Mining brings huge social and environmental change to communities: landscapes, livelihoods and the social fabric evolve alongside the industry. But what happens when the mines close? What problems face communities that lose their main employer and the very core of their identity and social networks? A research fellow at the University of Göttingen provides recommendations for governments to successfully navigate mining communities through their…

As a result of vaccination or infection, our immune system produces antibodies that attach to the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, preventing the virus from entering and replicating within cells. In response, the virus develops mutations that cause antibodies to bind less effectively to the spike protein. Since May 2023, the EG.5 lineage of SARS-CoV-2, known as Eris, has been spreading globally and was classified as a "Variant of Interest" by the…

Wie stellen die Kraftwerke der Zelle Proteine her? (UMG) Hauke Hillen, Leiter der Arbeitsgruppe „Struktur und Funktion molekularer Maschinen“ im Institut für Zellbiochemie der Universitätsmedizin Göttingen (UMG), unabhängiger Forschungsgruppenleiter am Max-Planck-Institut (MPI) für Multidisziplinäre Naturwissenschaften und Mitglied im Exzellenzcluster „Multiscale Bioimaging: Von molekularen Maschinen zu Netzwerken erregbarer Zellen“ (MBExC), wird…

Catalytic molecules can form metabolically active clusters by creating and following concentration gradients – this is the result of a new study by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS). Their model predicts the self-organization of molecules involved in metabolic pathways, adding a possible new mechanism to the theory of the origin of life. The results can help to better understand how molecules…

About three months after the launch of ESA's JUICE spacecraft, the scientific instruments that the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany is sending along on the long journey to Jupiter have completed their first tasks in space. Both instruments have proven that they are fully functional under space conditions and have sent their first scientific data back to Earth: the Particle Environment Package's (PEP) Jovian Electron…

Artificial neural networks are everywhere in research and technology, as well as in everyday technologies such as speech recognition. Despite this, it is still unclear to researchers what is exactly going on deep down in these networks. To find out, researchers at the Göttingen Campus Institute for Dynamics of Biological Networks (CIDBN) at Göttingen University, and the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organisation (MPI-DS) have carried…

Omicron-derived virus variants are currently responsible for most SARS-CoV-2 infections worldwide. Compared to earlier virus variants, Omicron rarely causes severe disease. According to current knowledge, a major reason for this is that Omicron infects lung cells less efficiently and therefore causes pneumonia less frequently. However, an international team including scientists from the German Primate Center – Leibniz Institute for Primate…

Being smart pays off, as it allows for more balanced decision-making. However, the origins of these abilities during evolution remain largely unexplored. Only if smarter individuals enjoy better survival and have higher reproductive rates than their conspecifics, improved cognitive abilities can evolve. Researchers from the German Primate Center (DPZ) – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research have recently examined the link between cognitive…

The choice of Göttingen as the venue for the 2023 Annual Meeting holds special significance for the Max Planck Society as it marks its 75th anniversary and coincides with a change in presidency. Göttingen is not only the birthplace of the Max Planck Society in its current form, but also holds personal significance for the new President, Patrick Cramer, the ninth President of the Max Planck Society, whose professional “home” has been the Max…