1-16 effzettFORSCHUNGSZENTRUM JÜLICH’S MAGAZINE PYTHON The wonderful world of programming LIGHT SIGNALS LIGHT WEIGHT XXREADER SURVEY Plants signal stress Fuel cells are xxxxx with light dropping the pounds xxx Tell us what you think! 2 AS WE SEE IT Deep breaths Deep breaths – what you see here is not a discarded prototype of a Darth Vader mask but a “gasomat”, a device that was used at Jülich’s Institute of Medicine in 1964 to examine lung function. Curing lung diseases, including carcinomas, was one of the early tasks of Jülich’s medical research. The photo comes from the film and photo archive of Forschungszentrum Jülich. From June, further insights into 60 years of research will be available at historie.fz-juelich.de TOPICS 3 NEWS IN BRIEF Branches of The ways of 5 knowledge waves 60 years – research at the centre COVER STORY 16 Tangible evidence The brain shows visible Researchers observe changes in individuals suffering atmospheric gravity waves. from depression. 25 18 SECTIONS The lighter the better Editorial Something 4 completely Publication details different 4 Multitalent with a fun factor: the unexpected journey of the What’s your research programming language Python. all about? 8 19 Paving the way for a start-up: early-career scientists improve fuel cells. 2.2 plus RESEARCH 20 26 The secret Reader survey: light of plants Do you like it? From climate killer to 27 raw material? How CO2 from exhaust gases can be utilized. 22 Research in a tweet How plant stress can be observed from space. 28 14 4 EDITORIAL Award-winning! Forschungszentrum Jülich can claim this in many areas – but since No- vember 2015, this has also applied to effzett and the Annual Report. The International Corporate Media Award panel honoured both publications with their Award of Excellence. We are delighted – and would like to thank everyone involved in the publication of these magazines: particu- larly our scientists for their time, patience, and openness to talk about research in a different, fascinating way; our authors for the well-written articles; our photographers for capturing special moments; and our agency, SeitenPlan, for advising us and bringing everything together in the end. Now we’re interested in your opinion on effzett! What do you like, what’s missing, and what can we improve? We have prepared an online reader survey for this purpose. You will find details at the end of the magazine. We are looking forward to receiving your suggestions and comments. Everyone who takes part until 20 May will be entered into a prize draw. Want to read effzett on your tablet? Either But before you go right to the end of the magazine: right down to the last scan the QR code with page, we have filled this effzett with many stories on Jülich’s research. your tablet or visit our website: Why not have a good read? www.fz-juelich.de/effzett We hope you enjoy it! Your effzett editorial team Impressum effzett Forschungszentrum Jülich’s magazine, Graphics and layout: SeitenPlan GmbH, (p. 7 top); Andrzej Koston (cover, p. 3 top left, ISSN 2364-2327 Corporate Publishing Dortmund, Germany p. 8–13); LynxVector/Shutterstock (p. 15 top (pot)); Martial Red/Shutterstock (p. 15 bottom); Maxx- Published by: Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Images: Forschungszentrum Jülich (p. 2, 5 bottom, Studio/ Shutterstock (p. 3 bottom centre, p. 22 left); 52425 Jülich, Germany p. 7 bottom; Forschungszentrum Jülich/Sebastian mediaphotos/istock (p. 27 top); Oak Ridge National Conception and editorial work: Annette Stettien, Bludau, Katrin Amunts (p. 18 (brain)); Forschungs- Laboratory (p. 26 bottom); Photographee.eu/Shutter- Dr. Barbara Schunk, Christian Hohlfeld, Dr. Anne zentrum Jülich/Sascha Kreklau (p. 3 bottom left and stock (p.18 (background)); sappono/Shutterstock Rother (responsible according to German press law) top centre, p.14–15, 19, 20–21); Forschungszentrum (p. 4); SeitenPlan GmbH (p. 25 (graphic)); SeitenPlan/ Jülich/Ralf-Uwe Limbach (p. 6 top, p. 12–13 portraits Jens Neubert (p. 16–17); Tricklabor (p. 6 bottom); Authors: Marcel Bülow, Dr. Frank Frick, Christian for illustrations, 24, 28); Forschungszentrum Jülich/ VectorA/Shutterstock (p. 15 centre); wk1003mike/ Hohlfeld, Katja Lüers, Katharina Menne, Dr. Regine Wilhelm-Peter Schneider (p. 6 centre); 1000 Words/ Shutterstock (p. 22 right); St. D. Miller, W.C. Straka III, Panknin, Birgit Pfeiffer, Prof. Bernd-A. Rusinek, Tobias Shutterstock (p. 5 top); bmaki/Shutterstock (p. 22 J. Yue, St. M. Smith, M. J. Alexander, L. Hoffmann, Schlößer, Dr. Barbara Schunk, Brigitte Stahl-Busse, centre); CIC Robotic Kit/Science Discovery (p. 27 M. Setvák, P. T. Partain - DOI: 10.1073/ Ilse Trautwein, Dr. Janine van Ackeren, Angela Wenzik, bottom); Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response pnas.1508084112 (p. 25 top) Erhard Zeiss, Peter Zekert Team, NASA/GSFC (p. 3 right); Fan jianhua/Shutter- Translation: Language Services, Forschungs zentrum stock (p. 22 (background photo)); flatvector/Shutter- Contact: Corporate Communications, Jülich stock (p. 15 top (leaves)); Jojje/Shutterstock Tel.: +49 2461 61-4661, Fax: +49 2461 