Newsroom

Stay informed with our latest news and announcements on this page. For more in-depth content, we also encourage visitors to explore our bimonthly STRUCTURES Newsletter magazine, which features a variety of articles, interviews with members, and background information on our latest research and activities.

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Re­search Visit and Talk by Oleksii Krupchytskyi: Cell Motion Bifurcations in PDE Model

STRUC­TURES is delighted to have hosted Oleksii Krupchytskyi from Penn State Uni­ver­si­ty as part of its guest programme. During his stay in Hei­del­berg, Krupchytskyi gave a special talk on "Bifurcations in a Free-Boundary PDE Model of Cell Motion". In the joint seminar of the groups of U. Schwarz and A. Marciniak-Czochra (Comprehensive Project 3: From Molecules to Cells and Tissue), Krupchytskyi demonstrated how to analytically obtain the transition from a super- to a subcritical bifurcation to motile solutions. This transition is caused by nonlinear diffusion of contractile myosin motors, as recently suggested and obtained numerically by the Schwarz group. The visit and seminar highlighted significant advancements in the understanding of cellular motility and the synergy between analytical and numerical approaches in biological research.

Further information:

Active Bystander Training on May 28, 2024

Picture of three persons and text labels: stand, speak, act.

Have you ever been in a situation where you wanted to help - but didn’t know what to do or what to say? Join us for an interactive training session to become an active bystander! The training sessions are designed to equip you with the tools and knowledge needed to intervene effectively in situations where someone may be at risk of harm or harassment. During this interactive session, you will learn practical strategies for assessing situations, de-escalating conflicts, and providing support to those in need. Experienced facilitators will guide you through real-life scenarios and provide insights on how to overcome common barriers to intervention. By becoming an active bystander, you can play a crucial role in creating safer and more inclusive spaces within our community.

The active bystander training is a joint initiative of the Collaborative Re­search Centre ISOQUANT and the STRUC­TURES Cluster of Excellence. We will be offering tailored training sessions, acknowledging different professional contexts or campus environments and fostering a safe space where everyone can speak out and share experiences without fear. 

Date: Tuesday, 28 May 2024
Time:
Session 1 (for project leaders): 09:30 - 11:00
Session 2 (for young researchers): 11:30 - 13:00
Session 3 (for young researchers): 14:00 - 15:30
All sessions will be held in English.
Location: Golden Box, Physikalisches Institut, INF 226, 69120 Hei­del­berg 

Participation is free of charge, however, prior registration is needed as places are limited. For registration, please send an email to sfb1225@thphys.uni-heidelberg.de, stating your full name, working group/institute and the session you would like to join.

We believe that by working together and empowering each other, we can make a significant difference in promoting safety and well-being for everyone in our community. If you have any questions or require further information, please don't hesitate to contact us. 

STRUC­TURES Newsletter May 2024

Newsletter ThumbnailClick on the image to open the Newsletter as PDF. 

We are happy to present the 16th volume of the STRUC­TURES Newsletter, featuring re­search news, background articles and interviews. The topics of this edition are:

  1. Sub-Neptune Migration Solves Exoplanet Puzzle
  2. Local Discontinuous Galerkin for the Functional Renormalization Group
  3. Dominika Wylezalek Re­ceives Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize
  4. YRC Elects New Representatives
  5. Hubert Klahr Re­ceives ERC Grant to Probe Origins of Solar System's Minor Bodies
  6. Innovative Visualization Unveils Biomedical Re­search Landscape

The STRUC­TURES Project Management Office is happy to answer questions.

Hubert Klahr Re­ceives ERC Advanced Grant

Hubert Klahr (© Oliver Völkel/MPIA)
 
Main belt asteroid 21 Lutetia (© ESA 2010 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA )

We congratulate our member Hubert Klahr, head of the theory group in the Planet & Star Formation department at Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) and principal investigator of STRUCTURES' Comprehensive Project 2 (From Dust to Planets), on securing one of the Eu­ro­pean Re­search Council's prestigious Advanced Grants. The prize, endowed with 2.49 million euros funding over the next five years, will support his pioneering project “Turbulence, Pebbles, and Planetesimals: Origin of Minor Bodies in the Solar System (TiPPi).”

The TiPPi project aims to unravel the mysteries surrounding the formation of minor celestial bodies, such as asteroids, comets and dwarf planets in the solar system. Most of these smaller bodies are presumed to be remnants of planetary building blocks known as planetesimals, typically ranging from a few dozen kilometres in diameter. These planetesimals formed through collisions and the accumulation of centimetre-sized chunks, referred to as 'pebbles'. Pebbles typically measure in the centimetre to decimetre range, while planetesimals range from 10 to 100 kilometres in diameter. However, “despite their immense importance for the early history of the Solar System and therefore also for the formation of the Earth, we still don’t know where and when they formed in the ‘solar nebula’,” says Hubert Klahr. “We will therefore develop an innovative numerical experiment that combines three phases of planetesimal formation. We will use special methods to study turbulence, apply ma­chine learning to analyse pebble sizes and dust opacities, and investigate the elasticity and porosity evolution of the forming planetesimals.” The re­search not only promises insights into the early history of our solar system but also offers connections to the diversity of exoplanetary systems. The techniques and tools developed will be beneficial to the broader scientific community.

