news 2023

By Falko Schoklitsch Based on the vanillin made usable for electricity storage in 2020, an AI-optimised prototype of an environmentally friendly electricity storage system is now being developed in an international project. In 2020, Stefan Spirk from the Institute of Bioproducts and Paper Technology at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) described the research achievement with which he and his team had succeeded as a "ground-breaking success in the field of sustainable energy storage technologies" to make redox flow batteries more environmentally friendly.

During a research cruise, an international research team led by marine biologist Monika Bright of the University of Vienna discovered a new ecosystem in the deep sea. This is located beneath the surface of hydrothermal vents of a well-studied underwater volcano on the East Pacific Ridge off Central America.

Soil is the largest natural carbon storage in the world. In Northern ecosystems particularly large amounts of carbon are stored, but they are also particularly strongly affected by global warming. A recently published study by an international team led by Michael Bahn of the University of Innsbruck investigated how ongoing warming affects the uptake and release of carbon dioxide in subarctic grassland.

Soils are the largest natural carbon reservoirs in the world. In the far north, this store is particularly large, but it is also particularly affected by global warming there. A recent study by an international team led by Michael Bahn of the University of Innsbruck investigated how ongoing warming affects the uptake and release of carbon dioxide in subarctic grasslands.

Climate change is accompanied by increasing temperatures, which are leading to ever greater challenges in urban areas, both at work and in the home office.

In the high altitudes of the European Eastern Alps, the number of detected lightning strikes has doubled in the course of the last 40 years. The reasons for this lie in the consequences of the climate crisis. This has now been shown for the first time by a team of Innsbruck researchers from the Institutes of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and Statistics in the scientific journal Climate Dynamics .

Scientists from the Universities of Salzburg, Torun (Poland) and Potsdam and the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research demonstrate in their recent study that butterflies in the province of Salzburg are sensitive to climate change and intensified agriculture. The studies appeared in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

Mycoplankton plays an active role in the degradation of organic matter and the cycling of nutrients Fungi play a vital and previously neglected role in the complex tapestry of marine ecosystems, a study by Eva Breyer and Federico Baltar of the University of Vienna reveals. The results have now been published in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution.

15-country study confirms that people living near or visiting the seaside enjoy better health Seaside residents and holidaymakers have felt it for centuries, but scientists have only recently started to investigate possible health benefits of the coast.

Previously unknown group of bacteria in the deep sea regulates energy balance A team of international researchers led by Federico Baltar of the University of Vienna and José M González of the University of La Laguna has identified a previously unknown group of bacteria, called UBA868, as key players in the energy cycle of the deep ocean.

Clean drinking water is essential. Therefore, an international research team led by Dominik Eder has now shown how groundwater can be efficiently freed from pollutants such as glyphosate. Contaminated drinking water poses a major threat to our health. However, various pollutants such as pesticides, herbicides, hormones, medicines and other chemical compounds cannot be completely removed from groundwater with the methods currently available.

If one converts CO2 into synthesis gas, a valuable starting material for the chemical industry can be obtained. Researchers at TU Wien show how this works even at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. Thinking of CO2, terms like climate-damaging or waste product probably quickly come to mind. While CO2 has been that for a long time - a pure waste product - more and more processes are being developed with which the greenhouse gas can be converted into valuable raw materials.

By Chinese Academy of Sciences A study by a multinational research team with the participation of Graz University of Technology shows that the actual mass loss of numerous glaciers in the Himalayas has been significantly underestimated so far. A new insightful study reveals that the mass loss of lake-terminating glaciers in the greater Himalaya has been significantly underestimated, due to the inability of satellites to see glacier changes occurring underwater, leading to critical implications for the region's future projection of glacier disappearance and water resources.

A correct representation of turbulence in the atmosphere is crucial for accurate weather forecasts and climate projections. However, the theory behind this is not only very old, but also not very representative, since it only applies to flat terrain. Innsbruck meteorologist Ivana Stiperski has now extended the theory on turbulence that has been in use since the 1950s.

Medicine & Science Climate protection and sustainability are among the major issues of the future. The concerns are also increasingly coming to the fore in the health sector. Anaesthesia, and intensive care in particular, contribute to greenhouse gas emissions through the use of pollutants such as anaesthetic gases and equipment such as heart-lung machines, which have a high energy consumption.

Medicine & Science As part of a MedUni Vienna-led study conducted in cooperation with Stockholm's Karolinska Institute and the Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences in Krems, a comprehensive European allergy atlas has been compiled for the first time using a newly developed test method.

No transfer of compounds from the bottle material into the Él detected Bottles made of bioplastic protect cooking oil from oxidative spoilage (rancidity) to a similar extent as PET bottles. In addition, even less taste- and odor-impairing substances were formed. This is the result of a recent study published in the journal "Food Packaging and Shelf Life" by researchers led by Marc Pignitter from the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Vienna.

The interference of climate change with the planet's water cycle is a well established fact. New analyses suggest that in many places, runoff responds more sensitively than previously assumed. Climate change alters the global atmospheric circulation, which in turn alters precipitation and evaporation in large parts of the world and, in consequence, the amount of river water that can be used locally.

Hostility due to heat: Effects caused by the climate crisis, such as higher temperatures and more nitrogen in the soil, lead to greater aggressiveness among ant colonies. This was shown by a team of researchers led by the Innsbruck ecologists Patrick Krapf, Birgit C. Schlick-Steiner and Florian M. Steiner of the Molecular Ecology Research Group using the example of the widespread ant Tetramorium alpestre at eight high alpine sites in Austria, Italy, France and Switzerland .

Long-term measurements in the urban area of Innsbruck, Austria, show that the fraction of ozone near the surface tends to be overestimated in atmospheric models. Consequently, a fundamental assumption for air quality forecasting has to be reinterpreted for urban areas. Measurements by an international team led by atmospheric scientist Thomas Karl of the University of Innsbruck also show that direct nitrogen dioxide emissions are overestimated.