An international study shows that especially in the northern latitudes, plant growth has decreased by 10.6 percent compared from 1982-1998 to 2000-2016. The reasons are climate extremes, especially drought. The results illustrate that ecosystems are becoming increasingly vulnerable to warm droughts and that negative impacts on the uptake of CO2 by plants and on agriculture are consequences.

Carbon dioxide can be bound by finely ground rock that is introduced into ecosystems. A new study estimates for the first time the amount of CO2 absorption that can be achieved by rock flour. This biological effect is significantly higher than previously thought, the research team reports in the journal Nature Geoscience.

The Augsburg AI Production Network, founded in January, is an association of the University of Augsburg with the Fraunhofer Institute for Foundry, Composites and Processing Technology IGCV and the Centre for Lightweight Production Technology of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR). The aim is joint research into AI-based production technologies at the interface between materials, manufacturing technologies and data-based modelling.

The Rüdiger Kurt Bode-Stiftung is awarding the 2021 Water Resource Prize, endowed with 100,000 Euros, to Prof. Dr. Harald Kunstmann, Chair of Regional Climate and Hydrology at the University of Augsburg and Deputy Director of the Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research - Atmospheric Environmental Research at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, the KIT Alpine Campus.

In future, waste from agriculture and forestry could serve as the basis for environmentally friendly building materials, insulation foams or fuels. Over the past four and a half years, an EU project has explored the potential of such products. The results also show how much a holistic view is needed when using them in order to avoid undesirable side effects.

If there is more carbon dioxide in the air, photosynthesis and plant growth can be stimulated. Geographers at the University of Augsburg, together with scientists from 12 countries, have found in a study that this effect has decreased worldwide by about 30% over the last four decades. What are the causes for this and what are the consequences of the results.

Under the direction of the Augsburg geographer Prof. Dr. Peter Fiener, a Europe-wide "EU Innovative Training Network" has been launched to investigate the pollution of agricultural soils with macro- and microplastics. A total of 14 doctoral students at eleven European research institutions are working on the topic. Their expertise gained from research should bring influence to bear with innovative products, services and ideas for the economy and society.

A German-polish research team from Augsburg, Münster, Munich and Wrocław successfully mixed nanoscale sound waves and light quanta. In their study published in Optica the scientists use an ’artificial atom’ that converts the vibrations of the sound wave to single light quanta - photons - with unprecedented precision. The demonstrated fundamental principle marks an important step toward the development of future hybrid quantum technologies.

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The environmental damage arising from the production of foods is not currently reflected in prices. If the consequential costs of the greenhouse gases emitted are determined and added to current food prices, animal products such as milk, cheese and especially meat would have to become far more expensive. The price difference between conventional and organic products would also be less.  This was published in Nature Communications by a team of researchers led by economist Dr Tobias Gaugler.

Can a COVID-19 infection be detected based on your voice and sounds? This is what the speech and audio analysis app developed by Prof. Dr. Björn W. Schuller, Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Health is developed for. It estimates the probability of being infected with the corona virus based on prolonged vowels or a text that has been read aloud or free speech. First results are highly promising, but the app is still being improved and tested, in particular by collecting more data.

A major international study with participation of the University of Augsburg shows for the first time that flooding characteristics in recent decades are unlike those of previous centuries across Europe.