Scientists in Davos are seeking ways to improve early avalanche warning systems. To examine the properties of snow crystals, they've produced artificial snow in large freezer rooms. It's very similar to the real thing. The structure and interaction of the crystals determines when layers of snow are at risk of causing an avalanche. The research offers fascinating insights into the world of snow crystals.

• 12/21/09
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Scientists in Berlin have developed a mobile laboratory to keep an eye on the health of relief workers deployed in disaster areas. The equipment is designed to help detect dangerous levels of stress in staff dealing with fires, floods and other high-pressure situations. Numerous sensors monitor heart rate, blood pressure and the temperature of inner organs. The sensors sound the alarm when relief workers are close to reaching the limits of their capabilities.

• 12/21/09
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Can blood be produced artificially?

• 12/21/09
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We talk with Andreas Gies about the effects of hormon-like substannces on humans and possible protective measures.Andreas Gies is the head of department of Health and Environmental Hygiene and will talk about the effects of hormone-like substances on humans and possible protective measures.

• 12/14/09
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"We don't live naturally at all. At night we switch on the lights, so we get out of the dark. We turn on the heat when it gets cold outside, so we're living already in a highly unnatural environment. And I think that is nothing principally different with these new enhancement pills."DW-TV: Now, as soon as neuro-enhancement pills will be developed with few side effects, people will not renounce them anymore. How do you judge that development? Isabella Heuser: I think that's OK. If there are no side-effects I wouldn't know why you would not want these pills. Maybe because there's quite a lot of chemistry in them, lots of pharmaceuticals, they do something to your body you don't really know? Well, whatever you put into your mouth is a chemical, even your really healthy foods are being degraded into molecules and that's chemistry so, I don't know, I think what you are actually asking is whether this is a natural thing. Of course it's not natural, no, but why would it be somehow adverse if you are not living natural? We don't live naturally at all. At night we switch on the lights, so we get out of the dark. We turn on the heat when it gets cold outside, so we're living already in a highly unnatural environment. And I think that is nothing principally different with these new enhancement pills. Do we have to have something like doping tests at the entries of universities? Test students for doping? Well, I don't think so. I don't know what they will decide, but I think it's something very different to sports doping because if you do sports and dope yourself to increase your speed or your muscle power, that is not really important for mankind. You know, this is entertainment, so that people can get entertained. That's the only reason and so I'm pretty opposed to sports doping but I'm a little bit more lenient, if you will, if you would take a pill that is without side-effects to improve your memory or your endurance power so that you can learn longer and so forth. But then you really have to hand out these pills for free, so that everybody has the same chances, right? That's true. There's a big problem with, you know, the distribution, just distribution so everybody should have access to it. I agree with that and there's another big problem. Even I think in my mind it's a bigger problem. That's one of coercion because if you get coerced into taking these pills and if you don't want it, then this is really a big problem, so that has to be worked out if we ever are going to be having a more liberal stance on this. So we could actually turn into a society where people point at the others who do not take these pills and say 'well, it's your own fault' that you're stupid? Exactly, and that's a big problem and that should not happen. And what do you think of the attitude that's behind this neuro-enhancement? It's a society kind of which asks for more power, which asks to become faster and better and so on. Why don't we just take a break, sleep a bit more and so on? Well, you should sleep. Of course, you should always have relaxed time and sleep but we're living in a society where the real power we have or we need is our brain power. This is what we need, the brain, our brain and now we are at a certain stage in the development, where we might be able to enhance brain power and I think that's basically a great thing. Interview: Ingolf Baur

• 12/7/09
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Viewer's Question: What can ordinary people do against global warming?

• 11/30/09
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Our studio guest is Prof. Wolfgang Sachs, who heads the Berlin office of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy

• 11/30/09
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Our studio guest is Ellis Huber, Member of the Board at the Paritätische, a large German social welfare association in Berlin

