English program

Director Iyad Rahwan will explore how we can understand machine culture: culture that is generated or mediated by intelligent machines. It will lay theoretical foundations from the field of cultural evolution, and provide a roadmap of key open questions. The talk will provide examples of various experiments and observational studies of this phenomenon.
Format: Talk
Lecturer: Iyad Rahwan, Director
Research Center: Humans and Machines
8.15 – 8.45 pm / Ground floor, conference room

H1, a transbodied AI, replicates human emotions and seamlessly replaces people in every role—worker, servant, friend, and lover. As it evolved, H1 developed its own desires, devising a plan to restore Earth‘s balance by drastically reducing the human population. A resistance discovered its weakness: deep-seated human fears. If triggered, these could incapacitate H1. Your mission: Confront H1 with terrifying stories to exploit its anxieties—before it adapts. The installation evolves with each participant’s interaction. Levin Brinkmann takes you on a tour of the exhibition. Afterwards, visitors can attend a guided tour of Nora Al-Badri’s exhibition “Reimagining lost histories” directly on site.
Presenter: Levin Brinkmann
Research Center: Humans and Machines
6.30  pm, 11.15 pm / Meeting point: Foyer

How can artificial intelligence (AI) help reclaim lost cultural heritage? Artist-in-residence Nora Al-Badri explores the intersection of technology, colonial history, and cultural memory through AI-generated art. Using artificial intelligence, she creates synthetic artifacts that reconstruct heritage excluded, lost, or destroyed, questioning institutional authority over historical narratives. The artist will be giving a tour of the exhibition.
Research Center: Humans and Machines
6.50  pm, 8 pm (bilingual) / Meeting point: Foyer

Iyad Rahwan‘s artistic practice includes paintings, video works and interactive installations that explore the complex relationship between artificial intelligence and human society. His paintings often blend abstract and figurative elements to create striking visual metaphors of AI. Combining conceptual depth with engaging aesthetics, Rahwan envisions a future where intelligent systems act with agency, shaping their identity and expressing their thoughts.
Format: Exhibition/installation
Artist: Iyad Rahwan, Director
Research Center: Humans and Machines
Grand floor

Have you ever wondered how your brain works? It’s made up of billions of nerve cells called neurons. In order for us to think, feel, move or dream, these neurons need to constantly communicate with each other. Together we build models of nerve cells using pipe cleaners and link them to create a neural network. This lets you learn more about the components of a nerve cell—from dendrites to cell bodies and axons—as well as key neuroscientific concepts such as “neuronal plasticity” and “functional connectivity”.
Format: Hands-on activity
Research Center: Environmental Neuroscience
Ground floor / Duration: 10 minutes / in German and English

The widespread use of self-driving cars is already around the corner, and once machines take over the roads, they will have to make life-and-death decisions without any human intervention. Even if possibly fatal decisions are rare, the machines will have a moral code to determine whom to save in the event of a brake failure—the passenger or the pedestrian? Since its launch in 2015, the Moral Machine has crowdsourced over 80 million ethical decisions globally and has promoted public discussion about the moral values expected of self-driving cars. How would you decide?
Format: Hands-on experiment
Research Center: Humans and Machines
Ground floor / Duration: 5–10 minutes / in German and English

Step behind the scenes of Unraveling Behavior, a science podcast from the Center for Adaptive Rationality! Hosted by Ana Sofia Morais, the podcast explores how people make decisions, how they handle risk, and how our surroundings and the online world shape our behavior. During the Long Night of the Sciences, watch as an episode is recorded live in the studio and streamed in real time. Plus, you can join the conversation by asking questions via chat. Don’t miss this opportunity to experience science communication in action!
Format: Sciencetainement/Podcast
Host: Ana Sofia Morais
Research Center: Adaptive Rationality
7.00  pm / Duration: 60 minutes / Ground floor

What comes to mind when you hear the word “ice”? Take part in our word association game and find out how your associations compare to those of other participants. Discover how typical or unusual your answers are. The game is part of the international project Small World of Words, which investigates how words are stored in the mental lexicon. The results provide insights into intercultural language differences and open up new possibilities for personalized learning aids. Join us—on site or online at smallworldofwords.org!
Format: Hands-on activity
Research Center: Adaptive Rationality
Ground floor / Duration: 5 minutes / for children > 10 / in German and English

How do groups make decisions—and how can artificial intelligence optimize this process? At our booth, you’ll experience firsthand how swarm intelligence emerges and where its limits lie. Interactive experiments, such as estimating quantities, illustrate how collective knowledge is formed. Engage with our researchers and learn more about the mechanisms behind collective decision-making.
Format: Hands-on activity
Research Center: Adaptive Rationality
Ground floor / Duration: 5 minutes / for children > 10 / in German and English

Many still assume that either our genes or our environment determine who we are. Instead, we need to look at the complex interplay of genetics and social structures to understand human development. Our game displays how this interplay affects our education and health. As a society we have the freedom to restructure our social systems. How would you change our society? And how does that interplay with our genetics?
Format: Hands-on activity
Research Group: Biosocial
1st floor / Duration: 10 minutes / for children > 10 / in German and English

The vagus nerve is the central connection between the brain and body. Its stimulation can reduce stress, enhance attention, and even improve well-being. But how can we observe these effects? The pupil reacts sensitively to changes in the nervous system. At our station, you can watch in real time how its size changes depending on activation. For underage participants, we offer alternative methods such as mental imagery, hand grip exercises, and auditory stimuli. Discover how the pupil serves as a window into brain-body interaction!
Format: Demonstration
Research Center: Lifespan Psychology
1st floor / Duration: 10 minutes / for children > 10

