BeyondIceFutures: Workshop in Obergurgl
What happens after the glacier retreats? This was the main question of the BeyondIceFutures workshop held at the Universitätszentrum Obergurgl. 34 scientists from 15 countries met to discuss pathways to positive futures in deglaciating areas worldwide.
AI: The price of remembering
AI systems operate using accumulated knowledge. However, they are subject to physical limitations, as researchers from the University of Innsbruck demonstrate in a recent study. Within a framework describing the thermodynamic limits of information processing, they provide mathematical proof that, in some cases, agents who interact with their environment can only operate as energy-efficiently as possible if they forget information—even information that would improve their predictions.
Innsbruck-Munich Empirical Economic Research Workshop 2026
From September 18 to 19, 2026, the annual “Innsbruck–Munich Workshop on Empirical Economic Research” took place in Maria Waldrast amid perfect fall weather. The workshop was jointly organized by Andreas Steinmayr (University of Innsbruck) and Joachim Winter (LMU Munich) and brought together 13 participants from the University of Innsbruck and LMU Munich.
Special issue highlights threatened fish of European wetlands
A new issue of Nature Conservation brings together contributions from the international conference “The Fish of Muddy Waters” in Vienna.
When the Hydra Loses Its Immortality
The freshwater polyp Hydra oligactis is essentially immortal and reproduces asexually by cloning itself. Except when it gets too cold: then the animal switches to sexual reproduction, begins to age, and eventually dies. A research team at the University of Innsbruck has now investigated the metabolic changes that accompany this process. One of the findings: the aging process is accompanied by a sharp decline in taurine.
Quantum internet prototype takes shape in Innsbruck
The University of Innsbruck will link together trapped-ion quantum processors across hundreds of kilometers of optical fiber within a prototype for a future quantum internet. To this end, Innsbruck quantum researchers are receiving a total of €5.4 million from the EU. The project is being carried out by University of Innsbruck and AQT as part of the Quantum Internet Alliance (QIA), a consortium of over 50 European research partners.
Future Skills in a Cross-Border Labour Market
How is the labour market in the Euregio Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino changing in the face of artificial intelligence and digitalisation? And how can universities prepare students for a changing world of work? These questions were the focus of the panel and fishbowl discussion "Career Development: Future Skills in the Euregio Labour Market" on 28 August as part of the Euregio Days of the European Forum Alpbach 2026.
"Rusty Treasure": Europe's Largest Trove of Iron Age Iron Bars Found
During gravel extraction in Upper Austria in 2019, workers uncovered a large quantity of rusted iron objects. Analyses and radiocarbon dating carried out by archaeologists led by Peter Trebsche of the University of Innsbruck have now identified the "rusty treasure" as Europe's largest known mass find of Iron Age iron bars. Detailed results on the one-tonne sensational discovery have been published in the renowned British journal Antiquity.