Max Planck Society |
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P.O. Box 10 10 62
München
80084
0049
[t] 89 2108 - 0
[f] 89 2108 - 1111
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The research institutes of the Max Planck Society perform basic research in the interest of the general public in the natural sciences, life sciences, social sciences, and the humanities. In particular, the Max Planck Society takes up new and innovative research areas that German universities are not in a position to accommodate or deal with adequately. These interdisciplinary research areas often do not fit into the university organization, or they require more funds for personnel and equipment than those available at universities. The variety of topics in the natural sciences and the humanities at Max Planck Institutes complement the work done at universities and other research facilities in important research fields. In certain areas, the institutes occupy key positions, while other institutes complement ongoing research. Moreover, some institutes perform service functions for research performed at universities by providing equipment and facilities to a wide range of scientists, such as telescopes, large-scale equipment, specialized libraries, and documentary resources.
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Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine, in collaboration with the Department of Pathology at the Medical School of the Georg August University in Göttingen and the National Institute for Cancer in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, have found a strong correlation of high expression of Eag1 potassium channels with multiple malignant tumour types. |
13 May 2007 |
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Researcher at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching and the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen have succeeded in transferring a quantum state of light to a material object, an ensemble of atoms. |
13 May 2007 |
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Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz have developed a process with which longwave light from a normal light source can be converted to shortwave light. |
12 May 2007 |
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Not lava, but muds and methane are emitted from the Arctic deep-water mud volcano Haakon Mosby. When it reaches the atmosphere, methane is an aggressive greenhouse gas, 25-times more potent than carbon dioxide. Fortunately, some specialised microorganisms feed on methane and thereby reduce emissions of this greenhouse gas. For the first time, a German-French research team showed which methane consuming microorganisms thrive in the ice-cold Arctic deep-sea. |
11 May 2007 |
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Using fast digital imaging, scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, Germany, together with researchers from Collège de France, have succeeded in developing two different protocols by which one can initiate the fusion process in a controlled manner and observe the subsequent fusion dynamics with a temporal resolution in the microsecond regime. For both protocols, the opening of the fusion necks was found to be very fast, with an average expansion velocity of centimetres per second. This velocity indicates that the initial formation of a single fusion neck can be completed in a few hundred nanoseconds. |
10 May 2007 |
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'Max-Planck-Innovation, Connecting Science and Business' is replacing the name of Garching Innovation to better reflect the close affiliation of the technology transfer unit with the Max Planck Society as well as its intermediary role between science and industry. |
09 May 2007 |
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Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, along with a colleague from the University of Florida in the United States, have been carrying out research into how transport proteins can move in cells without bumping into or sticking to anything. |
08 May 2007 |
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The astrophysicists of the international H.E.S.S. collaboration report the discovery of fast variability in very-high-energy gamma rays from the giant elliptical galaxy M 87. The detection of these gamma-ray photons, with energies more than a million million times the energy of visible light, from one of the most famous extragalactic objects on the sky is remarkable, though long-expected given the many potential sites of particle acceleration (and thus gamma-ray production) within M 87. Much more surprising was the discovery of drastic gamma-ray flux variations on time-scales of days. |
07 May 2007 |
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When cells divide, control mechanisms ensure that the genetic material, in other words the chromosomes, is correctly distributed to the daughter cells. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin have now explained the molecular principles of these control processes. |
06 May 2007 |
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Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich and the University of Heidelberg have shown in previously unachieved high resolution new details of the complex biological protein sorting process in the cell. |
05 May 2007 |
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Mushroom-shaped microhairs are the secret of a new adhesive material which scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research in Stuttgart have developed. Inspired by the soles of beetles’ feet, and therefore biomimetic, the special surface structure of the material allows it to stick to smooth walls without any adhesives. |
04 May 2007 |
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With the aid of complex computer simulations, scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam and at the University of Heidelberg have discovered how the shape and distribution of certain sticky areas on the cell affect its adhesion in blood vessels. |
03 May 2007 |
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In Brussels, the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures announced their first recommendation for promising new large-scale research infrastructures in Europe. Its selection in the field of environmental research was the plan for an integrated carbon observation system. |
02 May 2007 |
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For the first time, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology in Martinsried near Munich have been able to show how two nerve cells communicate with each other from different hemispheres in the visual centre. This astoundingly simple circuit diagram could at a later date provide a model for algorithms to be deployed in technical systems. |
01 May 2007 |
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Two space probes from the STEREO mission were launched from the American space centre at Cape Canaveral, ushering in a new era in solar research. The Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Katlenburg-Lindau is playing a major part in representing Germany on this international mission. Thanks to new 3-dimensional observation technology, the project is intended to improve our understanding of the processes on the sun’s surface and their effect on the earth’s atmosphere ('space weather'). |
30 April 2007 |
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Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg have visualised vibration and rotation in the nuclei of a hydrogen molecule as a quantum mechanical wave packet. What is more, this has been achieved on an extremely short spatio-temporal scale. |
29 April 2007 |
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Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces have found a new design principle at the nanoscale which is responsible for the enormous stability and deformabilty of bone. They found that a piece of bone stretches more than the fibres and much more than the mineral it is composed of. |
28 April 2007 |
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Cell signaling mechanisms often transmit information via protein modifications, most importantly the reversible attachment of phosphate, the so-called protein phosphorylation. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried have now developed a technology to identify and quantify the specific sites in proteins that get phosphorylated in answer to certain stimuli in living cells. |
27 April 2007 |
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It doesn’t look appetizing: when Ustilago maydis attacks a maize plant, its cobs bear hideous tumours rather than crunchy niblets. So far, no effective means of combating the maize smut pathogen has been found. However, an international team has now made significant progress in the search for a solution. |
26 April 2007 |
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The Neandertal people are humanity’s closest extinct relatives. Their genome could supply the key to the genetic changes that have taken place during the development of modern humans. Using specially developed technology, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig and from the 454 Life Sciences Corporation in the US have now found the first million base pairs of the Neandertal genome. |
25 April 2007 |
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Coal, oil or natural gas: all fossil fuels contain the energy of sunlight, stored with the aid of photosynthesis in energy-rich chemical compounds. A researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Bioinorganic Chemistry in Mülheim on the Ruhr working with colleagues from the Technical University in Berlin, the Free University in Berlin and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has shed light on an important detail in this process. |