• 11/23/09
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"We have a lot of data suggesting that BPA might have a lot of adverse effects in influencing hormone metabolism and in influencing development."DW-TV: And here to tell us more about the possible dangers of BPA is hormone expert Josef Köhrle, who pursues research at the Charité Hospital here in Berlin. Mr. Köhrle, how dangerous do you think BPA really is? Josef Köhrle: BPA is one of the top compounds currently of concern for endocrinologists and also for developmental biologists, because it's such a high production. It's available in our environment, in our products of daily use, and also of medical and nutritive agents, and we have a lot of data suggesting that it might have a lot of adverse effects in influencing hormone metabolism and in influencing development. You say we have a lot of data, and there have been a lot of studies done on BPA and yet a lot of these studies differe. Some say it might be dangerous, some that indicate it could be dangerous, why can't we get a unified position on BPA? The compound is new to be of concern because we discovered the problem very recently by its mode of action with the steroid hormone system in the cells, and this is for example one of the reasons why the American government in the stimulus grant just recently donated 30 million dollars for BPA, bisphenol-A research. The past experiments which have been done, and they have to be done in animal experiments or from human data, show that there are different mechanisms of actions, and the administration of compound, via the food, via injections, for example, give different results, so we have to analyze what is really the reality scenario. What does this mean for the consumer, for example, I mean, we use plastic spoons, plastic knives, we eat yogurt in plastic containers. Is there a level where you could say, OK, Brent, you're using too much plastic. It's becoming dangerous now. Is there a level? There is currently a limit at an intake of 50 micrograms per day per kilogram, and there is a huge safety margin ... But what does it mean in practical terms. How do I know that I've reached that level? For example, in the daily consumption from a plastic bottle containing water or drinks, you take probably 1/10th or 1/50th of that amount already, just from the water. But there are so many sources, there are sources also from the dentist's practice, because this is used in epoxy resins which are used in dentistry, so it's everywhere and it's increasing the amounts, so we are very concerned now knowing some effects. Mr. Kröhle, you say it's everywhere, but doesn't that make it very unlikely or very difficult that the chemicals industry will ever agree to get rid of this product completely? No, I think we know from medicine that some of the products in medicine containing phthalates and other compounds of concern could already be removed from the products, so there are products on the market already which do not contain phthalates any more. I think in the short term, we can either use more glassware again or replace polycarbonates at least in close human use. Interview: Brent Goff

• 11/16/09
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Dr. Michael Geffert is the German Coordinator for the International Year of Astronomy DW-TV: "Joining us in the studio is the astronomer Dr. Michael Geffert. What do you think? Is there really life out there?" Michael Geffert: "Yes, personally I believe there is life somewhere in the universe, but the contact is very difficult because the distances in the universe are so large." +++ DW-TV: "Getting in contact would mean that life is intelligent." Michael Geffert: "Yes, I think that, of course, there is some other life, but I think also there is some intelligent life somewhere in some galaxy. But the distance is so far that the signals would take so long to come here to Earth and our answer would also take a lot of time." DW-TV: "That would not really be a dialogue?" Michael Geffert: "No, that wouldn't be dialogue, that would just be one signal. There are some people in astronomy who only listen with their radio telescopes to get messages from aliens." DW-TV: "Life here on Earth is based on oxygen and on water. Do you think there could be a completely different form of life?" Michael Geffert:"It is difficult to imagine. I think life -- how it developed here on Earth -- is a good system, a good development. It's difficult to think about other ways." DW-TV: "If you really detected intelligent life out there -- let's call them aliens -- what would happen to the people down here, what would happen to our self-concept, to our world view?" Michael Geffert:"I think our world view would be different. Because at the moment we think, we have the feeling we are the only intelligent people or animals. And this would be different, for example, for religion. It would be interesting: What would be a god for the aliens? And what is the situation of God there and here? Is it a different God?" DW-TV: "So it is essentially a sort of humiliation, like Darwin or Copernicus gave to the world?" Michael Geffert:"No, I think it's not a humiliation, because I think every person is a miracle. And if you are in contact with such persons, you will feel that. You have to imagine that other persons are very valuable. So if you detect aliens somewhere, that would not change anything." DW-TV: "You actually do research in the field of astrometrics, meaning you measure how stars move. How big is the challenge for people like Michel Mayor, actually trying to find single planets by other stars? Michael Geffert: "He needed a very sophisticated technique. And the basis of all these measurements is that you have a star in the middle and a planet which is moving around it. But the star is moving a little bit and you have to detect this small motion of the star. You can detect it either by astrometry, which was tried by Peter van de Kamp some years ago, but he was not successful. Michel Mayor used radio velocities and for some years he's been very successful. And he was the first one, together with Didier Queloz, to find some planet [the extrasolar planet 51 Pegasi b]. But he did not see this planet. DW-TV: "Will we have a chance, one day, to find out more about these planets?" Michael Geffert: "Yes, I think so. We need techniques, astronomy techniques which go outside of the Earth. We have to go in space and then we can find them." DW-TV: "Thanks a lot for the talk, Dr. Geffert."

