news 2021

With observations of one of the closest star-forming regions to the sun a team of international astronomers discovered the largest population of free-floating planets. These celestial bodies do not revolve around a star and are very hard to find due to their very low brightness. The large number of planets now detected provides information about the formation process of stars and planets and important information for future research.

Researchers from TU Graz and Complexity Science Hub (CSH) Vienna have developed a detailed epidemiological model for the spread of the coronavirus in nursing homes. This enables optimal prevention strategies to be identified, as practical experience in Caritas nursing homes has shown. Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, residents of nursing homes have been particularly at risk.

By Susanne Filzwieser Researchers from TU Graz and CSH Vienna have developed a detailed epidemiological model for the spread of the coronavirus in nursing homes. This enables optimal prevention strategies to be identified, as practical experience in Caritas nursing homes has shown. Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, residents of nursing homes have been particularly at risk.

By analyzing ancient DNA an international team of scientists with participation of Ron Pinhasi's team of the University of Vienna was able to retrace the world's oldest family tree. They took samples from a Neolithic tomb in Britain. In their study published they reveal undiscovered information about the structure of prehistoric families.

By Birgit Baustädter The coronavirus pandemic has also left its mark on TU Graz. Numerous works from different disciplines contribute to the fight against Covid-19 and a better understanding of it.

Through their research efforts, the team was able to finally disprove an intuitive assumption that in order for two particles of matter to merge and form larger units (i.e. aggregates or clusters), they must be attracted to each other. As early as the turn of the century, a team of soft matter physicists headed by Christos Likos of the University of Vienna predicted on the basis of theoretical considerations that this does not necessarily have to be the case.

By Beate Mosing A physicist at TU Graz is developing a new method to make the processes in our atmosphere visible. If we think this through, it opens up new opportunities for environmental research - and perhaps even potential for counteracting climate change. The ozone layer in the Earth's stratosphere "swallows" rays and in this way protects humans and animals from radiation damage.

Bitter taste receptors do not only support humans in tasting. They are also found on cancer cells. A team led by Veronika Somoza from the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Vienna and the German Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich has investigated the role they play there.

The boundary between forward and backward blurs in quantum mechanics A team of physicists at the Universities of Vienna, Bristol, the Balearic Islands and the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI-Vienna) has shown how quantum systems can simultaneously evolve along two opposite time arrows (forward and backward in time).

By Christoph Pelzl Study led by TU Graz shows that apple trees inherit their microbiome to the same extent as their genes. The results lay the foundation for new breeding strategies for healthy and climate-robust fruit and vegetables. Agriculture is facing enormous challenges worldwide due to global changes caused by human activities.

By Christoph Pelzl With the method co-developed by TU Graz, virus movements in indoor spaces can be simulated easily and cost-effectively. The method helps to implement measures in rooms that significantly reduce the risk of transmission via the air. Further can be found at the end of the text How far apart must people sit from each other to prevent transmission of the coronavirus via the air?

Evolution led to similarities in the melodies of animal vocalizations and human languages When listening closely, the melodies of human languages and animal vocalizations are very similar. However, it is not yet fully resolved if similar patterns in languages and animal vocalizations also have similar meanings.

By Christoph Pelzl TU Graz, JOANNEUM RESEARCH, AVL and Fraunhofer Austria have developed a method to validate test drives through highly realistic driving simulation studies and to substantially simplify the approval process for automated driving systems. Further images for download at the end of the text Driving simulator tests are popular - for understandable reasons: any scenario can be simulated at the touch of a button.

Distinct ecological niches: Tropical species profoundly alter ecosystem functioning in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea - with unknown consequences. Assemblages of tropical non-indigenous species in the Eastern Mediterranean have biological traits that markedly differ from those of native biological communities.

Extraordinary shape makes births more difficult, but guarantees stability The relatively narrow human birth canal presumably evolved as a "compromise" between its abilities for parturition, support of the inner organs, and upright walking. But not only the size of the birth canal, also its complex, "twisted" shape is an evolutionary puzzle.

Bacteria rapidly modify mobile parts of their genome to develop resistance to viruses Bacterial viruses, so-called phages, destroy bacteria. Bacteria are constantly exposed to viral attacks. A research team led by Martin Polz, a microbiologist at the University of Vienna, has now studied how bacteria defend themselves against viral predators.

By Susanne Filzwieser Photoinitiators ensure that liquid plastic - for example for dental fillings - hardens quickly by means of light. Thanks to a new synthesis method developed by TU Graz, these initiators can be produced cheaply, something which will open up further doors for the technology. Anyone who has ever been in the dentist's chair with a hole in their tooth is probably familiar with the procedure.

By Birgit Baustädter The clear answer at TU Graz is by diverse research and green innovations. And this is exactly how the University is working for a more sustainable future. Increasingly extreme weather events, such as torrential rain, hurricanes, droughts and intense snowfalls, clearly show that our world is in the midst of a climate crisis.

By Susanne Filzwieser TU Graz, the University of Leoben, the Austrian Fire Brigade Association and ILF Consulting Engineers have investigated the effects of e-vehicle fires in tunnel systems. The results are reassuring for passenger cars, but not for commercial vehicles. For the latter, as well as for fires in multistorey car parks, further investigations are urgently needed.

By Beate Mosing The grey clouds of exhaust from industry are not only not a pretty sight, they are partially responsible for climate change, the effects of which we are now clearly experiencing. But it could also work differently. Turning waste streams, or more precisely, CO2, into a raw material is Regina Kratzer's declared goal.