Research news

How do software developers respond when they come across code they do not intuitively understand? Neuropsychologists have now explored this question by recording brain activity alongside eye movements. A team of psycholinguists then compared the findings with established patterns from natural language processing and identified some surprising parallels. The interdisciplinary team from Saarland University and Chemnitz University of Technology has now published its study in Scientific Reports. [...]

How are digital tools such as ChatGPT changing the study and teaching of history? How can students and lecturers take advantage of these new technologies – and how can they avoid the pitfalls? From 10 to 12 June, experts in history and educational science will explore these questions together with students. [...]

On 8 May, the Calogero Pagliarello Foundation awarded prizes at the Saarland University campus in Homburg. This year, for the first time, a total of four prizes were presented – the Calogero Pagliarello Research Prize, with an award of €3,000, and three Calogero Pagliarello Study Prizes, each with an award of €2,000. All the research projects offer promising approaches that could improve the treatment of previously incurable or rare diseases in the future. [...]

Professor Andreas Keller and his team at Saarland University have been selected to join the Collaborative Research Network (CRN). This comes with funding from the Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) initiative, in collaboration with The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF). The aim is to identify drug candidates that could help treat Parkinson’s disease. [...]

What impact have ancient and medieval narratives and legends had on European history – and what impact do they continue to have in the present day? A conference at Saarland University will explore this question from 21 to 23 May. Thirty scholars from Bulgaria, Greece, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Germany will examine myths and identities in European history from an interdisciplinary perspective. [...]

Nitratdünger sorgt für bessere Ernten, belastet aber auch unser Trinkwasser. Bisherige Filtrierungsverfahren verlagern das Problem oft nur: Das Nitrat wird zwar aus dem Wasser entfernt, ist aber nach wie vor in der Welt. Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler der Universität des Saarlandes und der Universität Graz suchen nun nach einem Weg, Nitrat nicht nur aus dem Wasser zu filtern, sondern es in derselben Membran auch chemisch in harmlose Stoffe, im Idealfall Stickstoff, umzuwandeln. [...]

Die Universität des Saarlandes erreicht im aktuellen Hochschulranking der Wissenschaftsplattform Research.com im Bereich „Business and Management“ bundesweit Platz 21 und weltweit Platz 418. Zudem sind mit den Professoren August-Wilhelm Scheer und Sven Heidenreich zwei Saarbrücker Wirtschaftswissenschaftler im individuellen Wissenschaftlerranking vertreten. [...]

Individuals with high intellectual ability frequently occupy leadership roles across business, science and politics. To date, it has not been definitively established whether a high intelligence quotient correlates with specific political orientations. However, recent research reveals a significant gender-specific distinction: Intellectually gifted men tend to be less conservative than men of average intellectual ability. [...]

Visitors to this year’s Hannover Messe can experience a sudden drop in temperature at first hand – all brought about by simply stretching a metal alloy and then releasing it again. The underlying elastocaloric technology offers a cleaner, greener alternative to traditional cooling and heating systems. Professor Paul Motzki and his team at Saarland University are key players in the field and are driving developments ever closer towards real-world applications. [...]

Smart implants that not only stabilize a fracture but also monitor the healing process from day one – and deliver targeted support when required – are currently being developed at Saarland University by a team of engineers, medical researchers and computer scientists. The engineering team led by Paul Motzki is contributing shape‑memory micro‑actuators with integrated sensing capabilities, while Bergita Ganse and her research group provide the medical expertise in fracture healing. [...]