• 11/14/09
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To discuss the revolutionary things that the heirs of Galileo hope to find out there, we're joined by a physicist who has helped coordinate the 2009 Year of Astronomy in Germany -- Gabriele Schönherr from the Astrophysical Institute in Potsdam. Thank you very much for joining us.DW-TV: "Do you share your colleagues' opinion that the ELT will really be able to detect earthlike planets out there, or possibly even signs of life?" Gabriele Schönherr: "Well indeed I do believe there will be revolutionary discoveries. If there is really life, we will have to see. But we will find many earthlike candidates with ELT." "Now, space-based telescopes, like the Hubble, really do have a much better view of the universe. Why aren't we investing the 800 million euros in that direction?" "I wouldn't agree with saying they have a better view. They, of course, are in space so they don't have the atmosphere to block their view. But, on the other hand, you have limitations in space. The telescopes can't be that large. We have a 42-metre mirror with the ELT in the planning and this would just be too heavy -- you just couldn't move it to space." "Now the ELT won't just be looking into space -- it will also be looking at light emitted by stars billions of years ago. Are you expecting any surprises in that data?" "The only thing that we can really observe as astronomers is light. And as the ELT can collect really very great amounts of light we do expect to see things we haven't been able to detect before." "There are many different kinds of telescopes detecting different kinds of radiation. You, for example, are an expert on X-rays. What information do they provide?" "X-rays show us a hot universe, a hot and explosive sky. So we see very different objects in X-rays than we do in optical astronomy." "What do stars and space look like through an X-ray telescope?" GS: "You would probably be disappointed because, depending on the telescope, it's just a dot. But it can also show structures, moving structures, outflows, jets, very high speeds... It's an amazing view." "The ELT is a European project. How does astronomy in Europe measure up to other countries?" "I would say European astronomy can truly say it's at the forefront of modern astronomy research right now. With the Very Large Telescope in Chile, we already have the best performing telescope in action right now. So Europe and the US are both going in the same direction. We can really compare that." "Now as we said, you're involved in the 2009 Year of Astronomy in Germany, which also involves inspiring students to study in that field. If you were speaking to these students, why would you tell them that astronomy is important?" "Because astronomy addresses the most fundamental questions of life, of humanity: Where do we come from? Where do we go to? Is there life in the universe? Are we alone? It's just fascinating. I don't think I would even have to tell them that it's important. They'd just believe me by looking at the sky." Interview: Heather DeLisle

• 11/3/09
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And with us in the studio to talk about what other steps medicine is making in the area of circulatory and cardiac disease is Dr. Detlev Ganten, the former CEO the Charité hospital here in Berlin. Thanks very much for joining us.DW-TV: And with us in the studio to talk about what other steps medicine is making in the area of circulatory and cardiac disease is Professor Detlev Ganten, the former CEO of the Charité hospital here in Berlin, and an expert on hypertension. Now we know that about one billion people in this world suffer from high blood pressure and the numbers are even rising. We definitely need a solution. Will it maybe come from systems like we see in this report? Detlev Ganten: This patient was definitely lucky to be in Hanover and to have this high-tech treatment. But of course we cannot treat one billion people or more with this type of high-tech device. So we will have to think of something else. And fortunately we do have very effective drugs and of course we can also treat hypertension, especially mild hypertension, without drugs - just by better nutrition, healthier nutrition, less salt, more physical exercise, less obesity and so on. What's actually going wrong in this world that so many people suffer from hypertension? What's going wrong? Our heritage of course is as long as life as life has started. 3.5 million years agowe carry this in our genes civilization is going much faster than evolution. So our bodies lives in a civilization in an environment which is not suirted to our biology. This is why we have so-called 'civilization diseases' like cardio-vascular disease, but also others. We sit too much in offices and and ...and TV studios, correct, and we're eating too much, we are drinking too much. We are not walking enough, not working hard enough, we are not sweating any more - so that's our problem. Lately here in Berlin the World Health Summit took place. You were actually the president of the event . There were many Nobel Prize winners taking part. One of the topics was the future of medicine - individualized medicine. Is there maybe hope for new treatments in this field - also for high blood pressure? Definitely. The scientific progress is enormous and we can now sequence the genome for less than one thousand dollars, so everybody eventually could get his own genome sequence analyzed. And we can read from the analysis risk factors, genetic risk factors. But this is not the solution to [high] blood pressure. Personalized medicine means genome sequencing - yes, in the future, but that also means personal responsibility: prevention, know your risk as precisely as possible, but do whatever you can without spending too much money and staying natural in a way, and looking for natural ways of combatting disease.But even if you do everything correctly and you live in a good way, you might still get high blood pressure. So, with this personalized medicine, what would actually change if you go to a doctor? If you see a doctor what would he do? The doctor has more information. The doctor can consult you better with this information. But a good doctor will always first ask the patient 'what can you do yourself to combat hypertension, to defeat your disease yourself. 'And - you know - one of the sayings and, I think, great words at the congress was 'education is the best kind of vaccination against disease.' Interview: Ingolf Baur

