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By summer student Nargis Kholmamatova > Remember the money that you spend to pay water bills: do you know where it goes? While it is different from country to country, the general distribution process should be the same. First, a portion of your money is spent to pretreat the river water to make it safe to drink for you. Second, it covers post-treatment of your wastewater to safely return it to the environment. Lastly, the rest of your bills are spent for the maintenance of all of the equipment that is used to keep the whole water treatment system running. The water itself, as aRead More →

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“The moment I stepped out of the lab, the sky above Berlin transformed. A sudden downpour ceased as swiftly as it had begun, leaving in its wake a vivid rainbow arching across the Berliner Himmel. It was my first unforgettable brush with the city’s “unberechenbar” weather—a local term for the unpredictable that I soon learned to embrace.” Having called two continents my home, I was now ready to immerse myself in the rhythm of a third. As summer unfolded, Berlin welcomed me—an eager research intern from distant shores, eager to dive into both the city’s vibrant culture and cutting-edge science.Read More →

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By summer student Qiujing Gou > As society transitions toward large-scale adoption of green energy, we need high-performance batteries to store electricity. Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries, owing to their high theoretical energy density (>1000 Wh/kg vs. approximately 250 Wh/kg for state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries) and the low-cost and abundance of sulfur, are considered to be one of the most promising technologies for next-generation energy storage solutions. My research at HZB During the summer school at HZB, I investigated a novel water-based biopolymer binder, chitosan for the sulfur cathode. Chitosan, made from seafood waste, is an eco-friendly material. Through modification, it becomes water-soluble and more suitable for lithium-sulfurRead More →

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By summer student, Abdelrahman Mohamed Ishmael > My journey to Berlin started two years before joining HZB when I planned to get an international internship during my undergraduate life and worked strictly to make my dreams true. The first time I wandered Berlin streets, I was fascinated with its green natural sceneries and vibrant places inside. I felt no culture shock: What I have heard from travelers about the human and cultural diversity in Berlin has helped me cope more quickly as if I lived there before. Searching for stability I needed no time to get involved with the lab mates in the Young InvestigatorRead More →

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By summer student Sofia Muñoz Bonilla > Dear summerstudents, My name is Sofia Muñoz Bonilla, I’m a Colombian student of environmental engineering. Thanks to the HZB summer program for foreign students, I have had a wonderful experience in Berlin. But I’m not going to talk about how amazing Berlin is, because you will find out for yourselves. However, with the eyes of an environmental engineer, I see important avenues with trees, the parks with their own vibes thanks to the many different musicians, green areas, and moss that grows in the middle of the sidewalks. The first days, I couldn’t believe how far my feetRead More →

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By summer student Eduardo Montoya > Before coming to HZB, while having a coffee with one of my dearest friends who studied biomedical engineering, we got into jokingly into an argument of who was the most “engineer” out of the two of us. The big question was if she, having gone through a lot of electrical engineering, mechanical engineering programming and construction lectures, was the ultimate engineer. Or me, having studied materials sciences and engineering with my countless hours of solid states physics, thermodynamics and surface chemistry, was the ultimate engineer. I clearly lost this debate, and we came to the simple conclusion, that evenRead More →

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By summer student Mehdi Belbekouche > “Hallo” was the first German word I learned, and thanks to HZB, I’ve had the chance to learn much more about the German language and Germany itself. Although in the beginning, I mostly said “HALLO” then communicated in English, by the end, I was always proud to say “DANKE,” feeling like I truly knew how to speak German.Read More →

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By summerstudent Aman Kumar > Berlin, Germany, as per my understanding is the most important city from the 20th century and I think many of you will agree with me and if you don’t—I will explain my “controversial?” claim in a bit. But first about me. I am Aman. A master’s student. From India. Currently on the way to becoming a Physicist (Most probably!! Let’s keep our fingers crossed and pray for me. I don’t believe in God but if you do, then I think it should work). So, coming back to my claim. From the point of physics, Quantum Revolution happened here. On which ourRead More →

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By summerstudent Ralph Carlo Evidente > As the sun set over Berlin’s Alexanderplatz, I rushed past the iconic Weltzeituhr, drawn towards home by the last light reflecting off the Fernsehturm. That evening, as I settled in to watch the latest episode of House of the Dragon, the parallels between my own journey and the on-screen drama were unmistakable. In Episode 7, as Vermithor chose Hugh Hammer amid the flames, I saw a reflection of my own life choices— not aligning myself with mythical beasts, but with the field of sustainable energy.Read More →

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By summerstudent Yara Mahboub > I am Yara, a bachelor student in my 5th year of the nanoelectronics engineering program, and I joined a whole team of physicists. I guess if there was a reason that made Facebook invent the ‘it’s complicated’ status, it would definitely be to describe the physicists/engineers’ relationship.Read More →