#max planck society

[soon-palestine]

[queerafricans]

“If you wants rights, rights are for all. You cannot exclude, because it is the beginning of exclusion of many more to come. I believe we need a radical confrontation with society and anything less than full rights for LGBTQ people and women is unacceptable.” - Dr. Ahmed El Hady

Who is Dr. Ahmed El Hady?

He is a proud gay Egyptian man, research associate, scientist, writer, and lobbyist.

Dr. Ahmed El Hady has written extensively and lobbied extensively, both domestically and internationally, on behalf of the Egyptian LGBTQ community.

Ahmed is particularly interested in making LGBTQ+ Egyptians' lives safer and positioning their political aspirations as an essential part of Egypt's struggle for freedom.

In 2011, he took a break from his PhD program at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self Organization in Germany to participate in Egypt's popular uprising.

He eventually graduated and is now employed at Princeton University, where he conducts ground-breaking neuroscience.

He has since developed novel methods for studying the brain and edited the first reference work on the subject.

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Advanced microscopy method reveals hidden world of nanoscale optical metamaterials

Scientists from the Department of Physical Chemistry at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society have made a significant discovery in the field of nanotechnology, as detailed in their latest publication in Advanced Materials. Their paper, titled "Spectroscopic and Interferometric Sum-Frequency Imaging of Strongly Coupled Phonon Polaritons in SiC Metasurfaces," introduces a novel microscopy method that allows for the unprecedented visualization of nanostructures and their optical properties. Metamaterials, engineered at the nanoscale, exhibit unique properties not found in naturally occurring materials. These properties arise from their nanoscale building blocks, which, until now, have been challenging to observe directly due to their size being smaller than the wavelength of light. The team's research overcomes this limitation by employing a new microscopy technique that can simultaneously reveal both the nano and macro structures of these materials.

Read more.

[z0ruas]

It’s not uncommon, in what passes for debate on Twitter, for people to counter the claim that there is no such thing as a “male brain” and a “female brain” by linking to a scientific article reporting a sex difference in the brain. In other words, as soon as we learn that brains differ according to sex, the implicit reasoning is that the brain must therefore also have a sex and, like the genitals, create female and male categories. However, new evidence reveals a far more complicated picture, as McCarthy and Arnold explain. Sex isn’t a biological dictator that sends gonadal hormones hurtling through the brain, uniformly masculinizing male brains, monotonously feminizing female brains. Sexual differentiation of the brain turns out to be an untidily interactive process, in which multiple factors—genetic, hormonal, environmental, and epigenetic (that is, stable changes in the “turning on and off” of genes)—all act and interact to affect how sex shapes the entire brain. And just to make things even more complicated, in different parts of the brain, these various factors interact and influence one another in different ways. What we should expect to emerge, then, from this “multiplicity of mechanisms” is not a “male brain,” or a “female brain,” but a shifting “mosaic” of features, “some more common in females compared to males, some more common in males compared to females, and some common in both females and males,” as Joel and colleagues conclude. This is exactly what Joel found for the very first time in humans, with colleagues from Tel Aviv University, the Max Planck Institute, and the University of Zurich. They analyzed images of more than 1,400 human brains, drawn from large data sets from four different sources. Contrary to the view that the brains of men and women are strikingly different, none of these differences were particularly substantial. Even for the very largest, the overlap between the sexes meant that about one in five women were more “male-like” than the average male. So what is a “female brain” or a “male brain”? Is a female brain the type of brain possessed by the very few individuals with consistently female-end brain characteristics—some of whom, by the way, are men? And if so, what kind of a brain do the majority of females have? So sex does indeed matter, but in a complicated and unpredictable way. Although there are sex effects that create differences in the brain, sex isn’t the basic, determining factor in brain development that it is for the reproductive system. Unlike the genitals, “human brains cannot be categorized into two distinct classes: male brain/female brain,” Joel and colleagues conclude. Instead, they are “comprised of unique ‘mosaics’ of features.” One way to think of it is like this: a neuroscientist certainly might be able to correctly guess your sex from your brain, but she wouldn’t be able to guess the structure of your brain from your sex.