• 10/29/09
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In our Brilliant Minds series, Tomorrow Today presents young scientists from around the world who live and do research in Germany. Cuban-born geologist Yamirka Rojas-Agramonte works at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. Her research centers on a few key questions: How did Cuba and the other Caribbean islands come into being? And what role have various continental plates played in the process? According to Rojas-Agramonte, research on the topic in Cuba is still in its initial stages. But in the future, the results of her work could play a crucial role in helping identify deposits of mineral resources.

• 10/23/09
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A report by Cornelia Borrmann The preparations are almost complete: the largest particle accelerator in the world, the Large Hadron Collider or LHC, is due to be reactivated after a year of repairs. CERN calls the LHC the largest experiment in the world, with 10,000 scientists from a host of countries working to make it possible.The heart of the machine is a 27 kilometer long ring of magnets that will smash protons together with such force that new sub-atomic particles can be created. Scientist are hoping the three billion euro endeavor will help shed light on some of the most puzzling questions of modern physics. The particles cycle around the ring in less than one-ten-thousandth of a second, in opposite directions though two parallel pipes until they've reached velocities close to the speed of light. When the scientists let the particle beams collide, they produce a tiny but extremely hot fireball in which new particles are created. And to keep the particles on track, all the magnets must maintain the same magnetic field. Otherwise the particles would crash into the walls - and destroy the machine. The less than one-millimeter wide has as much energy as a high speed train. Another challenge is that the superconducting magnets have to be kept extremely cold. Achieving that requires about a hundred tons of liquid helium. Never before have such huge quantities of this dangerous fluid been used at once. It's a daunting enterprise. The scientists have to monitor 17 hundred electrical circuits to keep their supermachine running. And soon the real work is supposed to begin: the hunt for the Higgs Boson. Its existence is based on a highly mathematical theory devised by Peter Higgs and other physicists. To explain, all atoms have a nucleus. And that, in turn, is composed of building blocks. One of those building blocks is called a proton. It contains three particles called quarks.Together, they ought to weigh as much as the proton they constitute. But physicists found that protons are a hundred times heavier than their building blocks. There was no adequate explanation for the missing mass. Higgs's theory provided a solution to the problem. It maintains that all particles interact with a so-called Higgs Field. This interplay gives the particles their mass, which is transmitted by the Higgs Boson. But so far, no one has actually found one. Scientists hoped the Large Hadron Collider would make it possible. But in September 2008, disaster struck. A connector cable warmed up, causing huge quantities of helium to evaporate. The resulting shock wave destroyed several magnets and tore them from their mountings. Since then the LHC has been undergoing repairs.

