Long Night of the Sciences
Saturday, 28 June 2025

After a three-year break, the Max Planck Institute for Human Development will finally open its doors again on 28 June 2025 as part of LNDW25. In recent years, numerous visitors, from toddlers to senior citizens, have visited the many stands, lectures, hands-on activities and guided tours. We look forward to valuable and exciting encounters with you again this year!

With great commitment and the support of over 100 colleagues, we are opening our doors in June and inviting you to gain exciting insights into our research. 

The focus is on topics that move our society:

• the smart use of artificial intelligence
• the influence of the environment on our brain
• dealing with misinformation on the internet
• what characterises a resilient democracy
• how people develop in the interplay of disposition and environment
• how children acquire knowledge about the world

In addition to exciting insights into the content, we also offer you the opportunity to take a look behind the scenes: Visit our magnetic resonance imaging laboratory and discover the physics behind it. Talk to our technicians and IT specialists and find out what it takes to keep a state-of-the-art laboratory infrastructure running. Learn more about the challenges of science communication - and how we communicate complex research in an understandable way.

Guided tours of the building also give you the opportunity to familiarise yourself with the fascinating architecture of our institute or to be impressed by the variety of plants in our institute garden.

We have prepared a varied children's programme for our youngest guests - with numerous hands-on activities and an exciting children's rally with lots to discover. And if you need a break in between, our cafeteria invites you to linger.

Feel free to take a look through our program.

We look forward to your visit!

Here are our highlights

Workshop: Fact or fiction? Recognising and stopping manipulation

When: 6.15 pm and 9.15 pm
Where: room 119, first floor
What: The workshop helps to recognise manipulation, critically evaluate information and identify facts. (German)

Hands-on activity/game: Genetic Pinball

When: ongoing
Where: first floor
What: The game Genetic Pinball shows how genes and social structures influence our educational path and our health. (German and English)

Lecture by Gerd Gigerenzer, director emeritus of the MPIB

When: 9 pm
Where: conference room, ground floor
What: Lecture ‘Do we still need education in the digital age?’ (German)

Guided tour: Building for science - The architects Fehling and Gogel

When: 6 pm and 9 pm
Where: meeting point foyer
What: Architectural tour of our listed institute building. (German)

Experience: Virtual forest bathing

When: ongoing
Where room 111, first floor
What: Experience the atmosphere of the forest in an immersive virtual reality with VR glasses. (German and English)

Lecture by our director Simone Kühn

When: 6 pm
Where: Conference room, ground floor
What: Lecture “City or country: How does our environment shape the brain?” (German)

Hands-on activity: Passenger or pedestrian? The moral dilemma of self-driving cars

When: oingoing
Where: ground floor
What: Online experiment questions how AI should deal with moral dilemmas. (German and English)

Workshop: How do headlines influence our perception of science?

When: 8.30 pm
Where: room 119, 1st floor
What: The workshop shows the impact of news on science. (German)

 

Lecture by our director Ulman Lindenberger

When: 6 pm
Where: Lecture theatre, ground floor
What: Lecture ‘Education and cognitive development in adulthood’ (German)

Hands-on activity: Do we think differently on Mars?

When: ongoing
Where: ground floor
What: Experience life on Mars audiovisually and find out what impact this environment would have on our brains. (German)

Lecture by our director Ralph Hertwig

When: 19:30
Where: conference room, ground floor
What: Lecture ‘How can we make democracies more resilient?’ (German)

Guided Tour: Installation “Haunting H1”

When: 9.15 pm guided tour, exhibition ongoing
Where: container, parking lots
What: Getting to know AI and its fears, guided tour of the interactive art exhibition (English)

Guided tour: The institute garden in transition

When: 7 pm
Where: meeting point Foyer
What: Guided tour through our 30-year-old nature garden and insights into plants, animals and measures. (German)

Exhibition and guided tour: “Reinventing lost history”

When: 8 pm guided tour, exhibition ongoing
Where: container, parking lot
What: How can AI reclaim lost cultural heritage? With Nora Al-Badri (German and English)

That was #LNdW22

A look back in pictures more

Fotonachweise
Grafik Aha: ChatGPT, Genetic Pinball bei der MS Wissenschaft 2024: Ilja C. Hendel für Wissenschaft im Dialog, Portrait Gerd Gigerenzer: Arne Sattler, Institut innen: Max Kißler, Bild Waldbaden: Dall-E 3, Portrait Simone Kühn: MPIB, Moral Machine bei der MS Wissenschaft 2024: Ilja C. Hendel für Wissenschaft im Dialog, Grafik Breaking News: Pixabay, Portrait Ulman Lindenberger: Arne Sattler, Mars bei der MS Wissenschaft 2023: Ilja C. Hendel für Wissenschaft im Dialog, Portrait Ralph Hertwig: Arne Sattler, Haunting H1: MPIB, Garten: MPIB, Bild Nora Al-Badri: KW Institute for Contemporary Art