24 April 2007 |
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A team of researchers in Freiburg have revealed the molecular mechanism which regulates pattern formation in the spacing and density of hair follicles. How are simple embryonic structures able to produce the varied and complex manifestations of living nature? Scientists in Freiburg have now identified proteins which regulate the pattern of hair formation in mice. |
23 April 2007 |
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Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces have presented a new method with which to precisely control the permeability of microcapsules using the salt content and the temperature of the solution. In order to accomplish this, the researchers developed a theoretical model which exactly describes the processes in the polymer shell of the capsules. |
22 April 2007 |
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In a study published in the latest issue of Science, an international consortium from the Max-Planck Society, Wellcome Trust Institutes in Britain and Vietnam, and the Institut Pasteur in France have elucidated the evolutionary history of Salmonella Typhi. Typhi is the cause of typhoid fever, a disease that sickens 21 million people and kills 200,000 worldwide every year. |
21 April 2007 |
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Silicon nanowires can help to further reduce the size of microchips. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Microstructure Physics in Halle have for the first time developed single crystal silicon nanowires that fulfil the key criteria to this end. The researchers used aluminium as a catalyst to grow the nanowires. To date, scientists have usually deployed gold for this purpose. |
20 April 2007 |
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Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Metals Research in Stuttgart have discovered a new mechanism with which it is possible to use weak magnetic fields to reverse tiny magnetic structures, called vortex cores, quickly and with no losses. Up until now, very strong magnetic fields have been necessary to accomplish this, requiring highly complex technology. The new method might open up new possibilities for magnetic data storage. |
19 April 2007 |
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It has long been known that it is possible to confine electrons or atoms in atomic structures in the same way as sheep can be shut in a pen. Physicists at the Max Planck Institute for Microstructure Physics in Halle have now discovered a strange thing: if the atomic fences have the right shape and the substrate, temperature and other parameters are adjusted appropriately, then randomly vapour-deposited atoms arrange themselves in regular structures within the circular fencing, as if they were sheep arranging themselves neatly in a pen. |
18 April 2007 |
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An international team of researchers from the USA and Germany has published an explanation for life in the Deep Biosphere in the magazine 'Science'. Using a bunch of the latest technologies from biogeochemistry, molecular biology and microbiology, the scientists collected a wide range of samples from the bottom of the sea. |
17 April 2007 |
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When a newt loses a limb, the limb regrows. What is more, a newt can also completely repair damage to its heart. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim have now started to decode the cellular mechanisms in this impressive ability to regenerate and have discovered the remarkable plasticity of newt heart cells. As mammals, and therefore also humans, do not have this ability, the findings could contribute to new cell therapies for patients with damaged organs. |
16 April 2007 |
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If I can’t remember this morning where I put my car keys last night, it’s due to my memory failing me again. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg have been investigating how memories might be consolidated. |
15 April 2007 |
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Over the last decade human outbreaks of the deadly Ebola virus in Africa have been repeatedly linked to gorilla and chimpanzee deaths in nearby forests. Hotly debated has been whether these wild ape deaths were isolated incidents or part of a massive die-off. New research published in the journal Science puts this debate to rest, providing strong evidence that Ebola killed at least 5,000 gorillas at a single site. The study also provides new hope for controlling the devastating impact of Ebola on wild gorilla and chimpanzee populations. |
14 April 2007 |
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In human societies, social misconduct for personal gain is restrained by the withdrawal of social support and additional direct punishment is desired to discipline the worst social loafers. |
13 April 2007 |
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A small molecule makes stem cells able to reproduce and change. This simply structured moecule called SC1, which researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in Münster and their colleagues from California have discovered, encourages stem cells in the laboratory to renew themselves. |
12 April 2007 |
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The stars and gas which are seen in galaxies account for only a few percent of the gravitating material in the Universe. Most of the rest has remained stubbornly invisible and is now thought to be made of a new form of matter never yet seen on Earth. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics have discovered, however, that a sufficiently big radio telescope could make a picture of everything that gravitates, rivalling the images made by optical telescopes of everything that shines. |
11 April 2007 |
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Marine iguanas on the Galápagos Islands live without predators, at least this was the case up until 150 years ago. Since then they have been confronted with cats and dogs on some islands of the Archipelago. For scientists, they are therefore a suitable model of study in order to discover if such generally tame animals are capable of adapting their behaviour and endocrine stress response to novel predation threats. |
10 April 2007 |
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Three year collaboration between Transinsight GmbH and the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden. Transinsight GmbH enters into a three year collaboration with the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden in the area of knowledge-based image analysis. |
09 April 2007 |
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Humans and most other mammals cannot see ultraviolet light, whereas some rodents can. A Chilean-German research team has now reported UV vision in the South-American degu, a distant relative of the guinea pig. In a search for behaviourally relevant UV signals in the habitat of these rodents, the researchers found that fresh degu urine reflects the UV parts of the spectrum most strongly, while dry old urine has only marginal UV reflectance. |
26 November 2006 |
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Scientists at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Berlin and the University of Barcelona have discovered that chaotic behavior in chemical reactions and heart fibrillation can be selectively influenced and suppressed. |
26 November 2006 |
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Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching, Germany have achieved unprecedented control over the creation of single photons. By using a tightly trapped single calcium ion, localized between two ultra-high reflectivity mirrors, and subjecting it to an external laser pulse, the scientists could emit photons one by one. The emission time and the pulse shape of each photon were completely user-controlled. |
26 November 2006 |
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There are two fundamentally distinct families of particles in nature: bosons and fermions. Being a boson or a fermion has profound consequences on the ‘social behaviour’ of a particle when it meets other partners. Whereas bosons tend to socialize and want to be as close to each other as possible, fermions are very independent and like to be on their own. |
26 November 2006 |
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Nitrogen, the major constituent of air, usually consists of inert molecules where two atoms are strongly triple-bonded. Now, researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry have synthesised a polymeric cubic form of nitrogen where all atoms are connected with single covalent bonds, similar to carbon atoms in diamond. |
25 November 2006 |
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Tumor cells or virally infected cells are a danger to our lifes, but fortunately killer cells of the immune defense system which are armed with different specialized digestive enzymes, called granzymes, eradicate these cells in many instances. The granzymes A and B, two of these proteases, are highly efficient triggers of intracellular cell death inducing (cytotoxic) cascades. |
25 November 2006 |
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Mechanical stimuli such as sound and movement are perceived by the specialized receptors of the inner ear. These mechanical receptors are called sensory hair cells because of a tuft of hairs or specialized processes present at the top of the cell. When sound or movement causes the hairs to shear or deflect, ions flow into the cells, thereby transducing the mechanical energy into electrical energy. |