• 10/22/09
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"But I'm absolutely convinced that we will find new physics at the LHC. It's the energy range at which something new will happen, I would bet on that."DW-TV: The 19th of September in the last year was a black day at CERN. How dramatic is actually the break. Rolf-Dieter Heuer: The break is dramatic in terms of time because it took a bit more than one year to do everything. But it's not dramatic in the sense of spirit. The spirit is very high. But what we had to do was, first of all we had to repair the damage, secondly we had to measure all the other connections in order to be sure that something like this could be avoided again, and thirdly we had to install a lot of new electronics, cabling, et cetera. And all this together takes more than one year, but then we are pretty sure to start up safely. DW-TV: Which is a long time: one year. Since also physicists in America, in Chicago, are also searching for the Higgs boson. Are you afraid they might outpace you? Rolf-Dieter Heuer: No, I'm not afraid of this, because if I look only on science, I don't care where things are found first, and secondly, even if they find something, they only can find indications, and only LHD can tell you if there's really something, and thirdly, when we switch on in November, after one year we will have the same discovery potential or even better than our friendly competitors in the US. DW-TV: But you're not only a scientist, you're also the director-general of CERN. So how important is it to find the Higgs boson if there is a Higgs boson actually here at CERN? Rolf-Dieter Heuer: I think it would be very important, it would be a huge stimulus for CERN, that's clear. But it would be even more important of the progress of particle physics and the progress of research, fundamental research in general. So it would be very important. DW-TV: But wouldn't it be also maybe kind of boring? Because if you find a Higgs boson, all you do is confirm the standard model of elementary particles, and so to say, you'd have no surprise. Rolf-Dieter Heuer: I'm pretty sure that the surprise is outside the standard model, you are right. We would confirm the standard model, but the standard model can only be a model which is only valid for our energy region. If you go beyond our energy, much beyond our energy range, then there must be another model which incorporates the standard model but which goes further, like, for example, supersymmetry. DW-TV: So physics as we think today is still correct whether we find the Higgs or whether we don't find it? Rolf-Dieter Heuer: Yes, of course, because we have measured it, and so it's correct. And compare it to Newton's mechanics, do you feel anything from the relativistic mechanics? DW-TV: No, not very much. Rolf-Dieter Heuer: Because you are not in that velocity range. You can compare the standard model to a range within a certain energy limit, and then the new model beyond that, like the different between Newton and Einstein's. DW-TV: CERN and the new collider is not only a big hit with physicists, but also with authors and film directors ... even scientist argued that the LHC might trigger a dangerous black hole, a gravitational field, so strong nothing can escape. Rolf-Dieter Heuer: I would not be happy if we would find it in only one of the detectors, because I always need confirmation -- I need it in both detectors. I need confirmation. But these black holes have nothing to do with the black holes which you have in astronomy, in the universe. These black holes would be micro black holes, which would be produced at the LHC and then immediately decay again. This is according to all the existing theories, including the theories from Stephen Hawking. DW-TV: Now you're talking about mini black holes. But actually, the characteristic of black holes is to grow. They are feeding on every matter they can actually catch. So don't we have to be afraid of that? Rolf-Dieter Heuer: But they grow once they already have a certain amount of mass, and if they have enough time to grow. Now these micro black holes, they wouldn't first of all have enough mass, and secondly, they wouldn't have enough time to grow. They would decay immediately. And the fact that the universe since its existence produces billions of LHC experiments, even at much much higher energy, and nothing dramatic has happened. We are still sitting here, talking to each other, and this is for me as an experimentalist much better proof that nothing bad will happen, compared to the theories. DW-TV: If you do not find any black holes here, if you do not find Higgs bosons, if you also will not find super-symmetric particles, would that maybe mean the end of the era of big particle accelerators? Rolf-Dieter Heuer: I guess so, because then we have a missing justification why we need another, more powerful accelerator. But I'm absolutely convinced that we will find new physics at the LHC. It's the energy range at which something new will happen, I would bet on that. (Interview Ingolf Baur)

• 10/22/09
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A Report by Axel WagnerWhy do cancer cells seem to live eternally, and why do other cells of the body die after a certain time? Molecular biologist Maria Blasco at the Spanish Cancer Research Center in Madrid is looking into these questions.And she has found the answer in the cells’ chromosomes. The ends of the chromosomes determine how old a cell can become. This knowledge may some day help us develop new cancer medicines – and perhaps even extend the life expectancies of cells and people.

• 10/22/09
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A report by Kari HauschkeItalian physicist Monica Pepe-Altarelli is one of thousands of scientists from around the world who work at CERN. She is the director of the LHCb experiment and along with her colleagues is hoping to discover why the universe is primarily composed of matter, and not anti-matter.What drives the experimental physicist, who originally wanted to become an architect? What's it like working on the largest experiment in the world? And how does a team from the four corners of the earth cooperate to get the job done? A portrait.

