The University of Göttingen is an internationally renowned research university. Founded in 1737 in the Age of Enlightenment, the University is committed to the values of social responsibility of science, democracy, tolerance and justice. It offers a comprehensive range of subjects across 13 faculties: in the natural sciences, humanities, social sciences and medicine. With about 28,000 students and more than 210 degree programmes, the University is one of the largest in Germany.
New press releases
Hearing triggered by molecular “spring”
Hearing begins with the stretching of elastic molecular “springs” that open ion channels in the sensory hair cells of the ear. For decades, researchers have known that these gating springs must exist, but they could not find them. A team from the Cluster of Excellence Multiscale Bioimaging (MBExC) in Göttingen has now discovered just such a spring for the first time. Their findings shed new light on our understanding of the sense of hearing and the function of ion channels. The results were published in Nature Neuroscience.
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President takes office
Professor Axel Schölmerich took office as interim President of the University of Göttingen on 1 March 2025. In February, the University Senate unanimously agreed for him to take on the duties of president on an interim basis to bridge the gap until a new president takes up office.
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Segment Anything for Microscopy
An international research team led by Göttingen University has developed a method by retraining the existing AI-based software Segment Anything on over 17,000 microscopy images with over 2 million structures annotated by hand. Their new model is called Segment Anything for Microscopy and it can precisely segment images of tissues, cells and similar structures in a wide range of settings. To make it available to researchers and medical doctors, they have also created μSAM, a user-friendly software to “segment anything” in microscopy images.
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Successful strategies for collaborative species conservation
How can the loss of species and habitats in agricultural landscapes be stopped? Up to now, measures have mostly been implemented by individual farms. Researchers at the University of Göttingen have now identified essential key factors that facilitate successful agricultural-environmental collaboration at landscape level.
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Evidence of cannibalism 18,000 years ago
An international research team including the University of Göttingen has gained new insights into the burial rituals of Late Ice Age societies in Central Europe. Signs of human remains from the Maszycka Cave in southern Poland being manipulated indicate systematic dissection of the deceased, as well as cannibalism. The research was published in Scientific Reports.
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Protection for small-scale producers and the environment?
Sustainability certificates such as Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance and Cocoa Life promise to improve the livelihoods of small-scale cocoa producers while preserving biodiversity on plantations. Researchers investigated whether sustainability certificates actually achieve both these goals. To find out, they carried out an analysis within the Ghanaian cocoa production sector. They found that certification improves both cocoa yield and cocoa income but they were unable to find any effects on biodiversity.
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