Every month, the podcast “exzellent erklärt” presents an exciting research topic from one of the 57 clusters of excellence in Germany. The journey goes right across the country, and the topics are just as diverse as the locations.
Here, we give a little recap of the last twelve episodes. An absolute recommendation for anyone who likes podcasts and is interested in science (and understands German)! Find it wherever you get your podcasts, and here: www.exzellent-erklaert.podigee.io
The texts for the individual episodes have been translated into English from the “exzellent erklärt” website.
Dynamics - Geometry - Structure: Mathematics between theory and application
Released on 01 August 2023
Mathematics can be found in nuclear magnetic resonance tomographs, cryptography, climate models and GPS. But not only these and many other applications that we encounter in everyday life, mathematical theory itself is also the subject of current mathematical research. In this episode, Prof Gustav Holzegel and Prof Eva Viehmann from the Cluster of Excellence "Mathematics Münster" take a look at the huge, wide-ranging research field of mathematics. What distinguishes mathematics from all other sciences? The two researchers provide insights into their areas of specialisation and their day-to-day work. They talk about their motivation, feelings of happiness and frustration when researching and why it is so important in mathematics to think outside the box.
Around 190 scientists at Münster University's Cluster of Excellence "Mathematics Münster: Dynamics - Geometry - Structure" are researching fundamental mathematical questions, which in turn form the basis for scientific, economic and technological progress. The aim of the Cluster of Excellence is to bring together mathematicians from various fields in order to facilitate new, innovative research approaches. In particular, the link between applied and theoretical mathematics is a major concern, as the exchange of concepts and methods always leads to surprising and profitable findings.
Temporal Communities - Literature in a global perspective
Released on 01 September 2023
Anna Luhn deals with the concept of literary translation. Torsten Jost, on the other hand, has dedicated himself to theatre and is researching how we receive performances and which international concepts can be combined with the stage.
The Cluster of Excellence "Temporal Communities: Doing Literature in a Global Perspective" at Freie Universität is concerned with analysing literature beyond traditional categories such as nation and epoch. The cluster investigates how literature unfolds over centuries or even millennia in ever new interrelationships between authors, readers, publishers, critics, artists, etc. all over the world. It does so in communities that each develop their own temporalities: "temporal communities". Nothing less than the nature of literature itself is up for discussion: because as literature reaches out across times and spaces and enters into new relationships, the idea of what literature is also constantly changes.
Science of Intelligence: What is intelligence?
Released on 01 October 2023
We still know surprisingly little about intelligence. For example, we do not know how it develops. The Science of Intelligence cluster in Berlin is trying to establish fundamental hypotheses in this regard. To this end, they are conducting research on animals such as cockatoos and fish, but are also breaking new ground and programming robots to investigate certain behaviours.
Science of Intelligence, a joint Cluster of Excellence at Technische Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, is focussed on gaining a better understanding of intelligence in all its facets: What fundamental laws and principles underlie different forms of intelligence - be it artificial, individual or collective intelligence? The scientists from a wide range of disciplines - from psychology, robotics and computer science to philosophy and behavioural research - want to use their research findings to create new intelligent technologies.
SimTech: Innovative methods for a new class of simulation models
Released on 15 October 2023
Computer simulations have many advantages: they are faster and cheaper than laboratory experiments, and some things would not even be possible in reality, for example observations over very long periods of time in astronomy, or as experiments when these are very dangerous, such as crash tests. However, computer models are only as good as the methods they use to make their calculations and the data they are fed with. Conventional methods reach their limits when it comes to modelling highly complex phenomena such as environmental events or biological systems. The Cluster of Excellence "Data-integrated Simulation Science (SimTech)" aims to combine both: large amounts of data available from surveys, sensor measurements, experiments or simulations form the basis for innovative modelling and calculation methods. This makes it easier to make predictions and the resulting decisions. Steffen Staab and Anneli Guthke provide insights into data-integrated simulation.
