http://www.dw.de/dw/0,,3062,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss DW’s science program Tomorrow Today focuses on current topics in research, and is aimed at anyone who is interested in ongoing projects in Germany and Europe. Our reports use terms and concepts that are easily understood, portrayed in interesting ways, and address the core issues at stake. The show presents a comprehensive overview of the latest trends in science and research. en 2012 DW.DE, Deutsche Welle Wed, 16 May 2012 20:38:41 GMT Wed, 16 May 2012 20:38:41 GMT http://www.dw.de/image/0,,5355472_10,00.jpg http://www.dw.de/dw/0,,3062,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss no clean DW.DE | Deutsche Welle DW.DE | Deutsche Welle podcasts@dw.de DW’s science program Tomorrow Today focuses on current topics in research, and is aimed at anyone who is interested in ongoing projects in Germany and Europe. Our reports use terms and concepts that are easily understood, portrayed in interesting ways, and address the core issues at stake. The show presents a comprehensive overview of the latest trends in science and research. DW’s science program Tomorrow Today focuses on current topics in research, and is aimed at anyone who is interested in ongoing projects in Germany and Europe. Our reports use terms and concepts that are easily understood, portrayed in interesting ways, and address the core issues at stake. The show presents a comprehensive overview of the latest trends in science and research. 30 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15897545,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#15940681 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15897545,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#15940681 Organic solar cells provide new hope for future energy generation, and researchers in Dresden now want to make this option commercially viable. It’s a fascinating proposition: once the technology’s weak spots are overcome - low durability, limited efficiency - then these ultra-thin and flexible solar cells could see almost unlimited scope, being transferred onto facades, cars, mobile phones and even handbags. Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle Solar cells, organic cells, energy, ultra-thin, flexibility clean 04:52 Mon, 14 May 2012 00:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15896269,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#15925245 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15896269,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#15925245 Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center, the DKFZ, and at Heidelberg University Hospital say they may have found the key to fighting a particularly aggressive type of cancer. Most of the time, brain tumors, also known as glioblastomas, are fatal. Yet researchers have discovered they can be destroyed by parvoviruses. In animal tests, two thirds of the subjects were tumor free after treatment. Now, trials are being carried out on humans. The virus poses no threat to humans, but seems to stop the cancer. Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle clean 04:41 Mon, 7 May 2012 00:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15709892,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#15735394 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15709892,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#15735394 Antibiotics, psychoactive drugs, hormones and many other substances enter the water cycle and the food chain without people being aware of it. Sewage treatment plants do not completely break down these biologically active substances. Now scientists have developed a way to purify water without resorting to chemicals.Ultrasound and high pressure combine to create thousands of tiny cavities in the water. They decay spontaneously, generating enough energy to break down the impurities. This method, known as cavitation, has been demonstrated successfully in the laboratory. Soon it is to be tested on a large scale. Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle Cavitation, water, purifying, ultrasound, hormons, antibiotics, treatment plant, chemicals clean 05:02 Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15676255,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6712078 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15676255,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6712078 Hopes are riding on electric motors to power the cars of the future. Their Achilles heel is the batteries. They're too heavy, too short-lived and take too long to re-charge.Now researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) are working on a new type of battery that doesn't employ either lead or lithium. They're using metal fluoride to store three times the charge of current in state-of-the-art batteries. Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle Energy, battery, new material, metal fluoride, Karlsruh Institute of Technology clean 05:29 Mon, 6 Feb 2012 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15663408,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6706281 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15663408,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6706281 From driver to passenger – the future brings the „autopilot“ car that drives itself. About this perspective we talk with psychologist and usability-consultant Daniela Kessner. DW-TV: Would YOU be comfortable getting into a car like that? Daniela Kessner: I would not, and there are reasons for that, which I share with most others. There are actually some difficulties with only being passive in the car, and then all of a sudden having to react to the system, maybe to fail and then having to take over control. We know that people need time to adjust to the situation after they've been passive for awhile. So during that time that they need to adjust, it's actually dangerous because there is a time space where the car is actually without control. So this is definitely a difficult technology to ever take on in a national or a worldwide sense, then. I think so. The technological problems of driving a car with a computer, that's already obviously solved. But the interaction between the human and the machine is an open question still. Would you say there's a difference between trusting technology on a national level or on a regional level? I think so. We know examples from Japan, where they build robots that will take care of people when they get older. I think in Germany we would have a hard time accepting this. So it will take actually some change in how we react to technology. Is that a cultural difference, do you mean? Yes, I think it is cultural, because we in Germany have higher expectations of being treated and we don't accept technology so close to us as maybe Japanese do. That's very interesting. Now you yourself specialised in human-machine interactions. What area exactly do you work in, and what do you do on a daily basis? I work mainly with software or websites. And we try to help builders, or the companies that build the products, to improve them, to make them more user-friendly. So