• 10/22/09
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Sarah Spiekermann is a computer scientist from the Vienna University of Economics and Business whose research focuses on the relationship between humans and machines. "We have to be careful, to what extent humans will maintain control over machines and most importantly, they have to have the last word over how the machine acts."DW-TV: Scientists have developed autonomous robots that can exchange information among each other. Their task is to find sources of nutrition on a playing field.These robots can "reproduce", in the sense that they can pass on their programs to other robots. Ultimately, the swarm robots display some human-like behavior. They commit fraud and engage in nepotism. That means a principle from nature, evolution, is working well in programming. Is that the trend we can actually see there for the future? Sarah Spiekermann: I think that is certainly one trend in programming. However, the question is where you apply it and whether you will use it in robotics. Especially when machines like robots interact with people, and not only between each other, then the question is to what extent you can really use evolutionary programming. DW-TV: This means that the engineers do not really know what's happening inside the machine? Sarah Spiekermann: To a certain extent, that is probably true. Or it would be very complex to understand afterwards how the machine acts or why it acted in a certain way. And for that reason the liability of who's responsible, finally, for the behavior of the machine is an open question. DW-TV: Of course evolution does not end, and we could also imagine the robots going through an evolution 'til they maybe, someday, take over? Is that possible? Sarah Spiekermann: That’s science fiction. But of course we have to be careful, to what extent humans will maintain control over machines -- any kind of machines, not only robots. And I think we have to inform people, we have to give them choices, we have to give them even access to the machines, and most importantly, they have to have the last word over how the machine acts. DW-TV: Cars have been developed that actually interfere when the driver is not putting on the brakes. The car, by itself will say, "Stop! Brake!" Are we handing over too much control to the machine in this case? Sarah Spiekermann: In this particular case, security experts will always argue, and also insurance companies, that machines are sometimes faster in their way to react. DW-TV: So it's an advantage? Sarah Spiekermann: Well, but there are other examples, like that you're forced to put on a seatbelt and that you get signs of warning that are a nuisance to drivers. And the question there is, for example, as well whether the machine should take over or whether people should have the choice to switch off the system. DW-TV: And you think you can make sure in our world that man will always have the last decision to take with machines? Sarah Spiekermann: I think that is a key question of our time. How far should automation go? And it shouldn't be left to alchemy, how far control goes. DW-TV: And do you have examples where the control is already too far with the machine? Sarah Spiekermann: I think the seatbelt is one example, but another is debated today in the aircraft. Should a pilot be replaced by a fully-automated system or not? Just right now we have a debate around this topic, and I think finally it is a question how much we trust human beings to be good decision-makers. (Interview: Ingolf Baur)

• 10/22/09
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A report by Sascha QuaiserOne spin-off application of the LHC experiment is the Clear-PEM diagnostic unit, currently undergoing final tests in Portugal. Its developers claim it will be the best breast cancer detector on the market.The crystal matrices in this device were developed for the LHC to measure the energy of electrons and photons and - it's hoped - to help detect the elusive Higgs boson. The medical apparatus is just one example of the uses to which technology developed at CERN is being put.

• 10/22/09
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„Oscar“ is a small, flexible car designed for urban traffic. It is also emission free. Oscar's engine runs on electricity, and it is highly economical, going 300 kilometers before its battery needs recharging. A Report by Cornelia BorrmannOscar is a prototype made by engineers in Darmstadt for test purposes. They are working with automobile makers to solve problems associated with the green technology, such as the lifetime and temperature characteristics of the battery, the coodination with the engine and the design of the interior.

• 10/22/09
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Report by Jürgen Schneider 120,000 people in Germany die of sudden cardiac death each year. Emergency physicians at the Charité think many of them could be saved. They find that many people are unable to help sufferers in the decisive first minutes after a cardiac arrest. For the first time, a Charité study documents deficits in the first aid education the public receives.

