News

  • Krill is becoming the focus of fishing more and more, which means that penguins, whales and seals are increasingly encountering ships in the Southern Ocean, competing with them for krill swarms.
    News

    Krill fishing: overlaps with consequences

    Antarctic krill is a key species in the Antarctic marine ecosystem. However, the small crustaceans are increasingly becoming the focus of fishing, which can incur significant consequences for the entire Southern Ocean ecosystem, whenever whales and penguins have to compete with…
  • Blog post

    Shopping only once a year

    How does the wintering team at Neumayer Station III in Antarctica look after themselves? In a blog post, the team reports on the supplies provided by the Polarstern
  • Blck über das Meer
    News

    What is the state of the AMOC?

    An international initiative is investigating whether the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation has reached a tipping point and what the consequences would be. AWI researchers are also involved.
  • Standing tables in front of the AWI building at the 25th Arctic Dialogue in Potsdam
    News

    Germany starts gearing up for the 2032/33 polar year

    At the 25th Arctic Dialogue in Potsdam, experts discussed the goals, structures and challenges of the upcoming International Polar Year.
  • Turn Off The Plastic Tap
    News

    Plastic Credits are not the solution

    One approach currently being advocated as a way out of the plastic crisis is plastic credits. However, they are far from being a solution and could even exacerbate the crisis. 
  • [Translate to English:] Unterwegs
    News

    Polarstern hading towards Arctic

    On 29 May 2025, the Polarstern research vessel set sail from Bremerhaven for the Arctic. The destination is the AWI Hausgarten long-term observatory situated between Svalbard and Greenland, where the scientists will investigate how the ecosystems of the Arctic deep sea are…

Short notices

  • Group photo

    Antarctica Insync at Ocean Conference

    16. June 2025

    At this year's UN Ocean Conference in Nice, AWI scientists Antje Boetius, Nicole Biebow and Alexander Haumann presented the international Antarctic research project “Antarctica Insync” to the scientific community. On board the research vessel Meteor, researchers exchanged ideas on the topic of “Polar Oceans, Climate and Biodiversity: Advancing Synergies and Sustainability of International Science Collaboration!”. In addition to Antarctica Insync, the POLARIN and Tara Polar Drift projects were also presented.

  • Portrait of Prof. Dr. Antje Boetius.

    Antje Boetius elected Fellow of the Royal Society

    22. May 2025

    Antje Boetius, former Director of the AWI, has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, one of the world's highest scientific honours. This recognition is in acknowledgement of her exceptional contributions to deep-sea and polar research. She is among this year's international selection of over 90 researchers, including experts in fields such as AI, global health and neuroscience. Congratulations!

  • AI

    Contribution to a National AI Strategy

    21. May 2025

    The U Bremen Research Alliance, of which the AWI is a member, aims to actively contribute to the further development of the AI ecosystem in Germany. In a joint declaration, the participating institutions reaffirm their intention to play an active role in shaping the national AI strategy. Prompted by the Conference of the Heads of Government of the Federal States' resolution adopted on March 12, 2025, the declaration emphasizes the central importance of AI for Germany's innovation and competitiveness, calling for the expansion of high-performance regional structures. See the press release.

  • Verbindungen im Schimpansengehirn sichtbar gemacht

    Language connection discovered in chimpanzee brains

    16. May 2025

    Language processing in humans depends on the neuronal connection between language areas in the brain. Until now, it was assumed that the anatomical structures supporting language only emerged in humans. Researchers of the Max Planck Society and AWI have now identified a comparable neuronal connection in the brains of chimpanzees. 
    Press release of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences

  • "Secrets of the Penguins"

    17. April 2025

    On Easter Sunday, April 20, the new National Geographic documentary series “Secrets of the Penguins” will premiere on the Disney + streaming platform. Large parts of the penguin documentary were filmed at our Neumayer Station III in the Antarctic.

  • Luftaufnahme Polarstern am Gakkelrücken, Arktis

    Two new publications by the Arctic Office

    16. April 2025

    The German Arctic Office published a policy brief entitled “Reception of Germany’s new Arctic Policy Guidelines (2024)”, which deals with the perception and implementation of the new German Arctic Guidelines in the Arctic states. Another publication is the fact sheet called “Remote Sensing in the Arctic”. It explains the importance and applications of remote sensing techniques in Arctic research. The aim is to create a better understanding of current developments and challenges in the Arctic and to make scientific findings more accessible for politics and society.

Portrait of Angelika Humbert Portrait of marine biologist Dr Bernadette Pogoda Portrait of Prof. Dr. Bettina Meyer Portrait of Christian Haas. Portrait of Prof. Dr. Gerrit Lohmann Portrait of Prof. Dr. Hans-Otto Pörtner Portrait Helge Goessling Portrait of AWI permafrost researcher Prof. Dr. Hugues Lantuit Portrait of Dr. Ingo Sasgen. Portrait Marcel Nicolaus Portrait of Dr. Nicole Biebow Portrait Olaf Eisen Portrait of Dr. Stefanie Arndt Portrait of Dr. Stefan Hain

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