we take the perspective of the user and try to find weaknesses in the product that make it difficult for users to use it. So that is called usability, and that is what we do on a daily basis. We improve products. What would you say is the most common problem that a user would find? What frustrates them the most? I think you experience that every day when you go on the Internet and use a website, then you sit there and think, "Why can't I find what I'm looking for?" And the reason for that big problem is that the ones who built the product think completely differently about how to solve the problem. And the user has his own mental idea, mental model, about the problem, and it's not the same. So both models don't match. The technologist's model and the user's model don't match. So what would you describe as the criteria for really good technology today? I think at first it needs to serve a purpose. You have to really need to use it. And the criteria to actually be able to use it: it has to be user-friendly, it has to be intuitively understandable without reading a manual, without training on it. That makes a technology really usable and practical. (Interview: Anne O'Donnell) Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle Daniela Kessner, TU Berlin, Usability Consultant Berlin, Driver, Passenger, autonomous vehicle, car of the future, autopilot, psychology, user-friendly clean 03:35 Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15663408,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6706279 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15663408,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6706279 Lightning kills around 25,000 people every year, and injures ten times that number. But what exact damage does it cause to the body? What does it do to the heart, and what constitutes a deadly dose of current?The researcher Irina Munteanu at TU Darmstadt has now developed a computer program that can simulate what happens when someone is hit by lightning. It allows a realistic prediction of how the electricity spreads through the body, and in the process is also helping to improve safety in cars and buildings. Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle Lightening, injuries, hit by, TU Darmsatdt,. Simulation, computer programm HUGO, deadly dose of current clean 05:24 Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15646317,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6702695 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15646317,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6702695 Our studio guest is Prof. Dirk Mürbe, who heads the Saxonian Cochlear Implant Center.Long-term hearing loss and deafness are conditions that are generally incurable. Damage to the ear is often irreversible. However, technology can come to the rescue. A device called a cochlear implant, placed deep inside the inner ear can help break the silence. Hearing-impaired children who receive a cochlear implant early on can learn to hear and speak normally. And it turns out that their brains are undergoing some major reorganization. DW-TV: What's the difference between children and adults learning speech or regaining speech after they have a cochlear implant put in place? Dirk Mürbe: Nowadays in the cochlear implant program about one third of our patients are children and two-thirds are adults and the main difference is that their rehabilitation after implantation focuses on speech acquisition in children and regaining speech comprehension in adults. So how much work is actually involved after the operation - is that where most of it happens? Actually that is the main topic of the cochlear implantation program. That means you need a multi-professional approach to improve and support speech acquisition in children. This is not an easy task because children don't answer directly when they gain language. That's why we have developed a cooperation project with the Max-Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig. Within that program we will measure event-related potentials and use these measures to assess the speech acquisition of these children. Once the implant is in place how well can one hear? How well can you distinguish speech? And music? Can they appreciate music at all? There's no clear answer, but adult patients can impressively describe this phenomenon. At the beginning they say the implant sounds like a computer voice and after some time they get the ability to understand speech rather well. Having fun with music is a difficult topic and that differs greatly among patients. And should a child for example also lose sign language once they have their implant put in place? In case it fails. That depends on the family. The main goal of that program is to give the child communicational abilities. If the family uses sign language, then sign language has to be part of the communication as well. The question is different if the family and the child's social surroundings is just a surrounding with spoken language. What's the situation in other countries? Are these methods widely available and are they expensive? They are rather expensive and of course they are now available in most parts of the world. The main point is that the rehabilitation process needs to be specialized, also in developing countries and this is where we can support these teams. (Interview: Anne O'Donnell) Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle Cochlear Implants, break the silence, Dirk Mürbe, Saxonian Cochlear Implant Center, deafness, damage to the ear, technology, device, speaking, learning, brain, reorganisation clean 03:18 Mon, 23 Jan 2012 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15632634,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6699658 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15632634,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6699658 What will happen to the plastics industry when the world's supply of petroleum grows scarce? Bernhard Rieger is professor of chemistry at Munich's Technical University. He believes carbon dioxide is the raw material of the future.Carbon dioxide is plentiful in the earth's atmosphere and is created when oil, coal, gas, and wood are burned. Bernhard Rieger wants to use carbon dioxide to produce plastics. The key to the technology will be using the proper catalyst. Catalysts are substances that help facilitate chemical reactions. Bernhard Rieger believes that the chemicals industry is at the threshold of a profound revolution - the switch from petroleum chemistry to carbon dioxide chemistry. Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle Carbin dioxide, plastics, raw material, oil, coal, wood, chemistry clean 03:55 Mon, 16 Jan 2012 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15632634,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6699660 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15632634,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6699660 Scientists, politicians and businesspeople are all fascinated by the moon. They want to build manned stations on the moon and extract its raw materials. Perhaps one day soon, this vision will become a reality.Tomorrow Today takes a look at scientists who are working to develop automated mining technology and intelligent robots that may one day be used to extract raw materials from the moon. Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle robots, raw material, moon, research, scientist, mining clean 04:25 Mon, 16 Jan 2012 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15632634,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6699657 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15632634,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6699657 Enormous amounts of waste, a rising population, over-crowding, and an aging infrastructure: Vietnam's capital Hanoi is a perfect example of a fast-growing megacity.Scientists at Darmstadt University have developed a pilot project that combines wastewater treatment, waste disposal and energy production in one. Their goal is to design a biogas plant for Hanoi that digests waste to generate electricity and heat. Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle waste, energy, megacity, hanoi, wastewater, electricity, biogas clean 04:21 Mon, 16 Jan 2012 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15632634,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6699656 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15632634,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6699656 The German Ministry of Education and Research is sponsoring this 2012 “Year of Science”. In the studio is Dr. Georg Schütte, State Secretary. DW-TV: What programs will your ministry be supporting? Georg Schütte: Well, it entails a lot of research projects. We do research on the 'system earth,' we try to understand how the system earth operates. We organize the launch of satellites, we run research vessels in the Antarctic oceans, so we try to understand how climate change affects earth; we try to understand how to secure the energy supply of the earth in a number of countries - in Germany and in other countries. And we use this 'Year of Science' to reach out to a broader public, to make knowledgeable - to have people understand what kind of role science does play in order to find solutions for future challenges. And what effects is your program having internationally? The research is based here. Well, the research is based in Germany, but it's connected internationally. We cooperate with partners in 62 countries on five continents. We've seen an example from research which is being done in Hanoi and in Darmstadt, in Germany. Another example would be the foundation of regional science centers in Africa in order to help to understand how climate change affects a number of African countries and what kind of conclusions we can draw from that - how do we organize land use, how do we organize farming in those countries. So we cooperate with partners in 10 countries in West Africa, and we have partners in five countries in southern Africa in order to find local solutions for those global challenges. OK, and that's all fantastic, but realistically, what can we expect from this 2012 "Year of Science?" Do we really need it? We suppose that 20 years after the Earth Summit in Rio, we haven't found the solutions which we need for sustainable life on earth, so it's worthwhile to invest in science and research in order to find new answers, in order to find new solutions. And these solutions cannot only be technological solutions. They have to be economic solutions; there have to be societal solutions. And so it is important to involve not only the research community, but rather to involve citizens' groups, to involve enterprises, to involve the business world in order to find more encompassing ways of how to tackle those future challenges. So you're coming at it from a variety of angles. Talking of the financial aspect, what money is actually involved in this particular 2012 project? Well, we are going to invest more than a billion euro in sustainability research in the coming years. If we focus on the field of energy research as an example, we are going to invest 350 million euro in energy research, just from the side of our ministry. And there are other federal ministries involved who also sponsor research on renewable energies. So we are going to invest a whole lot of money in order to enable science to find solutions. (Interview: Anne O'Donnell) Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle Georg Schütte, State Secretary, German Ministry, Education, Research clean 03:41 Mon, 16 Jan 2012 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15616611,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6694638 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15616611,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6694638 Scientists at Germany's largest textiles institute in Denkendorf are researching new fabrics and materials. Sensors embedded in "smart" clothing might soon help protect firefighters and infants by measuring vital bodily functions and transmitting data that will issue an alert in case problems arise.But the sensors don't just need to function properly - they also need to be flexible, sturdy and resistant to laundering. Researchers in Denkendorf are also hard at work developing high-tech fabrics that can repel dirt and stains and help make our lives easier and better in other ways. Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle clean 05:13 Mon, 9 Jan 2012 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15616611,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6694640 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15616611,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6694640 Can anyone predict the future of fashion? Trend researchers are trying to. They analyze studies and surveys, visit trade fairs and shops, and troll the Web searching for the latest trends.Nowadays, young people want clothes that are unique and made using environmentally-friendly production methods. Trend researchers see lots of eco-fashion and vintage clothing in our future, while designer Michael Michalsky believes functional fashion will cater to the needs of urban nomads. Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle clean 04:25 Mon, 9 Jan 2012 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15616611,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6694637 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15616611,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6694637 Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle clean 02:56 Mon, 9 Jan 2012 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15616611,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6694636 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15616611,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6694636 The future could see us buying clothes without having to try them on. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications have developed a digital fitting room in which a recorded video image of the customer appears in a virtual mirror, changing outfits at will.And there's a new dimension in window shopping: a virtual window can show all the articles in a shop, day and night. Customers can look at them whenever they want and even reserve them. Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle clean 04:06 Mon, 9 Jan 2012 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15616611,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6694635 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15616611,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6694635 Scientists tend to be pragmatists when it comes to fashion. They often prefer practical pullovers or a traditional jacket and shirt, although they sometimes do come up with surprising combinations. Young designers have thought about the special relationship scientists have to fashion and developed ideas about what might be especially suitable for them. Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle clean 01:06 Mon, 9 Jan 2012 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15602568,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6690823 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15602568,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6690823 DW-TV: Professor Malek Bajbouj, do you think it is possible to judge whether a therapy really has healed an offender, or not? It's really difficult to judge it by these methods which we have seen, like FMRI, magnetic resonance imaging, and what we can see is that certain brain areas are involved in the course of a therapy. What we cannot see and cannot predict is whether a therapy works or not. But still there probably, after a therapy, there might be changes you can actually realize and see in the brain. That's a big benefit of these techniques, that we can see and visualize what is happening in the brain, and what is happening in the course of a treatment, and what one can see is that in the course of a treatment like psychotherapy, for example, the pre-frontal brain area becomes more active. But you will still need a psychologist or a psychiatrist actually to judge after a therapy whether the person will not relapse any more. Yeah, what we want to do is that we want to change behavior in a certain direcction. What we do not want is only to change some brain areas. Is there actually a chance to understand whether some of us become offenders and others don't? It is difficult to understand these differences only by brain imaging like we have seen. There we just have changes within groups, so we have a group of offenders and we have a group who are not offenders, and if you compare these two groups, you find certain differences. This is true for groups, on a group level, but this is not true for each of us, for individuals. Can actually anybody become an offender, I mean you and I, could something happen that we just change in our characteristics and become offenders? We all have a certain likelihood to become an offender, and this is moderated by our genes which we carry in us, this is moderated by the world in which we grow up - the early childhood is very, very important - and if you had a nice childhood and if your genes are quite nice, you have a very, very low likelihood that you will become an offender. That means we as parents actually have lots of influence in educating our people to have this stable emotionality and empathy also. Yeah, this goes in both directions, not only something that comes in the direction of an offender, but if you teach your children emotional competencies for example, empathetic behavior, this will have a protective effect on your chidren. Now you work in that field of language of emotions. Actually how do emotions determine our decisions on a general level? Well, there have been a couple of investigations showing that if you decide emotionally driven, these are often the better decisions as compared to decisions you make only by your brain on a rational level. So we should listen to our guts. That's a good idea. Thanks a lot for the talk, Malek Bajbouj. DW.DE | Deutsche Welle clean 03:10 Mon, 2 Jan 2012 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15590358,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6688402 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15590358,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6688402 Our "Brilliant Minds” series introduces young scientists from across the world who live and work in Germany.US scientist Rouin Farshchi works at the Paul Drude Institute for Solid State Electronics in Berlin. The 29-year-old materials researcher wants to develop electronic components for computers that don't require rare and expensive raw materials. Farshchi came to Germany as a Humboldt Foundation Fellow. Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle brilliant minds, Rouin Farshchi, material, researcher, computer, electronic components, spin, spintronics, iron, nickel, cobald, Paul Drude Institute clean 03:00 Mon, 26 Dec 2011 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15590358,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6688399 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15590358,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6688399 Our guest in the studio is Dr. Christian Reichert, Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, Hanover Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle clean 03:28 Mon, 26 Dec 2011 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15570622,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6683691 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15570622,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6683691 Professor Wolfgang Heckl, Director General of the Deutsches Museum and member of the German Future Prize jury.DW-TV: Prof. Heckl, can you tell us why the work from Dresden was worthy of the German Future Prize 2011? Wolfgang Heckl: It opens a new venue into what is called "green electronics". Electronics is going to be green in the future. Why green? Because it’s organic molecules which will play the role which has been fulfilled so far by silicon. DW-TV: The Future Prize is meant to motivate scientists. How important are awards to keep research moving forward? Wolfgang Heckl: They are important highlights in the life of a researcher. Since society values what these people do, usually in the background, in the laboratories. And for the first time, it shows that science happens not only in the laboratory, but in the middle of society. Only when society accepts, goes with science into the future, will we be successful in fulfilling the value of change. DW-TV: Now in terms of prizes, this year's nominees were all men. What does this tell us about women scientists in Germany? Wolfgang Heckl: That we don’t have enough women in science. DW-TV: And why is that? Wolfgang Heckl: Because we have a system which already in school, in universities, excludes more and more, unfortunately, the ideas which come from women. This is something we’re working on. We have huge programs also in the Deutsches Museum on MINT and women. MINT means the mathematics, engineering and nanoscience and science subjects - to bring it more to girls; girls play an important role. But we are far away from having equal