• 10/22/09
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Dr. Oliver Schwedes, a mobility researcher from Berlin's Technical University talks about the global consequences of the electric revolution in the car industry.DW-TV: Are you driving an electrical car? Oliver Schwedes: No, not yet. Nobody gave me one. DW-TV: Well, there is actually no electric standard car right now to buy. Even industry does not expect very many electric cars to be here by 2050. How come? What went wrong? Oliver Schwedes: The industry is at the very beginning of the development. In the past it was different. Now we have to start again to develop electric vehicles. DW-TV: The big argument about electric cars is to save CO2 emissions. Now the Wuppertal Institute figured out that if you take a whole life cycle of a car and you compare a combustion engine car with an electric car you only save about an eight of a percent. Why is that? Oliver Schwedes: It depends on the energy mix for the electric car and at the moment just two percent of all is based on renewable energy. So you can explain how it comes to this result. DW-TV: So we have to change the energy production first? Oliver Schwedes: Right. It's very important to do that not first, but at the same time. DW-TV: But overall electric cars cannot really lead us out of this climate change trap. Oliver Schwedes: Not at the moment and I'm sceptical about it in the future if we just think about technical innovations. We also have to think about different behaviour, mobility behaviour, to think about different mobility concepts. DW-TV: Right now we have about one billion cars in this world and the estimates go up to about two billion by 2030 maybe. What do we have to do in order not to end up in a disaster? What are these concepts you're talking about? Oliver Schwedes: We're thinking about a so-called public electric car. That means a car which is integrated in the public transport system so that you don't need your private car anymore and can use a car and the public transport. DW-TV: But that means we could still rely on our mobility like we do today? Oliver Schwedes: That's right. We don't have to stay at home. We can be mobile but in a more sustainable way. DW-TV: Germany is known for its Autobahns and has an image of a very car-friendly society. How important is it that we set a good example for these new concepts of mobility? Oliver Schwedes: You mentioned the global perspective and the challenges we are confronted with. I think against this background we have a kind of global responsibility to develop, to invent new concepts, the electric vehicle for instance or the public electric car. (Interview: Ingolf Baur)

• 10/22/09
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"In 20 years medicine will be individualized for each person. At the moment we treat patients with a disease with a certain medication. In future times probably it will be necessary to treat a certain patient with a certain disease with a certain medication. And I think that is one of the most prominent things we have to do at the Charité and in medical sciences." DW-TV: The Charité is an internationally renowned hospital -- it's been around for over three centuries. What would you say... in which fields does your hospital really shine? Karl Max Einhäupl: I think the Charité is especially important and especially famous for basic sciences: genetic, genomic and epigenetic. And, of course, it's a hospital and therefore the clinical parts of neurology, of cardiology, of immunology, allergology and rheumatology are some of the strongest. I think oncology and cardiology are growing at the moment. And that's what we plan for our future: to focus on a few areas -- the areas I mentioned at the moment. DW-TV: Now seven medical researchers who worked here went on to win the Nobel Prize for Medicine. Any more hopefuls in the wings? Karl Max Einhäupl: I think that's a real obligation, but what we have to say - to be honest - is that it will not be possible to gain a Nobel Prize winner in the next few years. Because you have to mention that the Charité -- the new Charité in this constitution now -- has a tradition of seventeen years after the reunification of Germany. In that time we gained the number one place in the German science ranking, concerning the usual science indicators. But it'll take time to get a Nobel Prize winner here. Still I hope one day it'll be a fact. DW-TV: Dr. Einhäupl if anyone can answer this question you can. Where do you see medicine in -- say 20 years from now? Karl Max Einhäupl: I think in 20 years medicine will be individualized for each person. At the moment we treat patients with a disease with a certain medication. In future times probably it will be necessary to treat a certain patient with a certain disease with a certain medication. And I think that is one of the most prominent things we have to do at the Charité and in medical sciences. DW-TV: Now with the progression of technology and the use of more and more high-tech instruments in medicine, there seems to be a movement away from the actual 'human touch'. How important is that in a doctor-patient relationship? Karl Max Einhäupl: I think it's very important and we try to educate our young students to be both: a good doctor, and a good scientist and a good natural scientist. On the other hand, I think science is progressing so fast that the cost for science, and the cost for medication and the cost for medical care will increase enormously. And I think it's really a very important point to make it suitable for patients in Germany, in Europe, and all over the world -- especially in non-developed countries. DW-TV: Now specialization is another area that is continuously on the rise in medicine. Could this, however, become a little bit problematic because doctors can perhaps only see one aspect of an illness or a condition? Karl Max Einhäupl: I think concerning the scientific view it is necessary. Concerning the medical view it will be a very important thing that at least doctors in general practice will have a broad education and will be able to treat not only a patient's certain disease but his whole problem. DW-TV: And just briefly, do you think that one day we will be able to banish illnesses and disease completely? Karl Max Einhäupl: Of course not entirely because we become older and as we become older new diseases will develop. I think it will never be possible to really treat every disease. Interview: Heather DeLisle

