News Archive
HU junior researcher Alberto Pérez-Bitrián receives Emmy Noether grant
New Research Group OrgXeMet investigates the properties and reactivity of xenon compounds:
The new Emmy Noether research group OrgXeMet, led by Dr. Alberto Pérez-Bitrián has been launched at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU). The group will be funded with approximately 1.75 million euros over six…
BAM develops certified PFAS reference material made from used outdoor clothing
Important step on the road to a circular economy:
The Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) has developed a reference material for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in outdoor textiles. It serves to ensure the reliability of analytical…
Customised electrification: How the PeopleSuN project is advancing the energy supply in Nigeria
Findings from RLI research project published:
Four years of research, 4,700 households and businesses surveyed, two tools and a knowledge pool: the PeopleSuN project shows what it takes for off-grid solutions to advance sustainable power supply in Nigeria. The…
BAM, HZB, and HU Berlin plan joint Berlin Battery Lab
The joint research infrastructure will also be open to industry for battery research projects:
The Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), and Humboldt University of Berlin (HU Berlin) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish the Berlin…
Adlershof Journal May/June 2025
Sharing differences: Why diversity is our superpower:
ESSAY by Elina Penner: How well do you know those around you? IN CONVERSATION WITH Ana Anselmo and Silvia Zerbe, who shape diversity at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin PORTRAIT The start-up manager: Maxine Silvestrov…
How well do you know those around you?
Essay by Elina Penner, author and editor-in-chief of the online magazine Hauptstadtmutti:
“How was your holiday?” my colleague asks cheerfully. We get along well, and I’m sure she genuinely hopes I had a relaxing break. Then she asks me: “Where did you fly off to?” First day back at school. The teacher…
The start-up manager
Maxine Silvestrov manages operations at Quantune Technologies:
Measuring biomarkers without having to insert a needle into a vein and without drawing even a millilitre of blood to send to a lab. Easy, clean, and painless—and useable at any given time. This is a scientific vision…
New violet laser developed at IKZ
Researchers at the Center for Laser Materials (ZLM) at the Leibniz-Institut für Kristallzüchtung (IKZ) have developed the most efficient direct violet-emitting solid-state laser:
Lasers with short-wave visible light in the blue or violet range have many practical applications. They are used in metalworking, for example, especially with metals such as copper, which strongly reflect infrared…
Space for the social question
Housing is many things at once: A basic need, a home for people, a means of investment, an asset—and a driver of generational (in)justice, says cultural and social geographer Ilse Helbrecht:
With the federal debt package being passed in the Bundestag, there is much public debate about its effects. “However, topics like refugee accommodation, homelessness, and the lack of social housing barely register,”…
New materials as highly sensitive X-ray detectors
Organic-inorganic hybrid materials are ideally suited and can be produced in a green way using ball milling:
New bismuth-based organic-inorganic hybrid materials show exceptional sensitivity and long-term stability as X-ray detectors, significantly more sensitive than commercial X-ray detectors. In addition, these materials…
Rootedness and diversity
Raúl Comesaña Macias heads the BBF Group, a family-run enterprise comprising medium-sized construction companies based in Adlershof:
Popular short videos on social media often link business success with strict morning routines. Benjamin Franklin, the man on the hundred-dollar bill, was famous for keeping meticulous records of his daily schedule and…
DLR pools expertise in space research
The new DLR Institute of Space Research is being formed from the internationally acclaimed Institutes of Optical Sensor Systems and Planetary Research:
Space is a key technology for the future, essential for exploring planets, Earth observation and security. Satellites and space probes equipped with highly specialised observation instruments are indispensable for all…
In conversation with Ana Anselmo and Silvia Zerbe
As diversity officers at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, they shape diversity:
When 1,400 employees from 70 nations come together at a globally operating research institution like Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB), diversity may seem like a given. And yet, considerable…
Women, leadership & menopause
Hot flushes at the office:
“She’s probably on her period.” Though usually whispered behind closed doors, most people have probably heard this disparaging remark being uttered. It’s emblematic of how female biology is often treated, not only but…
Please mind the gap
Three DLR researchers highlight gender-specific knowledge gaps that prevent the surveying of women’s needs in cars, busses, and trains:
Globally, Germany ranks in the top ten percent for gender equality—but persistent gaps remain. The gender pay gap is the most well-known example. The fact that transport systems are still largely designed by and for…
Saskia Vormfelde will be the new Administrative Director at HZB
The successful science manager moves from Freiburg to Berlin on 1 September 2025:
Saskia Vormfelde, currently Administrative Director at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE), will take over the administrative management at HZB from 1 September 2025. She succeeds Thomas…
Diversity wins
Berlin is recognised as an outstanding international technology hub. How to maintain this reputation, openness and diversity?:
Berlin is recognised as an outstanding international technology hub, particularly Adlershof. But that reputation is at risk if the political and social climate continues to move away from openness and diversity. After…
Insight into ultrafast spin processes with femtoslicing
Worldwide unique infrastructure for spintronics research at BESSY II:
An international team has succeeded at BESSY II for the first time to elucidate how ultrafast spin-polarised current pulses can be characterised by measuring the ultrafast demagnetisation in a magnetic layer system…
Ageing processes of lithium button cells made visible
For the first time, scientists were able to observe how the composition of lithium-ion batteries changes during charge cycles:
Lithium button cells with electrodes made of nickel-manganese-cobalt oxides (NMC) are very powerful. Unfortunately, their capacity decreases over time. Now, for the first time, a team has used a non-destructive method…
Nanoparticle shield makes luminescent molecules more durable for high-tech applications
Silica particles shield luminescent molecules from oxygen:
They are tiny but glow intensively: special light-emitting molecules used in environmental analysis, medical diagnostics, and energy research. However, their luminescence intensity can be significantly reduced by…