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When you uncork a bottle of champagne, complex supersonic phenomena occur. Scientists at TU Wien have now been able to calculate exactly what happens for the first time. It sounds like a simple, well-known everyday phenomenon: there is high pressure in a champagne bottle, the stopper is driven outwards by the compressed gas in the bottle and flies away with a powerful pop.

An international research team recently demonstrated how magnetism can be actively changed by pressure. Magnetism occurs depending on how electrons behave. For example, the elementary particles can generate an electric current with their charge and thereby induce a magnetic field. However, magnetism can also arise through the collective alignment of the magnetic moments (spins) in a material.

"Chemistry is when it smokes and stinks" is an old saying. But green chemistry shows that things can be done differently . Green chemistry has been firmly established in research at TU Wien for more than a decade. With the inter-university Master's in Green Chemistry, it is now also gaining visibility in teaching.

Pleasant to wear, extremely unpleasant to recycle: elastane makes it difficult to reuse textiles. A solution has been found at TU Wien. Clothing is far too valuable to simply dispose of and burn. Starting in 2025, used textiles are to be collected and recycled throughout the EU. Improved recycling processes are urgently needed to deal with the huge amount of textiles that will then be produced in an efficient and environmentally friendly way.

What happens when electric current flows through a "strange metal"- TU Wien (Vienna) and Rice University (Texas) show: The established picture of electrons and "quasi-electrons" collapses. At first glance, it all sounds so simple: there are electrons in a cable, and when we apply a voltage, the electrons dash from one side of the cable to the other, and an electric current flows.

It is becoming increasingly possible to carry out calculations with quantum computers. However, calculations by TU Wien show that there are fundamental limits - namely the quality of the clock used . There are different ideas on how to build quantum computers. But they all have one thing in common: you use a quantum physical system - for example individual atoms - and change their state by exposing them to very specific forces for a very specific time.

It is becoming increasingly easier to carry out calculations with quantum computers. However, calculations show that there are fundamental limits - namely the quality of the clock used. There are different ideas about how quantum computers could be built. But they all have one thing in common: you use a quantum physical system - for example individual atoms - and change their state by exposing them to very specific forces for a specific time.

For the first time, researchers at TU Wien have successfully observed the operating principle of so-called promoters in a catalytic reaction in real-time. These promoters play an important role in technology, but so far there is only limited understanding of how they work. Catalysts are essential for numerous chemical technologies, ranging from exhaust gas purification to the production of valuable chemicals and energy carriers.

One of the great unknowns in climate models is the behavior of certain gases that often smell strongly and cause water to condense. TU Wien (Vienna) is providing new insights into this. It has long been clear that man-made greenhouse gases are changing the climate - but there are still important details of climate change that are not well understood.

When floods are predicted only on the basis of local data, there may be unpleasant surprises. A new method makes it possible to significantly improve predictions - using international data from hydrologically similar areas. What can we expect in the worst-case scenario? In regions with a high risk of flooding, this is an important question: what extreme events should the protective measures be designed for? Often this is answered simply by looking at history: The worst flood events of the past decades or centuries are regarded as a realistic upper limit for what can be expected in the future.

Ciara Burns crossed the Atlantic in a rowing boat - and collected scientific data about her own body under stress. Now the scientific analysis of the results has been published. Ciara Burns spent 42 days rowing across the Atlantic in 2021 as part of a team of twelve. Clearly, whoever ventures on such an adventure has to go to the extreme limits both physically and mentally.

Researchers at TU Wien discover excellent thermoelectric properties of nickel-gold alloys. These can be used to efficiently convert heat into electrical energy. Thermoelectrics enable the direct conversion of heat into electrical energy - and vice versa. This makes them interesting for a range of technological applications.

Decades after the Chernobyl nuclear accident, wild boar meat is still surprisingly radioactive. The solution to the riddle: an important other cause had been overlooked. The Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986 had a major impact on the forest ecosystem in Central Europe. After the accident, the consumption of mushrooms was discouraged because of the high radioactive contamination, and the meat of wild animals was also severely affected for several years.

The carbon material graphene has excellent electronic properties. But are they also stable enough to be useful in practice? Calculations from TU Wien say: Yes. Nothing in the world is perfect. This is also true in materials research. In computer simulations, one often represents a system in a highly idealized way; for example, one calculates the properties that an absolutely perfect crystal would have.

Important security holes in modern Internet technology have been discovered by TU Wien (Vienna). Now the international IT community is working to close them. The Internet has undergone major technical changes in recent years, which has also led to new security problems. The IT security team at TU Wien (Vienna) analyzed security vulnerabilities that arise from the interaction of cookies and web frameworks - software packages that are often used today by web programmers to create websites.

At the Vienna University of Technology, it was possible to keep a system that is actually very unstable, consisting of many quantum particles, stable and then release its energy in a targeted manner all at once . These are very special diamonds that are being worked with at TU Wien: Their crystal lattice is not perfectly regular, it contains numerous defects.

Calculations by TU Wien (Vienna) show: Newly discovered material LK-99 indeed has properties that could be advantageous for superconductivity. LK-99 is the name of the material that is being hotly debated around the world these days: A Korean research group published results at the end of July 2023 suggesting that it could be a superconductor even at room temperature and normal atmospheric pressure.

Calculations by TU Vienna show: Newly discovered material LK-99 actually has properties that could be advantageous for superconductivity . LK-99 is the name of the material that is being hotly debated around the world these days: A Korean research group published results at the end of July 2023 suggesting that it could be a superconductor that remains superconducting even at room temperature and normal atmospheric pressure, i.e. conducts electricity completely without electrical resistance.

A world record in solving satisfiability problems was achieved at the Vienna University of Technology - it is quite abstract, but the technology behind it is extremely important for hardware and software industries . Suppose Alice, Bob, and Carla answer a question. Each of the three answers is either correct or incorrect.

Researchers at TU Wien are developing a layered photocatalyst that can be used to produce hydrogen very efficiently from water. Finding sustainable and clean fuels is crucial in today's global energy and climate crisis. One promising candidate that is increasingly gaining relevance is hydrogen. However, today's industrial hydrogen production still has a considerable CO2 footprint, especially considering processes like steam reforming or non-sustainable electrolysis.