Latest Max Planck Stories
Max Planck scientists unravel key pathway in the nitrogen cycle The anaerobic oxidation of ammonia (anammox) is an important pathway in the nitrogen cycle that was only discovered in the 1980s. Currently, scientists estimate that about 50 percent of the nitrogen in the atmosphere is forged by this process. A group of specialized bacteria perform the anammox reaction, but so far scientists have been in the dark about how these bacteria could convert ammonia to nitrogen in the complete...
BERLIN, September 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Elsevier's Scopus data enables visualization of how densely Max Planck institutes are linked with their local and international partners. This visualization is part of the new Max Planck Science Gallery in the Science Forum building at the Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin, to open on September 8, 2011. This innovative multimedia exhibition center offers a platform to inform the general public how Max Planck scientists are working on the...
Max Planck researchers discover hydrogen-powered symbiotic bacteria in deep-sea hydrothermal vent musselsThe search for new energy sources to power mankind's increasing needs is currently a topic of immense interest. Hydrogen-powered fuel cells are considered one of the most promising clean energy alternatives. While intensive research efforts have gone into developing ways to harness hydrogen energy to fuel our everyday lives, a natural example of a living hydrogen-powered 'fuel cell' has...
Max Planck scientists develop new analytical tools for the fast and accurate reconstruction of neural networks The human brain is the most complex of all organs, containing billions of neurons with their corresponding projections, all woven together in a highly complex, three-dimensional web. To date, mapping this vast network posed a practically insurmountable challenge to scientists. Now, however, a research team from the Heidelberg-based Max Planck Institute for Medical Research has...
Max Planck researchers encounter genetic changes in the genome of the cellular power plants of human induced pluripotent stem cells Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) are truly talented multi-taskers. They can reproduce almost all cell types and thus offer great hope in the fight against diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. However, it would appear that their use is not entirely without risk: during the reprogramming of body cells into iPS cells, disease-causing mutations can...
Max Planck researchers explain the conditions under which people are prepared to behave fairly Why do people behave selfishly and accept that their behaviour may have negative consequences for others? Astrid Matthey and Tobias Regner from the Max Planck Institute of Economics in Jena investigated this question in a laboratory experiment. They found that such behaviour often depends on whether information about the consequences for others can be ignored. Based on their findings, the...
Max Planck scientists decipher important mechanisms of bacterial cell wall synthesisAlmost all bacteria owe their structure to an outer cell wall that interacts closely with the supporting MreB protein inside the cell. As scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry and at the French INRA now show, MreB molecules assemble into larger units, but not - as previously believed "“ into continuous helical structures. The circular movement of these units along the inside of the...
The software enables electron microscopes to extract more information about the composition of crystalsA new software called QED (Quantitative Electron Diffraction), which has been licensed by Max Planck Innovation, has now been released by HREM Research Inc., a Japan based company, which is developing products and services in the field of High-Resolution Electron Microscopy. QED allows transmission electron microscopes to acquire novel kinds of data, opening up new possibilities in electron...
Max Planck scientists find a way of treating pulmonary arterial hypertension Patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension struggle with severe symptoms, which include shortness of breath, exhaustion and a lack of vitality. Moreover, the disease, which is more common in women, often claims the patient's life within a few years of its development. The currently available methods of treatment can slow down the progression of the disease and improve the symptoms; a cure, however, has thus far...
Max Planck scientists uncover surprising genetic linksThey were able to show for the first time that physiologically measurable changes can be observed in the brains of healthy carriers of this risk allele. These changes affect a transporter protein involved in the production of an important neuronal transmitter. Given that traditional drugs interact with similar transporter molecules, the researchers are pinning great hopes on this factor as the target structure of future antidepressant...