- Dr. Cordelia Fine, "Testosterone Rex: Myths of Sex, Science, and Society"

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

Did dwarf planet Ceres originate in the asteroid belt?

by Max Planck Society

The dwarf planet Ceres has a diameter of almost 1,000 kilometers and is located in the asteroid belt. In the television series "The Expanse," Ceres gained new fame as the main base of the so-called 'belters': in this series, which is based on real physics, humans colonize the asteroid belt for mining.

Ceres is no less prominent in the real world either. For a long time, however, it was not entirely clear whether the dwarf planet had formed in the asteroid belt or whether it had migrated inwards from the edge of the solar system. A research team led by the Max Planck Institute for solar system Research in Göttingen has found ammonium-rich deposits in the Consus crater in data from NASA's Dawn space probe, which reveal a lot about Ceres' origin.

Dwarf planet Ceres is an unusual "inhabitant" of the asteroid belt. With a diameter of around 960 kilometers, it is not only the largest body between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter; unlike its rather simple "fellow inhabitants," it is also characterized by an extremely complex and varied geology. Years ago, NASA's Dawn space probe discovered widespread ammonium deposits on the surface of Ceres.

Some researchers assume that frozen ammonium played a role in the formation of the dwarf planet. However, ammonium is only stable in the outer solar system, which indicates an origin far from the asteroid belt. However, new findings from the Consus crater speak against this.

Freezing vulcanism

Ceres appeared to have been the scene of unique cryovolcanism until recently—and probably still is. The underlying data was obtained by NASA's Dawn space probe when it studied Ceres up close from 2015 to 2018. The data point to an eventful past in which Ceres changed and evolved over many billions of years.

Light-colored, whitish salt deposits can be found in several impact craters. Deposits in the Consus crater could indicate ammonium-rich material that has reached the surface from the depths of the dwarf planet due to Ceres' volcanism. More precisely, researchers believe the deposits are remnants of a brine that has seeped to the surface from a liquid layer between the mantle and crust over many billions of years.

Images and measurement data from the Consus crater, which the team has now analyzed in greater detail than ever before, now show such material that is yellowish in color. The presence of ammonium, therefore, does not necessarily indicate an origin in the outer solar system—Ceres could have formed where it is orbiting today.

A crater within a crater

Conus Crater is located on Ceres' southern hemisphere. With a diameter of around 64 kilometers, it is not one of the dwarf planet's particularly large impact craters. Images taken by Dawn's scientific camera system, which was developed and built under the lead of the MPS, show a circumferential crater wall that rises about 4.5 kilometers above the crater floor and has partially eroded inwards.

It encloses a smaller crater covering an area of about 15 kilometers by eleven kilometers that dominates the eastern half of Consus' crater floor. The yellowish, bright material is found in isolated speckles exclusively on the edge of the smaller crater and in an area slightly to the east of it.

As the new analysis of data from the camera system and the VIR spectrometer suggests, the yellowish bright material in Consus Crater is rich in ammonium. In traces, the compound, which differs from ammonia by an additional hydrogen ion, is almost omnipresent on the surface of Ceres in the form of ammonium-rich minerals. The research is published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.

In the past, scientists believed that these minerals could only have formed through contact with ammonium ice in the cold at the outer edge of the solar system, where frozen ammonium is stable over long periods of time. In closer proximity to the sun, it evaporates quickly. Ceres must therefore have formed at the edge of the solar system and only later "relocated" to the asteroid belt, they inferred.

The current study now shows for the first time a connection between ammonium and the salty brine from Ceres' interior. The team argues that, therefore, the dwarf planet's origin does not necessarily have to be in the outer solar system. Ceres could also be truly native to the asteroid belt.

Ammonium from the depths

The researchers assume that the components of ammonium were already contained in Ceres' original building blocks. As ammonium does not combine with the typical minerals in Ceres' mantle, it gradually accumulated in a thick layer of brine that extended globally between the dwarf planet's mantle and crust.

Cryovolcanic activity caused the ammonium-rich brine to rise repeatedly over the course of billions of years, and the ammonium it contained gradually seeped into the large-scale phyllosilicates of Ceres' crust. Phyllosilicates, which are characterized by a layer-like crystal structure, are also widespread on Earth, for example in clayey soils.

