A sad fate awaits many male spiders following copulation; they are eaten by their mate. Yet, what role does cannibalism play in the mating ritual of spiders?
Prof. Dr. Jutta Schneider and Klaas Welke from the Zoological Insitute at Universität Hamburg have the answer. Their research sought to understand why the comparatively tiny male wasp spider is such a delicacy for the up to nineteen millimeter longer female. The results of the study are set to be published in the journal Animal Behaviour. More...

The European Union banned the import of illegally felled tropical wood in early 2012. Paper producers must now prove that their paper has been made from authorized types of wood. However, until now there has been no simple and quick means of analyzing tropical wood fibers.
The Technical University Darmstadt is currently developing a method of identifying illegal paper and pulp particles. The Chemical Wood Technology Institute in the Wood Science Center at Universität Hamburg and the Von Thünen Institute in Hamburg are both involved in the research project, which has received funding worth 284,000 euros from the German Environment Foundation. More...

An international team of bioscientists has made a rather baffling discovery. Whilst comparing the species diversity in areas measuring between 1 mm² and 1 ha worldwide, they found in areas under 100 m², European dry meadows hosted the greatest number of vascular plant species.
The biodiversity reseacher Dr. Jürgen Dengler from the Biocenter Klein Flottbek at Universität Hamburg participated in the study, which has been published in the Journal of Vegetation Science and reported widely in both the international and the national press. More...

The new Emmy Noether Research Group lead by Dr. An­ni­ka Her­wig from the Department of Biology at Universität Hamburg will conduct research on how the brain regulates longterm energy balance and body weight in seasonal mammals such as the Djungarian hamster. Unlike non-seasonal mammals, their seasonal counterparts experience extreme weight fluctuation over the course of the four seasons. The German Research Foundation (DFG) is funding the junior research group entitled "Molecular Mechanisms Regulating Seasonal Physiology" over the course of five years with up to 1.19 million euros. More...

A study conducted in the Department of Education at Universität Hamburg reveals a correlation between excessive use of the Internet by adolescents and family interaction. The study, "EXIF: Excessive Use of the Internet in Families," was funded by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ) and found a correlation between excessive use of the Internet and a family's (media-related) child-raising practices. Results were presented in Berlin in March at a workshop hosted by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs. More...

For the first time, scientists at Hamburg's KlimaCampus have successfully developed a method for determining the thickness of thin arctic sea ice over an extensive area. Arctic sea ice is an important indicator of climate change. It is not only the surface area but the thickness of the ice which plays a significant role. Researchers used data from the remote sensing satellite SMOS, which was launched into space in 2009 by the European Space Agency (ESA). Results were published yesterday in the science journal Geophysical Research Letters. More...

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded Prof. R. J. Dwayne Miller, professor for free electron laser science" in the Department of Physics at Universität Hamburg, a 2.5 million euro grant for a joint research project with the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. Over the next five years, the ultra-short pulsed laser scalpel conceived by Miller will be tested. The Advanced Invsitgator Grant is awarded to internationally outstanding scientists and funds innovative research projects. More...

A research team headed by Dr. Michel Clement from the Institute for Marketing and Media and the Media and Research Center for Media and Communication (RCMC) at Universität Hamburg has published a study, "Electronic Books and Electronic Readers: Purchasing and Use," which investigates for the first time the German electronic book market from the user's point of view. Has the electronic book arrived in Germany? Will the electronic book replace the printed book? What would such a scenario depend on? These are significant questions for the entire book industry.
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Using X-ray lasers, structural biologists have been treading new paths in research on the role of proteins in illness. Heading their ranks are the researchers in the junior research group "Structural Infection Biology Using New Radiation Sources (SIAS)" at Universität Hamburg and the University of Lübeck and the Hamburg School for Structure and Dynamics in Infection.
In the current online edition of the scientific journal Nature Methods, they explain how, for the first time, they crystallized in living cells the enzymes in pathogens causing the sleeping sickness, which enabled them to investigate these using a super laser. More...

For the first time ever it has proven possible to predict currents in an ocean. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology and the CliSAP Excellence Cluster at Universität Hamburg compared a climactic model with new measurement data and can now predict the Atlantic Circulation – and with that its influence on the climate – until 2014.
The researchers published their results in the distinguished scientific journal Science. More...