The ERC Advanced Grant is one of the most esteemed and competitive re­search grants in Europe, awarded to exceptional senior researchers with the potential to catalyze significant scientific advancements. Out of 1829 applications, only 255 outstanding re­search leaders in Europe are selected for this prestigious honour.

Further information:

Scientific Ma­chine Learning Event “Ma­chine Learning Galore!” on April 25, 2024

Click on the image to open the poster as PDF.

We are happy to announce the next Scientific Ma­chine Learning event from the series “Ma­chine Learning Galore!”, taking place on April 25, 4:30 to 6:00 pm at INF 205 Mathematikon (5th floor). The event will include various lab presentations and science talks:

Ma­chine Learning galore! - Programme:

  • Lab presentations:
    • Tobias Buck
    • Holger Fröning
    • Denis Schapiro
  • Rocket Science:
    • William Oliver (Buck lab): Ma­chine Learning for cosmological simulations
    • Hendrik Borras (Fröning lab): Probabilistic Photonic Computing with Chaotic Light
    • Miguel A. Ibarra Arellano (Schapiro lab): Finding broken cells with AI and computer vision

In order to participate, please register for free at https://www.mlai.uni-heidelberg.de/en/machine-learning-talks-on-campus.

Scientific Ma­chine Learning is a joint initiative from IWR and STRUC­TURES to foster interactions within and development of the local ma­chine learning community. Its portal, http://mlai.uni-heidelberg.de summarizes the many relevant events and news from across campus that would otherwise remain scattered across single institutions or fields. The goal of the initiative aligns with the STRUC­TURES Cluster of Excellence's objective of driving re­search into the fundamental understanding of current and future ma­chine learning, and with IWR’s aim to leverage ma­chine learning to enable the solution of long-standing problems in the natural and life sciences, the engineering sciences, as well as the humanities.

Further information:

Research: Migration of Sub-Neptunes Solves Exoplanet Puzzle

Artistic representation of exoplanetArtistic representation of an exoplanet whose water ice is vaporizing and forming an atmosphere during its approach to a star. © Thomas Müller (MPIA) 

Simulations provide a potential explanation for the mysterious gap in the size distribution of super-Earths.

Astronomers from Germany and Switzerland, including STRUC­TURES member Thomas Henning (Director of Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, MPIA) and YRC Postdoc Remo Burn (MPIA), have uncovered evidence of how the enigmatic gap in the size distribution of exoplanets at around two Earth radii emerges – a longstanding problem in exoplanetary research. Their computer simulations demonstrate that the migration of icy, so-called sub-Neptunes into the inner regions of their planetary systems could account for this phenomenon. Ordinarily, planets in evolved planetary systems, such as the Solar System, follow stable orbits around their central star. However, many indications suggest that some planets might depart from their birthplaces during their early evolution by migrating inward or outward. As they draw closer to the central star, evaporating water ice forms an atmosphere that makes the planets appear larger than in their frozen state. Simultaneously, smaller rocky planets gradually lose a portion of their original gaseous envelope, causing their measured radius to shrink over time. The authors reported their findings in an article published in Nature Astronomy. (Original Press Release by MPIA)

Further information:

STRUC­TURES Members Share Insights on AI Impact, Deception & Truth Quest in RUPERTO CAROLA Magazine

Ruperto Carola Issue 24
(Source: Hei­del­berg Uni­ver­si­ty Publishing)

The latest issue of Ruperto Carola, Hei­del­berg Uni­ver­si­ty's re­search magazine, explores the pressing question of artificial intelligence's impact on society and the broader themes of “Right & Wrong.” From historical deceptions to modern dilemmas like fake news and conspiracy theories, this issue presents insightful perspectives contributed by a range of researchers, including STRUC­TURES members Georgia Koppe, Manfred Salmhofer, and Fred Hamprecht.

In a collaborative article, computational psychiatrist Georgia Koppe from STRUC­TURESalongside her colleagues Martin Fungisai Gerchen (Biological Psychology) and Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg (Psychiatry and Psychotherapy), intricately examine the interplay between various forms of heterodox beliefs, with a focus on conspiracy theories. They shed light on their characteristics, prevalence, and potential correlations with mental health factors. In the same issue, Fred Hamprecht from STRUC­TURES (Ma­chine Learning and Artificial Intelligence) engages in a conversation with ChatGPT on AI ethics. In the interview “Proofs of God and Flight Paths – The Search for Universal Truths,” mathematical physicist and speaker of the STRUC­TURES Cluster, Manfred Salmhofer and theologian Prof. Dr. Friederike Nüssel discuss the subjects of knowledge creation and the concept of “right”, “wrong” and universal truths in science.

The Rupert Carola re­search magazine appears twice a year, mainly in German with English abstracts, and addresses all members of the uni­ver­si­ty, its partners in academia, politics, business and society, and, in particular, alumni, friends and an interested public in Germany and abroad. All editions are accessible via the open access publisher Hei­del­berg Uni­ver­si­ty Publishing (heiUP).

Further information:


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D-69120 Heidelberg

+49 (0) 6221-54 9186

office@structures.uni-heidelberg.de

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