News Archive
New charging points for electric cars installed in Adlershof
Helmholtz Centre offers green electricity for employees' cars:
On 14 May 2020, two charging points for electric cars were installed near the BESSY II main building. But not only the hybrid company car fleet is to be charged here. Soon, employees will also have the opportunity to…
On the road to non-toxic and stable perovskite solar cells
International cooperation led by HZB has developed new materials with tin instead of lead:
The promising halide perovskite materials for solar energy conversion show high efficiencies, but this comes at a cost: The best perovskite materials incorporate toxic lead which poses a hazard to the environment. To…
How new materials increase the efficiency of direct ethanol fuel cells
Research group investigated novel composite membrane at BESSY II:
A group from Brazil and an HZB team have investigated a novel composite membrane for ethanol fuel cells. It consists of the polymer Nafion, in which nanoparticles of a titanium compound are embedded by the rarely…
Why permafrost might thaw sooner than expected
In a new study, experts (HU, AWI, University of Oslo) simulate various climate warming scenarios in northeast Siberia:
Experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU) and the University of Oslo have determined that much of the permafrost that is…
Graduate School "Advanced Materials": First admission of members
This April, the Graduate School "Advanced Materials" (GS-AM) admitted 22 doctoral students as members, from HU Berlin, FU Berlin, TU Berlin, and Potsdam Universität. The mission of GS-AM is to provide superior…
Corona research: Consortium of Berlin research and industry seeks active ingredients
The HZB is making all existing infrastructures available to the joint project:
The Berlin biotech company Molox GmbH and a team at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) have initiated a consortium of regional research groups and BASF. Together, they want to identify a starting point for the…
Adlershof Journal May/June 2020
Look at us go! Making flexible work work:
Homestudying: Digital semester at the Humboldt-Universität // Matter of trust: “Netzer, Weisweiler and a lack of clarity” // Meteorological intelligence: Why weather forecasts are important …
“Netzer, Weisweiler and a lack of clarity”: It’s all a question of trust
Essay by Dr. Reinhard K. Sprenger, leadership expert and management author:
It still is the match of the century for many and, at the same time, possibly the most dramatic crisis of leadership in German football: it’s the 1973 cup finals, Borussia Mönchengladbach against 1. FC Köln. Following…
Remote work from a psychological perspective
In conversation with Annekatrin Hoppe, work psychologist at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, who’s research focuses on occupational health:
Her own research, teaching, management responsibility, on the one hand, and a family with two small children, on the other: Annekatrin Hoppe is currently juggling many balls in the air. As a work psychologist, she has…
Fostering young talent
Chemist Guido Heinrich evaluates medication and young researchers:
Some things you just never forget. Like that test kit used to detect traces of blood in food. Back then, the initial question was: how can vegetarians be sure that there is no meat on their plate? The solution was…
‘Basic trust’ is the key
Mobile and remote work is more than a modern corporate must-have:
Mobile and remote work is more than modern corporate must-have. In today’s world of work, it is also an issue of employer branding. However, it also requires some preliminary work, trust, and special management skills…
Compulsory attendance
Surveying the mood of Adlershof-based manufacturing companies:
Remote working is a blessing for many faced with the coronavirus pandemic. But not everybody can enjoy this privilege. How are Adlershof-based companies dealing with the crisis? How are they coping with an uncertain…
How to make working remotely work
Since the coronavirus pandemic, many more companies are starting to appreciate the value of working digitally – Pokeshot sets off to show them how to make it work:
Normally, they would have met in Am Studio 2 in Adlershof, where Pokeshot has its headquarters. However, now, during the pandemic, it is better to keep a safe distance. Instead of shaking hands, waving hands pop up on…
A boost for digital innovation
The first digital semester at Berlin’s Humboldt-Universität:
All lectures with compulsory attendance have been cancelled, the libraries are closed, and most employees are working from home: on 13 March 2020, the coronavirus pandemic forced Humboldt-University into emergency…
The fake news pandemic
Dr. Peter Strunk about how to handle the ‘infodemic’:
Whether it’s climate change deniers, election interferers, or neo-Nazis inciting hatred against refugees - their most important tool for manipulating the public is the peddling of fake news and conspiracy theories on…
Maximum capacities at the theoretical limit
Chemist Michael J. Bojdys' proposal for an ERC Proof of Concept Grant for the project “LiAnMAT” has been retained for funding:
On April 27, the European Research Council (ERC) announced the recipients of the Proof of Concept (PoC) Grant scheme: one of them is Michael J. Bojdys, materials chemist and junior research group leader at IRIS…
Turning wonder into meteorological intelligence
Adlershof start-up MeteoIQ prepares weather forecasts as a basis for business decisions:
At MeteoIQ, the name says it all: the three founders have specialised on the smart use and useful preparation of weather data for customers from the insurance, construction, and energy sector. The Adlershof-based…
New chances for the working-from-home model
Remote work viewed from a legal perspective. Inquired with Isabel Harnoth, law student at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin:
Working from home has many advantages for employees and employers alike. But there is a problem: there is a lack of compliance with working hours as well as occupational safety. Both sides must be able to rely on…
New interaction between light and matter discovered at BESSY II
Discovery interesting for future information technologies:
A German-Chinese team led by Gisela Schütz from the MPI for Intelligent Systems has discovered a new interaction between light and matter at BESSY II. They succeeded in creating nanometer-fine magnetic vortices in a…
PicoQuant combines high timing precision with ultrashort dead time
New versions of the high-throughput multichannel event timer MultiHarp 150 with 10 ps digital resolution are now available:
PicoQuant releases three new models of the high-throughput multichannel event timer MultiHarp 150: MultiHarp 150 4P, 8P, and 16P. The units with either 4, 8, or 16 detection channels offer improved timing precision…