Researchers from the computing company IBM and the Hamburg Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL) have constructed the smallest magnetic data storage device in the world. The researchers require a mere twelve atoms in order to store one bit, the basic unit of information. Thus they are able to squeeze one byte (8 bit) onto ninety-six atoms.
As a comparison, modern hard drives use at least half a million atoms for one byte. The research group lead by IBM researcher Dr. Andreas Heinrich and CFEL researcher Dr. Sebastian Loth presented their development in the scientific journal Science on 13 January 2012. The CFEL is a cooperative endeavor of the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), the Max Planck Society and Universität Hamburg. More...

At the Hamburger Sternwarte the experiment SHIPS is breaking in a new era of astronomic observation: the search for hidden photons. Until now this class of elementary particles - potentially of fundamental physical and astrophysical importance - has been the subject of little research. Hidden photons are thought to be responsible for puzzling phenomena in the universe and might even be one of the components of the very mysterious dark matter. In order to investigate these elementary particles the SHIPS Team employs a special blacked-out telescope into which no light can enter. More...

The Joint Science Conference (GWK) has approved a long-term research project by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. The Institute for Greek and Latin Studies at Universität Hamburg has a leading role in this project.
The project "Com­men­ta­ria in Aris­to­t­e­lem Grae­ca et By­zan­ti­na (CAGB)", which aims to produce a critical edition of ancient and Byzantinian commentaries, paraphrases, compendiums and scholia on the works of Aristoteles, is now part of the Federal and State Academies' Program. The twenty-five year project will run in cooperation with the Aristoteles Archive at the Free University Berlin and commences in 2012. More...

The Hamburg Research and Science Foundation is to fund six new research projects, four of which at Universität Hamburg. 3.8 million euros plus a general costs allocation of 20 per cent will be available to start up research projects on cancer therapies, religion, computing for academic purposes, and for a graduate school for energy research. More...

In the Center for Higher Education's special assessment published last November Universität Hamburg has been ranked as particularly strong in the following research areas: English and American studies, management (BWL), economics (VWL) and education. Economics also received a distinction for its internationally and application-oriented teaching and research. More...

A new Emmy Noether Junior Research Group starts up in November at Universität Hamburg. The physicist Dr. Alexander Schmidt was awarded this distinction by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and will bring a maximum of 1.2 million euros worth of funding to Hamburg.
The Emmy Noether Program supports young scientists by enabling them to head up their own junior research group. Four researchers will conduct basic research in elementary particle physics on the topic "Searching for a Fourth Fermion Generation with the CMS Detector of the Large Hadron Collider" for a period of up to five years. More...

Observing shooting stars, planetary nebula or the moon - in order to study astronomy and astrophysics, you need to take a look through a telescope. Yet this only works when the night sky is clear. And clear nights in Hamburg are much rarer than in more southern lands. For this reason students of astronomy and astrophysics at the Hamburger Sternwarte can now observe the heavens above Mallorca directly from Hamburg-Bergedorf.
How is this possible? The University recently began operating a teaching and training telescope that, following a successful test phase, was inaugurated amidst great festivities on 28 October. More...

Scientists from Universität Hamburg and Moscow, together with the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Office, have produced some unique cartological material. At the conference of the World Climate Research Program in Denver they presented the WOCE Atlas Volume 3, which comprises data on the Atlantic Ocean. Around ten years after the so-called World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE), scientists have finally been able to record the results of the project in detailed maps. The experiment is probably the most comprehensive oceanographic program of measurement ever untertaken. In addition to the soon to be published printed atlas, all maps are now available online. More...

There are robots that play football and robots that help out around the house. Yet these robots have all been programmed to carry out these tasks. Scientists in Hamburg are now working towards developing intelligent robots that - just like people - are capable of learning from experience. The European Union has authorized 3 million euros worth of funding for the Robustness by Autonomous Competence Enhancement (RACE) project. The project leaders are Professor Jianwei Zhang and Bernd Neumann from the Department of Informatics at Universität Hamburg. More...

The Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMELV) funds the joint project LeguAN with 2.1 million euros. The research project, coordinated by the Institute of Food Chemistry at Universität Hamburg, aims to produce food and animal feed using native species of pulses, such as peas and broad beans, both efficiently and in line with market requirements. These new foods will be investigated in particular for their potential to promote health in humans, for example for their antidiabetic properties or their ability to reduce bloating. More...