25 November 2006 |
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In the macroscopic classical world, it is possible to copy information from one device into another. We do this everyday, when, for example, we copy files in a computer or we tape a conversation. In the microscopic world, however, it is not possible to copy the quantum information from one system into another one. It can only be transferred, without leaving any trace on the original one. |
25 November 2006 |
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The triangle in the picture is a microscope, and the little strands that look like strings, well, they're DNA, perhaps the single most important substance in your body for making you exactly who you are. You'd probably want to know, then, what your DNA looks like for real. Well, here it is. |
24 November 2006 |
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A technique for tailormaking silicon nanocrystals on 4-inch wafers has been developed and submitted for patent (German patent number: DE 101 04 193 A 1) by Dr. Margit Zacharias and colleagues of the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Halle(Saale), Germany. Following a standard procedure in silicon technology, a thermally unstable silicon compound in the form of an ultra-thin layer (only two to five nanometers) is first deposited on a substrate. |
24 November 2006 |
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Using the ESO Very Large Telescope, two astronomers from Germany and the UK have discovered some of the most distant galaxies ever seen . They are located about 12,600 million light-years away. |
24 November 2006 |
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Powdery mildew is a typical fungal infection in crop plants and only the regular application of fungicides prevent huge yield losses in agriculture. Some crops, however, hold a natural resistance against powdery mildew like cultivars of the European barley with a mutation in the Mlo gene. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne have collaborated with colleagues from Great Britain, France and Denmark to solve the mystery of the resistance mechanism and to highlight the cultural history of plant. |
24 November 2006 |
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Researchers at the Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics have developed new relativistic models which allow predictions of so far unknown properties of short gamma-ray bursts. Their simulations will come under scrutiny by the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Explorer. |
23 November 2006 |
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Glass breaks, rubber bursts, there are numerous ways in which materials can fail under extreme conditions. Many of the atomic mechanisms of materials failure however still remain a mystery. Some materials harden when they are stretched, others soften under large deformation. |
23 November 2006 |
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The cells of our brain intensively exchange information among each other using electrical and chemical signals. This is a prerequisite for the brain to work properly. However, if the intensity of this information exchange exceeds a certain threshold, 'stormy activities' can occur, as for example during epileptic seizures in humans. Together with colleagues from the University of Mainz and teams from Heidelberg, Naples and Madrid, researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich showed that the brain's cannabinoid receptors together with the body's own cannabinoids constitute a system which protects the neurons from such hazardous excessive activities. |
23 November 2006 |
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Water on Mars means, maybe, life on Mars. Now, as you know, we haven't found little green men on the red planet. But this year, a Mars rover took a small step on the planet's soil and made a giant leap for Mars exploration: very strong evidence that, in the past, at least part of Mars was 'drenched with water.' |
23 November 2006 |
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While the field of genetics investigates and influences the life’s processes by modifying the genes themselves, the field of chemical genetics pursues this goal using chemical compounds that modulate the functioning of the gene and its products (proteins, RNA, etc.). Therefore, chemists, biochemists and biologists from six Max Planck Institutes will work together in the new 'Chemical Genomics Centre' in Dortmund in the search for small molecules that allow the study of fundamental life-science processes and the involved biological macromolecules. The Max Planck Society invests a total sum of 5 million euro. |
22 November 2006 |
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White blood cells can kill bacteria by trapping them in net-like extracellular structures, report scientists in Arturo Zychlinsky’s lab at the Max-Planck-Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin. |
22 November 2006 |
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Heavy metal pollution resulting from mining, smeltering and military activities is widespread and poses a threat to drinking water resources, food chain safety and air quality. The clean-up of metal-polluted soils is thus of great interest economically as well as for the protection of human and environmental health. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology in Potsdam and at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry in Halle have now made pioneering progress in the understanding of the molecular mechanisms that enable some plant species to accumulate metals specifically in their leaves while thriving on metal-polluted soils. |
22 November 2006 |
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Your biological clock has no hands, no cuckoo, and it doesn’t chime on the hour. But it ticks, in its own way. In fact, it marks time with a more subtle system than the best Rolex, because it adjusts your body to your environment: for example, to the amount of light outside. Unlike any mechanical clock, your biological clock automatically gives you energy when you should wake up, and takes energy away at bedtime. |
22 November 2006 |
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Federal-financed German research initiative organizes clinical testing of a highly promising vaccine candidate which has been developed in the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology. |
21 November 2006 |
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With the help of semiconductor nanocystals, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Goettingen, Germany, and their collaborators at the Universidad de Buenos Aires are now able to capture movies of signal transmission processes involved in the control of gene expression. This breakthrough is expected to speed up the development of new cancer-curing drugs. Quantum Dots can be used as nano-sized markers to visualize DNA sequences, proteins, or other molecules and track them in the cell. |
21 November 2006 |
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It’s a natural dream, given what scientists say about genes being the building blocks of life, the things that form our individual bodies and personalities. Genes even help decide what kinds of illnesses we’ll get. |
21 November 2006 |
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A cooperation agreement to initiate the development of a new type of preventive DNA subunit vaccine against tuberculosis has been signed by the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology and MOLOGEN AG in Berlin. Subunit vaccines are composed of defined molecular immunogenic modules. |
21 November 2006 |
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Understanding how the brain processes and stores information depends in large part on knowing which neurons are involved in a particular process and how they're organized into functional networks. Each of the 10 billion or so neurons in the brain has thousands of connections to other neurons, sending (via axons) or receiving (via dendrites) the signals that allow us to think. Each neuron can transmit signals to both local and distant neurons, and it is by mapping these networks that neuroscientists can discern correlations between neural connectivity and physiological responses and ultimately unveil the computational algorithms underlying brain function. |
20 November 2006 |
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Radiologists and biologists have been dreaming, ever since the discovery of lasers, of a compact laboratory source emitting X-rays in one direction in a laser-like beam. Such a source would permit X-ray images to be recorded with far higher resolution at vastly reduced dose levels, allowing early-stage cancer diagnosis at dramatically reduced risk. |
20 November 2006 |
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Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have used a combination of brainpower and computer power to identify a multitude of new genes that control the formation of tiny, hair-like cilia that stipple the surfaces of many organs in a wide variety of creatures. |
20 November 2006 |
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The development of chronic inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract such as Crohn’s disease and Colitis ulcerosa has not been understood yet, but medication to treat and alleviate these diseases are in high demand. In the current issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation a researcher team from the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry and from the Ludwig-Maximilans-University Munich were able to show that mutant mice lacking the cannabinoid receptor are much more prone to experimentally induced colon inflammation as compared to wild-type control mice. |
