A team led by Prof. Arne Skerra from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has deciphered the binding mechanism of an antibody to benzopyrene — a discovery that could pave the way for an easier method to identify and, hence, remove the toxin. During the incomplete combustion of organic substances polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are created. The most well-known of these substances is benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) due to its high toxic...

An international team of researchers has now succeeded in extracting a fault tolerant manipulation of quanta from an effect of classical mechanics. The motion of a tennis racket in the air can help predict the behaviour of quanta. “Using an analogy from classical physics aids us in more efficiently designing and illustrating control elements for phenomena in the quantum world,” reports Stefan Glaser, professor in the Department o...

KONUX began with the development of a sensor for monitoring industrial facilities. But the second step was the difference maker: combining hardware with software-based analytics. This permits such applications as real-time monitoring of the switches in a railway system. The company has now won this year's TUM Presidential Entrepreneurship Award. KONUX prevailed against two other start-ups also established with the support of the Technical Univers...

Fuel from waste? It is possible. But hitherto, converting organic waste to fuel has not been economically viable. Excessively high temperatures and too much energy are required. Using a novel catalyst concept, researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have now managed to significantly reduce the temperature and energy requirements of a key step in the chemical process. The trick: The reaction takes place in very confined spaces insi...

  Energy research at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) now has a home of its own: In the new Research Center for Energy and Information (ZEI), built on the Garching Research Campus at a cost of 17 million euros, scientists will perform interdisciplinary research on topics related to the energy transition.

Diagnosing malaria has been a very time-consuming and error-prone process up to now. Together with his Dutch colleague Jan van den Boogaart, Professor Oliver Hayden from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has now developed an automated rapid blood test that provides an accurate diagnosis in almost 100% of cases. The researchers were presented with the European Inventor Award, which honors outstanding inventors from Europe and the rest of th...

In the quantum world, our intuition for moving objects is strongly challenged and may sometimes even completely fail. An international team of physicists of the Universities of Innsbruck, Paris-Sud and Harvard as well as the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has found a quantum particle which shows an intriguing oscillatory back-and-forth motion in a one-dimensional atomic gas instead of moving uniformly.

Dental plaque and the viscous brown slime in drainpipes are two familiar examples of bacterial biofilms. Removing such bacterial depositions from surfaces is often very difficult, in part because they are extremely water-repellent. A team of scientists from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has now been able to show how such biofilms adapt their surface texture to repel water – similar to leaves.

What measures are needed to make cities 'green' and get them ready for the future? An interdisciplinary team at the Centre for Urban Ecology and Climate Adaptation of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) is conducting research on these questions. At a symposium, the experts will present the results of the first subproject along with other current work. Climate change is resulting in increasingly frequent heavy rain events, heat waves and...

Scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed a holographic imaging process that depicts the radiation of a WiFi transmitter to generate 3D images of the surrounding environment. Industrial facility operators could use this to track objects as they move through the production hall. Just like peering through a window, holograms project a seemingly three-dimensional image.

In July 2015, the Bavarian Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection set up the project group “Resource-friendly Biotechnology in Bavaria – BayBiotech.” The aim is to contribute to resource-friendliness through application specific research projects in the field of biotechnology and to support the transition to a sustainable bio-economy. Today scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the University of...

Silicon nanosheets are thin, 2D layers with exceptional optoelectronic properties very similar to those of graphene. Albeit, the nanosheets are less stable. Now researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have, for the first time ever, produced a composite material combining silicon nanosheets and a polymer that is both UV-resistant and easy to process. This brings the scientists a significant step closer to industrial applications li...

The most prevalent method for obtaining images of clogged coronary vessels is coronary angiography. For some patients, however, the contrast agents used in this process can cause health problems. A team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has now demonstrated that the required quantity of these substances can be significantly reduced if monoenergetic X-rays from a miniature particle accelerator are used.

Rechargeable lithium batteries with cathodes comprising nickel, manganese, and cobalt, are viewed as the most potent today. But they, too, have a limited lifespan. Already in the first cycle they lose up to ten percent of their capacity. Why this happens and what can be done to alleviate the ensuing gradual loss of capacity has now been investigated in detail by a team of scientists using positrons at the Technical University of Munich (TUM).

Modern computer technology is based on the transport of electric charge in semiconductors. But this technology’s potential will be reaching its limits in the near future, since the components deployed cannot be miniaturised further. But, there is another option: using an electron’s spin, instead of its charge, to transmit information. A team of scientists from Munich and Kyoto is now demonstrating how this works.

Often hundreds of rotors can be installed in a typical wind farm. A little known fact, however, is that the shadowing caused by the wind turbine rotors impacts the performance of neighboring turbines and reduces their lifespan. As part of an EU project, researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) are studying these interactions in a wind tunnel and developing a computer model that will help improve the efficiency of wind farms.

When James Bond asks the barkeeper for a Martini, “shaken, not stirred”, he takes it for granted that the ingredients of the drink are miscible. In the quantum world, however, he might be in for a surprise! A team of physicists from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich (LMU) and the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics (MPQ) has now prepared a form of quantum matter that is robust to sh...

Engineers at TUMCREATE in Singapore have developed an electric motor which can be easily attached to almost any bicycle, turning it into a pedelec (pedal electric cycle). The drive device is so light that it can be taken along easily before and after use. The TUMCREATE researchers have already tested an initial prototype of their product, which they've dubbed "ease". Commuting to work by bike is particularly common in major cities.

Using galaxies as giant gravitational lenses, an international group of astronomers headed by Max Planck@TUM tenure track professor Sherry Suyu measured independently how fast the Universe is expanding. The newly measured expansion rate for the local Universe is consistent with earlier findings. These are, however, in intriguing disagreement with measurements of the early Universe. This hints at a fundamental problem at the very heart of our unde...

Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have analysed the energy performance of a cooperative residential housing project in Munich across its entire life cycle – from raw material extraction and the use of the building through to the recycling of the building materials. Recently, they presented their results together with their project partners.