MaxPlanckResearch 3/2018

In no other federal state are as many people admitted to psychiatric units against their will as in Bavaria: the numbers add up to around 60,000 a year, almost two and a half times as many as in Baden-Wuerttemberg. Now the free state is revising the corresponding legislation. As in other federal states, this law will in future be known as the Psychisch-Kranken-Hilfe-Gesetz (Act on Assistance for Persons with Mental Illness). However, our author is critical of the new regulations and does not believe that they provide appropriate support for persons with psychiatric disorders. On the contrary, these patients are classified as a danger to the public.

Brilliant-cut diamonds can emit a dazzling array of light, but that is not what attracts Joerg Wrachtrup to these precious stones. The Professor of Physics at the University of Stuttgart and Fellow at Stuttgart’s Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research works with less conspicuous diamonds. His team uses these to develop sensors that are intended to allow live observation of the molecular machinery in a living cell. These insights into the nanoworld could also be of benefit in medicine.

He was one of the first computer science students in Germany. Today, Kurt Mehlhorn, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics in Saarbruecken, can look back on the many problems he has solved – with solutions that are also applicable to navigation systems and search engines. At least as important to him, however, are the numerous academic careers that began in his group. And he still has ideas for new research projects.

Storms, droughts and extreme rainfall could become more frequent due to global warming. At any rate, climate researchers are discussing this eventuality and are analyzing measured data to determine whether such a trend can already be observed. Holger Kantz and his colleagues at Dresden’s Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems are developing the necessary statistical tools.

Researching the old to develop the new – what better place to do this than in Florence? At the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max Planck Institute, the “Ethics and Architecture” research group led by Brigitte Soelch and Hana Gruendler invites discussion of the history and theory of architecture and the applicability of its teachings to the present and future of building.