20 November 2006 |
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Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin, headed by Prof. Dr. Stefan H.E. Kaufmann, have developed a new therapeutic strategy against anthrax using defensins, well known bacteriocidal defence molecules of our body. These investigations also revealed a novel biological function of defensins. |
19 November 2006 |
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Stem cell research has, as you probably know, been filled with ethical controversy. Until now, it’s involved destroying a human embryo, a small one, of course, just a few hundred cells. But in nine months, that embryo could be a healthy human baby. Not everybody is going to agree that a scientist should be allowed to do that, even if it helps us develop treatments for cancer, paralysis, and heart disease. |
19 November 2006 |
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The fusion of membranes is essential for many processes in the human body, for instance, in the communication between nerve cells. A single fusion event occurs on the nanometer scale and takes less than a millisecond. Using computer simulations, scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces have now been able to observe single fusion events with molecular resolution. |
19 November 2006 |
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European astronomers succeeded for the first time to confirm the signatures predicted near Black Holes by Albert Einstein's theory of Relativity in the light of the cosmic X-ray background. The group of scientists led by Günther Hasinger, director at the Max-Planck-Institute for extraterrestrial Physics in Garching near Munich could identify the spectral fingerprint of iron atoms. They observed a strong, relativistically smeared iron line in the average spectrum of roughly 100 active galaxies, whose X-ray light had been emitted when the Universe was less than half of its current age. |
19 November 2006 |
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The labs of the future will be 'labs-on-a-chip', i.e., integrated chemical and biochemical laboratories shrunk down to the size of a computer chip. An essential prerequisite for such labs are appropriate microcompartments for the confinement of very small amounts of liquids and chemical reagents. |
19 November 2006 |
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Max Planck researchers have succeeded in overcoming the law postulated by Ernst Abbe in 1873 for diffraction limited resolution in light microscopes. Stefan Hell and his co-workers have established a new law that promises unlimited resolution in fluorescence microscopy. Future applications range from the imaging of cell interiors to the measuring of lithographic structures in microchip manufacturing, and substantial improvements in the quantification of the reaction kinetics of organic molecules. |
18 November 2006 |
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Molecular motors are nanoscale engines which move along very thin rod-like filaments and, in this way, drive the heavy traffic of molecular cargo within biological cells. Both motors and filaments can be isolated from the cells and used to construct biomimetic transport systems. In order to increase the flux of the cargo transport, it would be necessary to increase the number of motors that contribute to this transport but, at the same time, avoid the build-up of traffic jams. |
18 November 2006 |
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The development of a walking platform which will allow unconstrained movement in virtual worlds is the goal of the CyberWalk project, initiated by scientists of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tuebingen, Germany, together with their colleagues from the Technical University Munich, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland and the University Roma, Italy. |
18 November 2006 |
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Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg and the Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine in Goettingen (Germany) have uncovered the behaviour of microglial cells in the brain. In the current online edition of Science they report on the busy action of these immune defense cells in the normal brain and their rapid response to cerebral hemorrhage in the first few hours following injury. Their imaging approach is transferable to other models of disease, and monitoring microglia behaviour under such circumstances promises to substantially enhance our knowledge about brain pathologies. |
18 November 2006 |
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The biosphere contains many scale-free networks. Prominent examples are provided by the functional networks within the human brain. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces have discovered that activity patterns in such biomimetic networks have unusual dynamic properties, which are controlled by a few, highly connected nodes. |
17 November 2006 |
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The nanoscale size of many viruses may have evolved to minimize their time to enter cells via a process called receptor mediated endocytosis, according to new research conducted by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research and Brown University. While it has been previously assumed that the endocytosis of viruses is associated with the formation of clathrin coats at the cell membrane, recent experiments have shown that influenza viruses can enter cells even if the formation of clathrin coats are inhibited. |
17 November 2006 |
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Most of us don't have much trouble recognizing what we see. Whether it is a face in a crowd, a bird in a tree, or papers on a desk, our brains expertly distinguish the target from the clutter. It is a simple skill most of us take for granted, but object recognition is not hard-wired. |
17 November 2006 |
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IBM announced that The Max Planck Society will use a cutting-edge IBM supercomputing system to double its computing power, allowing research and experiments which before were not possible. The system is based on 86 units of IBM's newly announced IBM eServer(TM) p5-575 systems and will bring the Max Planck Society's supercomputing power to over 10 Teraflops, doubling their existing installed pSeries compute power. |
17 November 2006 |
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By introducing expression of a special green-algae gene into neurons of the tiny, transparent nematode C. elegans, researchers have been able to elicit specific behavioral responses by simply illuminating animals with blue light. The work paves the way for better understanding of how neurons communicate with each other, and with muscles, to regulate behavior in intact, living organisms. |
17 November 2006 |
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A breakthrough in understanding how flowers form, is reported by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tuebingen, Germany, and the John Innes Centre in Norwich, UK. In an article published in the international journal 'Science', they show how a small molecule that is made in leaves is able to induce the formation of flowers at the growing tip of a plant. Because flowers in turn make fruits and seeds, including cereal grains, this new knowledge could have important applications in crop plants. |
16 November 2006 |
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Membrane protein research is at the forefront of modern biological study, with great potential consequences for development of new medicinal treatments and genetic engineering of plants. |
16 November 2006 |
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The cortex used in higher-level thought undergoes more extensive changes with age than the cerebellum, which regulates basic processes such as heartbeat, breathing and balance. |
16 November 2006 |
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Embryonic and adult stem cells are thought to become a chance for new therapeutic approaches, making the regeneration of damaged tissue and organs possible. An increasing line of indications suggests that these cells may have the potential to repair damaged tissue. |
16 November 2006 |
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In something akin to a double-slit experiment, scientists at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, in co-operation with researchers from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, have shown for the first time that electrons display characteristics of both waves and particles at the same time and, with virtually the push of a button, can be switched back and forth between these states. |
15 November 2006 |
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Mother-of-pearl, also known as nacre, is not just an iridescent substance whose optical characteristics impress the observer and which is often used for jewellery. It is also an excellent material for working with. Nacre consists of 97 percent lime, but has a thousand times higher breaking strength. The reason has to do with the layer composition of mother-of-pearl. |
15 November 2006 |
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Switchable fluorescent proteins, able to switch themselves reversibly back-and-forth between an 'on' and 'off' state, have been known for only a few years. However, they already hold promise for a large number of novel applications, from cellular biology to data storage. |
15 November 2006 |
