Research highlights 2025

A look back at a year of research with many highlights

December 22, 2025

The year 2025 saw Max Planck scientists publishing exceptional research across disciplines. We have selected twelve highlights to share.

If mice smell fatty foods during pregnancy, this can increase the risk of overweight and obesity in their offspring.
The brains of the offspring show similarities to those of obese adult mice
A white Twitter logo is centered on a background with blue and red network nodes, representing social media connections and interactions.
How political narratives are distributed on Twitter/X
A hand controls a robot like a marionette in front of a coloured background.
When people delegated tasks to machine agents–whether voluntarily or in a forced manner–they were more likely to cheat
Cryo-electron tomography image: The viral membrane is studded with proteins including glycoprotein B that are the key for host cell infection.

A nanobody against herpes

September 03, 2025
More than 40 million people worldwide are infected with the herpes virus every year. The virus can pose a serious threat to newborns and people with weakened immune systems. Researchers in Hamburg and Göttingen have now generated a mini-antibody that neutralizes a protein essential for the infection
Children playing
There is a factor that could be used to limit the negative impact of demographic change on pensions: better education
Close-up along the length of a fleece made of fine copper fibres. The metal fibres are sharp in the foreground and become blurred towards the back.
Battery electrodes thicken as a result of the accelerated transport of lithium ions via metal fleeces, making them particularly efficient and cost-effective
In a dark hall, brightly glowing metal flows from a furnace into a round, man-sized tub. A man wearing a hard hat stands in front of the furnace.
A single-step method enables the energy saving extraction of Nickel with reduced CO2 emissions for batteries and stainless steel
police
Study shows higher recruitment hurdles for ethnic minority applicants
 
The image shows a grid of spiral galaxies, which appear in different sizes and shapes. Each galaxy is surrounded by a dark background and contains various spiral patterns.
Comprehensive scientific dataset sets standards and provides insights into the depths of the universe – thanks in part to strong German participation
A mouse oocyte extrudes a polar body.
A woman's egg cells are already formed in her body before she is born. However, with increasing age, DNA damage accumulates in the cells. Researchers have revealed why the cell’s own repair mechanisms do not fix this damage
A bioreactor experiment showed that the non-phototrophic bacterium Cupriavidus necator can produce more biomass with a synthetic metabolic pathway from formic acid and CO2 than the natural bacterial strain.
New-to-Nature Pathway Outperforms Natural Pathway in Living Bacteria
Cracks in the soil
Extreme climate events endanger groundwater quality and stability, when rain water evades natural purification processes in the soil
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