"The minerals in Ceres' crust possibly absorbed the ammonium over many billions of years like a kind of sponge," explains MPS scientist Dr. Andreas Nathues, first author of the current study and former Lead Investigator of Dawn's camera team.

There is much to suggest that the concentration of ammonium is greater in deeper layers of the crust than near the surface. The few places on the surface of Ceres where conspicuous patches of the yellowish-bright material can be found outside Consus Crater are also located within deep craters.

As the current study shows in detail, the impact that created the small eastern crater only 280 million years ago is likely to have exposed material from the deep, particularly ammonium-rich layers in Consus Crater. The yellowish-bright speckles to the east of the smaller crater are material that was ejected as a result of the impact.

"At 450 million years, Consus Crater is not particularly old by geological standards, but it is one of the oldest surviving structures on Ceres. Due to its deep excavation, it gives us access to processes that took place in the interior of Ceres over many billions of years—and is thus a kind of window into the dwarf planet's past," says MPS researcher Dr. Ranjan Sarkar, a co-author of the study.

TOP IMAGE: Arriving at its destination: This illustration shows how the Dawn space probe reaches the dwarf planet Ceres. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

CENTRE IMAGE: Consus Crater is located in the southern hemisphere of dwarf planet Ceres. The most striking structure in its interior is a smaller crater (“floor crater”) in its eastern half. A flat central mountain rises up in the center of Consus Crater. Credit: Max Planck Society

LOWER IMAGE: The yellowish bright material, marked here as “yBM”, is found exclusively on the edge of the smaller crater and in its immediate eastern vicinity. Credit: Max Planck Society

[nuadox]

DNA technology now offers both data storage and computing functions for the first time

- By Nuadox Crew -

Researchers from North Carolina State University and Johns Hopkins University have developed a technology that uses DNA for both data storage and computing functions, enabling operations like storing, retrieving, erasing, and rewriting data, which was previously impossible with DNA-based systems.

Led by Albert Keung, the project aims to overcome challenges in integrating storage and processing, common in conventional computing, within a DNA framework.

The breakthrough relies on soft polymer structures called dendricolloids, which support high-density DNA storage. This structure allows for key functions like copying, erasing, and rewriting DNA data without damaging it. The team successfully solved basic computational problems with this technology, demonstrating its potential to store massive amounts of data securely for long periods.

The system, dubbed a “primordial DNA store and compute engine,” is a collaborative effort involving contributions from experts in microfluidics, sequencing, and data algorithms. Researchers hope this advancement will inspire future work in molecular computing, much like early computers sparked the digital age.

The research, published in Nature Nanotechnology, was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), with some researchers holding interests in commercializing DNA-based systems.

Read more at NC State University

Scientific paper: Lin, K.N., Volkel, K., Cao, C. et al. A primordial DNA store and compute engine. Nat. Nanotechnol. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-024-01771-6

--

Other recent news

Microscopy Breakthrough: Scientists at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society have developed a revolutionary microscopy technique that unveils hidden worlds. This could significantly advance our understanding of microscopic structures.

[germanpostwarmodern]

With their equally expressive and functional designs Hermann Fehling (1909-96) and Daniel Gogel (1927-97) were among the most interesting architects in postwar Germany. Between 1953 and 1990 the duo together with occasional partners Peter Pfankuch and Arno Noebel realized important buildings for the Max Planck Society in Berlin and Garching but also remarkable single-family houses, churches and exhibition buildings.

In 1981 Ulrich Conrads published a selection of Fehling + Gogel’s important built and unbuilt works in the series „Reissbrett“ which supposedly was intended to contain more than just the two issues that were ultimately published. In his witty introduction Manfred Sack describes the collaboration between the two physically and temperamentally very different partners: each project begins its life as blank sheet of paper on which both start to draw their ideas. Afterwards both take a look at each other’s drawings and enter a long process of discussion that ultimately results in a congruent and in view of the differences between them very organic design. At the same time Manfred Sack dispels the myth that Fehling and Gogel follow in the tradition of Hans Scharoun: although they at first sight share an organic approach towards architecture Fehling and Gogel’s approach appears much more rational and as a consistent consideration of user requirements. Another unique characteristic of their buildings is their handcrafted quality that results from a close dialogue with all trades involved and which often results in a fruitful and, as the author describes it, mutually fun work process.