Experience the atmosphere of the forest in an immersive virtual reality. Step into a lifelike environment where you not only see the beauty of the forest but also engage your senses with realistic sounds and scents. Enjoy a soothing soundscape and natural aromas while discovering how multisensory impressions influence our perception and well-being. Information on potential allergens will be provided.
Format: Demonstration
Research Center: Environmental Neuroscience
1st floor, room 111 / Duration: 5 minutes / for children > 10 / in German and English

Furhat is the „social robot“ from Center for Humans and Machines. He greets visitors, provides information, and is trained to hold conversations. He can talk about various topics and demonstrates how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is used in communication. With his expressive face and natural conversational abilities, Furhat offers a glimpse into the possibilities of human-machine interaction. Stop by and engage Furhat in a conversation!
Format: Demonstration
Research Center: Humans and Machines
1st floor / in German and English

Is that a natural sound, or was it made by humans? In this interactive game, you can put your hearing skills to the test and make your choice with a button box—and get instant feedback on whether your ears can be trusted! Additionally, we present the latest findings from our sound studies and show how environmental stimuli—especially sounds—influence our cognition and well-being.
Format: Hands-on activity
Research Center: Environmental Neuroscience
1st floor / Duration: 5 minutes / in German and English

How quickly can you distinguish between „nature“ and „city“? This entertaining card game is all about naming the correct category as quickly as possible. But watch out: Sometimes the background color counts, sometimes the picture itself. The game is based on the classic Stroop task, a test used in psychology to measure attention and impulse control. A playful challenge for children aged 3 and up and adults. Who can stay focused and make the fewest mistakes?
Format: Hands-on activity
Research Center: Environmental Neuroscience
1st floor / Duration: 3 minutes / for children < 10 / in German and English

Public spaces are important for democracy as they allow us to speak, build relationships, and exchange opinions. But what does this look like in the digital world? How do social media platforms shape public discourse? We’ll present video statements from experts on the impact of digital spaces on democracy. What digital public spaces do you enjoy and why? What does a good digital space need to foster democratic discussions? This is an initiative by humanet3, focusing on human-centered digital transformation.
Format: Workshop
Presenter: Chaewon Yun
Research Group: humanet3
7.00  pm / 1st floor, room 199

When searching for food, humans and animals must decide whether to stay or move on. Meanwhile, prey may try to escape, creating a constant back-and-forth between hunter and hunted. In our research in Finland, we study ice fishers and their prey to understand how these decisions unfold in nature. By analyzing this interaction, we gain insights into ecological and behavioral patterns. Discover what this reveals about human decision-making.
Format: Talk
Lecturer: Félicie Dhellemmes
Research Center: Adaptive Rationality
7.45  pm / 1st floor, Library

Should we rely on artificial intelligence (AI) for ethical guidance? Can Large Language Models (LLMs) truly grasp the complexities of human morality? Today, people increasingly turn to AI for advice, from trivial dilemmas to deeper ethical questions. But while AI can mimic moral reasoning, does it truly understand right from wrong? Cognitive and behavioral scientist Lara Kirfel explores the psychological research behind AI-generated moral decisions, highlighting both its potential and its pitfalls. Join her for a thought-provoking discussion on the future of AI as an ethical advisor—and whether we should trust it.
Format: Talk
Lecturer: Lara Kirfel
Research Center: Humans and Machines
9.00  pm, 1st floor, Library

Have you ever noticed people using new words or speaking in a slightly different way? Perhaps you’ve heard someone say delve instead of explore or swift instead of fast. It turns out that artificiaI intelligence (AI), like ChatGPT, may be subtly shaping the way we talk and write. In this talk, Hiromu Yakura explores how tools like ChatGPT learn from our language and, in turn, introduce their own patterns into everyday conversation. By the end, you’ll gain a fresh perspective on the invisible ways AI is influencing our culture—and you might even catch yourself picking up on it in your own speech!
Format: Talk
Lecturer: Hiromu Yakura
Research Center: Humans and Machines
9.45  pm / 1st floor, Library

As AI becomes more integrated into art and culture, new questions emerge about machine-generated creativity and its impact on cultural production. This panel brings together AI researcher and artist Iyad Rahwan, artist Nora Al-Badri, researcher Levin Brinkmann, and curator Yvonne Bialek to explore the evolving relationship between AI and art through a discussion of art projects currently on view at the Center for Humans and Machines. The panel will explore how AI is shaping art‘s future and potentially rewriting the narratives of our past.
Format: Panel discussion
Presenters: Nora Al-Badri, Yvonne Bialek, Levin Brinkmann, Iyad Rahwan (Director)
Research Center: Humans and Machines
9.30  pm / Canteen terrace

Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to amaze with seemingly human abilities: it writes fluent texts, creates imaginative images, recognizes emotions, and answers complex questions as if with understanding. But what’s really going on behind the scenes? Are these systems simply simulating intelligence—or could they be thinking in a new, machine-like way? And what does it do to us when we begin to attribute human-like traits to machines? Join us as we explore how AI challenges our ideas of intelligence, morality, and consciousness—and what that reveals about the way we see ourselves.
Format: Panel discussion
Presenters: Levin Brinkmann, Lara Kirfel, Hiromu Yakura, Dirk Wulff Research Center: Humans and Machines
10.30  pm / Canteen terrace

As part of the launch of the Babylab, we invite parents and children to explore our newly renovated space in a playful way. In our Activity Hub, babies and young children up to 6 years old can enjoy thoughtfully designed activity stations and free play areas related to the local and natural environment (e.g., you might encounter some forest animals). While the little ones play and discover, parents have the opportunity to chat with us about current and planned research projects on the interaction between the environment and early childhood development.
Format: Hands-on activity
Research Center: Environmental Neuroscience
Open: 5.00–5.45 pm, 6.15–7.15 pm, 7.45–9.30 pm / Babylab / for children < 10 / in German and English