Science Blog der Uni Bremen

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3, 2, 1, … Ready for Take-Off!

28. November 2021 / / 0 Comments

Launch Campaign in Esrange as the Highlight of the REXUS/BEXUS Programme

by Greta Sondej and Christoph Kulmann

Fig. 1: The REXUS 25 sounding rocket on its way to the stars. Copyright © FORAREX 2019

“There is no comfortable path that leads from the earth to the stars”, this was already known by the Roman philosopher and naturalist Lucius Annaeus Seneca (ca. 4 BC – 65 AD), also known as Seneca the Younger.

For our journey to the stars, we have been working towards this event for almost two years with our FORAREX project: The Launch Campaign at the European Space and Sounding Rocket Range (Esrange) at the civilian balloon and rocket launch site near Kiruna in northern Sweden. It is the highlight of the German-Swedish student programme REXUS/BEXUS, which we have already presented here on the Science Blog. 


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Kiruna – All Fired up for an Icy Adventure

28. November 2021 / / 1 Comment

by Christoph Kulmann and Greta Sondej

Fig. 1: With a bit of luck, you can see northern lights (Aurora borealis) in the night sky during the training week. Copyright © WikiImages 2012 / Pixabay

Long anticipated and eagerly awaited, our student training week starts in snowy Lapland near Sweden’s northernmost city: Kiruna (from the North Sami “giron”, meaning “snow grouse”).

Bremen Airport is already getting us in the mood for the weather that awaits us in Lapland… 

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REXUS/BEXUS – Experiments Soar Into Space!

28. November 2021 / / 0 Comments

An European Education Programme Empowers Students to Develop Their own Space Mission

by Greta Sondej and Christoph Kulmann

Fig. 1: Have you always wanted to send an experiment into space? In this case, the German-Swedish student programme REXUS/BEXUS is the right choice for you. Copyright © Arek Socha 2016 / Pixabay

In our last article, we told you about our FORAREX project, which we developed within the framework of the German-Swedish REXUS/BEXUS programme. 

But what exactly does this REXUS/BEXUS programme entail? And who can participate? 

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FORAREX – Astronaut in Miniature Form

28. November 2021 / / 0 Comments

How a Single-Celled Organism Finds its Way From the Sea Into Outer Space

by Team FORAREX

Fig. 1: Maximum relaxation – lounging on the seabed and swaying to the rhythm of the waves. Copyright © StockSnap 2017 / Pixabay

Imagine you are living under the sea. You see the suns rays shining through the water. There is sand beneath you. The water flows around you to the rhythm of the wave – and you sway with it (see Fig. 1). Everything feels very pleasant. You are thinking how wonderful your home is. The waves, the light – everything is perfect.

But suddenly a dark shadow looms over you – and this shadow takes you out of this paradise and catapults you into space! Isn’t that a disturbing and rather improbable idea?

But that is in fact my story. 

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Foraminifera – A Hard Shell With a Soft Core

28. November 2021 / / 0 Comments

by Christoph Kulmann and Greta Sondej

Fig.1: Left: Close-up of a foraminifera with pseudopodia; right: Four foraminifera in direct size comparison with a pinhead. Copyright © FORAREX 2018

Foraminifera (Latin for “hole bearers”, informally called “forams”) are single-celled organisms that usually have a multi-chambered shell, which can be built in various ways depending on the species. They are the stars of the FORAREX (FORAminifera Rocket EXperiment) project, in which we investigate their behaviour and shell growth under microgravitational conditions. 

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Changing Language Through “Gendering”: A Hand-Picked Selection of Artists Livened up Festival Visitors 

28. November 2021 / / 0 Comments

Or where are all the non-cis men again when it gets fun?

by Katharina (‘Kina’) Schmitz, supplemented and translated by Greta Sondej

Fig. 1: Copyright © Ryan McGuire 2014/ Pixabay 

Surely, everyone has wondered how 99 Festivalbesucherinnen (female festival visitors) become 100 Festivalbesucher (male festival visitors) as soon as one man stumbles into the dancing and partying mob. Poof, all the confidently partying women are just gone. 

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Fungi: Here, There and Everywhere

14. November 2021 / / 0 Comments

by Vivienne Vent

Fig. 1: Fungi can live as pathogens as well as in a mutualistic relationship with various other species. An example of such mutualistic interaction are lichens. Photo: ©Vivienne Vent 2021

Eatable, inedible, deadly. Tiny and of enormous size. Hardly any life form is as diverse as that of the fungi. Neither they can be called animals nor plants, they form their own taxon amongst the living organisms. Even though, they are a big part of our nutrition, we barely know how complex these organisms actually are. For example, did you know that the planets biggest living organism is in fact a fungus? Or did you know that fungi made the evolution of many life forms on earth possible by establishing complex interactions aka symbioses? Find out more about these fascinating organisms!

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New IPCC-Report: Climate Change is now Affecting Every Inhabited Region of the Planet

10. September 2021 / / 0 Comments

by Vivienne Vent, edited in March 2022

Fig. 1: The melting of the glaciers are one of the many consequences of climate change, photo: dassel/Pixabay

The IPCC (The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) published its sixth report about the latest findings about climate change and the news are full of it. Again, fundamental questions about our modern lifestyle arise, which strongly influences our environment. The IPCC-report contains most important information, but not everyone finds time to completely read through the report. In the present article we provide the most important statements of the report.

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How we can become spiderman

27. May 2021 / / 0 Comments

by Manuel Vollbrecht

Figure 1: Running up walls and jumping over roofs like Spiderman for once…. ¹

Every single person has probably imagined once what life as a superhero with special skills would be like. Of course, we all know that most of the skills that actually define superheroes are supernatural and (unfortunately) come entirely from the imaginations of the authors and filmmakers.

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