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News in brief
News in brief
Atmospheric research
Ready for take-off
Two interconnected weather balloons are ready to begin their journey up to an altitude of 36 kilometres at the airfield in Timmins, Canada. There, the GLORIA-B infrared spectrometer lifted up by the balloons will collect data that will be used to analyze the effects of greenhouse gases, air pollutants and volcanic eruptions on the Earth’s atmosphere. GLORIA-B is a joint development by experts from Jülich and Karlsruhe. The measurement flights in late summer 2022 served to prepare satellite missions such as CAIRT and FORUM, which are to collect data of this kind from space in the future.
– Institute of Energy and Climate Research/Central Institute for Engineering, Electronics and Analytics –
Geosciences
New member of the Leopoldina
The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina has accepted the Jülich soil scientist Prof. Wulf Amelung as a new member to the Agricultural and Food Sciences Section. The Academy elects researchers as members who have distinguished themselves through significant scientific achievements.
– Institute of Bio- and Geosciences –
0million synapses …
… in one neural network were simulated by Jülich researchers at unprecedented speed. On a prototype of IBM’s INC-3000 “neural” supercomputer, they were able to calculate network activity four times faster than real time. The simulations should help to further a better understanding of learning and brain development.
Interview with Dr. Arne Heittmann about the record-breaking simulations:
go.fzj.de/nc-interview-EN– Peter Grünberg Institut –
Information technology
Fast detection of dangerous infections
Germany is to get a local early warning system to control outbreaks of infection (Lokales Frühwarnsystem zur Kontrolle von Infektionsausbrüchen; LOKI). The aim is to support health authorities in detecting local outbreaks and predicting the further course of infection with the help of computer models. In this way, it should be possible to develop measures tailored to a specific region. The pilot project set up for this purpose, in which Forschungszentrum Jülich and five other partners are involved, started in the summer of 2022 and is scheduled to run until the end of 2025.
– Institute of Energy and Climate Research/Jülich Supercomputing Centre/Institute of Bio- and Geosciences –
New rule for orbital formation
Electron orbitals show where and how electrons move around atomic nuclei and molecules. In order for orbitals to be combined in chemical reactions – that is, in the breaking and forming of electron bonds – they must match in terms of energy and spatial extent. Researchers from Graz and Jülich have discovered in experiments that the orbitals need yet another match for new bonds to form: they must also have the same momentum space distribution.
The goal of the "Orbital Cinema" project is to present a big quantum show. It will show, for the first time, how electron orbitals change during quantum leaps and chemical reactions. Until now, it has only been possible to simulate this theoretically. Physicists from Forschungszentrum Jülich, which is responsible for coordination, and the universities in Marburg, Regensburg and Graz have received one of the coveted ERC Synergy Grants from the European Research Council (ERC).
– Peter Grünberg Institut –
Climate research
Fact report updated
The consequences of global warming could be felt clearly this year: heat and drought in China, Europe and North America; floods and record temperatures in South Asia. The fact report “Was wir heute übers Klima wissen” (What we know about the climate today), published in 2020, has been updated with the latest data and findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Assessment Report and other studies. It summarizes the relevant interrelationships and consequences for people and nature in clear and understandable language. A separate chapter is devoted to the latest developments in Germany. The paper’s editors are the German Climate Consortium, the Helmholtz Climate Initiative, the National Meteorological Service of Germany, the German Meteorological Society, the ExtremeWeatherCongress Hamburg and klimafakten.de/en.
More on this topic (German PDF):
go.fzj.de/basisfakten-klimawandel– Institute of Energy and Climate Research –
Supercomputing
First European exascale computer
Forschungszentrum Jülich will be home to the first European exascale computer. This was decided by the European supercomputing initiative, EuroHPC JU. Expected to surpass 1 trillion computing operations per second, the supercomputer is to help develop solutions to climate change, pandemic management and sustainable energy production. The use of artificial intelligence and the analysis of large amounts of data is also planned.
Prof. Thomas Lippert and Prof. Estela Suarez explain the challenges of an exascale system:
go.fzj.de/interview-exascale-EN– Jülich Supercomputing Centre –
“With its demonstrators of innovative transport and storage technologies for hydrogen, the Helmholtz Cluster HC-H2 will become a nucleus for new entrepreneurial activities in the Rhineland region.”
- Prof. Peter Wasserscheid, spokesperson of the Helmholtz Hydrogen Cluster HC-H2 at the ceremonial opening of the cluster at Brainergy Park Jülich in mid-September -
Photos: Thomas Gulde/KIT, Universität Bonn/PhenoRob, Forschungszentrum Jülich/Sascha Kreklau, NicoElNino/Shutterstock.com, Animation: Markus Huber/Universität Regensburg