26-03-2013

Researchers studying the photocatalytic regeneration of NADH, and its possible application to solar energy conversion, have drawn inspiration from frustule – the silica material that surrounds diatoms. Diatoms are unicellular photosynthetic algae that are known to be highly efficient when it ...

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14-02-2013

How do you compare the impact of a researcher in chemistry or physics with a molecular biologist who may be working on similar projects? Two experts support the use of citation indicators that are based on percentiles, a statistical parameter that allows for comparisons with a carefully ...

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Potassium salts from fungi and plants initiate the formation of aerosol particles upon which moisture from the air condenses

03-09-2012

In the ecosystem of the rainforest, fungi and plants are important contributors to the development of mist and clouds. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry have now found out that these release salt particles to which organic molecules attach. Condensation nuclei are thereby ...

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Initially, there is an unexpected growth spurt when droplets grow from moisture condensing on a surface

03-09-2012

Fine dew drops on spider webs, blades of grass, and even insects can lend them breathtaking beauty. And, examining them very closely, one recognises that the drops themselves form astonishingly regular and aesthetic patterns. For the first time, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for ...

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22-08-2012

Whether a material conducts electricity without losses is not least a question of the right temperature. In future it may be possible to make a more reliable prediction for high-temperature superconductors. These materials lose their resistance if they are cooled with liquid nitrogen, which ...

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Atmospheric model calculates changes in air quality over the coming decades

06-08-2012

Hot summer days cause in large cities very seldom great happiness among inhabitants. On those days the air is highly polluted with automobile and industrial emissions what makes breathing difficult and unhealthy. According to the latest calculations of Max Planck scientist Andrea Pozzer this ...

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Microcontainers for medical substances can be produced in different sizes using calcium carbonate microspheres as templates

05-07-2012

The fast and targeted delivery of drugs to the focus of a disease could soon be made easier. Helmuth Möhwald and his colleagues from the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam-Golm have developed a simple technique for the production of drug containers which can be ...

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29-06-2012

For the first time, air-polluting soot particles have been imaged in flight down to nanometre resolution. Pioneering a new technique, the international team, including researchers from DESY, snapped the most detailed images yet of airborne aerosols. “For the first time we can actually see the ...

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19-06-2012

The Max Planck Institute for Bioinorganic Chemistry in Mülheim is set to change its name. Given its new focus on energy research, it will now be called the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion. For many years now, the Max Planck Institute for Bioinorganic Chemistry has ...

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Physicists from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics trace the double ionization of argon atoms on attosecond time scales

11-05-2012

When an intense laser pulse interacts with an atom it generates agitation on the micro scale. A rather likely outcome of this interaction is single ionization, where one electron is ejected from the atom. From time to time, however, two electrons can be removed from the atom, resulting in the ...

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