In the work catalogue following Manfred Sack’s introduction the architects outline each project in discussion with Ulrich Conrads, a very insightful and entertaining process that makes this publication a real treasure.

[because--palestine]

Why Germany is cracking down on free speech

"The violence has seeped into the metropolis”

Anthropologist Ghassan Hage explains why countries like Germany, who enshrined freedom of expression into law, are violently cracking down on pro-Palestinian voices.

On Friday, German police raided a Palestinian conference, arrested a number of activists. They also barred British-Palestinian doctor Ghassan Abu Sittah from entering the country to speak, allegedly threatening him with prosecution if he speaks publicly.

Hage is currently in a legal battle with the Max Planck Society, after they fired him following a media campaign accusing him of ‘antisemitism’.

He says it's part of a wider trend in western nations which are feeling threatened by their immigrant populations and attempting to regain control.

[merelygifted]

Map of especially metal-poor giant stars identified from Gaia DR3 data that shows, as a concentrated region (marked with a circke), the stars of the "poor old heart" of the Milky Way galaxy. The map shows the whole of the night sky in the same way that certain maps of the world show Earth's surface. In the center of the map is the direction towards the center of our home galaxy. Credit: H.-W. Rix / MPIA

Astronomers identify the ancient heart of the Milky Way galaxy

by Max Planck Society

A group of MPIA astronomers has managed to identify the "poor old heart of the Milky Way"—a population of stars left over from the earliest history of our home galaxy, which resides in our galaxy's core regions.          

For this feat of "galactic archaeology," the researchers analyzed data from the most recent release of ESA's Gaia Mission, using a neural network to extract metallicities for two million bright giant stars in the inner region of our galaxy. The detection of these stars, but also their observed properties, provides welcome corroboration for cosmological simulations of the earliest history of our home galaxy.

Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, gradually formed over nearly the entire history of the universe, which spans 13 billion years. Over the past decades, astronomers have managed to reconstruct different epochs of galactic history in the same way that archaeologists would reconstruct the history of a city: Some buildings come with explicit dates of construction.

For others, the use of more primitive building materials or older building styles implies that they have come before, as does the situation where remnants are found underneath other (and thus newer) structures. Last but not least, spatial patterns are important—for many cities, there will be a central old town surrounded by districts that are clearly newer.

For galaxies, and in particular for our home galaxy, cosmic archaeology proceeds along very similar lines. The basic building blocks of a galaxy are its stars. For a small subset of stars, astronomers can deduce precisely how old they are. For example, this is true for so-called sub-giants, a brief phase of stellar evolution where a star's brightness and temperature can be used to deduce its age.  ...

[howieabel]

“Max Planck once remarked that new scientific truths don’t replace old ones by convincing established scientists that they were wrong; they do so because proponents of the older theory eventually die, and generations that follow find the new truths and theories to be familiar, obvious even. We are optimists. We like to think it will not take that long.

In fact, we have already taken a first step. We can see more clearly now what is going on when, for example, a study that is rigorous in every other respect begins from the unexamined assumption that there was some ‘original’ form of human society; that its nature was fundamentally good or evil; that a time before inequality and political awareness existed; that something happened to change all this; that ‘civilization’ and ‘complexity’ always come at the price of human freedoms; that participatory democracy is natural in small groups but cannot possibly scale up to anything like a city or a nation state.

We know, now, that we are in the presence of myths.” ― David Graeber, The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity

[yesgermany-manish]

Why Consider a Masters Degree in Germany? Exploring the Benefits and Opportunities

Germany is one of the most popular destinations for international students who want to pursue a masters degree. According to the latest statistics, more than 300,000 foreign students were enrolled in German universities in 2020, making up 13.5% of the total student population. But what makes Germany so attractive for higher education? Here are some of the main reasons why you should consider a masters degree in Germany.

High Quality Education

Germany is known for its excellence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, as well as humanities, arts, and social sciences. German universities offer a wide range of masters programs, from traditional disciplines to interdisciplinary and innovative ones. Many of these programs are taught in English, making them accessible to international students. Moreover, German universities have a strong reputation in the global academic community, with 44 institutions ranked among the top 500 in the world.

