University Of Tübingen’s Summer University 2023 Presents Research On From Alzheimer’s To Neutrino Physics

Series of events organized by the university and university town of Tübingen: Ten lectures will address topics such as astrophysics, health, artificial intelligence or literature from crisis areas
In August, the Summer University will again give a wide audience insights into the current research of scientists in ten lectures. The series is organized together with the university town of Tübingen. The lectures will take place from Monday, July 31 to Friday, August 11 at 10:15 a.m. in the lecture hall of the Theologicum (duration 45 minutes; address: Liebermeisterstraße 16, 72074 Tübingen) . The audience can then ask questions and discuss their research topics with the experts. Admission is free, registration is not necessary.

The program:

Monday, July 31
Prof. Dr. Mathias Jucker: Why we don’t have Alzheimer’s therapy yet

The risk of developing Alzheimer’s increases with age. Today we know that there are changes in the brain many years before the first symptoms of Alzheimer’s. What are these changes and is it important to recognize such changes early on? The first drugs that slow down the progression of the disease have been approved in the USA, but does this also apply to Germany? The lecture familiarizes you with current research and the latest scientific findings on Alzheimer’s disease.

Tuesday August 1st
Dr. Thilo Hagendorff: Can language models think?

The previous day takes a look at the latest developments in language models and their capabilities. Dubbed by some as mere word-combination machines or “stochastic parrots,” language models like GPT-4 are more than that. They develop emergent skills such as arithmetic, learning from examples, writing working code, summarizing, explaining jokes, understanding logic, making intuitive decisions, stringing together multiple problem-solving steps, inferring mental states in others, and much more. The lecture describes these abilities and explores the question of how intelligent language models actually are.

Wednesday, August 2
Prof. Dr. Benigna Schönhagen: Shaping remembrance. Conceptual considerations and curatorial experiences with the current exhibition “Unlimited Anatomy. A Tübingen Science and National Socialism”

The question of how the memory of the crimes of the Nazi era can be kept alive after the end of the era of eyewitnesses dominates the current discourse on remembrance. How can one productively visualize the knowledge of the Nazi past? Students of medicine and history have dealt with this question using the example of Tübingen anatomy. Between 1933 and 1945, they misused the bodies of hundreds of Nazi victims for teaching and research. What made this border crossing possible? What conclusions were drawn from this? What is still working today?

Thursday, August 3
Prof. Dr. medical Markus Hahn: The female breast – a special organ: facts and myths about breast health

Few organs receive as much public attention as the female breast. Many specialist disciplines of our modern high-performance medicine take care of this special organ. The University Breast Center in Tübingen is the first certified breast center in Germany and will be celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2023. Markus Hahn, Head of Experimental Senology (=the study of the breast), will address facts about breast health but also myths about this organ and present innovations from the clinical research of the Tübingen Breast Center.

Friday, August 4
Prof. Dr. Christoph Bareither: Cultures of AI: How artificial intelligence changes our coexistence

One reads everywhere that artificial intelligence will change our everyday life. But how exactly does it change him? The lecture uses examples from popular cultures (social media), cultures of remembrance (virtual eyewitnesses) and scientific cultures (ChatGPT and science) to highlight exemplary AI-related transformations of everyday culture from the perspective of empirical cultural studies.

Monday, August 7
Prof. Dr. Shamma Shahadat: New from the East: Literature from Ukraine and Belarus

“Knowledge of Belarusian literature outside of the Soviet Union is low,” wrote the Slavist Ferdinand Neureiter in 1983, and this situation has hardly changed to this day. The same was true for Ukrainian literature until recently. Political upheavals have ensured that both Belarusian and Ukrainian literature have experienced a surge in popularity. Two novels show that violence is a central theme of this literature: in Revolution (2021), the Belarusian Viktor Martynowych paints a picture of a society based on corruption and abuse of power, while Serhii Zhadan’s boarding school (2017) casts an outsider’s perspective on the war in Donbas.

Tuesday, August 8
Prof. Dr. Gunter Schubert: China under Xi Jinping – or the dream of becoming a rich and large country

Much has changed since Xi Jinping took power in China in 2012, both in China and around the world. In the media public of the “West”, the state and party leader is treated as a dictator who rules China with an iron fist and cultivates a personality cult like Mao Zedong did in his day. He is also regarded as a supporter of a new world order in which China wants to play a leading role and replace the USA as the “sole superpower”. However, these attributions paint an overly crude, if not outright distorted, picture of Xi Jinping. What are his political goals? Which problems and constraints limit his ability to act? How does his actions and his power differ from other autocrats – for example in Russia under Putin? The lecture combines an analysis of Xi Jinping’s style of rule with a consideration of the political and social challenges facing China today.

Wednesday, August 9
Prof. Dr. medical Tobias Renner: Into the future? – Therapy of mental illnesses via digital media

Developments in digital technology have made telemedical care offers a key issue in healthcare, not least because of the contact restrictions during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Telemedical treatment approaches also offer opportunities for the care of children and adolescents with mental illnesses and are increasingly being used in clinical practice. As part of the lecture, the current state of clinical and research is summarized and an insight into the current development of digitally supported psychotherapy is given.

Thursday, August 10
Prof. Dr. Tobias Lachenmaier: An observatory 700m underground: News from neutrino physics and neutrino astronomy

Neutrinos are elementary particles whose research has made enormous progress in recent years. With the participation of the University of Tübingen, a new neutrino experiment will go into operation in southern China next year, which will enable not only research into the properties of neutrinos but also astronomy with neutrinos. What can we expect to learn from the observation of astrophysical processes with neutrinos? The lecture explains current questions in neutrino physics and neutrino astronomy and what findings can be expected from the new neutrino observatory.

Friday, August 11
Prof. Dr. Stephanie Grond: The nature of microorganisms – clever chemist with an alternative for glyphosate?

Microbial natural products are a promising source for the discovery of new chemical structures. They require the use of modern chemical analysis. The molecules produced obviously confer an advantage on the microorganisms in their habitat. We are amazed at how cleverly nature has set up the successful communities – at the molecular level. The lecture shows the research methods used to discover and further develop the molecules from the bacteria. We humans want to use the chemistry of nature as a model for innovations in technical applications in medicine, agriculture or materials technology.