Several hundred settlements from the time between 500 and 1400 AD lie in the Bolivian Llanos de Mojos savannah and have fascinated archaeologists for years. Researchers from the German Archaeological Institute, the University of Bonn and the University of Exeter have now visualized the dimensions of the largest known settlement of the so-called Casarabe culture. Mapping with the laser technology LIDAR indicates that it is an early urbanism with a low population density - the only known case so far from the Amazon lowlands. The results shed new light on how globally widespread and diverse early urban life was and how earlier societies lived in the Amazon. The study appeared in the journal Nature.

Dr. Holger Aulepp, former Head Physician at Borkum Riff Rehabilitation Clinic on the North Sea island of Borkum, has formed an eponymous foundation under the umbrella of the University of Bonn Foundation. The purpose of the foundation is to provide doctoral and other students active in the field of Protestant theology funding for excavation excursions and stays in Israel. Dr. Aulepp had provided generous support for two excavation excursions before forming of the foundation.

The senior leadership team from the University of St Andrews is visiting the University of Bonn. Prof. Sally Mapstone, who heads the renowned Scottish university, has traveled to Bonn with a top-ranking delegation in order to discuss the strategic development of the two excellent universities and their diverse partnership activities.

Twenty-one top researchers were the focus of an award ceremony held on Thursday evening in Berlin, where they were presented Germany’s most valuable research award, the Alexander von Humboldt Professorship. Among them was AI ethicist Prof. Dr. Aimee van Wynsberghe, who has been conducting research at the University of Bonn for the past year and a half. During the festive event, Federal Minister of Education and Research Bettina Stark-Watzinger and Hans-Christian Pape, President of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, presented the awards which come with up to €5 million in funding.

An international team including Prof. Dr. Thomas Dohmen, spokesperson of the ECONtribute Cluster of Excellence at the Universities of Bonn and Cologne, has received a grant of up to $2.5 million from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). In the funded study, the researchers will determine the extent to which students' personality traits, executive function skills, and preferences predict their later academic achievement and careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The project will run for five years.

From research to application: Up to € 50,000 funds are available for young scientists at the University of Bonn for product validations from their research. For the first time the Transfer Center enaCom is offering prototyping grants which support innovative research results to be further developed for commercialisation. Application deadline is May 19, 2022 for the current year; applications can be submitted four times a year in the future.

Redness, swelling, pain - these are signs of inflammation. It serves to protect the body from pathogens or foreign substances. Researchers from the Universities of Bonn and Cologne were able to show that inflammatory reactions of an important sensor protein proceed in a specific spatial direction. This finding has the potential to conceivably stop inflammation at the "growing end", and thus bring chronic inflammatory diseases to a halt. The study has now been published in the journal "Science Advances". 

After twelve years of funding, the Käte Hamburger Center for Advanced Study in the Humanities "Law as Culture" will host its final conference on May 12 and 13. Since 2010, the international research center has been reflecting on different systematic dimensions of law as a cultural fact. At the final conference, renowned scholars from various disciplines will speak on this topic and look back at the Center’s developmental dynamics. In addition, artists who have joined the Center as Artists in Residence will talk about their experiences with the cross-pollination of research and art.