61-4666, Email: [email protected] NEWS IN BRIEF 5 TRAFFIC RESEARCH Wriggling past Traffic at a standstill – the daily routine on the streets of Bangkok. But a small group wriggles through: motorbikes and bicycles make use of every gap that opens up in order to pass the waiting cars. In developing countries, this is common practice. Jülich and Berlin researchers have now developed a computer model with which they can precisely simulate the complex traffic behaviour of bikes. – INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED SIMULATION – MATERIALS RESEARCH Cool chips of the future p-type semiconductor A new class of materials will prevent computer chips from over- heating in future: topological insulators. They conduct electric n-type semiconductor current at their surface, but not on the inside. Researchers from silicon Jülich and Aachen have found a way to optimize the properties of these only recently discovered materials. Instead of mixing two semiconductors, as usual, they stacked alternating atom layers of the materials on top of each other. Thus, the desired properties can be produced more precisely and more reliably – e. g. the By varying the layer thickness of the semiconductor surfaces and edges of the insulators should conduct electric sandwiches made of silicon, bismuth telluride (an n-type semiconductor), and antimony telluride current more rapidly and with less electrical and thermal (a p-type semiconductor), topological insulators resistance than materials in use today. can be made to measure. – PETER GRÜNBERG INSTITUTE – 6 NEWS IN BRIEF ERC GRANT Millions of funding awarded The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded two Jülich scientists Consolidator Grants. Nanophysicist Dr. Samir Lounis (top), who is also junior professor at RWTH Aachen University, and climate researcher Dr. Hendrik Fuchs (bottom) will use the funding to further expand their research. Samir Lounis investigates skyrmi- ons, complex magnetic nanostructures for information technology. A Jülich calculation method, which he wants to further develop with his team, will play a role in this. Spread over five years, he will receive funding totalling around € 2 million. Hendrik Fuchs is concerned with the “detergent” of the atmosphere: the hydroxyl (HO) radical. It removes contaminants from the air. Using his almost € 1.9 million in funding, the climate researcher wants to find out how the cleaning process works in areas where plants emit large amounts of organic compounds into the atmosphere. – INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED SIMULATION AND PETER GRÜNBERG INSTITUTE – – INSTITUTE OF ENERGY AND CLIMATE RESEARCH – Preselecting active substances A new test is hoped to help researchers recognize promising active substances against Alzheimer’s disease. It verifies how well a substance eliminates various particularly toxic protein accumulations. They are thought to cause nerve cells to die. An active substance is viewed as promising if it very efficiently destroys these accumulations, called oligomers. A targeted and precise preselection can decrease the number of necessary animal experiments and avoid failures in clinical tests. The Düsseldorf and Jülich researchers are currently working on optimizing their method even further. – INSTITUTE OF COMPLEX SYSTEMS – In the brain, the amyloid beta protein is cut out of a larger protein (left). As a single molecule, it is harmless, but over time, it can accumulate to form oligomers, from which insoluble fibrils and plaques develop later. 7 ANNIVERSARY For the curious Forschungszentrum Jülich will open its doors to the public once again this year: this year’s Open Day will take place from 10:00 to 17:00 on Sunday, 5 June 2016. Visitors of all ages will have the oppor- tunity to explore the campus, experience research up close, and talk to the scientists. In the spirit of “60 years – research at the centre”, Jülich will be celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. Further information is available at – WWW.TAGDERNEUGIER.DE – 3.5 seconds . … instead of the previously usual 10–60 minutes: that’s how little time a Jülich transmission electron microscope needs to record a series of around 3,500 individual images. This was made possible by a new method developed by Jülich researchers. The individual images are transformed into 3D images – just like in computed tomography. The Jülich research- ers can now observe chemical reactions, for example, on the nanometre scale, in 3D, and almost in real time. In addition, the required electron beam is much weaker. This means that cells, bacteria, and viruses can be examined without damaging them. – ERNST RUSKA-CENTRE – – PETER GRÜNBERG INSTITUTE – TAILORING MATERIALS KINDLING ENTHUSIASM FEEDING ALGAE Seven Helmholtz centres have estab- In mid-December 2015, the JuLab A coal-fired power plant in lished a joint laboratory platform for schools laboratory of Forschungs- Niederaußem supplies Jülich’s plant the purposes of developing powerful, zentrum Jülich celebrated its 10th researchers with carbon dioxide tailored materials for the transfor- anniversary.