Research

Environmental pollution caused by microplastics and nanoplastics is a ubiquitous problem which cannot be tackled using currently available cleaning concepts. Researchers at FAU have now demonstrated how magnets could be used to remove plastic particles of various types and sizes from water.

A triangular structure in the largest satellite galaxy surrounding the Milky Way has left astrophysicists around the world puzzled due to its unusually energetic X-ray emissions. FAU researchers have now investigated this phenomenon using the ESA XMM-Newton X-ray observatory and can reveal that it is caused by the collision of two gas clouds, which will most likely cause a new star-forming region.

You need soap to remove dirt from your skin. The surfactant molecules it contains squeeze their way into the surface area between the dirt and the skin and help to dissolve the dirt in water. Researchers at FAU and Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf (HHU) have observed the same phenomenon with rotating microrobots.

People with sensitive teeth are all too familiar with the painful sensation they experience as soon as they start eating ice cream. The cold thermoreceptor TRPC5 is responsible for sensitivity to cold temperatures in teeth. This is what an international team of researchers led by Prof. Dr. Katharina Zimmerman has now discovered.

Fighting cancer without damaging healthy cells is the aim of the search for new treatments for cancer. An international team of researchers at FAU has now developed prodrugs that inhibit the growth of cancer cells and do not affect healthy cells.

An international team of researchers has now demonstrated for the first time that high-energy cosmic rays are formed in the area surrounding massive stars. Their observations provide new insights into how cosmic rays are formed and develop. The results of this research, in which an astrophysicist from FAU was involved, have now been published in the renowned journal Nature Astronomy.

An international research project is to investigate new approaches to preventing undernutrition in the elderly. Nutritionist Prof. Dr. Dorothee Volkert will coordinate the multidisciplinary consortium of eight institutions from six European countries.