Ytterbium thin-disk lasers pave the way for sensitive detection of atmospheric pollutants

The laser's capacity to generate high-power, stable pulses in the SWIR range is a game-changer for field-resolved spectroscopy and femtosecond fieldoscopy

19-Nov-2024 - Alongside carbon dioxide, methane is a key driver of global warming. To detect and monitor the climate pollutants in the atmosphere precisely, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) have developed an advanced laser technology. A high-power ytterbium thin-disk laser ...

Evaluating the link between chemicals and declining insect populations

Using a library of 1,000+ agrochemicals, scientists saw significant changes in behaviour and long-term survival of different insect populations

29-Oct-2024 - Few people are fans of stink bugs, mosquitoes, or boll weevils, but insects play a key role in the circle of life that makes up the planet’s environment. In fact, world-renowned biologist E. O. Wilson famously declared that if insects vanished, our environment would collapse. Scientists have ...

Heavy Metals in the Ocean Become More Toxic

How Climate Change Impacts Contaminants in the Sea

11-Oct-2024 - Toxic trace elements such as lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium occur naturally in small quantities in coastal seas. However, human activities such as industry and agriculture contribute significantly larger amounts. A new study has examined how climate change is already affecting the ...

Scientists find a human “fingerprint” in the upper troposphere’s increasing ozone

Knowing where to look for this signal will help researchers identify specific sources of the potent greenhouse gas

09-Aug-2024 - Ozone can be an agent of good or harm, depending on where you find it in the atmosphere. Way up in the stratosphere, the colorless gas shields the Earth from the sun’s harsh ultraviolet rays. But closer to the ground, ozone is a harmful air pollutant that can trigger chronic health problems ...

Sunfire Founders awarded with the Social Market Economy Prize

"Driven by passion and personal risk, they have transformed their company, Sunfire, into a beacon of hope for the energy transition"

14-Jun-2024 - On June 13, 2024, Nils Aldag, founder and CEO of Sunfire, and Christian von Olshausen, founder and CTO of Sunfire, were awarded the Social Market Economy Prize (“Preis Soziale Marktwirtschaft”). The award by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation was presented for the 21st time and is aimed at ...

Decline in harmful ozone-depleting greenhouse gases

International environmental treaty shows effect

13-Jun-2024 - A new study by an international team of researchers, published in Nature Climate Change, has revealed significant progress in the drive to reduce atmospheric levels of chemicals that destroy the Earth’s protective ozone layer, confirming the success of historic regulations limiting their ...

Discovery of a new catalytic promoter on par with decades of study

Discovered in a few weeks and with fewer than 100 experiments

03-Jun-2024 - Addressing climate change demands rethinking of established chemical processes on a timescale of years rather than decades as in traditional R&D cycles. In collaboration with BasCat (UniCat BASF JointLab), a team of researchers from the Theory Department at the Fritz Haber Institute developed an ...

Shedding light on the chemical enigma of sulfur trioxide in the atmosphere

30-May-2024 - Researchers at Tampere University have discovered that sulfur trioxide can form products other than sulfuric acid in the atmosphere by interacting with organic and inorganic acids. These previously uncharacterized acid sulfuric anhydride products are almost certainly key contributors to ...

Plastic Particles and Climate Change as Drivers for Antimicrobial Resistance

EU-funded research project deals with plastic pollution and the spread of antimicrobial resistance in aquatic systems

29-May-2024 - A research project based at Heidelberg University and Heidelberg University Hospital targets plastic particles and climate change as driving factors for the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the environment. The participating researchers will investigate socio-ecological interactions ...

CO₂ conversion: The extra mile from the lab to industry

21-Dec-2023 - Converting the greenhouse gas CO₂ into raw materials for industry using renewable energies: What electrocatalysis can do in theory should be applied as quickly as possible. However, there is still a gap between the progress of science and the requirements of industry. A research team from the ...