A German-Australian expedition-team lead by LMU Scientist and speaker of the GBC Prof. Gert Wörheide explored the deep sea fauna of reefs in Austraila for three weeks. The scientists discovered various living fossils which allow extraordinary insights into the earths history. [more] The Science Magazine and the Time Magazine present the Top Ten research news of the year: In both magazines the scientific work on Ardipithecus ramidus scored the top position. LMU-palaeontologist Ioannis Giaourtsakis was part of the research group around Ardipithecus. Together with other scientists Giaoutsakis analysed the accompanying animal fossils which gave invaluable insights into this early hominid’s environment and habitat. [more] The forested peatlands of the tropics store vast amounts of carbon. Forest fires convert this into the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. A team led by GBC-member Prof. Florian Siegert has now quantified these emissions and shown that peatland fires contribute significantly to global warming. [more]