News — University of Bonn

Physicists observe competition between magnetic orders¹

They are as thin as a hair, only a hundred thousand times thinner—so-called two-dimensional materials, consisting of a single layer of atoms, have been booming in research for years. They became known to a wider audience when two Russian-British scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010 for the discovery of graphene, a building block of graphite. The special feature of such materials is that they possess novel properties that can only be explained with the help of the laws of quantum mechanics and that may be relevant for enhanced technologies. Researchers at the University of Bonn have now used ultracold atoms to gain new insights into previously unknown quantum phenomena. They found out that the magnetic orders between two coupled thin films of atoms compete with each other. The study has been published in the journal Nature.

Climate change caused mangrove collapse in Oman²

Most of the mangrove forests on the coasts of Oman disappeared about 6,000 years ago. Until now, the reason for this was not entirely clear. A current study of the University of Bonn now sheds light on this: It indicates that the collapse of coastal ecosystems was caused by climatic changes. In contrast, falling sea level or overuse by humans are not likely to be the reasons. The speed of the mangrove extinction was dramatic: Many of the stocks were irreversibly lost within a few decades. The results are published in the journal Quaternary Research.

Early mammal with remarkably precise bite³

Paleontologists at the University of Bonn have succeeded in reconstructing the chewing motion of an early mammal that lived almost 150 million years ago. This showed that its teeth worked extremely precisely and surprisingly efficiently. Yet it is possible that this very aspect turned out to be a disadvantage in the course of evolution. The study is published in the journal "Scientific Reports".

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Chemists synthesize "flat" silicon compounds⁴

Chemists at the University of Bonn have synthesized extremely unusual compounds. Their central building block is a silicon atom. Different from usual, however, is the arrangement of the four bonding partners of the atom, which are not in the form of a tetrahedron around it, but flat like a trapezoid. This arrangement is usually energetically extremely unfavorable, yet the molecules are very stable. Their properties are completely unknown so far; researchers now want to explore them. The results will be published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, but are already available online.

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University of Bonn becomes member of New University in Exile Consortium⁵

The University of Bonn and the New School for Social Research in New York City (US) signed a cooperation agreement. Coming into effect December 21, 2020, the agreement confirms the nature of the cooperation.

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Robotics and agriculture in the focus of young researchers⁶

Another milestone for the Cluster of Excellence “PhenoRob – Robotics and Phenotyping for Sustainable Crop Production” at the University of Bonn and the agricultural research community: Together with two of the leading universities of the world, ETH Zurich in Switzerland and Lincoln University in the UK, PhenoRob will host the International Summer School “Agricultural Robotics” at the University of Bonn from August 23-27, 2021. The DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) provides 25,000 euros in funding for the Summer School.

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Longest intergalactic gas filament discovered⁷

More than half of the matter in our universe has so far remained hidden from us. However, astrophysicists had a hunch where it might be: In so-called filaments, unfathomably large thread-like structures of hot gas that surround and connect galaxies and galaxy clusters. A team led by the University of Bonn has now for the first time observed a gas filament with a length of 50 million light years. Its structure is strikingly similar to the predictions of computer simulations. The observation therefore also confirms our ideas about the origin and evolution of our universe. The results are published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

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Effects of the coronavirus pandemic on on-site teaching and on-site examinations⁸

The new version of the North Rhine-Westphalia Ordinance on the Protection Against New Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 Infections (CoronaSchVO NRW) amends the provisions for on-site classes and examinations during the period from December 16, 2020 to January 10, 2021 in order to protect students and instructors.

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