Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

Quantum computing is advancing, with giants like Google and IBM providing services, yet challenges remain due to insufficient qubits and their susceptibility to external influences, requiring complex entanglement for reliable results. Photonic approaches offer room temperature operation and faster speeds, but face loss issues; however, a novel method demonstrated by researchers uses laser pulses to create inherently error-correcting logical qubits, simplifying quantum computing but still needing improvements in error…

Recent research on early Bronze Age burials in Luxembourg and Britain has uncovered genetic evidence of familial relationships within prehistoric communities, indicating that children were buried with their biological mothers or close relatives. This study, highlighting the transition from collective to individual burial customs among Bell Beaker communities, emphasizes the significance of kinship in their burial practices and suggests a patrilineal descent system. The image above depicts the skeletal remains of an adult…

The direction of an electron spin is determined by the direction of motion of electrons. Credit: © Hans-Joachim Elmers / JGUResearchers at Mainz University have been able to visualize the third class of magnetism, called altermagnetism, in action.Ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism have long been known to scientists as two classes of magnetic order of materials. Back in 2019, researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) postulated a third class of magnetism, called altermagnetism. This altermagnetism has…

The study has recently been published in the journal PNAS. The researchers closely examined the bones of elephants that are approximately 125,000 years old and that were discovered in Gröbern in Saxony-Anhalt and Taubach in Thuringia, Germany, decades ago. They were able to identify cut marks made by stone tools used by the Neanderthals that indicate that the animals must have been hunted before they were extensively butchered.The pelvic bone of a Palaeoloxodon antiquus found in Gröbern. Credit: Lutz Kindler, LEIZAIt was…

A research study reveals that Ayurvedic plants like ashwagandha and Indian pennywort can prevent depression-like symptoms in fruit flies caused by chronic stress. Chlorogenic acid, found in these plants, plays a crucial role in enhancing stress resilience. Mainz University and the US-American BENFRA Center have jointly demonstrated the effect of botanical products used in traditional Asiatic medicine on depressive states. Chronic exposure to stress can lead to the development of depression-like disorders that manifest…

Research reveals that early humans hunted beavers 400,000 years ago, indicating a more diverse diet during the Middle Pleistocene than previously believed, challenging the notion of a diet primarily based on large mammals. Evidence from eastern Germany shows that early humans had a more varied diet than previously known. Around 400,000 years ago, early humans hunted beavers as a food resource and possibly also for their pelts. This is the conclusion of a team from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), the Leibniz…