• 10/22/09
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Report by Andreas Neuhaus Sleep researchers at the Charité have shown that ballet dancers don’t get enough sleep. That can cause accidents. For three months, dancers wore sensor armbands that recorded phases of motion and rest. As a result of their findings, the researchers developed a mobile relaxation room in which dancers can take short naps or relaxing breaks.

• 10/22/09
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Report by Mabel Gundlach Michael Tsokos is probably Germany’s best-known forensic pathologist. He heads the Institute for Forensic Medicine at the Charité. Tsokos is one of the experts who examined the bodies in mass graves in Bosnia and Kosovo, and he helped identify the dead after the tsunami in Indonesia.

• 10/22/09
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A Report by Cornelia Borrmann Polar researchers in Europe are planning a new vessel that will be able to overcome thick sea ice and stormy seas. Designed under the auspices of the Alfred Wegener Institute, the "Aurora Borealis" may be the world's strongest icebreaker, a research ship which will be able to drill 1,000 meters into the ocean floor. The ship is due to be completed in 2014. The Aurora Borealis will be an icebreaker, research ship and deep-sea drilling platform in one. It's designed to take sediment samples from the polar seabed - even in thick drift ice. Designing the icebreaker was a challenge for the engineers. It's new kind of boat - and innovations had to be made, from the hull up. A model about seven meters long is being used to see if the design is seaworthy. The first tests show that at slow speed, the boat can plow through ice three metres thick. And the underside remains ice-free. A ship able to survive thick ice and on a stormy sea The next trial for the model is in ice-free waters. This time, it's a simulation of a voyage over the equator - along the African coast. There the boat would have to surmout waves ten meters high. Eberhard Wagner gives a positive summary: "Even with the heavy seas that we saw today, we discovered that the deck area for the drilling rig stays nearly 100 percent free of water. That means conditions for the scientists are optimal." Against disruptive forces - Aurora Borealis will be cruising mainly through ice-covered waters The researchers aboard the Aurora Borealis will be cruising mainly through ice-covered waters. To meet this challenge, a system of weights is used to make the model roll and list in a controlled fashion. This ability to sway will enable the icebreaker to overcome the thickest of obstacles. The Aurora Borealis is later expected to master ice ridges up to 15 meters high. But the icebreaker can only drill in the ice if it can maintain its position, meaning it has to break ice when standing still. The model is put through a channel simulating drift ice in the open sea. More than 70 measurements are taken as the model goes through. Complicated maneuver - The ship will be build from 2012 Maintaining a position in drifting ice is the most difficult of all nautical manouvers. To help those on the bridge, researchers have developed a sophisticated propulsion system. Six transverse propellers are installed beneath the icebreaker. Three are at the bow and three at the stern. Together with the main propellors, they can move the Aurora in any direction, allowing it to be steered against the drifting ice. Up to now, everyone is satisfied with the results. The Aurora Borealis has stood the course in all conditions. Even when the enormous icebergs press against the side of the vessel. The ice fragments in the canal may just measure centimeters, but they correspond to tons of ice drifting against the ship under actual conditions. Berend Pruin: "We're satisfied, and we're convinced we can achieve the desired level of performance with the ship." The model has passed the tests and it's time to celebrate. In 2012, building is due to begin on the real Aurora Borealis.

• 10/3/09
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A report by: Grit HofmannThis scientist from Argentina has been working for two years at the Center for Maritime Tropical Ecology in Bremen. Her research focuses on algae in near-coastal areas. They proliferate rapidly due to nutrients entering the ocean from the land. This has a profound effect on the entire coastal habitat, including coral reefs.In our Brilliant Minds series Tomorrow Today presents young scientists from around the world who live and do research in Germany.

• 10/3/09
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"In up to five, up to ten years we will have the opportunity to use against existing plaques. But probably in ten up to twenty years we will also have a vaccine which can be applied to healthy humans.

• 9/8/09
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