distribution of men and women in science. And therefore at the end when these prizes are given, it’s just natural not to have enough women. DW-TV: We heard that innovations in optics and photonics dominated this year’s Future Prize. What would you say will be the hot topics for next year? Wolfgang Heckl: I can’t tell you, because we’re going into a difficult area. The whole earth is suffering from crisis in, for instance, resources and environment. We have to solve questions about the future of our wealth. Especially in Germany we want to contribute, also with these types of prizes, and this is the most renowned prize which is given by the President, for people who know that the chain of values begins with basic research, as in this case - a university professor. And goes through applied research, as in this case -with the Fraunhofer Institute. And at the end, there’s companies to be created, to go to market, to have innovations which come to people, to help, to make a better life for people. DW: Prof. Wolfgang Heckl, it’s been very interesting talking with you. Thank you very much for joining us today. Interview: Maggin Leigh Doody Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle Wolfgang Heckl, German Future Prize, photovoltaics, technology clean 03:33 Mon, 19 Dec 2011 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15552525,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6679244 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15552525,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6679244 Our "Brilliant Minds" series introduces young scientists from across the world who live and work in Germany.Ilenia Battiato comes from Italy and does research at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Göttingen. The physicist is working there developing models that describe how fluids disperse in the soil. Her basic research is key to determining the extent of soil contamination and predicting landslides. Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle Ilenia Battiato, self-organisation, Max-Planck Institute for Dynamics, soil, contamination clean 03:06 Mon, 12 Dec 2011 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15552525,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6679243 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15552525,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6679243 Dr. Armin Werner, Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle clean 03:15 Mon, 12 Dec 2011 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15537147,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6676732 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15537147,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6676732 Our "Brilliant Minds" series introduces young scientists from across the world who live and work in Germany.When she was 14, Mary Williams from New Zealand already knew she wanted to be an astronomer. Now, at 34, she's a researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics in Potsdam. She's trying to find out how galaxies develop, an important question for cosmologists. She was looking for answers in our own galaxy, the Milky Way when she made a sensational discovery. She detected the remains of a dwarf galaxy that was evidently swallowed up by the Milky Way. Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle clean 02:59 Mon, 5 Dec 2011 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15537147,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6676731 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15537147,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6676731 DW-TV: Klaus Dethloff, what will the melting ice mean for us in immediate terms? Klaus Dethloff:In immediate terms, it will mean that we will have a better possibility for transport paths between Europe and Asia, northeast and northwest passages. There will be a better chances for exploration of resources - gas, gas hydrates and oil. And of course, there will be a big impact of these changes in the Arctic on weather and climate. DW-TV: Now, your field of expertise is the causes and ramifications of climate change. Can we really predict with any accuracy what will happen? Klaus Dethloff: We have a mixture of anthropogenic impacts on the development of the climate system and climate variation, and this mixture -- the existence of natural climate variations -- can mask the climate changes for the next decades. And until now, we are not sure what will happen in the next decades. Of course, we know that there is a strong human impact on temperature development in the Arctic, but natural variations can mask these variations. So the future is uncertain. DW-TV: So, if I understand what you're saying, we're actually looking at a combination of causes with both natural factors playing a role and also greenhouse gases. Klaus Dethloff: Yes, both factors are important, with fifty-fifty percent. DW-TV: Now we hear a lot about what is happening in the Arctic, but are we seeing the same changes in the Antarctic? Klaus Dethloff: The Antarctic is a much more stable environment. It has to do with the isolation of the Antarctic continent much more than in the Arctic. In the Arctic we have a much more meridional exchange of air masses between the Arctic and mid-latitudes. So in the Arctic we see a much clearer warming trend superimposed or masked by decadal variability, and in the Antarctic this trend is much smaller. DW-TV: You and your colleagues at the Alfred Wegener have been researching these changes in polar regions for years now. If you had the opportunity, what would you like to tell the delegates at the climate conference in Durban? Klaus Dethloff: One thing I really believe is that of course we need international commitments and a new protocol following the Kyoto protocol. This is one point, but another important point is that the climate problem cannot be isolated from the world population increase, so we have a so-called climate syndrome: a lot of problems connected with the climate, but the climate problem is not the highest priority. Population increase, environmental problems, water problems, energy problems, food problems. DW-TV: Klaus Dethloff, thank you very much for joining us. Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle Klaus Dethloff, Alfred Wegner Institute, climate change, Polarstern, Artic, Antarctic, global warming clean 03:16 Mon, 5 Dec 2011 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15523410,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6669454 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15523410,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6669454 Joining me in the studio is Professor Dietmar Otte, who heads the department of accident research at Hanover Medical School. DW-TV: The German transport minister actually wants to reduce the traffic-related casualties by 40 percent reduction by 2020. Can you really bring that about with a law? No, I think this is not a law, but a recommendation. The German minister is not the only one. All EU countries are making this demand to reduce the number of fatalities within a special period. We have improved safety inside the vehicles and in traffic resulting in a reduction in the fatalities. That can be continued in the years to come. It was only decided for the German situation at this point. Are you actually optimistic that this number can be reached? I'm optimistic because we can analyze the statistics and we can see that there is a reduction every year. If we are implementing safety measures in the vehicle and one safety measure is the seat belt, the air bag for frontal collision. On the other hand we have seen that the nature of injuries have changed with this. We now have injuries that result from very rare situations such as side impacts. We have accidents involving trucks crashing into cars. We have to handle this problem and if we do so I think we are optimistic. That means that the traffic situation has become a lot more complicated. Is there a single measure that you could take that would reduce injuries and casualties? No, there is no single one. It's a very complex situation involving many technological disciplines: vehicle technology, medicine, patient therapy, emergency handling. Psychologists are also involved. And one very important thing is that we can also reduce the number of traffic accidents by informing drivers better, with driver assistance systems, electronics in the cars and in light of that we are optimistic that we can reduce in the future the existing number of fatalities. But that means if we equip cars with more electronics that means if we have, for example, radar distance measurements in the car, can that really reduce the risk of an accident, or will people tend to take more risks when they're driving? There are a certain number of people who drive riskily. But on the whole we know this can lead to a reduction. And we envisage there will also be better information systems. At the moment, many accidents happen because the driver gets the information too late. If you get it one second earlier, then you have time to reduce your impact speed. That means that electronics have to improve a bit. That's right. Thanks a lot, Professor Otte. Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle clean 03:27 Mon, 28 Nov 2011 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15506661,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6669890 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15506661,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6669890 In the studio: Professor Johann-Dietrich Wörner, Chairman of the Executive Board, German Aerospace Center (DLR) DW-TV: With me in the studio is Professor Johann-Dietrich Wörner, chairman of the executive board of the German Aerospace Center. We’ve just heard that the Europeans are planning to send people up into space with ATV spacecraft. Do we still need human beings up there? Johann-Dietrich Wörner: Yes. Human beings in space have a big value. Of course we can do many things with robotics. But the investigation of medicine, for instance, can only be done with men and women. But actually we’ve had human astronauts up there for 40 years. What else are you trying to find out? What we’re doing is research in space. Blood pressure, for example, salt regulation and the immune system – which changes due to the zero gravity conditions. But robots up in space are actually taking over a bigger and bigger part. And with budgets shrinking, they might actually win out in the end, right? I don’t think so. Human heritage is curiosity. So exploration is a typical human thing. Therefore I think it’s the synergy between robotics and humans. What we just saw: the launch of a Soyuz rocket last month in Kourou - was major cooperation between Europe and Russia. Are more joint projects coming up? Joint cooperation in space is really a day-to-day business. We started this in 1975 between Apollo and Soyuz, but now the international space station and many bilateral projects are in space. Also with the Chinese. SIMBOX is a German experiment on a Chinese launcher. Is that the only way to afford research up there in space – if everybody works together? No. It’s to make more out of the same money. What we can do with the same money is much more because we are combining the competencies of different countries. And what are the highlights of the European Space Agency? What are you planning? We’re doing many things. Earth observation, for instance, especially in the case of catastrophes. We can use space in order to help people on Earth. Then we have a communications system, then we have a navigation system in the future called Galileo – which will be not only independent European access but also give us the opportunity to combine the American GPS system with the European Galileo, to have even better quality. The Americans, NASA, is handing plenty of projects to private industry. Is that a way for the Europeans too? The European agencies, and also the German space agency, are always working together with private industry. The European launcher, Ariane, is organised by a company called Arianespace – which is a private company. And they’re also, of course, looking into tourism in outer space. Would that be something for you? Would you risk it? I would do it immediately, even if there’s some uncertainty. Because it’s part of my understanding of exploration and mankind. I feel curious, so I would do it the very same day. Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle clean 03:24 Mon, 21 Nov 2011 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15506661,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6669889 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15506661,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6669889 In October a Russian Soyuz rocket lifted of from Kourou, in French Guiana, for the first time. Up to now, the facility was used exclusively for launching European Ariane rockets. Kourou’s equatorial location is well-suited for space mission starts. Furthermore, satellites can also be sent into orbit from here.To keep up with competitors in India and China, the European Space Agency wants to specialize in shipping objects into space. The new ESA rocket Vega is expected to give the program a boost when it’s launched from Kourou in the near future. Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle clean 03:43 Mon, 21 Nov 2011 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15486946,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6662769 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15486946,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6662769 Join us with marine biodiversity specialist, Dr. Gritta Veit-Köhler of the Senckenberg Research Institute in Wilhelmshaven DW: Heather de Lisle, Presenter: Joining me in the studio is a scientist who was part of the team working on that Census of Marine Life. Gritta Veit-Köhler is an expert on the biodiversity of the deep sea. Welcome.　 