Research and Study at the University of Excellence in Bonn

Sixteen universities from North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) have come together to form the Humboldtⁿ sustainability initiative. The initiative’s first interdisciplinary summer school has now been held at the University of Bonn, with support provided by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the state of NRW.

In this year’s call for applications for the Erasmus+ Worldwide Exchange Programme, the University of Bonn has successfully concluded new cooperation agreements with partner universities in California (U.S.) and Georgia. Its existing collaboration with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University has also been extended. Including the partnerships with institutions in Ghana and Tanzania that are already in place, therefore, anyone interested in the Erasmus+ Worldwide Exchange Programme can now choose to spend time in one of five different countries.

How do pollution and climate change affect health and the associated costs? How do people adapt to their environmental conditions, and what factors are crucial for such adaptability? Julia Mink, new Argelander Professor at the University of Bonn, addresses these and other questions. In the Transdisciplinary Research Area "Individuals, Institutions and Societies", she will work at the interface of environmental and health economics.

If you need to lurk at the bottom of a water body waiting for prey, it is wise to stay motionless without resisting against the buoyant forces of water. To do so you need a kind of diving belt that helps to sink. One large amphibian species Metoposaurus krasiejowensis, that lived more than 200 million years ago, compensated for buoyancy with a heavy shoulder girdle. Researchers from the Universities of Bonn and Opole (Poland) examined the bones of the girdle under a microscope. The compactness in the interclavicle shows a striking resemblance to the pectoral bones of modern manatees. The results are now published in the Journal of Anatomy.