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There is little difference between the composition of the genetically produced potatoes known as fructan potatoes and that of conventionally bred varieties. They only differ in the new substances intentionally incorporated with gene technology. This conclusion has been reached by scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology and their colleagues from the University of Wales in a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The scientists used a method developed at the Institute to identify substances in plants. |
15 November 2006 |
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The team of Prof. Stefan H.E. Kaufmann at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin has designed a novel tuberculosis vaccine with high vaccine efficacy. The vaccine has been licensed to the Vakzine Projekt Management who will test it in clinical trials. The responsible mechanisms for the high efficacy of this vaccine has now been deciphered. |
15 November 2006 |
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The two mirrors of the Large Binocular Telescope have produced their first scientific images of space. The event, known among astronomers as ‛first light’, is a major milestone in the launch of the largest and most modern single telescope in the world. The LBT will be able to see more clearly and more deeply into the universe than any of its predecessors. Led by the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, five German institutes participated, garnering a total of 25 percent of the observation time. Among them were the Max Planck Institutes for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, and for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, as well as the Landessternwarte (state observatory), part of the Centre for Astronomy in Heidelberg. |
14 November 2006 |
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All life on earth depends on photosynthesis, a process in which light energy is used to build organic substances. When the amount and proportion of light changes, a plant has to adapt; we distinguish between three different kinds of adaptation. The plant makes changes to its photosynthetic machinery and important 'protein gears'. In the journal Nature, Max Planck researchers have explained how two protein kinases, that is, enzymes which transfer phosphate groups to other proteins, regulate how different kinds of photosynthetic machinery do this adapting and make it possible for the plant to adjust itself better under various lighting conditions. |
14 November 2006 |
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When sense perceptions from various sense organs are processed in the brain, this information is integrated, for example, when we are watching a ventriloquist, our brain combines information pertaining to both language and vision. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany have showed that the integration of auditory and touch information takes place in the 'hearing centre' of the brain, the auditory cortex, and thus at an earlier point than has traditionally been assumed. |
14 November 2006 |
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Biomimetic systems that are composed of rigid polymers or filaments and crosslinking molecules can be used to assemble filament networks and bundles. The bundles represent `nanoropes' and exhibit material properties that are primarily determined by the number of plaited filaments. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, Germany have now shown that this assembly of filaments into bundles is prevented by the thermal motion of the filaments, unless the crosslinker concentration exceeds a certain threshold value. |
14 November 2006 |
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Complex computing operations could be greatly accelerated through massive parallel processing in a quantum computer. The smallest units of information are known as quantum bits, which could be realized using atoms or molecules, if one can manipulate their position, quantum state, and interactions with other particles. Controlling single atoms in an optical resonator is now one decisive step closer to becoming reality for the research team led by Professor Gerhard Rempe of the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching, near Munich, Germany. |
14 November 2006 |
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It is not only migratory birds that orient themselves to the magnetic field of the Earth. Also bacteria, supposedly 'simple' organisms, have evolved to be able to take advantage of the magnetic field in their search for optimal living conditions. Such 'magnetotactic'microorganisms use a miniature, cellular compass made of a chain of single nanomagnets, called magnetosomes. |
13 November 2006 |
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Plants are exposed to many different pathogens in the environment. Only a few of these pathogens, however, are able to attack a species of plant and 'make it sick'. If a particular pathogen is unable to attack a plant, that means that the plant is resistant to it - in other words, it cannot host the pathogen. This durable type of immunity of a plant to parasites is called nonhost resistance. |
13 November 2006 |
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Processive bio-molecular motors, which move actively along cytoskeletal filaments, drive the cargo traffic in cells and in biomimetic systems. A single motor molecule is sufficient for continuous transport of cargoes such as vesicles or latex beads over a few micrometers. |
13 November 2006 |
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Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin discovered why lung, but not skin, anthrax infections are lethal. As reported in the newest issue of PloS Pathogen Neutrophils, a form of white blood cells, play a key role in anthrax infections. They can kill Bacillus anthracis by producing a protein called alpha-defensin. This discovery might now pave the way towards the development of new therapies for the fatal lung form of anthrax. |
13 November 2006 |
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Scientists from the MPI for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen have developed a new procedure which accurately maps the activity in primate brains by means of the BOLD-Signal (Blood Oxygen Level Dependent Signal). The combination of electrical microstimulation and FMRT promises substantially more precise insights into the functional organisation or the brain and its circuitry. |
12 November 2006 |
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In a study of the effects of aging on gene expression, researchers have found that variation in gene expression among individuals tends to increase with age. The findings, which impact our understanding of the molecular forces that govern age-related changes, are reported in the May 23rd issue of Current Biology by Mehmet Somel and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and the University of Cambridge. |
12 November 2006 |
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Ultrashort laser pulses in the femtosecond range have proven to be effective tools in driving photochemical reactions: under the influence of light, electrons change their energy quantum states, followed by the breaking of existing chemical bonds or the formation of new ones. |
12 November 2006 |
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The positronium ion is the most simply built negative ion imaginable, made of just two electrons and a positron. This exotic combination is unstable: after just a few fractions of a billionth of a second it decays into gamma rays. |
12 November 2006 |
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Natural products have always been an important source for the development of chemical tool compounds or drugs respectively in chemical biology and pharmaceutical research. Researchers frequently build up what are known as 'combinatorial libraries' based on the structural characteristics of natural products. |
12 November 2006 |
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Two international teams of astronomers, among them researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, have captured new views of the immediate environment of stars, where new planets form from gas and dust. The researchers used a new instrument called AMBER, part of the Very Large Telescope Interferometer at the European Southern Observatory. |
11 November 2006 |
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When atoms or molecules are subject to a short, intense laser pulse, they emit high-frequency ultraviolet radiation. If you compare the spectra of isotopes that are of different masses but otherwise similar, you can use this measured radiation to determine the motion of the atoms. The research team used this method, with single, extremely short laser pulses, to make the fastest measurements of how a molecule changes over time. |
11 November 2006 |
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It is generally known, that nerve cells communicate with each other by sending out and receiving electrical impulses. For a while it has become clear that the majority of these signals remain unanswered in the living brain. Every second, a typical cell of the cerebral cortex receives thousands of signals from other nerve cells. |
11 November 2006 |
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Tuberculosis remains one of the deadliest threats to public health. Every year 2 million people die of the disease, which is caused by the microorganism Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Roughly one third of the world's population is infected and more and more bacterial strains have developed resistance to drugs. |
11 November 2006 |
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ADs appear to play a major psychological role in relapse prevention.
