uni.news

» Published on 4. Juni 2018

Award-Winning Glasses Help with Building and Baking

Project from CITEC researchers wins prize in “Landmarks in the Land of Ideas” competition

Today, 4 June 2018, researchers at the Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC) at Bielefeld University and their cooperation partners were awarded a prize for their intelligent glasses (Adamaas system) in Berlin. An independent jury selected the Bielefeld submission from among 100 submissions from approximately 1,500 applications submitted to the nationwide innovation competition “Ausgezeichnete Orte im Land der Ideen” (“Landmarks in the Land of Ideas”). On the topic of “Connecting Worlds – Strengthening Unity,” the project puts forth an answer to the question of how intelligent technology can provide assistance to elderly people as well as individuals with cognitive disabilities. This is already the second success for researchers from the Cluster of Excellence in this competition.

» read more

» Published on 25. April 2018

New Agreement signed in Canada: OWL and Alberta on the path to partnership

First Scientific Collaboration coming in autumn

The intended partnership between higher education institutions in the regions Ostwestfalen-Lippe (OWL) and Alberta (Canada) has become more concrete: An agreement for cooperation has been signed in Edmonton, Canada. An upcoming meeting taking place in autumn in Edmonton will help shed light on how this German-Canadian cooperation could take shape in the future.    

» read more

» Published on 25. April 2018

Population sex ratio influences parental care in plovers

Research results published in the journal “Nature Communications”

The ratio of adult males and females is an important demographic trait in wild populations. In plovers, closely related populations express strikingly different adult sex ratios. This variation is mainly driven by sex differences in the survival of juveniles. Families in populations with biased adult sex ratios were predominantly tended by a single parent – typically the father – whereas in balanced populations, generally both parents take care of the young, suggesting that parental cooperation breaks down under an unbalanced sex ratio. That was found out by a research group around Dr. Luke Eberhart-Phillips. The behavioural scientist did his research about the sex ratio of plovers supervised by Professor Dr. Joseph Hoffman and Professor Dr. Oliver Krüger at Bielefeld University and he’s now Postdoc at Max Planck Institute for Ornithology Seewiesen. The research team, in which also the University of Bath and the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology Seewiesen are involved, presents its results today (25.04.2018) in the journal “Nature Communications”.

» read more

» Published on 17. April 2018

Solving a Rubik’s Cube with the Help of a Smart Workbench

Bielefeld University to exhibit at 2018 Hannover Trade Fair

Bielefeld University, together with the Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC) and the Research Institute for Cognition and Robotics (CoR-Lab) will attend the Hannover Messe (Hannover Trade Fair), where they will showcase an assistive system that willl help visitors learn how to solve a Rubik’s cube. The system can also be used for production processes in assembly work.

» read more

» Published on 12. April 2018

Children’s Gestures, and What They Mean

New “EcoGest” project at Bielefeld University and Paderborn University

What role does gesturing play as children learn to speak? What gestures do they use to complement their verbal statements? Can computer-assisted models of language acquisition help explain the different types of gestures? In the new project “EcoGest,” researchers are investigating how children’s use of gestures is connected to communication. Researchers from the Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC), from linguistics at Bielefeld University, and from psycholinguistics at Paderborn University are working together on the project.

» read more

» Published on 26. Februar 2018

Largest molecular spin found close to a quantum phase transition

International research project on the border between physics and chemistry

An international research team headed by Professor Dr Annie Powell, a chemist at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), and Professor Dr Jürgen Schnack, a physicist at Bielefeld University, has synthesized a new magnetic molecule. The team has confirmed that this reveals the largest ground state spin attained so far. It is publishing its new findings today (26.02.2018) in the new Nature partner journal ‘npj Quantum Materials’. Nine scientists at Bielefeld University, the KIT, the University of Magdeburg, and the Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia (Italy) were involved in the studies.

» read more

» Published on 5. Januar 2018

First discover the disorder and then find the patients

Bielefeld biochemists confirm cause of initially unclear symptoms 

The sequencing of the human genome has made it possible: nowadays scientists can discover potential disorders for which there are no known patients. Such a disorder is ‘MPS III-E’, originally also called ‘Dierks’s disorder’ after its discoverer. Doctors at the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center in Jerusalem (Israel) found consistent symptoms of progressive blindness in three patient families that indicated the presence of a previously unknown genetic defect. Genome analyses at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) delivered a candidate gene on which Professor Dr. Thomas Dierks from Bielefeld University had already published a research article in 2012. Studies by Dierks’ research team now revealed that these patients indeed suffer from ‘MPS III-E’.  The researchers are now presenting their analysis in the journal ‘Genetics in Medicine’, published by the Nature Publishing Group.

 

» read more

» Published on 15. Dezember 2017

The biological clock of plants

‘research_tv’ presents Bielefeld research on Nobel Prize topic

On Sunday (10.12.2017), the Americans Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael W. Young were awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology for their research on the biological clock. They discovered the molecular mechanisms controlling biological rhythms. A new ‘research_tv’ report describes how scientists at Bielefeld are also advancing research on the biological clock. The biochemist Professor Dr. Dorothee Staiger from Bielefeld University explains what the three Nobel Prize winners have achieved and reports on the discoveries her research team has made together with collaborators.

» read more

» Published on 20. November 2017

Spin current from heat: new material increases efficiency

Study published by physicists from Bielefeld University

Electronic devices such as computers generate heat that mostly goes to waste. Physicists at Bielefeld University have found a way to use this energy: They apply the heat to generate magnetic signals known as ‘spin currents’. In future, these signals could replace some of the electrical current in electronic components. In a new study, the physicists tested which materials can generate this spin current most effectively from heat. The research was carried out in cooperation with colleagues from the University of Greifswald, Gießen University, and the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research in Dresden. Their findings are being published today (20.11.2017) in the research journal ‘Nature Communications’.

» read more

» Published on 17. November 2017

Biological Timing: Biologists Investigate the Mechanism of an Auxiliary Clock

Researchers use new systems biology methods on plants

In December, the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology will be awarded for the identification of genes that control the biological clock. The honoured academics examined fruit flies to investigate the molecular basis of biological rhythms. Biochemist Professor Dr. Dorothee Staiger (Photo) of Bielefeld University has been investigating the biological clock of plants for twenty years. Her team has now published a new study in the research journal “Genome Biology”. One finding: not only the biological clock, but also a protein acting as an "auxiliary clock" ensures that recurring routines take place in the cells.

» read more