Skip to main content

News from the University of Potsdam

Subjects
Selected Subject:

show all

Illustration: blauer Regenschirm

Recognizing dangers during floods and droughts: Science looks at risks of extreme events

Masses of water pushing mud and piling up debris. Idyllic streams that turn into raging rivers within just a few hours, burying bridges, houses, and …
African antelopes seeking for shady places during phases of extreme heat

Keeping cool – how African antelopes respond to the climate crisis

The climate crisis is turning the temperature up all over the world, but in southern Africa, the rise has been particularly concerning. Scientists …
Elephants in the african savannah

A lot on the road – Wild mammals moved farther during COVID-19 lockdowns

Worldwide COVID-19 lockdowns provided a unique opportunity to study the effects of an abrupt change in human presence on wildlife. A study published …
Illustration ökologischer Prozesse

“We need a more complex picture of ecological processes.” – Why a paradigm shift towards an individual-based ecology is necessary

The world is in crisis. But not only climate change is alarming researchers; the biodiversity crisis has also assumed threatening proportions. There …
Der botsuanische Bodenwissenschaftler Prof. Peter Eze sitzt am Schreibtisch an seinem Laptop.

“Soils build the basis for existence of lives on our planet” – Georg Forster Research Fellowship for Batswana soil scientist Peter Eze

Peter N. Eze is a soil scientist and professor at the Botswana International University of Science & Technology. His research centers on pure and …
The researchers of the KAHR project are investigating what lessons can be learned from the flood of the century and how such devastating damage can be avoided in the future.

After the Flood – what can be learned from reconstruction in the flooded areas along the Ahr and Erft rivers

In July 2021, parts of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia experienced one of Germany's most severe natural disasters after 1945. The …
Left: mini module. Upper right: contact angle of the perovskite solution on the self assembled monolayer. Lower right: PL emission of a perovskite film.

Strong cells – performance upgrade with mini modules

A new molecular hole-transporter can improve the performance of inverted perovskite solar cells and mini modules to world record values, as reported …
Binary star on course for black hole merger. The smaller, brighter, hotter star (left), which is 32 times the mass of our Sun, is currently losing mass to its bigger companion (right), which has 55 times the mass of our Sun.

Dark couple – Most massive touching stars ever found will eventually collide as black holes

Two massive touching stars in a neighbouring galaxy are on course to become black holes that will eventually crash together, generating waves in the …
The walk-in sample chamber from the "DynaTrait" project.

Diversity Provides Stability – In the Priority Program “DynaTrait”, biologists combine mathematical models, field studies, and laboratory experiments to explore how nature works

It is comfortably warm and bright in the climate chamber. At first glance, you don’t see that the numerous glass flasks filling the illuminated …
2013 flood on the Elbe near Dessau-Rosslau.

Natural flood prevention – higher trust through better communication

In many places today, dikes are being moved back, and floodplains are being revitalised in order to give the river more space during times of …