Studies investigating the long-term outcomes of alcoholism treatment are rare and inconsistent. A nine-year study in the January issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research investigates the occurrence of abstinence, lapse, and relapse among chronic alcoholics while exploring the role that 'alcohol deterrents', specifically, disulfiram and calcium carbimide, may play. Results indicate that ADs can help achieve an abstinence rate of more than 50 percent. |
11 November 2006 |
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In the last few years, more and more research has focused on the biosphere; particularly, on how gases which influence the climate are exchanged between the biosphere and atmosphere. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics have now carefully analysed which organic gases are emitted from vegetation. |
10 November 2006 |
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Egg cells have simple shapes, yet they have built-in asymmetries that can profoundly affect early steps in development. The football-shaped egg cell, or oocyte, of fruit flies contains a precisely laid mosaic of maternal molecules with the potential to induce different cell fates. As the fertilized oocyte divides, the resulting cells inherit distinct sets of maternal components, which endow them with different abilities to form head or tail, gut, muscles, or nerves. The spherical egg of frogs is also divided into areas that shift cells toward gut, muscle, or neural fate. |
10 November 2006 |
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When an Egyptian cotton leafworm eats the leaves of a lima bean plant, the natural voltage at the membranes of the plant’s cells changes in a matter of seconds. This insight is the result of investigations by scientists led by Professor Massimo Maffei of the University of Turin, Italy, and Professor Wilhelm Boland, of the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena. |
10 November 2006 |
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The brain filters what we hear. It can do this in part because particular groups of neurons react to specific frequencies of sound. Neurobiologists from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen have now created a 'frequency map' for numerous areas of the brain. They used magnetic resonance imaging to identify which neuronal fields are activated by single frequencies and by mixtures of frequencies. |
10 November 2006 |
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When protective mechanisms in cells fail, certain genes can cause tumours, and cancer. One of these oncogenes is Bcl-3, which can lead to leukaemia, among other diseases. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried, Germany, working with colleagues at the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, have discovered a mechanism which activates and regulates Bcl-3. |
10 November 2006 |
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Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces have used ion bombardment and gold metallisation to produce a new family of particles whose bonding behaviour can be chemically tailored. With these particles, scientists hope not only to be able to perform better research on the dynamics of solids and molecules. The discovery could also bring about, among other things, the development of new finishes which change their colour with temperature. |
10 November 2006 |
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Within an initiative aimed at supporting visionary research projects, the European Union has set aside research funds for the development of biological nanomotors. An international consortium of scientists, co-ordinated by Prof. Helmut Grubmüller at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, envisages many applications for the results of this research, primarily in the field of biological medicine. The foundations for this will be laid by the creation of a 'construction kit' of tailored nanomotor components. |
09 November 2006 |
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Neuroscientists use functional neuroimaging for everything from understanding how the brain thinks to investigating illnesses. Recently it has also helped to diagnose neurological and psychological disturbances, and even to plan neurosurgery. |
09 November 2006 |
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Plants are able, using organic substances, to achieve effects that we otherwise mostly know only from technical materials. One example of this is the carnivorous pitcher plant, as researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research and the University of Hohenheim have shown. These plants catch insects and hold them using traps with a double layer of crystalline wax. |
09 November 2006 |
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Carl Zeiss Optronics, in Oberkochen, Germany, and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, are developing the main fine mechanical optical technology for two instruments to be part of the James Webb Space Telescope . Over the next eight years, under administration of the European Space Agency and NASA in the USA, the JWST (with a mirror of 6.5 metres) will shape up to be the successor to the legendary HUBBLE Space Telescope. Carl Zeiss and the Max Planck Institute signed a contract on November 29 to co-operate in their work on the MIRI and NIRSpec instrumentation of the JWST. |
09 November 2006 |
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A large portion of plant seeds is endosperm. It has the important task of nourishing the plant embryo during the early stages of its development. In flowering plants, there is a complicated double-fertilisation mechanism that arises among embryos and endosperm. |
08 November 2006 |
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Once again, meteorites are turning out to be scientific treasure chests. Primitive meteorites do not only contain stellar dust that formed at high temperatures, they also contain traces of pristine organic substances, often in their original state, or sometimes just slightly altered. They built up at low temperatures in the interstellar gas and dust cloud that formed our solar system billions of years ago. These are the results of a study by researchers at the Carnegie Institute in Washington, Harvard University in Cambridge, and the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany. |
08 November 2006 |
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Stem cells are versatile all-rounders. In the medical field, high hopes are resting on these miracle workers. However, we still understand very little about them. Why adult stem cells sometimes begin to divide in an uncontrolled way is a mystery, as also is the fact that many stem cells lose this ability to divide under certain circumstances. Has man inherited these remarkable cells through an “invention” by his ancestors in the realm of the invertebrates? Zoologists at Kiel can now make the stem cells of a simple organism controllable. |
08 November 2006 |
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A new radio frequency map of the Andromeda galaxy has been made by a German-French research team of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn and the Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique in Grenoble. The map shows the first detailed distribution of cold gas in a neighbouring galaxy, revealing the sites where new stars are born. The motions of this gas were also obtained. With more than 800 hours of telescope time this study is one of the most extensive observational projects in millimetre radio astronomy. |
08 November 2006 |
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In order to survive, biological systems need to form patterns and organise themselves. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, Germany, have now combined self-organisation with chemical pattern formation. They coupled an oscillating chemical reaction with polymer-controlled crystallisation and self-organisation in barium carbonate. |
07 November 2006 |
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The adhesion of cells is a fundamental process in immune defence and tissue development. Cell adhesion is mediated by adhesion molecules that are located on the cell surfaces. Cells can switch some of their adhesion molecules between active and inactive 'conformational states'. |
07 November 2006 |
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The bases of the human language faculty are now being investigated by means of highly specialised measurement techniques and with increasing success. Why can we understand complex sentences, while our nearest cousins, apes, only understand individual words? Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig have discovered that two areas in the human brain are responsible for different types of language processing requirements. |
07 November 2006 |
