Research news

Over 40,000 years ago, our early ancestors were already carving signs into tools and sculptures. According to a new analysis by linguist Christian Bentz at Saarland University and archaeologist Ewa Dutkiewicz at the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte (Museum of Prehistory and Early History) in Berlin, these sign sequences have the same level of complexity and information density as the earliest proto-cuneiform script that emerged tens of thousands of years later, around 3,000 B.C.E. [...]

Twins can help science understand whether our lives are more strongly influenced by genetic factors or environmental factors. Researchers, including Saarland University Professor Frank Spinath, are building a nationwide twin registry for studies exploring these questions. Spinath is looking for twins of all ages who are willing to participate in scientific studies. Twins interested in participating can register in the Gertrud portal, where they can view upcoming studies. [...]

Jobseekers should be careful making political statements online. Saarland University researchers found that HR managers are influenced by whether and how someone expresses their political views – especially if they lean towards extreme political fringes. If the political opinion of the recruiter is contrary to that of the applicant, their job prospects decrease. These findings were described in a Saarland University study that was recently published in the Journal of Business and Psychology. [...]

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. [...]