Neutrino research: New knowledge through global experiments
Released on 01 November 2023
Neutrinos are elementary particles that occur in the standard model of particle physics, the building blocks of nature, so to speak. They are an important focus of research in the PRISMA+ cluster and are being investigated using large-scale experiments around the globe. The aim is to find out more about these ghost particles - for example, what mass they have.
The PRISMA+ Cluster of Excellence is investigating open questions relating to the validity of the standard model of particle physics. This describes the basic building blocks of matter known to us with impressive accuracy. Despite its success, it cannot explain some phenomena such as the existence of dark matter or the excess of matter over antimatter. PRISMA+ scientists are using a combination of innovative precision experiments carried out on the JGU campus, large-scale experiments at international locations and innovative theoretical physics calculations to search for new particles and forces - in other words, for a "new physics" beyond the standard model. One of the flagship projects is the construction and operation of the "Mainz Energy-Recovering Superconducting Accelerator", a superconducting accelerator with energy recovery, or MESA for short. MESA is intended to enable precision experiments that were previously unthinkable. Another focus is research into the weakly interacting universe: here, the scientists are focussing in particular on the mysterious dark matter and the mysterious neutrinos.
Improving the world with maths? Solutions to the problems of a complex world
Released on 01 December 2023
In this podcast episode, MATH+ Cluster spokesperson Prof Michael Hintermüller and junior research group leader Dr Sarah Wolf answer the exciting question of whether mathematics can make the world a better place. They talk about how MATH+'s application-oriented mathematics is working with other disciplines on relevant issues for the future, such as sustainable energy supply and mobility, transport planning and battery research for longer-lasting batteries for mobile phones and electric cars. They also talk about how mathematical models can be used to design pain-relieving drugs that are effective but not addictive. The variety of topics at MATH+ is incredibly broad, because maths is much more than arithmetic: "Maths is everywhere"!
The entire field of mathematics in Berlin is involved in the MATH+ Berlin Mathematics Research Centre. The mathematicians use the daily growing amounts of data to conduct application-orientated mathematics together with other disciplines and to search for new solutions to important future issues. They are working on topics such as energy supply and climate change, sustainable mobility and transport planning, individualised medicine and the analysis of social processes. One well-known topic is the support provided to decision-makers during the coronavirus pandemic through modelling by mathematicians, who calculated and predicted the effects of certain measures.
Cheaper e-cars thanks to sodium-ion batteries
Released on 01 January 2024
The POLIS Cluster of Excellence is researching batteries that work without lithium. The goal could be, for example, a sodium-ion battery that does not require critical or rare substances and can also perform even better, for example at low temperatures in winter. But how does such a battery actually work? And what alternatives are there? And above all, what challenges do scientists face in this area?
The POLiS Cluster of Excellence is developing the new battery materials and technology concepts required for the efficient and sustainable storage of electrical energy. Sustainable alternatives have been identified that no longer rely on lithium and other critical materials: research is being conducted into batteries based on sodium, magnesium, calcium, aluminium and chloride ions. These so-called post-lithium batteries have the potential to store more energy, be safer and offer a more cost-effective, long-term option for mass applications such as stationary and mobile electrochemical storage.
Rethinking African studies beyond colonialism
Released on 15 January 2024
For a long time, it was common practice in African research to conduct research from the global North. The ‘Africa Multiple’ Cluster of Excellence is breaking new ground by setting up four centres on the African continent with virtually equal status alongside the Bayreuth Cluster. Together, the five centres are now launching many research projects that focus on the African perspective. For example, research is being conducted into an Islamic cultural archive and places of remembrance of the centuries-long slave trade, the consequences of which are still evident today in the societies of Africa and other affected countries such as Brazil and North America.