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Max Planck scientists have identified a new strategy which motor proteins use to move. The research was carried out by Prof. Jonathon Howard and Stefan Diez at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden. The motor protein Mitotic Centromere Associated Kinesin goes into action at the end of microtubules where it disassembles them. |
07 November 2006 |
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If you get bitten or stung by snakes, spiders, or scorpions, you could die. They release poison, toxins, into your body, and these attach to ion channels in cell membranes. Until now, scientists did not understand exactly how this happens. |
06 November 2006 |
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It is the world’s first electron microscope for simultaneously and automatically investigating in three-dimensions the phase content, crystallographic texture, and crystal interfaces of materials, co-designed and put into service at the Department of Microstructure Physics and Metal Forming at the Max Planck Institute for Iron Research in Düsseldorf, Germany. |
06 November 2006 |
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The population of Europe is aging. A growing number of elderly is facing a declining share of the young. Taking Germany as an example, scientists of the Rostock Center for the Study of Demographic Change show in an article published in 'Science' (Vol. 313, Edition 5782) that the total number of hours worked will be reduced soon, should the low participation of the elderly in the labor market continue. |
06 November 2006 |
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For most proteins, there is a particular place inside a cell where they carry out their function. But how do they get there? Scientists from the Charité Berlin, the University of Heidelberg, and the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin have now been able to visualize the structure of a 'molecular machine' involved in protein sorting using cryo-electron microscopy and single particle analysis. |
06 November 2006 |
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Totipotent stem cells allow plants to build new organs throughout their whole life. But it has been unclear how hormones and genetic factors work together to prevent plants from having growth that is either stunted, or uncontrolled and tumor-like. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology have now uncovered a feedback mechanism, involving a growth-enhancing hormone and a regulatory protein, which controls the number of stem cells the plant produces. The results are of great importance for all of stem cell research. |
06 November 2006 |
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The Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics is a partner in the Integrated Research Project Bayesian Approach to Cognitive Systems, which is being sponsored by the EU and will run until 2010. In this project, researchers are investigating the extent to which Bayes' theorem can be used in artificial systems capable of managing complex tasks in a real world environment. The Bayesian theorem is a model for rational judgment when only uncertain and incomplete information is available. |
05 November 2006 |
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About 10 to 25 percent of the world's methane emissions come from flooded rice paddies. Methane is a greenhouse gas produced by various groups of microorganisms (methanogenic Archaea). Oxygen is usually highly toxic for these microorganisms. The major producer of methane in the roots of rice plants is what is known as 'Rice Cluster I' Archaea. |
04 November 2006 |
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Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry have further opened the door to the nanocosmos of the cell: The researchers have, for the first time, improved the resolution of STED microscopes (Stimulated Emission Depletion) to 15 nanometers. |
03 November 2006 |
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Medicines are most helpful when they directly affect the diseased organs or cells, for example, tumour cells. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, Germany, and Ludwig-Maximilian-University in Munich, have come one step closer to that goal: they have intentionally released a substance in a tumour cell. |
02 November 2006 |
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Using an animal model, brain researchers in Göttingen have examined the effects of mutations that cause autism in humans. These are mutations in the genes which carry the building instructions for proteins in the neuroligin family. |
01 November 2006 |
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Radiologists and biologists have been dreaming - ever since the discovery of lasers - of a compact laboratory source emitting X-rays in one direction in a laser-like beam. Such a source would permit X-ray images to be recorded with far higher resolution at vastly reduced dose levels, allowing early-stage cancer diagnosis at dramatically reduced risk. Microscopes furnished with this source would make nanometer-sized biomolecules perceivable in their natural surrounding (in vivo). |
31 October 2006 |
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The Square Kilometer Array is a giant next-generation radio telescope being developed by scientists and research institutes in 17 countries. At a recent meeting of the International SKA Scientific Steering Committee in Dresden (Germany), hosted by the Chairman of the European SKA Consortium, Prof. Anton Zensus (Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Bonn), a first decision about the site of the SKA was made, having Australia and Southern Africa on the short list. |
30 October 2006 |
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The labs of the future will be 'labs-on-a-chip', i.e., integrated
chemical and biochemical laboratories shrunk down to the size of
a computer chip. An essential prerequisite for such labs are
appropriate microcompartments for the confinement of very small
amounts of liquids and chemical reagents. |
16 February 2005 |
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A technique for tailormaking silicon nanocrystals on 4-inch wafers has been developed and submitted for patent by Dr. Margit Zacharias and colleagues of the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics, Halle(Saale), Germany. Following a standard procedure in silicon technology, a thermally unstable silicon compound in the form of an ultra-thin layer (only two to five nanometers) is first deposited on a substrate. |
27 August 2003 |
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Superconductivity in lithium was discovered by scientists in a collaboration of the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, DC, USA with the High Pressure Group at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, as reported in Sciencexpress. Superconductivity at a critical temperature of 9 K was found in lithium pressurized up to 230.000 atmospheres (23 GPa) with Tc increasing to 16 K at 80 GPa. |
22 October 2002 |
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A team of German and American scientists have succeeded in combining conventional organic molecules and conductive polymers to form highly symmetric, structured materials with new electronic properties. After the attachment of specific functional groups, the disc-like or ring-shaped organic molecules organize into highly symmetric cylinders, three nanometers in thickness and 50-100 nanometers in length, just like a roll of coins. |
02 October 2002 |
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Protein traffic is an essential process in all cells. Certain proteins are secreted or targeted to a specific compartment by membrane translocation or insertion. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics have determined the structure of a ubiquitous protein-transport machine. The structure provides us with new ideas about this fundamental biological process. |
21 August 2002 |
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How genetic factors and individual experience influence the structure of the brain and its cognitive capabilities is a key question in the cognitive neurosciences with far reaching implications for both education and society in general. Until now, the influence of genetic information on brain structure could only be quantitatively assessed for gross measures such as the volume of the brain or of its parts. |
19 August 2002 |
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How genetic factors and individual experience influence the structure of the brain and its cognitive capabilities is a key question in the cognitive neurosciences with far reaching implications for both education and society in general. Until now, the influence of genetic information on brain structure could only be quantitatively assessed for gross measures such as the volume of the brain or of its parts. |
