30 April 2026 / Kiel / Mindelo. Tomorrow, fourteen Master’s students in the West African Master’s programme ‘Climate Change and Marine Sciences’ will begin their two-week training and research voyage aboard the research vessel POLARSTERN. Travelling from Mindelo in Cabo Verde to Bremerhaven, Germany, they will carry out physical, biogeochemical and biological measurements together with ten experienced scientists. This is the fourth time that the Floating University is taking place under the leadership of GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel. This initiative significantly contributes to the goals of the UN Decade of Ocean Science and is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) as part of the WASCAL programme (West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use).

The University of Oldenburg in Germany is set to acquire a unique research facility, as recommended by the German Council of Science and Humanities. The 'NaviGate' building has been designed for the study of animal navigation in realistic conditions. The centrepiece of the new building will be a “Non-Magnetic Multisensory Virtual Reality Dome”. There, it will be possible to generate magnetic fields or simulate disturbances such as electromagnetic pollution and light pollution.

The March 2026 issue of Chinese Medicine and Culture presents traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) as a living body of knowledge shaped by history, practice, language, geography, and international exchange. The articles examine the origins of meridian theory, changing ideas of toxicity and disease, court medicine in Qing China, regional medical schools, Korean and Thai connections, and the spread of TCM in France, showing the field’s deep historical and global reach. 

Fruit volume in Chinese flowering plants is largely shaped by evolutionary relationships, but warmer climates weaken this phylogenetic constraint, highlighting the context‑dependent role of evolutionary history in plant reproductive traits.

The results suggest that chaperone-mediated autophagy, a cellular ‘selective cleaning’ system, could become a new therapeutic target. The study, published in Acta Neuropathologica Communications, was conducted using human tissues from clinical trials and opens new avenues for the development of treatments to slow the progression of ALS.

Researchers discovered that fur seals that have returned onshore after foraging trips increase their heart rate – a measure of metabolic activity – for prolonged periods. These results imply that time spent on land is not simply spent resting, but actively recovering from physiological stress. For example, they may increase their metabolic rate on land to remove lactic acid and restore oxygen stores in skeletal muscle after diving for food.

Researchers use a light-activated protein to illuminate when embryos can cope with disruptions to cell division.