2011

Researchers from Bielefeld start graduate surveys in the Balkans

University coordinating European Union Tempus Project

Bielefeld University has been granted about 900,000 Euro from the European Union for a new interdisciplinary project in the Western Balkans. In a 3-year project managed by the Faculty of Sociology, researchers will conduct graduate surveys at higher education institutions in Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia–Herzegovina. Numerous partners from seven different countries are participating in this project: 14 universities and universities of applied science and one research institute. The head of the project, which is being funded by the EU Tempus Programme, is Professor Dr. Martin Diewald; the coordinator is Jana Nöller (both from the Faculty of Sociology).

» Published on 12. September 2011

New modular system for controlled synthesis of metal/metal oxide nanocomposite thin films

Concept is based on research at Bielefeld University

Semiconductor thin films with special electronic, magnetic or optical functions are widely demanded for technical applications in increasingly smaller and efficient devices: they are indispensable in high-efficiency solar cells, bright light-emitting diodes and magneto-electronic devices. Especially interesting are nanostructured materials where several crucial functions such as electrical conductivity and optical properties can be precisely controlled. At Bielefeld University, chemists have now developed a modular system for this purpose: their approach enables flexible design and deposition of nanocomposite thin films of metal oxides with embedded metallic nanoparticles, enabling reliable control of their functionality. Their report about this novel approach is published in the renowned journal "Angewandte Chemie International Edition".

» Published on 8. August 2011

Gaining energy from waste heat

Online edition of the journal Nature Materials publishes research findings from a physics consortium

A consortium of scientists from the universities in Bielefeld, Gießen, and Göttingen has obtained their first findings in the pioneering research field of 'spincaloritronics'. These are now being published in the online edition of the specialist journal Nature Materials. Together with their colleagues, the Bielefeld scientists Professor Dr. Günter Reiss and Dr. Andy Thomas are working on thermoelectric components that can be used to control, for example, waste heat usefully.