Affordable Costs

One of the biggest advantages of studying in Germany is the low cost of tuition. In most public universities, there is no tuition fee for both domestic and international students, except for a small administrative fee per semester. Even in private universities, the tuition fee is usually much lower than in other countries, such as the UK, the US, or Australia. Additionally, the cost of living in Germany is relatively affordable, especially if you choose to live in a student dormitory or a shared apartment. You can also benefit from various discounts and subsidies for public transportation, cultural events, and health insurance.

Cultural Diversity

Germany is a multicultural and cosmopolitan country, with a rich history and culture. By studying in Germany, you can experience the German way of life, as well as learn about other cultures from your fellow students and professors. You can also enjoy the variety of cuisines, festivals, music, and art that Germany has to offer. Furthermore, you can take advantage of the opportunity to travel around Europe, as Germany is well-connected to other countries by train, bus, or plane.

Career Prospects

A masters degree from a German university can boost your career prospects, both in Germany and abroad. Germany has a strong economy, with many leading companies and industries, such as BMW, Siemens, SAP, and Bosch. As a graduate, you can benefit from the high demand for skilled workers, especially in STEM fields. You can also apply for a job seeker visa, which allows you to stay in Germany for up to 18 months after graduation to look for a suitable job. Alternatively, you can pursue a PhD or a research career in one of the many prestigious research institutes in Germany, such as the Max Planck Society, the Fraunhofer Society, or the Helmholtz Association.

How to Apply for a Masters Degree in Germany?

If you are interested in pursuing a masters degree in Germany, you will need to meet some requirements, such as:

Having a bachelor's degree or equivalent from a recognized university

Having a sufficient level of proficiency in the language of instruction (German or English)

Having a valid passport and a student visa (if required)

Having a proof of financial resources to cover your living expenses

Having a health insurance coverage

The application process may vary depending on the university and the program you choose, but generally, you will need to submit the following documents:

A completed application form

A copy of your academic transcripts and diplomas

A copy of your language test scores (such as TestDaF, DSH, TOEFL, or IELTS)

A motivation letter and a curriculum vitae

A copy of your passport and visa (if required)

A proof of financial resources and health insurance

The application deadlines may also differ depending on the university and the program, but usually, they are:

July 15 for the winter semester (starting in October)

January 15 for the summer semester (starting in April)

You can find more information about the application process and the available programs on the websites of the German universities or on the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) website.

How to Find the Best German Study Consultants?

If you need help with finding and applying for a masters degree in Germany, you can consult with professional german study consultants who can provide you with guidance and support throughout the process. Some of the services that german study consultants can offer are:

Helping you choose the right program and university for your goals and interests

Helping you prepare and submit your application documents

Helping you apply for a student visa and a residence permit

Helping you find accommodation and transportation in Germany

Helping you adjust to the academic and cultural environment in Germany

Helping you network with other students and professionals in Germany

However, not all german study consultants are reliable and trustworthy. You should be careful when choosing a german study consultant and avoid falling for scams or frauds. Here are some tips on how to find the best german study consultants:

Do your research and compare different german study consultants based on their reputation, experience, credentials, and reviews

Ask for references and testimonials from previous clients and verify their authenticity

Check if the german study consultants are registered and accredited by the relevant authorities, such as the DAAD, the German Embassy, or the Ministry of Education

Ask for a written contract and a clear breakdown of the fees and services that the german study consultants will provide

Avoid paying any upfront fees or deposits before receiving any service or confirmation from the german study consultants

Avoid any german study consultants who make unrealistic or false promises, such as guaranteed admission, scholarships, or jobs

Conclusion

A master's degree in Germany can be a rewarding and beneficial experience for your personal and professional development. Germany offers high quality education, affordable costs, cultural diversity, and career prospects for international students. However, applying for a masters degree in Germany can be a challenging and complex process, which requires careful planning and preparation. If you need assistance and guidance, you can seek help from reputable and professional german study consultants who can help you achieve your academic goals and dreams.

