Research news

With crewed missions planned to the moon and, in the medium term, to Mars, gaining a better understanding of how longer periods of spaceflight affect the human organism is becoming increasingly critical. Researchers are therefore studying the effects of prolonged stays in space on mammalian organisms using data collected on the International Space Station (ISS). [...]

Plastic from straw: that is the essence of a project that Christoph Wittmann's Systems Biotechnology team at Saarland University has been pursuing since early February in collaboration with partners from academia and industry. In the LiGNUM project, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, bacteria will be engineered so that they can convert a by-product from straw-pulp production into the basic building blocks for nylon and Perlon. [...]

Fundamental breakthroughs in the natural sciences are rare. Progress is usually made in small steps, with knowledge slowly accumulating as more pieces of the puzzle fall into place. Now, however, chemists at Saarland University have made a major breakthrough: they have synthesized a stable molecule that chemists worldwide have been seeking – unsuccessfully – for decades. Their discovery has now been published in Science. [...]

Anyone who builds furniture or doors wants to use lightweight materials that are both stable and durable. That’s where wood fibres come into play. Similar to corrugated cardboard, wood fibres can be shaped into different wave heights. Hans-Georg Herrmann, Professor of Lightweight Systems at Saarland University, is working with the company Homanit to develop a new high-performance material system that can be implemented in various contexts. [...]

Sixty years ago, Catholic bishops and cardinals convened in Rome at the Second Vatican Council to adapt and reorient the church to a changing world. Since 2016, more than 150 scholars have been researching what the Council has achieved worldwide to date – and what it has not. Among them is Urszula Pękala, who has been a Professor of Church and Theological History at Saarland University since 2025. [...]

Conventional lithium-ion batteries contain problematic substances such as nickel and cobalt, and the solvents used to coat the electrode materials are also toxic. Materials scientists at Saarland University are therefore working to develop environmentally friendly alternatives. By introducing finely dispersed iron oxide into tiny, highly porous, hollow carbon spheres developed by Professor Michael Elsaesser at the University of Salzburg, the Saarbrücken team has achieved very promising results. [...]

Woman, man, non-binary? The social construct of gender determines many aspects of our lives: from the name we receive at birth and the clothes we wear to the education we receive. Gender is deeply personal and at the same time politically controversial. It therefore may come as a surprise that analytic philosophy has paid little attention to the concept of gender. Viktoria Knoll, a researcher at Saarland University, is fundamentally examining gender with around one million euros funding. [...]

Microplastics are a major environmental concern. These tiny plastic particles can now be found everywhere – in rivers, seas and on land. Not only are they highly persistent, they are also suspected of being toxic to living organisms – and thus pose a threat to ecosystems and to human health. In a joint project funded by the EU and the Saarland state government, Saarland University and htw saar are researching ways to remove these difficult-to-degrade plastic particles efficiently from water.
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Amid all the current geopolitical crises, climate change has slipped somewhat from the public radar. Yet it remains one of the most significant long-term threats to human coexistence on Earth. A major contributory factor is the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO₂), which accelerates global warming. [...]

Mental health problems among young people have risen sharply. Many have developed fears about the future in the wake of the Covid pandemic, the climate crisis and global conflicts. This makes it all the more important to support young people in managing stress and mental health challenges – and to help them build and maintain mental resilience. [...]