Lichtgedanken 04

Rubrik 61 04 | LICHT GEDANKEN An early start of the spring Botanists have been investigating the changed start of flowering caused by the global climate change. »Generally, the climate change leads to an early beginning of flower- ing«, says Patrizia König. The early-career researcher from the Plant Biodiversity Group evaluated data from over 550 plant species in 18 locations across Europe and North America, and investigated how they react to the changing environmental conditions (DOI: 10.1111/geb.12696). The functional features of the plants, for example, as the plant height and leaf size, are decisive. When it comes to shrubs, herbs and grasses, the smaller the plant, the clearer the change in the beginning of flowering. The researcher from Jena believes that this is to pre-empt the large-grow- ing competitors which screen the sunlight from the smaller plants later.  US How solids turn to liquids Materials scientists from Jena and their colleagues from an international team of experts observed what happens at the molecular level during melting in detail (DOI: 10.1002/ advs.201700850). The team of researchers succeeded in watching the melt- ing process in slow motion. They revealed that it actually occurs in two stages: »When the temperature increases, the system reaches an energetic state first. This leads to randomly emerging disturbed areas although without the particles making up the crystal lattice making larger move- ments. It is only when, in the second stage, these particles also achieve the freedom to move that the disturbed areas also liquefy«, explains Prof. Dr Lothar Wondraczek from the Chair of Glass Chemistry.  sh Only sustainable is just The economist Dr Wolfgang Bretschneider from the Chair of Economic Policy has written a book about equity in sup- plying people with drinking water (»Das Menschenrecht auf Wasser als Allokationsproblem« or The Human Right for Water as a Problem of Allocation). The implementation of the human right, which was recog- nized by the United Nations in 2010, has failed by now. According to Breitschneider, this is partly because it is not clear what it means. »Providing unlimited and free water is not only impossible, it is also unsustainable. Firstly, the human right can only be fulfilled if the spatial, temporal and pecuniary barriers are shifted to a framework that is reasonable for every individual. And secondly, these barriers also must function so they promote the sustain- able use of the valuable resource water, highlights the re- searcher.  US How pain is perceived Patients from the USA experience a significantly higher intensity of pain after identical orthopaedic operations than patients in Europe. Although the patients in the USA received more painkillers, their desire for more pain therapy was even higher than in the comparison group. These findings are based on the evaluation of around 14,000 patient surveys from the world's largest acute pain register PAIN OUT coordinated by the Uni- versity Hospital Jena (DOI: 10.1016/j.bja.2017.11.109). One possible explanation for these differences could be in the increased consumption of opioids by the American patients prior to the operation. The authors suspect that they may reduce the effect of the painkillers after the op­ eration.  vdG Ticker