Research

Emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide from human activity cause ocean warming, acidification, oxygen loss, and other physical and chemical changes that are affecting marine ecosystems around the world. At the same time, natural climate variability and direct human impacts, such as overfishing and pollution, also affect marine ecosystems locally, regionally and globally. These climatic and non-climatic factors mutually reinforce each other.

The supercomputers Alex and Fritz at the Erlangen National High-Performance Computing Center are among the world’s fastest (TOP500) and energy-efficient systems (Green500) in current rankings. Alex secured 184th place and Fritz achieved 323rd place in the TOP500.

Constant stress can cause physical and psychological illness. The Chair for Health Psychology at FAU have investigated how stress and physical illnesses are connected. In a study now underway, scientists led by Dr. Johanna Janson-Schmitt and Prof. Dr. Nicolas Rohleder are looking specifically at how and which inflammatory responses are triggered by stress.

FAU once more proves its excellence in research in quantum technologies: The Bavarian State Ministry of Science and the Arts is providing funding around four million euros from the High-Tech Agenda Bavaria for the Professorship for Applied Quantum Technologies at FAU.

The ability to predict when and where materials will fracture is of immense importance for industrial applications– companies can use this information to maintain devices and components more efficiently and cost effectively. A research team from FAU and the University of Milan has shown that artificial intelligence can predict when quartz glass will break.

Physicists at FAU have designed a framework that allows scientists to observe interactions between light and electrons using a traditional scanning electron microscope. The procedure is considerably cheaper than the technology that has been used to date, and also enables a wider range of experiments. The researchers have published their findings in the prestigious journal Physical Review Letters.

Coffee dries in an unusual pattern: the stain is lighter in the center, surrounded by a darker ring. A research team led by Prof. Dr. Nicolas Vogel has explored a strategy to tackle the coffee ring effect. As the method is easy to implement and versatile, it paves the way to reliable coating processes and inkjet-printed electronic devices for example, solar cells, transistors or biosensors.

It is the ninth Humboldt Professorship for FAU and the sixth in a row for the University: Prof. Dirk Englund has been selected by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for the most prestigious international research prize in Germany, which is worth up to five million euros. FAU and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) nominated physicist Englund for the Humboldt Professorship.

Images of Martin Luther are still well known all over the world. In order to critically evaluate the large number of these images, 727 of them have now been examined. This research has resulted in a comprehensive catalog that is now freely available to all online.

Two tranregios at FAU have had their funding extended: the collaborative research center/transregio 154 “Mathematical modeling, simulation and optimization using the example of gas networks” is entering into its third funding period, whilst the CRC/transregio 241 “Immune-epithelial communication in inflammatory bowel diseases” has had its funding extended for the first time.