Newsletter "Research in Germany" - August 2015

By the year 2050, our planet will be home to nine billion people, 80 percent of them living in cities. All of them want to get from A to B as quickly as they can, and goods need to be delivered in the shortest possible time. Logistics expert Professor Alex Vastag explains in our interview how exactly this is supposed to be achieved.

Electric mobility is one of the buzzwords when it comes to transport in the city of the future – but one major problem still concerns how to recharge electric cars. Because of the lack of space in big cities, one possible solution involves turning streetlamps into charging stations. 

Many cities around the world suffer from the same problem – they are becoming more crowded all the time. This increases the volume of traffic, which in turn causes the number of accidents to rise. The Application Platform for Intelligent Mobility is working on technologies and mobility concepts designed to make cities safer and more liveable.

Fruit flies are not particularly loved by most people. They may be able to protect us from disease, however. Dr Hany Dweck from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology explains in our interview why the fruit fly’s sense of smell could prove beneficial to humans. 

Completed your PhD and want to work as a postdoc in Germany? Interested in learning which opportunities are available and where exactly you could do your research? Find information here about your career and funding opportunities in Germany. 

The Fritz Thyssen Foundation awards postdoc stipends to support young researchers. Applications can be submitted at any time. 

A special programme of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) supports reciprocal exchange between scientists and academics from partner countries. 

Dogs have a sense for the earth’s magnetic field. This is what researchers discovered when studying which compass direction the animals choose when doing their “business”. 

Electric vehicles are becoming increasingly popular and are a key technology for future mobility. The German federal government has designated seven particularly innovative projects as “beacons of electric mobility”.