19 August 2002 |
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Where does iron come from? According to astrophysicists, iron, like all other heavy elements, is created in the center of massive stars and is expelled into space once these stars explode as supernovae at the end of their lives. The material then mixes with the interstellar matter and may form new stars and planetary systems. Our solar system was formed after several generations of stars and therefore contains enough heavy elements like iron, oxygen etc. to form Earth-like planets which can sustain life. Prof. Günther Hasinger and Dr. Stefanie Komossa of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany and Dr. Norbert Schartel of the European Space Agency ESA in Spain made a startling discovery: spectral observations carried out with the X-ray observatory XMM-Newton demonstrate that the young quasar APM 08279+5255 contains a three times larger iron fraction than our own solar system although it is much older. |
19 July 2002 |
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The mechanism with which blood cells use an enzyme, called elastase, to neutralize the bacterial defenses that cause disease, was discovered by researchers Arturo Zychlinsky at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin and Yvette Weinrauch at New York University School of Medicine. |
02 May 2002 |
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Max Planck researchers demonstrate a 15-fold increase in axial resolution in fluorescence 3-D light microscopy, the first breakthrough of optical focusing microscopy into the nanometer range. |
10 April 2002 |
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Perception is something that must be learned. As we recognize things in our environment we gather experience and this experience in turn colours our perception. This is nothing new, of course. But brain researchers are going one step further to ask how different kinds of information are integrated in the brain and what principles govern how perceived objects are represented there. |
17 January 2002 |
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Water regulation plays a crucial role in the human body. Water flux between cells is facilitated by proteins embedded in the membrane, so-called aquaporins. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen succeeded to unravel the nanomechanics of these universal water channels of cell membranes at atomic resolution using extensive computer simulations. |
14 December 2001 |
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A previously unknown role of cholesterol in the formation of contacts between nerve cells has been discovered by researchers at the Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin, Germany, and at the Centre de Neurochimie in Strasbourg in France. Their results suggest a link between brain cholesterol metabolism and nerve cell development, learning and memory and hint at new strategies to cure injury, induced brain lesions. |
05 November 2001 |
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In the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences scientists of the Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine, Goettingen, report about their discovery of an amino acid-switch of the stress hormone corticotropin-releasing factor: by replacing a single amino acid, they were able to change selectively the binding properties of CRF. On the basis of this observation, the development of selective CRF-like agonists and antagonists should be facilitated. |
05 October 2001 |
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Munich Max-Planck researchers reached 'quantum leap' to miniaturize atom lasers / Bose-Einstein-Condensation on a microchip opens new avenues for research and application. |
05 October 2001 |
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Scientists at Tübingen´s Max Planck Institute achieve methodological break-through: Bridging the gap between animal and human brains with functional magnetic resonance imaging. |
11 July 2001 |
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Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen/Germany, and their colleagues have discovered a unique symbiosis between bacteria and a marine worm, described in Nature. |
16 May 2001 |
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A comprehensive investigation of polar stratospheric clouds was performed onboard a balloon gondola on 25 January 2000 above Northern Scandinavia. Experiments from 5 countries provided a wealth of information never obtained before. A particle composition analyzer identified the long?searched for nitric acid trihydrate particles that will extend chlorine activation in the polar stratosphere, leading to dramatic ozone losses. |
01 December 2000 |
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Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, from the School of Environmental Science at University of East Anglia/ UK, Ford Motor Company/USA, University of Reading/UK, University of Frankfurt and British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council in Cambridge/UK have detected a previously unreported compound in the atmosphere, trifluoromethyl sulphur pentaflouride (SF5CF3). The increase of this peculiar gas in the atmosphere is coupled with the increase of the very inert gas sulfur hexaflouride (SF6), suggesting a common source. |
28 July 2000 |
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Miniaturization of mechanical parts and complete machines has been identified as a future technology. For example, very small gearwheels might find application in medical tools as well as in sensors. However, the fabrication of small parts of dimension in micrometer is still a challenge. Scientists at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Berlin, now developed a simple electrochemical procedure to fabricate such three-dimensional microstructures. |
07 July 2000 |
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A correlation between impaired editing of RNA and epilepsy is reported by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg/Germany. They succeeded in correcting the defect by genetic manipulation in the mouse. |
06 July 2000 |
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German scientists have developed a novel, highly sensitive technique for the detection of prions, the infectious agents of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and BSE. By this method, single prion particles can be identified in body fluids. For the first time, prions could be detected in the cerebrospinal fluid of CJD patients. Currently, a clinical test to be used on a routine basis is being developed. (J. Bieschke, A. Giese, W. Schulz-Schaeffer, I. Zerr, S. Poser, M. Eigen, H. Kretzschmar: 'Ultra-sensitive detection of pathological prion protein aggregates by dual-color scanning for intensely fluorescent targets' Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (2000) 97:5468-5473). |
09 May 2000 |
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Anxiety is partially linked to the neuropeptide, corticotropin-releasing hormone acting through CRH receptor 1 and 2. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine, Göttingen and Howard Hughes report on anxiolytic properties of CRH receptor 2 which may be significant for future strategies of anxiolytic drug development. |
04 April 2000 |
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Atmospheric carbon dioxide gradients suggest that uptake of carbon dioxide by US forests may balance US fossil fuel use. New model calculations and data, published in Science (17 March 2000) by David Schimel of the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena/Germany and a group of international researchers suggest lower carbon uptake. Carbon dioxide fertilization, once thought to be the only cause of carbon storage, accounted for only a third of the observed total. |
10 March 2000 |
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Leishmaniasis, also known as 'kala-azar', 'black fever' or 'black sickness', is a widespread infectious disease in tropical or subtropical regions, which is spreading into Southern Europe. Cases of Leishmaniasis have also appeared in other European countries, for example several hundred per year in Switzerland. The death rate is high and alarming because of an increasing resistance against the classical therapy with antimonials. |
18 February 2000 |
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A research team at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried/Germany has discovered a new genetic cause for muscular dystrophy. The scientists unraveled a destablizing defect in muscle structures that were not previously implicated in muscle diseases. The subtle disturbance of muscle fibre architecture identified in three Brasilian families may play an important role in other patients with similar disorders including age-related deterioration of hea |
