Good mood among the guests, relief among the organization team: For the “Graduation Walk” on the Hofgartenwiese meadow last Saturday, the heavenly floodgates remained closed most of the time. Even sunny spells sweetened the day of honor for the celebrants. Throughout the day about 3,000 guests attended the graduation ceremony of the University of Bonn which had a new format due to the corona pandemic.

In their search for distant galaxies, rapidly rotating neutron stars and black holes, radio astronomers collect an ever-increasing amount of data. This torrent of data will in future also be analyzed with the help of artificial intelligence. To this end, eight institutions in North Rhine-Westphalia have joined forces under the leadership of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) to establish the "NRW Cluster for Data-Intensive Radio Astronomy: Big Bang to Big Data". Partners in Bonn include the MPIfR, the University of Bonn and the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences. The state is funding the project with up to three million euros.

The importance of the root system for agricultural yields is often underestimated. Whether roots can access water and nutrients effectively also determines the resilience of important crops to drought and climate change. Researchers from the Universities of Bonn and Bologna (Italy) have discovered and described a mutant in barley: Its roots grow downwards much more sharply than usual. This discovery potentially provides a starting point for breeding more drought-resistant varieties. The study has now been published in PNAS.

Humans are social beings, but not everyone is equally mindful of others. To what extent does the degree of social mindfulness differ in different countries? An international team of researchers led by Leiden University has now investigated this - and found considerable differences. Among other things, the authors, with the participation of the University of Bonn, found that greater social mindfulness was also associated with better overall environmental protection goals in countries. The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

A beam of light can only be seen when it hits matter particles and is scattered or reflected by them. In a vacuum, however, it is invisible. Physicists at the University of Bonn have now developed a method that allows laser beams to be visualized even under these conditions. The method makes it easier to perform the ultra-precise laser alignment required to manipulate individual atoms. The researchers have now presented their method in the journal Physical Review Applied.

The dynamics and consequences of techno-political disputes, which in the global information age affect all political levels, will be discussed at the international online conference "Digital Fragmentations and Digital Sovereignty" on September 17 and 18. The Transdisciplinary Research Area “Individuals, Institutions and Societies” (TRA 4) and the Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies (CASSIS) at the University of Bonn have invited experts from Europe, the U.S. and China.

How can novel computational methods be used to decipher the genetic causes of psychiatric disorders? To what extent does religion contribute to the formation of ecological awareness? What role do atmospheric aerosols play in the survival of bacteria on plants? These innovative projects are tackled by the University of Bonn together with renowned partner universities around the world. The funds for these Collaborative Research Grants come from the Excellence Strategy - a multi-million funding competition of the German federal and state governments, from which the University of Bonn emerged as the most successful university in all of Germany.

Smart robots, such as vacuuming or mopping robots, are becoming more prevalent in everyday life and will also increasingly take care of tasks in the public sphere in the future. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has now approved EUR 2.25 million of funding for the Robots in Everyday Life (RimA) transfer center project. Computer Scientists at the University of Bonn will be working on the Benchmarking of Assistance Robots subproject until 2025.