News
Hightech winner from Geesthacht: new technology for the bonding of plastic and metal
Dr. Sergio Amancio, research group leader at the Helmholtz Zentrum Geesthacht and junior professor at the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg, has become the “German High Tech Champion 2013 in Lightweight Design”. He was recently honoured for the development of a new joining technology, Friction Spot Joining (FSpJ) which enables the joining of metal and plastic – without the use of adhesives. more
Inaugurated New Building: The Inventor of „Fricition Stir Welding“ visited Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht
The inventor of Fricition Stir Welding (FSW), Dr. Wayne Thomas, came on November 20th personally to Geesthacht to inaugurate a building that was named after him. In the 300square meter building innovative joining methods are explored. more
International ECOSTORE project
The ECOSTORE project is now commencing under the coordination of scientists from the Helmholtz Zentrum Geesthacht with four million euro of funding from the European Commission. Several European and Japanese Institutes and companies are participating. In the course of this four year project, novel materials based on new types of boron and nitrogen compounds, will be investigated for hydrogen storage and batteries. more
For curious people no matter what age: Science Night in Hamburg
At 2. November the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht offers insights into the world of research:From Climate research on hydrogen technology and research with X-Rays - in this year's Science Night in Hamburg different departments present themselves. more
From Macromolecules to Materials to Systems: Experts will present advanced technologies in Berlin
This year’s 12th International Conference Polymers for Advanced Technologies-PAT 2013, organized by the Institute of Biomaterial Science, Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht (HZG), will be held in Berlin from 29 September to 2 October 2013. With more than 300 presentations this event figures worldwide to be one of the most important congresses on polymer research. more
Opening Event of the Helmholtz Graduate School
On Friday September 27th the opening event of the Helmholtz Graduate School for Macromolecular Bioscience will take place at the Free University of Berlin. Following welcoming words from the Scientific Director of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kaysser and greetings from politics and science, the participants will get a brief introduction of the scientific work. more
Geesthacht coastal research scientist finds evidence of new type of flame retardant in eels
Within the scope of her doctoral thesis, Roxana Sühring from the Institute of Coastal Research at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht is examining how flame retardants accumulate in the fatty tissue of eels. The special focus hereby is on emerging flame retardants being used to replace chemicals which have already been banned. Ms Sühring found evidence of both the banned and new types of flame retardants in all the eel tissue samples which she examined – in some cases in high concentrations when compared to the rest of Europe. The results have been published in the scientific journal “Chemosphere”. more
X-ray experiment reveals kinship of 150 million-year-old dinosaur eggs
A team of international research scientists have carried out some very detailed synchrotron radiation examinations on fossils, using two beamlines of the Helmholtz Zentrum Geesthacht (HZG) in Hamburg. The results regarding the evolution of dinosaur eggs were recently published in Nature Scientific Reports. more
First shape-memory plastics able to reverse deformation
Biomaterial researchers in Teltow have developed plastics that can repeatedly change from one shape to another and then back again when temperatures fluctuate within a selected range. The material, dubbed “polymer actuators” by its creators, thus overcomes a major limitation that affects similar materials. Up until now, polymers with temperature-controlled shape memory could only change form once. more
A new research programme to achieve an improved understanding of the Earth system for the Baltic Sea region
On June 10th, 2013, at the 7th Study Conference on BALTEX, a new international and interdisciplinary research programme, Baltic Earth, will be launched. The aim of Baltic Earth is to achieve an improved understanding of the Earth system for the Baltic Sea region, focusing on physical and biogeochemical processes which interact in the atmosphere, in the sea including sea ice, and on land. Human interactions with the environment are recognized as an important part of the regional Earth system. more
Delegation visit to South America: Directors of Materials and Coastal Research intend to expand cooperation
Since several years, the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht (HZG) has maintained good relations with universities and companies in South America. Therefore, the HZG-Directors Prof. Norbert Huber and Professor Hans von Storch accompanied the Hamburg representatives during the official visit of Hamburg´s governing mayor Olaf Scholz from April 15th to 19th. more
Sustainable use of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea: coastal researchers provide the basis for future protection of the marine environment.
In the next 3 years coastal researchers will closely examine the processes in the sea floors of the German sectors of the North Sea and Baltic Sea to provide a scientific basis for the implementation of the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive. The BMBF (Federal Ministry of Education and Research), is funding five collaborative projects which are now commencing their work. more
Geesthacht scientists reconstruct the climate of the past
Scientists of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht are participating in the most comprehensive reconstruction to date of regional climatic changes over the past 2000 years. A team of 78 scientists from the international research project PAGES (Past Global Changes) has analysed climate data from seven continental regions for the study “Continental-scale temperature variability during the past two millennia”. The results of the study have recently been published in the journal “Nature Geoscience”. more
New Membrane Process: Geesthacht Researchers provide the desired polymer
Dr. Sofia Rangou, polymer scientist in Geesthacht, has succeeded in synthesizing the required starting product for a new process which has been developed by the University of Yale (USA) for the production of ultrathin membrane films from block copolymers. The highly-respected journal ACS-Nano recently published these results, which were achieved in cooperation with the University of Ioannina, Greece. more
An opening for molecules: Polymer research scientists develop double switchable membrane
Pharmaceutical residues in water can pose a danger to humans. Due to the fact that these molecules are soluble in water, there has been increasing evidence of their presence in groundwater for some years. Filtration is often very difficult as these trace substances are so minute. Such trace substances could be removed from the water with the use of new membranes developed by polymer researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht (HZG). more