The overarching aim of the ‘Africa Multiple - Reconfiguring African Studies’ cluster is to reorganise African studies, both conceptually and structurally. The cluster is conceived as a transformative space in which the study of Africa and its diaspora is to be systematically advanced through transdisciplinary research, with a strong focus on critical area studies alongside the participating disciplines. Building on decades of internationally outstanding research in African studies at the University of Bayreuth, the cluster develops new and multiple approaches to analysing African and African-diasporic lifeworlds. The research (infra-)structure of the cluster aims to overcome existing power imbalances in the production and dissemination of knowledge in African Studies and thus sets new standards for collaborative research in this field
Tattoos: Tattoos as instruments of power
Released on 01 February 2024
In South America, there are old women who have a very specific type of tattoo. They have a tattoo on their forearm showing their husband's initials and other symbols, for example. These are women whose ancestors were brought from India to the former British and Dutch colonies as contract labourers. Sinah Kloß is researching this old tattoo tradition, which is now considered outdated, which is why young women no longer wear such tattoos.
‘Asymmetric dependency’ - with this new key concept, the Cluster of Excellence Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS) offers a new approach to slavery and dependency research. All forms of deep social dependencies such as slavery, serfdom, debt bondage and other forms of permanent dependencies are analysed. The focus is open to all epochs, regions and cultures as well as all shades between ‘free’ and ‘unfree’. With its expanded perspective, the Cluster of Excellence opens up dependency research to completely new transcultural perspectives and comparisons.
How important is eating together for humans and bonobos?
Released on 01 March 2024
Food plays a major role in our world. We celebrate by eating food together. We enjoy particularly good food. And we cook for other people to do something good for them. In this episode, we have two researchers as guests who have taken a closer look at how humans and bonobos (great apes) eat and what food intake has to do with social behaviour.
The Cluster of Excellence Collective Behaviour is the global centre for research into swarm behaviour. It tackles pressing questions across species and organisational levels in an interdisciplinary manner, from neuronal mechanisms to individual perception and preferences to collective behaviour in groups or entire societies.
Controlling bacteria - utilise good bacteria, fight bad ones
Released on 01 April 2024
What do we know about bacteria? This time it's all about bacteria, antibiotics and resistance. First, we talk to Prof Dr Hannes Link about how the metabolism of bacteria works. Because if we understand this, bacteria can be controlled and thus used specifically for our purposes or rendered harmless. The second topic is resistance and new antibiotics. Prof Dr Nadine Ziemert talks to us about the impending antibiotic crisis and explains how the search for new antibiotics works using state-of-the-art methods. In the search for new active substances against antibiotic-resistant bacteria, her team has succeeded in travelling back in time to a primordial antibiotic.
The Cluster of Excellence CMFI (Controlling Microbes to Fight Infections) brings together researchers from various disciplines such as infection biology, immunology, bioinformatics, pharmaceutical biology, antibiotics research, molecular and medical microbiology, biotechnology, environmental biology, systems biology, chemistry and the history and ethics of medicine. Together, they aim to elucidate the mechanisms of interaction between beneficial and harmful bacteria and the host in order to develop new targeted therapeutic and anti-infective treatment methods.
On the perception of inequality
Released on 01 May 2024
In its Inequality Barometer, the Cluster of Excellence ‘Politics of Inequality’ regularly asks 6,000 people about their experiences of inequality. This includes, for example, income or wealth, but also health or climate change. Some of the results are very surprising, such as the fact that most people categorise themselves as middle class, even though they don't belong there in terms of their income. Prof Dr Marius R. Busemeyer explains why this is the case and what it means for political voting decisions. In the ‘PerFair’ research project, Prof Dr Claudia Diehl is focusing on schoolchildren to find out whether they already have a feeling of inequality and how this arises. A total of around 3,000 young people and their parents were surveyed for this purpose.
The gap between rich and poor, the global rise of populists, burden-sharing in the fight against climate change, unfairly distributed educational opportunities - current debates are always about inequality. The interrelationships are complex, but there is still a lack of scientifically sound answers. This is where the Cluster of Excellence ‘The Politics of Inequality’ comes in and researches the political causes and consequences of inequality.