Research

FAU astrophysicists get involved in the Helmholtz Alliance Over the next five years the Helmholz Association is to provide around ten million euros in funding for a new Helmholz Alliance in the field of astroparticle physics. Scientists belonging to the Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics (EC...

Brownian movement under close observation The slightest trembling can tell us something. Tiny particles, dissolved in liquid, register what is going on in their surroundings, and react as a result. Without sophisticated measuring techniques and high precision instruments it is impossible to decode ...

International research alliance supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation The research alliance comprising researchers from the Department for Genetics at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), led by Prof. Dr. Falk Nimmerjahn, and Harvard University, Oxford University an...

An oak in the Botanic Gardens of FAU brings together science, technology and nature A 150-year-old oak tree in Erlangen has been given a “voice”. It has been equipped with cutting-edge measuring equipment to report on its existence – whilst supplying data for the “Bäume in Klimawandel” research pr...

FAU researchers seek to improve drug design The effects of millions of natural biological compounds are now known to modern health and pharmaceutical research. If, for instance, the body’s levels of protein A are too low or too high, reaction B or C can occur. Pharmacists use this knowledge to prod...

Physicists and mathematicians research spatially complex structures What shape is a typical cell in foam? Knowing the answer to this question is very useful in creating parts that must be as light and, at the same time, as stable as possible. Mathematics and physics can provide a solid basis for th...

Researchers pave the way for electronic circuits composed of graphene Graphene is one of the most promising new materials due to its physical and chemical properties. Researchers from the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) have now developed a procedure which can systematica...

Different components increase the capacities of tiny particles All football experts know that to be successful a team needs players with different skills. A similar rule evidently applies to complex chemical processes that can be accelerated with catalytic materials. These catalysts are composed of...

European Research Council rates research proposal as excellent Prof. Dr. Andreas Hirsch, from the Department for Organic Chemistry 2 at Erlangen-Nuremberg University, and his research team received an “Advanced Investigator Grant” from the European Research Council (ERC). The research project “Grap...

EU PLATO-N project on software-supported structural optimisation Holes don’t weigh anything – that’s hardly surprising. But, if your aim is weight reduction, it becomes apparent how useful empty spaces can be. However, they don’t contribute to stability. That is why constructions that must be both ...