[bpod-bpod]

Growing Branches

Our lungs are structured like extreme broccoli. Branches of increasing intricacy break out from central stems to create a precise clustered shape. How this impossibly dense formation takes shape is not well understood, and knowing more could help pinpoint how missteps during branch formation causes disease. A study looked at the role of a sequence of molecular signals, called the Wnt signalling pathway, in interactions between lung lining cells and connective tissue. They discovered that part of the process, the Wnt5a signal, is essential in both types of cell to the position and direction of lung branching. The signal causes changes in cells’ internal skeleton, the cytoskeleton, and in their adhesion to other cells and structures. The physical forces that the pathway controls leads to coordinated shifts in the shape and orientation of lining and connective tissue cells, steering the development of branching (shown here in dissected mouse embryo lungs).

Written by Anthony Lewis

Image from work by Kuan Zhang and colleagues

Described research by Hannes Preiß and colleagues, Friedrich Miescher Laboratory of the Max Planck Society, Germany; University of Konstanz, Germany

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in PLOS Biology, August 2022

You can also follow BPoD on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook

[materialsscienceandengineering]

First operation of a two-color mode in an infrared free-electron laser

A technological milestone has been achieved at the Fritz Haber Institute (FHI) of the Max Planck Society in Berlin. For the first time, an infrared free-electron laser (FEL) has been operated in a two-color mode. This globally unique technology enables experiments with synchronized two-color laser pulses, opening up new possibilities in research. Free-electron lasers, of which there are more than a dozen worldwide, vary significantly in size (from a few meters to several kilometers), wavelength range (from microwaves to hard X-rays), and costs (from millions to more than a billion). However, they all produce intense, short radiation pulses. Free-electron lasers have become important radiation sources over the past decades, finding broad applications in basic research and applied sciences.

Read more.

[fabiansteinhauer]

Hoachen Ku

1.

In allen Abteilungen des Max-Planck-Institutes für wahrscheinliches und unwahrscheinliches Recht gibt es Forschungsprojekte zur Bild- und Rechtswissenschaft. Eines der Projekte führt Hoachen Ku durch, der ein fantastischer Gesprächpartner für alles und darum auch für die Geschichte und Theorie der Zeitmessung sowie die Geschichte und Theorie des decorum ist. Beides hängt zusammen, besonders, so sagt mir das Haochen, in China, weil die Musterung der Gesellschaft deutlich darauf ausgerichtet ist, Zeit passieren zu lassen.

So setzt man schon Leute in der Reihenfolge ihres Alters an eine Tafel. Rangfolgen folgen Mustern, die sich aus der Alterung ergeben, und das unabhängig von Verdiensten. Der Durchgang von Zeit, die Stelle in der Zeit ist auch gelöst vom Verdienst wichtig. Die Zeit soll wahrnehmbar sein, auch im Sinne einer Ausübbarkeit.

2.

Hoachens Projekt ist, wie kann es anders sein, irre! Schon der Titel lässt das Herz hüpfen:

The semantic labyrinth of normative mediums: Redefining missionary cases in multi-jurisdictional China (1842-1911)

Haochen:

In multi-jurisdictional China, ‘missionary cases’ were clashes of normative knowledge coming from very different agents: from the Chinese, various European states and the Church authorities. To some extent, the legal interactions that occurred in these cases can be seen as navigating a labyrinth: finding the exit (i.e. a solution) was the ultimate goal for all agents, but in the process, each party would encounter many obstacles. These obstacles are the heteroglossia of semantics: although seemingly dealing with the same legal terms, agents had a vastly different understanding of them, corresponding to their own epistemic structures. Rather than simply dealing with legal issues with specific terms, the agents were using legal terms as a lens to gain insights into each other's mindsets. Legal terms can thus be recognized as normative mediums, providing space for each party to be confused, to explore or debate, and to seek a way out of the maze – even though these ‘exits’ were often unexpected and in effect rewrote the history of Sino-Western legal interactions.

As conflicts that stirred up all levels of Chinese society during the very last years of the Chinese Empire, missionary cases show us a variety of legal terms as normative mediums: violence, property, communities, sovereignty, etc. The network composed of these terms explains why legal translation was possible in Late Qing China: new knowledge was produced in semantic practice. All cases were discussed in a highly pragmatic environment and involved various technical issues. The discussions of these technical issues not only show the different semantic contexts of normative mediums under different jurisdictional traditions, but also demonstrate how the agents strove to reach a new solution within these differences.

