Research

Axis formation is an important stage in embryonic development. This is when it is determined which side will develop into the head and which into the abdomen. If something goes wrong during axis formation the result is embryos with two abdomens or two heads. Researchers from Friedrich-Alexander-Univ...

Can international cultural initiatives such as the EU programme ‘European Capitals of Culture’ create a counter-balance to the much-cited political crisis in the European Union, giving citizens a shared feeling of belonging to Europe? Or are they simply being used as nothing more than a marketing pl...

Gastric cancer is one of the five most fatal types of cancer. According to the statistics of the World Health Organization (WHO), about 750,000 patients die each year after developing the disease. The main cause is thought to be the bacterium Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). At present, there are no...

Scientists gain an insight into the fascinating world of atoms and molecules using x-ray microscopes. Ground-breaking research by physicists at FAU, the Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY) in Hamburg, and the University of Hamburg has paved the way towards new imaging techniques. The team of sci...

Serious kidney disease is a widespread problem in Sri Lanka. Researchers assume that the kidney damage is caused by toxicological factors, such as contaminated groundwater. If this water is drunk and comes into direct contact with the kidneys it can lead to significant damage to the organs. German a...

Controlling electronic current is essential to modern electronics, as data and signals are transferred by streams of electrons which are controlled at high speed. Demands on transmission speeds are also increasing as technology develops. Scientists from the Chair of Laser Physics and the Chair of Ap...

Visitors to the Oktoberfest have always known it and now it has been scientifically proven – beer can lift your spirits. Scientists at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) examined 13,000 food components to find out whether they stimulate the reward centre in the brain and make pe...

Catalysts are agents that initiate chemical reactions, speed them up or significantly increase the yield of the desired product. New and improved catalysts are thus considered the key to creating more sustainable and efficient production processes in the chemical industry. In a joint research projec...

Researchers at FAU and the Max Planck Institute (MPI) in Halle have managed to find the answer to one of the riddles of solid-state physics. The results of their work recently appeared in the prominent journal Nature Communications (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00397-8). One of the fundamental phenome...