DW: Now, as we saw in that report, you still have a lot of work to do analyzing those samples. What have been the main results been so far? Gritta Veit-Köhler, German Center for Marine Biodiversity Research: The main results of the census of the diversity of abyssal marine life, which is a part of the Census of Marine Life, was that we found already 500 new species. Those 500 new species are described, but there are many more species that are undescribed sitting on our shelves and waiting for publication. DW: Well, you’ve brought some pictures with of a couple of the little critters that you found down there. Can you describe these guys a little bit and tell us what makes them so special? Here we see some deep-sea copepods. Copepods are tiny little crustaceans. They are smaller than one millimeter in body size. And for example, the red one, the second from the left side is one where you can see from its body shape that it is burrowing in the sediment. The two animals on the right hand side are swimming like slightly over the sediment surface. And the animal in the middle is a very spiny, very spectacular new species. DW: How can you tell if you’ve found a new species? I mean, these, these, they’re so small; it must be really difficult to determine or distinguish between different critters. Yes, I personally work with animals that are only 0.3 millimeters in size, so it’s really very difficult sometimes we have to dissect those animals under a stereomicroscope, and sometimes it’s only one spine at the third leg that makes a new species. DW: Your colleague in that report that we just saw said that in some areas of the ocean mapping biodiversity is a race against time. Do you think that race can be won? It’s difficult. To give you some numbers, in the Angola basin off southwestern Africa, we found in 2000 individuals of those tiny copepods 700 species, 99 percent of them new. And those 700 species, this shows that every third animal is a new species. I mean this is indescribable. And, yeah, it’s difficult. DW: Spectacular, spectacular numbers there. We actually know less about our oceans than we do about the moon, why is that? Well, there are two main reasons for that. First of all, funding. It is very expensive to go on expedition. One day on the Polarstern icebreaker for example costs 50 thousand euros and then of course, it’s very difficult to get the sediment undisturbed from the deep sea bottom. I mean we are speaking about 5000 meters depth and the devices to get those samples are very complicated. DW: You've been collecting samples for years. What for you personally was the most spectacular find that you discovered during the census? Yeah, I’m personally, I’m working with those small copepods and when I described one new species from the Antarctic, from 5000 meters depth, where there were only two individuals during the whole expedition, later I could find it during this fantastic possibility that we had during the Census of Marine Life, I found this animal in the North Atlantic and even in the Pacific Ocean. It’s the same species and this is amazing. DW: Wow. Great stuff. Gritta Veit-Köhler, thank you very much for joining us here today. Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle clean 03:25 Mon, 14 Nov 2011 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15486946,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6662767 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15486946,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6662767 A scientist in Stuttgart is researching how farming will be done in the future. He wants his fields to be stacked up rather than to extend across the plains. It’s hoped the concept known as "Vertical Farming," will provide more arable surfaces to grow crops to feed a burgeoning world population. A company from the Netherlands is working on the lightsystem for it.Several working groups are tackling the project around the globe. They are trying to raise rice, grain or lettuce in fields stacked in the third dimension. Architects like the idea as well. They are already trying to design multi-story pig farms, so get ready for pigs in the penthouse. Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle clean 04:30 Mon, 14 Nov 2011 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15470461,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6654560 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15470461,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6654560 Our studio guest this week is Prof. Klaus Strassmeier from the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics in Potsdam (AIP) Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle earth, life on other planets, Astrophysics, clean 03:31 Mon, 7 Nov 2011 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15470461,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6654559 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15470461,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6654559 From Bombay to Bremen: Dr. Mehul Bhatt is a long way from home, but is in any case involved in virtual worlds. He specializes in spatial cognition. With the help of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, he’s looking into how people behave in spaces that do not even exist and where the normal laws of nature do not always apply.Our "Billiant Minds" series introduces young scientists from across the world who live and research in Germany. Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle scientist, computer, architecture, brilliant, ideas clean 02:57 Mon, 7 Nov 2011 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15450123,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6650034 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15450123,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6650034 Our guest this week is Hans Schöler, stem cell researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in Münster Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle clean 03:27 Mon, 31 Oct 2011 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15439702,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6645168 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15439702,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6645168 Roberto Rinaldi is a researcher at the Max Planck Institute in Mülheim on the Ruhr. He is looking for a way to use agricultural waste to generate energy. Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle Roberto Rinaldi, scientist, researcher, Max Planck Institute, Mühlheim, Ruhr, energy, agricultural waste, clean 03:03 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15439702,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6645167 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15439702,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6645167 Hydrogen is being touted and the fuel of tomorrow, but there are still some problems to be ironed out. The gas is highly explosive and requires enormous storage tanks. Now, scientists doing basic research in Erlangen are proposing a solution. They call it carbazol, which looks similar to diesel fuel.The substance binds hydrogen in large quantities, thereby reducing its flammability and the risk of explosion. In a vehicle, the fuel is heated and used with a catalyst. Hydrogen is released into a fuel cell, which generates electricity to run the car. All the driver has to do is exchange the spent carbazol for fresh fuel at a filling station very similar to those of today. Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle Hydrogen, Electric fuel, explosive, flammability, vehicle, electricity, car, gas, storage tanks, University Erlangen, research, clean 04:02 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15439702,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6645164 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15439702,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6645164 Ten years ago, solar technology was not really important for Germany. Today we have 3 percent, and we expect 30 percent in 20 to 30 years. It's possible. And the old technology, they will not survive. DW-TV: Professor Volker Quaschning from the University of Applied Sciences in Berlin is an expert on renewable energies. Will the plastic solar cells be a major breakthrough for solar energy? Volker Quaschning: There could be a breakthrough in the future, but today, the crystalline silicon solar cells - they are the major technology, they cover more than 90 percent of the market. And 10 years ago, we said other technologies such as thin-film silicon solar cells or other thin-film technologies, or even the organic PV will do the race. But today the race is still open, and we have a large cost-reduction in the past, so the crystalline silicon solar cells, they came down for $60 per watt in the 1970s to less than $1 today, and so the race is still open, I would say. Wow, and can that drop of prices really be kept up? Yes, we have to, because we would do the energy revolution, so we would like to come to 30 percent of solar technology within the next 20 or 30 years, and this is only possible if the costs go down by the factor of two or three, then it would be possible. Which technology can do this - it's open. Right now we have about 3 percent that solar energy accounts for the electrical power in Germany. Where do all the roofs come from to put up all these solar cells? We're looking in the cities such as Berlin. You have to look for the solar systems - you do not see so many solar systems. In southern Germany, it's a little bit different. But we room for it to double, or even to tenfold, the installation of solar systems, so it's no problem to install them here. The goal is to actually change our energy production by 2050 completely to renewables. Are you optimistic that we can reach that goal? Yes, we have to reach it, because we have the change of climate - if you want to avoid different damages, we have to achieve the goal 2050. If we do not do that, we have a big problem, so we have to do it, and I think we can do it. You say we can do it, we have to do it, but what's happening at the moment is that we import nuclear power from abroad and that we also are about to build new coal-fired power plants here in Germany. But we also have a high increase in solar installations. Ten years ago, solar technology was not really important for Germany. Today we have 3 percent, and we expect 30 percent in 20 to 30 years. It's possible. And the old technology, they will not survive. Clean driving is also an important topic. One way to do that is by using hydrogen. Carbicol seems to be a nice solution, but after all, hydrogen is not that explosive. Do we really need a solution like that? The answer is very difficult because we have no good solution for the transportation sector at the moment. So for electricity production, we know the main technologies - solar and wind energy - but in the transportation today, we are developing battery systems. The problem is that the range of a battery car is limited, so we need other technologies for long distances. That could be the hydrogen solution. But today, hydrogen is very expensive, and we have to produce the hydrogen from carbon dioxide-free fuel, electricity or sun or wind energy. As you said, there are quite a few different solutions. There's also lots of different developments. They're also putting much energy into developing better batteries. So are we not wasting resources on too many different technologies? Today we do not know what would be the solution. If we know the solution, we only have to do the development in one solution. But today, the race is open, and we have to look on the battery systems - the possibility or advantages of battery systems are very good - but they have the problems, and if you cannot solve the problems, hydrogen has potential. And perhaps both technologies will be important for the future. So we don't really know what the future of energy supply will look like, do we? We do not know, but we have solutions today, and we can solve the problems. (Interview: Ingolf Baur) Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle Volker Quaschning, Professor, Regenerative Energy Systems, University of Applied Sciences, Berlin clean 04:32 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15439702,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6645165 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15439702,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6645165 Scientists say solar cells made of transparent synthetics could provide energy in the future. You can see through them and they are flexible. Scientists in Dresden are working on what they call "organic solar cells" that they want to eventually market.The aim is fascinating -- but there are some technological fixes that need to happen first. Among the issues to be addressed are poor durability and low efficiency. Once those problems have been solved, the organic solar cells could come in the form of colored foils to be used on building facades, vehicles and perhaps even handbags and mobile phones. Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle solar cells, transparent synthetics, energy, future, flexible, Univeristy Dresden, organic solar cells, market, efficiency, on facedes, buildings, mobile phones, handbags clean 04:37 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 04:30:00 GMT http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15439702,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6645166 http://www.dw.de/dw/episode/0,,15439702,00.html?maca=en-podcast_tomorrow-today-3524-xml-mrss#6645166 Scientists at Clausthal University of Technology are investigating whether it is possible to use inactive mines to store energy. To address the problem of supplying uninterrupted power generated from wind and water, electricity producers need new storage technologies.The scientists say underground power plants can help. Solar and wind energy can be used to bring large quantities of water into basins above mines. At times when wind and sun is scarce, the water can be released through a shaft to drive a power producing turbine. They say it is a way to preserve the natural landscape and use decommissioned mines as rationally as possible. Tomorrow Today DW.DE | Deutsche Welle Clausthal University of Technology, inactive mines, store energy, undergrouns power plants, solar energy, wind energy, turbine, decommissioned mines, electricity producer clean 03:50 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 04:30:00 GMT