The University of Bonn celebrated its traditional First-Semester Students’ Welcome on October 8, which offered them no end of things to see and do. As well as providing information, the emphasis was mainly on making new contacts so that the new students could get the latest chapter in their lives off to a successful start.  

In climate studies, parallels are frequently drawn between today’s age (the Holocene) and the last interglacial warm period of roughly 130,000 years ago. Now it has been demonstrated in a new international project with significant involvement by the University of Bonn that the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) shifted substantially further south during the previous warm period relative to its position in the Holocene. Changes in the Earth’s orbit were a major factor in this, meaning variable amounts of incoming solar radiation. Modeling indicates that natural conditions could push the Antarctic Circumpolar Current northward in the future, counteracting a southward shift caused by climate change. The study has now been published in the journal “Nature Communications”.

The University will once again be focusing on international dialogue over the two days that make up this year’s International Days. The event will offer numerous opportunities to exchange ideas and opinions and explore beyond cultural, academic and scientific boundaries.

What effects does severe obesity have on the lungs? A research team led by Prof. Dr. Veronika Lukacs-Kornek from the ‘ImmunoSensation2’ Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bonn and the Institute for Molecular Medicine and Experimental Immunology (IMMEI) at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) investigated this question. The results suggest that obesity causes the lungs to age faster. The findings have been published in the journal ‘Cell Reports’.

The first performances of “Zukunftsenergien – Zukunftsmusik?” (“Energies of the Future—Dreams of the Future?”), or “Phyusical” for short, are set for October 25 and 26 in the Wolfgang Paul lecture hall at the University of Bonn. The new physics musical combines drama, live music and live experiments to produce an energy-packed 75-minute-long show. The “Phyusical” is aimed at an interested audience 12 and over, with no particular prior knowledge required. Written by Dr. Jana Heysel, the musical is performed by members of the Physics Show, a dedicated group of physics students at the University of Bonn led by Professor Herbert Dreiner. It is being funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) as part of the Science Year 2025, whose theme is “energy for the future.”

“Be strong!” is a structured study support program at the University of Bonn that will be piloted in the 2025/26 winter semester. The program is highly diverse, covers all phases of the student life cycle and will help students to find their way around their studies, acquire and consolidate specialist and methodological skills, and build up their own resources. The pilot phase will initially draw mainly from elements in the “Be empowered!” block, which will give students the opportunity to strengthen their personal resources. Courses from the “Well-guided!” and “Fit for your subject!” blocks will be added gradually from the 2026 summer semester onward. With this pioneering program, the University of Bonn is giving a targeted boost to teaching and learning and thus implementing a key project in its Excellence Strategy.

As part of the DRD1 Gaseous Detectors School 2025, twenty-five young researchers from around the world visited the University of Bonn to gain deeper insights into the physics, technologies and applications of gas-filled detectors. This was the first time the event had been held outside of CERN.

The goals behind the project funding program “vielfältig.nachhaltig.digital” (“diverse.sustainable.digital”) are to cultivate the potential of individual students, raise awareness on sustainable development and anchor the acquisition of digital skills within teaching. Year after year, the University of Bonn provides funding for highly innovative individual and group projects within this program framework. Six projects emerged as this year’s competitive winners, on topics ranging from AI-assisted learning to a University-wide roleplay simulation.