Mathematician Maryna Viazovska has received the Fields Medal, which is presented at the International Congress of Mathematics in Helsinki, which opened today. The award has been presented every four years since 1936 to mathematicians under the age of 40. The 37-year-old Viazovska is from Ukraine. She completed her doctorate at the University of Bonn in 2013. Today she is a professor at EPFL (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne) in Switzerland.

A study led by the University of Bonn and the University Hospital Bonn has identified a molecule - the purine inosine - that boosts fat burning in brown adipocytes. The mechanism was discovered in mice, but probably exists in humans as well: If a transporter for inosine is less active, the mice remain significantly leaner despite a high-fat diet. The study, which also involved researchers from the University of Leipzig and the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, has now been published in the journal Nature.

How does international trade in agricultural and forest products affect biodiversity? A research project led by the University of Bonn will investigate this question, particularly for animal feed, energy crops, tropical timber and aquacultures. In collaboration with stakeholders from politics, the private sector and civil society, the researchers will develop innovative solutions for more sustainable production and consumption. The European Union is funding the project with around 2.6 million euros over the next three years, of which around 850,000 euros will go to the University of Bonn. Funding has been granted for other projects.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is getting a boost: the German Research Foundation (DFG) is funding a total of eight new AI research units with a total of 31.4 million euros. Two projects from the University of Bonn in the fields of geodesy and precision agriculture are among them. The millions in funding will flow over the next four years. An extension is possible.

A bar of chocolate in the U.S. might have been made in Belgium, with cocoa from the Ivory Coast, almonds from Morocco, vanilla from Madagascar and sugar from Brazil. Were forests cut down for it? Were forced or child laborers involved in the harvest? Were toxins used or rivers polluted? We see similar stories for other products we use daily, such as smartphones, clothes, and cosmetics. These questions cannot be answered easily. That's why companies and corporations should conduct due diligence in their supply chains and pay more attention in the future to the impact of their products on the environment and human rights. Dr. Jorge Sellare, group leader and senior scientist at the Center for Development Research (ZEF) and member of the Transdisciplinary Research Unit "Sustainable Futures" at the University of Bonn, has written a commentary on this topic together with other authors in the journal "Nature". The Department of Communications of the University asked him about it.

Visually appealing, high-quality, sustainable with solar panels on the roof—this is what the modular buildings around the University of Bonn’s main building and in the Stadtgarten could look like based on the University’s concept. Artist’s impressions of the planned structures have now been released.

Covid-19, climate change, populism, and not least the Ukraine war make the question of how and whether reconciliation is possible highly topical and relevant. The new Bonner Zentrum für Versöhnungsforschung (Center for Reconciliation Research) at the University of Bonn bundles research on this topic in cooperation with partner organizations. The center’s aim is to analyze reconciliation practices in an interdisciplinary and comparative way looking at different cultural, social and regional contexts. The center has now been ceremoniously opened in the University's Festsaal.

Special distinction for Wulf Amelung: the professor of soil science and soil ecology at the Institute of Crop Sciences and Resource Conservation (INRES) at the University of Bonn and director of the Institute of Agrosphere at Forschungszentrum Jülich has now been admitted to the Leopoldina National Academy of Sciences. Amelung is assigned to the Section of Agricultural and Food Sciences.