Listen! Birdsong is good for mental health
When you next hear cheerful twittering of birds, you should stop and listen. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and the Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) have shown that birdsong reduces anxiety and irrational thoughts. Their findings are published in the journal Scientific Reports.
Berlin Research 50 (BR50) has founded an association
The non-university research institutions in Berlin will be working even more closely together in the future. The network Berlin Research 50 (BR50) was founded in 2020 and is now a registered and non-profit association. The declared goal remains to further develop and strengthen the Berlin research area. All Max Planck Institutes in Berlin are involved in BR50 and are members.
The Unread Stasi Files
Many people choose not to read their Stasi files. How can this behavior be explained? And what are the implications for the collective approach to remembrance and transparency in post-dictatorial societies? A study by the MPI for Human Development and the Technical University of Dresden provides insights into these questions.
How does nature nurture the brain?
After a 60-minute walk in nature, activity in brain regions involved in stress processing decreases. This is the finding of a recent study by the Lise Meitner Group for Environmental Neuroscience at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, published in Molecular Psychiatry.
ACM Collective Intelligence Conference 2022
The event brings people from different disciplines together to discuss how communication technology and data science can help create, exchange, and combine the knowledge needed to address complex organizational and societal issues. Researchers from academia, business, nonprofits and governments share insights and ideas relevant to understanding and designing collective intelligence in its many forms thereby fostering the use of collective intelligence.
Ute Frevert is new President of the Max Weber Foundation
The Federal Minister of Education and Research, Bettina Stark-Watzinger, has appointed Ute Frevert the new president of the German Max Weber Foundation, effective from March 1, 2023. She replaces the Munich sinologist Hans van Ess and will be the first woman to head the foundation.
Children compensate lack of concentration through creativity
Children have a hard time with tasks requiring concentration, but are often good at discovering hidden "tricks" to make the task easier. Spontaneous strategy changes help them to achieve this. The study on learning behavior in children by the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin was published in the journal PloS ONE.
Wolfgang Edelstein Memorial Lecture
In memory of Director Wolfgang Edelstein, who passed away in 2020, the "Wolfgang Edelstein Memorial Lecture" took place on June 24. The event was hosted by Ute Frevert, Deputy Managing Director of the MPI for Human Development. The memorial speech was held by Heinz-Elmar Tenorth, Professor of Historical Education at the Humboldt University in Berlin.
Media Library
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The origins of international solidarity
Many people and organisations are currently showing solidarity with Ukraine. As such, they are unconsciously following in the footsteps of one of the initial moments of international solidarity from 200 years ago, when many people throughout Europe came out in solidarity with Greece, a small nation that was fighting for its right to self-determination. At the Max Planck Institute for Human Development Caroline Moine has been researching the history of this period.
People with less memory loss in old age gain more knowledge
Do cognitive abilities change together, or do they change independently of each other? An international research team from the USA, Sweden, and Germany involving the Max Planck Institute for Human Development has presented new findings now published in Science Advances.
Safely simulating risks in a pandemic
Is it possible to conduct experiments about risk-taking during pandemics without endangering participants? To safely investigate the effectiveness of public health interventions and simulate the dynamics of virus transmission, researchers from the University of Plymouth, UK, the IESE Business School in Spain and the MPI for Human Development have developed a game-based experiment.
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One of the most contentious questions of our time is whether the rapid global uptake of digital media is contributing ...
When you next hear cheerful twittering of birds, you should stop and listen. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute ...
Many people—including public figures such as Nobel Laureate Günter Grass, former West German chancellor Helmut ...
Events
Media Echo
November 28, 2022
The Guardian | If the secret police had a file on you, why wouldn’t you want to see it?
November 10, 2022
Deutschlandfunk |Digitale Medien. Wo sind sie Chance, wo Risiko für die Demokratie?
October 7, 2022
Deutschlandfunk Kultur | Exzellenz fördern trotz Krisen
October 6, 2022
Deutschlandfunk | Warum die weiße Perspektive die Afrikaforschung prägt
October 2, 2022
MDR | Warum wollen Menschen nicht wissen, was in ihrer Stasi-Akte steht?
October 1, 2022
radioeins | Über ungelesene Stasi-Akten
September 21, 2022
