Research news

Paper could play a key role in the search for materials that offer both high performance and sustainability. Not only is paper recyclable and fully biodegradable, it could in future also be used as a high-tech material in automotive engineering, sensor systems or even robot construction. [...]

Researchers at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Europe (KIST Europe) and Saarland University are working together to develop an environmentally friendly method of detecting and removing heavy metals from water. The interdisciplinary team, which brings together expertise in molecular biology and physics, is based on the university’s Saarbrücken campus. [...]

Intelligent people tend to perform better at school and at work, as numerous studies have shown. But what happens in domains where incentives such as good grades or financial rewards don’t apply, and where socio-economic status is not a significant factor? Wine knowledge is a case in point. Intelligence researcher Maximilian Krolo of Saarland University has investigated whether intelligence can predict the acquisition of deep knowledge in a specialized domain. [...]

What can local policymakers in Saarlouis, Münster and the Slovenian cities of Ljubljana and Koper learn from one another? How are they putting the European Union's sustainability goals into practice at municipal level? Are they equipped to deal with climate change and the associated environmental and social challenges? [...]

The research team led by materials scientist Ralf Busch from Saarland University is preparing for its first science-in-space mission. If everything goes to plan, from 31 August the researchers will spend one week remotely studying metallic-glass alloys in experiments carried out on board the International Space Station, ISS. Working with the European Space Agency, ESA, and the German Aerospace Center, DLR, the team will investigate the properties of these alloys using hot, levitating droplets. [...]

A team led by Samer Ezziddin, Professor of Nuclear Medicine at Saarland University and Director of the Department of Nuclear Medicine at Saarland University Medical Center, has shown that individually tailored PSMA radioligand therapy can be used effectively and is well tolerated even in patients with very advanced prostate cancer. The results of the study, which involved 227 patients, have been published in the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging. [...]

Researchers from Saarbrücken and Augsburg have shown how artificial cellular compartments can autonomously form, dissolve and influence biochemical processes. Their findings could provide another piece of the puzzle in the quest to understand the origins of life on Earth and help predict the behaviour of subcellular compartments. The team led by physical chemist Dora Tang from Saarland University has published its findings in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science. [...]

Attitudes towards immigration are particularly strong predictors of support for Alternative for Germany (AfD), a right-wing populist political party. In a study with almost 32,000 people, Saarland University sociology professor Martin Schröder and his team were able to demonstrate that lower income, lower educational attainment and subjectively perceived disadvantage, by contrast, were much less significant than previously assumed. The study was published in the journal PLOS One. [...]

Data centres are springing up all over the world – along with power stations designed to satisfy the energy demands of artificial intelligence. A research consortium led by Wolfgang Maaß (German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence DFKI and Saarland University) found ways to reduce AI’s electricity consumption by up to 90 per cent using hardware and software technologies. [...]

At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, scientists observed extreme immune reactions in some patients. This overreaction, called hyperinflammation, manifested as severe inflammatory responses in the body. A team of researchers from Saarland University, the University of Münster and their respective university hospitals have suggested a possible mechanism for this response in the journal Nature Communications. This mechanism is also observed in other inflammatory diseases. [...]