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Hot summers are no longer an exception in Potsdam. | Photo: AdobeStock / Katja Xenikis

Keeping Cool During a Heat Wave – How cities can better cope with climate change

Heat waves, thunderstorms, hail, and heavy rainfall - extreme weather events are becoming increasingly common. Such events pose an enormous challenge …
George Kwesiga at the lab | Photo: Tobias Hopfgarten

The mediacal treasure trove of nature – Chemists from Potsdam and their African colleagues are researching new active substances from plants

Nature provides an abundance of medically effective substances. Only a fraction of them is known so far. Especially in poorer countries, where very …
Scientific satellites traverse the challenging region of near-earth space known as the Van Allen radiation belt. | Figure: Yuri Shprits; background: NASA

Giant particle accelerator in the sky – Electrons are locally heated to extremely high energies within the Van Allen Radiation Belts, new study finds

The Earth’s magnetic field is trapping high energy particles. When the first satellites were launched into space, scientists led by James Van Allen …
Dr. Matthias Hartlieb at the lab | Photo: Tobias Hopfgarten

Fighting Pathogens – Chemist Matthias Hartlieb develops substances that could replace antibiotics in the future

Since April 2019, Dr. Matthias Hartlieb has been a postdoc research fellow in the Open Topic Initiative of the University of Potsdam. His research …
Bioreactor for cultivating microorganisms in the innoFSPEC lab | Photo: Ernst Kazcysnki

Not Without Alternatives – Bioplastic made from waste replaces conventional plastics

Plastic is a part of our everyday life. It has been made from oil, natural gas, and coal for over 100 years. The negative consequences of this flood …
Prof. Dr. Safa Shoaee | Photo: Karla Fritze

New Paths to Solar Energy – Looking for the best material for novel solar cells

The solar cells of the future are made of organic material as they can be produced very inexpensively using printing technologies. Physicists at the …
Point cloud image of the Golm Campus | Photo: Prof. Dr. Bodo Bookhagen

View from Above – Geoscientist Bodo Bookhagen relies on drones for geological remote sensing

One of the most popular gifts for Christmas: unmanned aerial vehicles, colloquially known as drones. They are widely used in the hobby sector today. …
The Founders: Christian Zimmermann and Stella Strüfing | Photo: Nongin

Sparkling and tasty – Start-up “Noa Drinks” develops non-alcoholic gin

Sparkling or non-sparkling wine without alcohol often has an insipid flavor: either watery or just sweet. In any case, these alternatives are hardly …
The Olorgesailie Basin in the Kenya Rift Valley, part of the Eastern Branch of the East African Rift System. In the background the high topography of the Rift’s border faults. | Photo: Corinna Kalich, University of Potsdam

Calculated – Why a whole region is rotating in the middle of Africa

For the first time ever, the causes for the strange motion of a tectionic plate have been identified by using three dimensional computer models. The …
Sea smoke in Antarctica is illuminated by the setting sun. | Photo: Winkelmann/Reese

Into the Eternal Ice – Ricarda Winkelmann is a climate researcher and junior professor at the University of Potsdam and the Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research

Very few people have been here at all, to one of the world’s most inhospitable regions, where the temperature is below the freezing point even in …