Thus, this project focuses on these normative mediums and the ‘semantic labyrinth’ behind them. There are abundant sources for the missionary cases: government archives, private diaries, mission reports, travel literature, etc. However, the epistemic structures behind these texts are still to be reconsidered. This project will benefit from Digital Humanities methods to deal with large amounts of text. Through the analysis and organisation of the corpus of ‘missionary cases’, this project will explore the normative mediums that were discussed by contemporary agents but are neglected today, and track how these mediums entered the later legal discourse. These efforts will help us to redefine the ‘missionary cases’, one of the most important public issues at the dawn of imperial China, from a new perspective, and to figure out how these cases presented and shaped legal keywords of China afterwards.

Follow him, follow his work!

2.

Das Bild ist zwar auch ein visuelles Medium, es ist aber nicht nur ein visuelles Medium. Das Bild teilt schon Sichtbarkeit und Unsichtbarkeit auf, macht sichtbar und unsichtbar. Es gibt darüber hinaus aber auch noch Bilder in nicht-visuellen Medien.

Gemeint sind damit nicht nur Metaphern, sondern (in Warburgs Sinne) Objekte, die wendig sind, schon deswegen, weil sie gedreht werden oder etwas an ihnen um-, auf- und zugeklappt werden kann. Warburgs Polobjekte sind teilweise Klappobjekte (Objekte, zu denen insbesondere Helga Lutz und Bernhard Siegert forschen).

Der Begriff des Bildes hängt auch am Begriff der figura und am Begriff des Schemas, die beide schon mit graphischen Operationen (auch choreographischen Operationen) zu tun haben, die Bewegung durchgehen lassen. Auf dem tumblr und Unter dem Gesetz gibt es mehr dazu zu lesen, man kann das finde, wenn man die Suchfunktion nutzt und zum Beispiel den Namen Nadia Koch eingibt, die dazu sehr interessante Arbeiten im Schnittfeld von Archäologie, Philologie, Rhetorik und Kunstgeschichte veröffentlicht hat (ich habe ein hashtag dazugefügt). Das ist eine Bewegung, die im Begriff von figura und schema auch an Vorstellung von Wendungen (im Sinne von Kehren oder Verkehrungen) hängt. Falten wäre in dem Sinne auch dann eine Bildtechnik, wenn die Falten nicht visuell sind. Haochen beschäftigt sich mit normativen Medien, die sowohl als visuelle Medien als auch als nicht-visuelle Medien vorkommen.

3.

Wir haben einen Innenhof, eine Art Kreuzgang, da diskutieren wir manchmal. Gestern erzählt mir Haochen von Höhlen in der Wüste Gobi, in denen sich Bilder buddhistischer Kosmologien finden. Das sind Bilder in Höhlen, im Dunklen. Man kann sie mit Licht betreten, aber auch dann ist Unterschied zwischen sichtbaren Stellen und nicht sichtbaren Stellen nicht nur Teil des Besuches, er ist auch Teil derKosmologie. Und die Bewegung durch dieses Höhlen, der Wechsel der Stellen, die siichtbar sind und die unsichtbar sind, auch der istnicht nur Teil des Besuches der Höhlen, sondern Teil der Kosmologie. Die Wüste wächst, weh dem, der Wüste birgt, auf alle Fälle also auf in die Wüste Gobi, da will ich am Sehen und Nichtsehen teilnehmen.

[miroslawmagola]

Science fiction isn't fiction any more.

Psychokinesis or telekinesis is a hypothetical psychic ability allowing a person to influence a physical system without physical interaction.

Prof. dr. Gerhard Ruhenstroth-Bauer invited Miroslaw Magola to the Biochemical Institute of the Max Planck Institute in Martinsried to take a closer look at the abilities and phenomena Mirosław Magola exhibits in broadcasts and TV shows. This video was filmed at the Max Planck Institute and you can see what Magola showed interested scientists and skeptics.

Prof. dr. Gerhard Ruhenstroth-Bauer a German biochemist and physician. He was a professor of experimental medicine at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. In addition, Ruhenstroth-Bauer was a scientific member of the Max Planck Society and from 1962 until his retirement in 1981 director at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Martinsried.