"BESSY is of immense importance for Berlin"
During her summer tour, the Senator also visited BESSY II light source. From left to right: A,.Vollmer (spokeswoman for the BESSY II), I. Czyborra (Senator for Science), B. Rech (Scientific Director) and H. Marx (State Secretary for Science). © HZB / Bettina Ausserhofer
At the end of August, the Senator for Research, Health, and Long-Term Care, Dr Ina Czyborra, together with the State Secretary for Science, Dr Henry Marx, ended her summer tour with a visit to HZB in Adlershof. She publicly declared her political support for the new construction of BESSY III.
Ina Czyborra took an afternoon for intensive discussions with scientists and BESSY II light source. The focus was on the versatility of this large and powerful research infrastructure: from the decoding of protein structures to groundbreaking innovations in the field of renewable energies.
Political support for BESSY III
A central topic was the successor source BESSY III (More information). HZB is planning a 4th generation light source with integrated laboratories, which is to be embedded in the Berlin-Adlershof research campus. The Senator expressly supports this project:
"Once again, I have seen cutting-edge research that is attracting worldwide attention. Adlershof has everything that makes Berlin a unique location - science, research and business in proximity, cooperating and benefiting from each other. [...] This makes it even more important to set the course in the Senate's budget deliberations, which begin in September, to ensure that Berlin remains a centre of cutting-edge research with international appeal in the future. Incidentally, we also need BESSY III for this. The continuation of BESSY is of immense importance for Berlin as a research location. That is why I will do everything I can to ensure that this project is continued."
"We are extremely pleased about such a clear commitment to our plans to build BESSY III in Berlin-Adlershof," says Prof. Bernd Rech, Scientific Director of HZB. "The exchange with the Senator for Science underlines how important the dialogue between science and politics is. Especially when it comes to further advancing cutting-edge research in Berlin!"
- The future of corals – what X-rays can tell usThis summer, it was all over the media. Driven by the climate crisis, the oceans have now also passed a critical point, the absorption of CO2 is making the oceans increasingly acidic. The shells of certain sea snails are already showing the first signs of damage. But also the skeleton structures of coral reefs are deteriorating in more acidic conditions. This is especially concerning given that corals are already suffering from marine heatwaves and pollution, which are leading to bleaching and finally to the death of entire reefs worldwide. But how exactly does ocean acidification affect reef structures?
Prof. Dr. Tali Mass, a marine biologist from the University of Haifa, Israel, is an expert on stony corals. Together with Prof. Dr. Paul Zaslansky, X-ray imaging expert from Charité Berlin, she investigated at BESSY II the skeleton formation in baby corals, raised under different pH conditions. Antonia Rötger spoke online with the two experts about the results of their recent study and the future of coral reefs.
- Energy of charge carrier pairs in cuprate compoundsHigh-temperature superconductivity is still not fully understood. Now, an international research team at BESSY II has measured the energy of charge carrier pairs in undoped La₂CuO₄. Their findings revealed that the interaction energies within the potentially superconducting copper oxide layers are significantly lower than those in the insulating lanthanum oxide layers. These results contribute to a better understanding of high-temperature superconductivity and could also be relevant for research into other functional materials.
- Electrocatalysis with dual functionality – an overviewHybrid electrocatalysts can produce green hydrogen, for example, and valuable organic compounds simultaneously. This promises economically viable applications. However, the complex catalytic reactions involved in producing organic compounds are not yet fully understood. Modern X-ray methods at synchrotron sources such as BESSY II, enable catalyst materials and the reactions occurring on their surfaces to be analysed in real time, in situ and under real operating conditions. This provides insights that can be used for targeted optimisation. A team has now published an overview of the current state of knowledge in Nature Reviews Chemistry.