Antarctic krill cover vast distances during their migrations in the Southern Ocean. Researchers from the NaviSense Cluster of Excellence are setting up camp in Antarctica to investigate how these crustaceans navigate on their long journeys.

In Oldenburg, citizens can vote on 22 February on whether the city's tree protection statutes should be retained. In this interview, geographer Thorsten Balke talks about the special importance of trees for the urban climate.

Light pollution poses a growing threat to moths. In her Lightstar project, which has been awarded a prestigious EU Starting Grant worth 1.5 million euros, zoologist Jacqueline Degen will investigate the underlying mechanisms.

An international research team including neuroscientists Henrik Mouritsen and Karin Dedek has made a surprising discovery: Bird retinas – among the most energy-demanding tissues in the animal kingdom – operate permanently without oxygen.

On a remote island in the Indian Ocean, an international team has observed the activity of compass neurons in the wild for the first time. Their study involved researchers from Oldenburg and has now been published in the journal Science.

Phytoplankton is the basic food source for many aquatic organisms. A new study shows that the light spectrum is more important for these microalgae and for lake ecosystems than previously assumed.

Australian bogong moths are famous for their long-distance migrations. An international team including Oldenburg researchers has discovered that the insects use the stars as a compass during their annual journey to cool inland caves.

In order to calibrate tiny radio transmitters, researchers from the Migration Ecology working group took to the skies. Their unique experiment was designed to enable more accurate tracking of migratory bird routes.

The German Research Foundation is funding the „DynaDeep” project by Oldenburg hydrogeologist Gudrun Massmann with around five million euros for a further four years. A large part of the research will take place on Spiekeroog.

The rapid movements of electrons in solids or molecules can be analysed much more easily than before thanks to a development by researchers in Oldenburg. The team presents the new method in the journal Optica.

The first international symposium of the Collaborative Research Centre "Magnetoreception and Navigation in Vertebrates" attracted many international guests. The programme ranged from how moths navigate to exotic quantum materials and robots that fly like birds.

Henrik Mouritsen was on the US podcast Radiolab, chatting with host Annie McEwen about the idea that birds use a quantum compass to navigate and how they might visualize the magnetic field. 

Science is also suffering from the war in Ukraine. Botanist Dirk Albach explains how his colleagues in Kiev are coping with the restrictions.

Desert ants rely on a special component of the Earth's magnetic field to navigate. Their magnetic sense may be based on magnetic particles, according to a new study that has now been published in the journal Current Biology.

Many animals can perceive the Earth’s magnetic field, but corresponding sensory cells haven’t been located yet. Using sophisticated experiments and technology, several research groups are hot on the trail of this mysterious sense.

Migratory species are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, habitat loss and environmental pollution. Several research groups are joining forces to gain new insights into the behaviour of migratory birds.

In this interview, biologists Henrik Mouritsen and Miriam Liedvogel explain the importance of animal navigation and orientation for nature conservation – as well as for quantum technologies and autonomous vehicles.

The university recently acquired a particularly powerful electron microscope, which is also available to external users. It is capable of imaging structures as small as 0.5 billionths of a meter.

The magnetic sense of migratory birds is probably based on a special protein – this theory is supported by a new genetic study. A research team from the University of Oldenburg and the Institute of Avian Research found that the protein has been optimised through rapid selection.

Biologist Pauline Fleischmann researches desert ants and astonishing navigational abilities – both in the laboratory and in their natural environment. The insects are surprisingly good at orientating themselves in monotonous terrain.