2021 IN REVIEW

The term climate crisis is increasingly replacing the term climate change – a shift that makes the magnitude of the future challenge even clearer. This challenge can only be met if science, society, politics and business pull together. And so, following the historical efforts of Theodore Roosevelt’s “New Deal” policy…

What can scientists and the institutions they work for do to respond to the distrust and mis-information in science around the world? Our panel looks at what has worked and why science communication is in need of a revolution. This session explores the latest evidence on how the public builds…

In recent years, Berlin and other comparable cities have sounded the alarm over the disappearance of alternative spaces and clubs as a symptom of a fundamental change in urban society. Gentrification, housing shortages, rising rents and changing demographics make it more and more difficult to find and maintain places that…

How a novel approach helps combat the COVID-19 pandemic With almost five million suspected deaths worldwide and counting, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the deadliest disasters in human history. Once its global spread and destructive force became clear at the beginning of 2020, scientists around the world…

“Blueprint for Peace in the C21st: So little done, but it’s not too late” – A lecture by Sanam Naraghi Anderlini MBE of the Centre for Women, Peace and Security at the London School of Economics and Political Science It is now more than 20 years since the UN Security…

What does the future of medicine look like? What’s trending? What’s new in health science? Which challanges is the health system facing? About 50 top scientists from leading Berlin institutions and international partners present cuttingedge translational medicine in short 3-minute presentations.  This year’s focus: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE AI…

Since the start of the Scientific Revolution nearly five centuries ago our understanding of the world and our ability to manipulate it have massively increased. This has led to huge improvements in our capacity to harness energy, produce material goods, fight diseases and feed a rapidly growing population. Life expectancy…

We are at a cusp of change in the way in which we fundamentally understand the opportunity which living materials present today.  We are also at a very exciting juncture when it comes to the latest developments to integrate smart materials into our built environment. For example, façades with shape…

How can a unifying vision be forged to create a roadmap for transatlantic science & technology? How can barriers in international cooperation be resolved to support global science diplomacy? The Plenary Table “Big Science for the Future – Rekindling Transatlantic Partnerships” will unite major leaders and visionaries from national labs,…

On the occasion of Berlin Science Week 2021, LAS (Light Art Space) hosted a conversation between artist Jakob Kudsk Steensen, Dr Kim Mortega from the Natural History Museum, moderated by guest curator Emma Enderby and introduced by Dr Bettina Kames, Director of LAS. They will discuss the LAS commission Berl-Berl…

Forschung an Mini-Organen, menschlichem Gewebe oder Multi-Organ-Chips – moderne Technologien versprechen eine Zukunft ohne Tierversuche. Was ist der aktuelle Stand der Forschung? Wie funktionieren diese Methoden und wo liegen ihre Grenzen? Eine moderierte Podiumsdiskussion mit kurzen Filmbeiträgen aus den Laboren widmet sich diesen und weiteren Fragen. Erfahren Sie, wie Berlins Wissenschaft daran arbeitet,…

Worldwide, humans live longer, thus, the share of older adults increases. This leads to a shift in health care from acute diseases to chronic conditions and long-term care. Parallel, people live increasingly in urban areas. Population density and heterogeneity are high in urban areas; traditional family structures are less common.…

Promotion of gender equality drives innovation both in science and in industrial organisations. However, we miss to put our scientific knowledge into practice. We must find ways to innovate our recruiting, work processes and most importantly our understanding of leadership. Thus, in this panel we will explore the questions: How…

Die großen und komplexen Herausforderungen unserer Zeit können nur durch Kooperation und Austausch zwischen Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft und über Disziplingrenzen hinweg gelöst werden. Kunst und Kultur, Politik und Wirtschaft stellen oft ähnliche Fragen wie die Wissenschaft, kommen jedoch von unterschiedlichen methodischen und fachlichen Blickpunkten. Bürger*innen bringen wiederum ganz andere Perspektiven…

What would you do if you invented a time machine? Would you travel back to the past to alter history or fix mistakes? Or would you rather jump forward, to collect future knowledge and bring back advanced technologies? Led by the audience, these and other challenging questions were asked to…

Can science include us all? How can the role of society in scientific practice and constructive dialogue be enhanced? How important is equality in science? Is open data a blessing or a threat? How can we immunize citizens to fake news? Does citizen peer reviewing of scientific articles really help?…

How humanity’s destiny can be framed by shared heritages through oceanic connections How can we think of the world as composed of categories derived from particular spaces and lifeworlds, rather than a space with categories seen as universal? How do we move beyond contingent formations, like nations and the triad…

For the better part of four decades, national leaders and their citizens have been warned that human activities are causing our planet to heat up – and that, if we do not change our ways, our descendants will have to cope with a harsh – possibly uninhabitable – environment.  Despite…

The Plenary Table “Unlocking Pathways to a Sustainable Hydrogen Economy” will explore the challenges and opportunities that may arise from the successful deployment of hydrogen technologies aimed at building more resilient economies and energy systems, while ensuring climate neutrality. We want to draw attention to upscaling energy production from renewable…

It was “Legged!” at the Museum für Naturkunde. The new show of the scientific variety show Glitzern & Denken is dedicated to the most species-rich class of animals on our planet: insects. As different as they may look, they have a lot in common. The museum’s collection itself includes 15…

Human rights bodies usually examine cases brought by individuals who have been impacted in a specific way by an act of their home State. By contrast, a new and atypical kind of case is currently emerging before domestic and international human rights bodies around the world. These are cases in which…

Quantum computing is an up and coming vector in many industries. Tune in to learn all about quantum computing capabilities, current platforms, upcoming trends, and why it could be a tool that transforms our future. This virtual event opens with an introduction to quantum computing, followed by descriptions of Canadian and…

Who are your role models in science? And how do they look like? To be honest – it really doesn’t matter how they look like. Because #science looks like YOU. Watch the docuseries “Not the Science Type” featuring four inspiring female scientists as they made their way in fields ranging…

Wasserstoff ist ein zentraler Bestandteil der Energiewende und des Europäischen Green Deals für ein klimaneutrales Europa. Aber wie lassen sich (Versorgungs)Sicherheit und Umweltverträglichkeit gewährleisten? Und wie können wir Vertrauen in Wasserstofftechnologien schaffen? Dr. Kai Holtappels, Leiter des Fachbereichs Auswirkungsbetrachtungen bei Stoff- und Energiefreisetzungen der Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM)…