In politically sensitive regions of the West Balkans, the mineralogist and crystallographer Tamara Đorđević investigates mining waste contaminated with arsenic and other toxins. In order to understand how these ticking time bombs affect the environment, she examines their crystal structure with cross-disciplinary expertise from crystallography and chemistry. Continue reading “New materials discovered in toxic mining waste”
Wittgenstein Award winner Adrian Constantin is fascinated by the multifarious patterns of movement in the atmosphere and oceans of the Earth. Using the tools of his field of expertise, mathematician Constantin, who conducts research and teaches at the University of Vienna, wants to get to the bottom of these phenomena, which depend on innumerable factors. Continue reading “Understanding the Earth’s system of waves and currents”
Optical data processing, quantum information and intelligent buildings are areas of application for Elisa Davoli’s research. The mathematician and recipient of a 2020 START prize develops theories for modelling composite materials with the ability to adapt to their environment. Continue reading “Smart materials for the next generation”
The physicist and START Prize winner Birgitta Schultze-Bernhardt has developed a way of generating UV light with special properties using ultrashort laser pulses. She hopes to use this to investigate the behaviour of trace gases in the atmosphere in greater detail. Continue reading “UV light to help in understanding climate change”
The START Award winner and materials scientist Aleksandar Matkovic is looking for materials of a single atomic layer in thickness, an aspect that gives them extraordinary magnetic properties and makes them suitable for new electronic applications. Talc seems to be a particularly promising candidate. Continue reading “A rare crystal as an ultrathin magnet”
Robert Ganian wants to modify a well-proven theoretical computer science toolkit so it can be used for the booming field of artificial intelligence and machine learning. In order to extend the so-called parameterised complexity theory to this rapidly growing area of application, he needs to bring together expertise from various fields. At the end of […] Continue reading “Upgrading the toolkit for AI problems”
Physics, computer science, artificial intelligence: science knows many systems able to produce surprising complexity on the basis of just a few rules. The theoretical physicist and START Award winner Gemma De las Cuevas wants to get to the bottom of this ability by comparing concepts from different scientific fields that demonstrate this complexity – and […] Continue reading “The surprising simplicity of complexity”
A research group led by the physicist and economist Stefan Thurner is a member of the corona prognosis consortium of the Ministry of Health. The consortium’s models are the basis for the measures taken by the Federal Government to contain the corona pandemic in Austria. Thurner’s model calculations use methods from basic research projects that […] Continue reading “How a coincidence helps to control the pandemic”
Cryptologist Daniel Slamanig is investigating how today’s encryption methods can be rendered fit to ward off future attacks. Not even powerful quantum computers should be able to harm them. Continue reading “New threats to our old data”
In winter, nitrogen oxide emissions from road traffic increase in cities like Vienna, affecting people’s health. To date methods for measuring this provided only an incomplete picture. A research group from Vienna is now trying to close the gap. Continue reading “Something’s in the air – but what exactly?”