Great success for Helmholtz with the ERC Synergy Grants

4D scanning transmission electron microscopy for structural biology

The full press release of FZJ (German)

In the Archean Park project, researchers aim to gain insights into life on the primordial Earth and uncover previously unknown metabolic pathways that enabled microorganisms to live 4 to 2.5 billion years ago. “We will shed new light on the earliest forms of carbon fixation by determining the extent to which extremely high CO2 concentrations influenced early cellular biochemistry and microbial carbon cycling. To this end, we will study subterranean ecosystems such as mofettes, fumaroles and geysers, which, with their particularly high CO2 content, serve as an analogue for the archaean biosphere, which also functions under high CO2 conditions. And with our GFZ expertise, we will also create high-pressure conditions in the laboratory, such as those that prevail under the extreme conditions in the deep subsurface,” says Jens Kallmeyer.

The result will not only open up new perspectives on fundamental biochemical mechanisms and their role in the evolution of microbial life. The project will also promote biotechnological and geotechnological innovations, with potential applications in the field of CO2 storage, for example.

The full press release of GFZ

Quantum Technologies for Axion Dark Matter Search

The press release of KIT (German)

Directed Evolution of Metastable Electrocatalyst Interfaces for Energy Conversion

The full press release of FZJ (German)

The impact of a melting Arctic has long preoccupied researchers, because the concrete effects on the region and the entire earth system have so far been unclear. This is precisely the question that the "i2B - Into the Blue" project wants to get to the bottom of by taking a look into the past, to time periods warmer-than-present (i.e. Pleistocene interglacials, the Pliocene, and the Miocene) when the Arctic lost its white landscape and had a blue, ice-free ocean. To this end, expeditions to the Arctic are planned in order to quantify the changes from climate archives. Currently, the dynamics of changes in sea ice and land ice and the feedback with the environment have not been sufficiently analyzed. Thus, important aspects for climate projections in the Arctic are missing. The project now aims to make up for this. "The timeliness of i2B is associated with the acquisition of new geological data in the Arctic for warm periods in combination with novel climate models integrated in a concerted framework beyond the state of the art", the three researchers describe their project.

The full press release of AWI

In his project ROTTnROCK, Thomas Walter and his colleagues will investigate how volcanoes rot from the inside due to heat and aggressive chemical processes. “This so-called hydrothermal alteration changes the strength and permeability of the rocks. We therefore suspect this to be one of the main reasons why unexpected eruptions and entire flank collapses still occur despite scientific and technical advances in the monitoring of volcanoes,” says project leader Thomas Walter. The researchers want to understand the process of hydrothermal alteration in detail, monitor it with innovative drones and satellite sensors, simulate and analyse it in the laboratory and incorporate it into numerical prediction models. “Our research will also help to develop an innovative and optimised hazard assessment workflow.”

The full press release of GFZ

The exchange of heat and carbon between the ocean and the atmosphere, as well as their distribution within the ocean, is driven by larger currents and smaller eddies – and by even smaller circulation features, termed “whirls”. The WHIRLS project, funded by one of the European Research Council’s (ERC) prestigious Synergy Grants, will investigate these fine-scale processes. To this end, Professor Dr. Arne Biastoch from GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany, Professor Dr. Sabrina Speich from the Ecole Normale Supérieure of Paris, France, Professor Dr. Sebastiaan Swart from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, and Professor Dr. Sarah Fawcett from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, will implement a synergistic and interdisciplinary approach. WHILRS will be funded at the level of almost 12 million Euros over six years.

The full press release of GEOMAR