What you see there in the corner of my future laboratory is not part of an experiment. That’s my dog, Twister.

What drives researchers and what they are currently working on: we looked over their shoulders – and found some surprising answers. 

Worldwide competition to attract the best researchers is fierce. German universities are increasingly joining the fray – and succeeding in recruiting vast numbers of top academics. 

Wolfgang Herrmann, President of TU München (TUM), talks about appointment policies, envy among professors – and the significance of Italian food. 

Academia as the melting pot of the 21st century: who has the best ideas is only revealed by international comparison. Comment by Enno Aufderheide, secretary general of the Humboldt Foundation. 

Germany has a long tradition as a location for research. Many innovations from here have shaped our world. 

Personal considerations often play a decisive role in appointments. Universities are responding – and offering employment to researchers’ partners as well. “Dual careers” is the new magic formula. 

What does Germany have to do to attract top-flight researchers? And how can the private sector get involved? A discussion with Lorraine Daston, director at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Arend Oetker, president of the Stifterverband, and Helmut Schwarz, president of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. 

Alexander von Humboldt laid the foundations for academic disciplines that are still highly topical today. 

Psychologist Gerdi Weidner examines how heart transplants can become unnecessary. 

Anyone who has worked as a researcher in Germany later becomes an unofficial ambassador for the Federal Republic in his or her home country. But what do researchers take back home from their everyday life here? We asked them for their shopping lists. 

Emotion, condition, attitude or occurrence – what exactly is happiness? Although it is a subjective sensation, scientists regularly try to measure happiness objectively and determine the circumstances under which humans are happiest.

In addition to gross national product, progressive politicians advocate also measuring the gross national happiness of their countries. A number of happiness researchers are working on just that. One result is the “World Map of Happiness”. 

Are happy people healthier, more successful, do they even live longer than those who are unhappy? Psychiatrist Manfred Spitzer examines happiness scientifically and undermines the assertion that school marks the beginning of the “serious side of life”. 

The American television journalist Gil Pimentel came to Germany as an Humboldtian one year after the fall of the Berlin Wall. He describes his impressions of that time and the beginning of his love affair with his host country in these fictitious letters to his sponsor Alexander von Humboldt.

To many Russians, the GDR seemed like a consumers’ paradise enjoying comparative freedom. When the East German “brother nation” chose the West, this surprisingly aroused not disapproval, but sympathy in Russia – a sympathy that continues to this day. 

Chemist Joachim Sauer is one of the researchers from East Germany who was successful both before and after the Wende. A discussion about the achievements and injustices of reunification and about research careers between conformism and creative resistance. 

The esteem in which we hold internationality often results in a paradox. On the one hand, a researcher’s origins are considered irrelevant when it comes to research. On the other hand, there is thought to be a correlation between the international composition of a research institute and its quality.

In Alexander von Humboldt’s time, people spoke of research expeditions. If you discuss research mobility today, you are not simply talking about gaining new knowledge in far-off climes. On the motives for scientific migration: between location factors, career targets and professional networking. 

About frozen moving vans; wrestling with foreign languages and authorities; academic provincialism and the joys of being a citizen of the world. Experiences of a mobile researcher couple. 

Female Humboldtians in the most diverse countries, disciplines and career stages report on their experiences. What emerges is a very personal, strongly individual picture which, although it would not count as representative if strict statistical criteria were applied, is a very revealing one. 

Only about one in eight top positions in German research was held by a woman in 2007, relegating Germany to the bottom of the league Europe-wide. A conversation with Chemist Katharina Kohse-Höinghaus about causes and remedies. 

In the conflict between Creationists and Darwinists, the pious and the researchers collide head-on. But science and religion are not good for a new round in the clash of cultures; on the contrary, they need each other. 

Researchers may believe in theories, but seldom in miracles. Thus conflicts with religion may seem inevitable, whereby questions of faith already keep researchers occupied amongst themselves. 

Why in literary criticism persuasion is everything.

We put this question to four Humboldtians. Four personal responses and thoughts on the role of the uncertain, of intuition and of faith in research.

The blind can see again, diseases like malaria and Alzheimer’s can be cured and storms can be accurately forecast months in advance: Eight researchers from various disciplines agreed to give free rein to their imagination and say what they think are the most important challenges facing their subject and research as a whole; which discoveries they dream of and which they fear. 

Sometimes the future lies in the past. Historian Alexander Geppert talks about the role of utopias and nostalgia in space travel. 

A discussion with the chemist Helmut Schwarz, President of the Humboldt Foundation, on visions for chemistry.

Mathematicians are difficult and solitary, shut away in their rooms brooding over complicated formulae. At least, that’s the usual cliché. This is the kind of prejudice that comes about, say the mathematicians, because mathematics use an abstract language which alienates the layperson. Whereas mathematics are multifaceted, fascinating and omnipresent around the globe. Time for the researchers and the public to get closer.

According to the popular biographies, Alexander von Humboldt, the naturalist, had no particular affiliation to mathematics. But, in reality, he was actually seriously involved in their promotion. 

If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen ’em all. Whenever films are supposed to feature researchers, scriptwriters always come up with the same ideas. Unless, of course, we are talking mathematics. Why Hollywood loves heroes with numbers on the brain. 

Olga Holtz was granted the Sofja Kovalevskaja Award in 2006, upon which she left Berkeley and came to work in Berlin.

Since 1997, the Humboldt Foundation has been sponsoring scientists and scholars from developing countries by granting them tailormade Georg Forster Research Fellowships. Six personal success stories.

Nigerian linguist, Bassey Antia, and German economist, Michael Kirk, talk about learning from one another, northsouth scientific fair play, and projects that really keep their promise of sustainability. 

Scientific development does not have to be a one-way street, as the Georg Forster Research Fellowship Programme shows. The Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development takes stock. 

In Nigeria it is supposed to prevent malnutrition, in Europe to help make indigenous fruit resistant to the consequences of climate change. Odunayo Adebooye is researching into the snake tomato.

How do Georg Forster Research Fellows fare after their stay in Germany? How many alumni return to their countries of origin, what problems do they face, and what opportunities open up for them? Findings of a survey.

Shut them away for good is a phrase often heard when people in pubs talk about prisoners in danger of recidivism, and not just in German pubs either. How does the judiciary in Germany and Argentina deal with this touchy issue?

Despite all the research that has gone on, large earthquakes are disastrous, especially in developing countries. Earthquake-resistant housing is what is required, but it is not being built. Traditional timber-framed construction methods like used for the traditional German could solve the problem. Iranian and German researchers have hit on the unplumbed potential of ancient architecture.

Amina Saied and Jens Gebauer are the personification of the Humboldt Network, and both work for the same goals: utilising local resources, preserving biodiversity and guiding young researchers through the academic jungle.

Germans are known to be self-critical. German scholars and historians are no exception - even, and particularly during the Year of the Humanities that is dedicated to them. It is time for a eulogy from the perspective of foreign academics who consider Germany a scholarly paradise.

In its recommendations on the state of humanities in Germany, the German Science Council has pinpointed strengths and weaknesses and has come forward with ideas for improvement.

Why an astrophysicist can make a good expert on Goethe. German scholar Walter Hinderer talks about his exchange with natural scientists and the self-image of his discipline at Ivy League University Princeton.

What the West interprets as provocation, is seen in Iran as proof of national sovereignty. Jennifer Jenkins on historical and recent nationalism in Iran as a cause of current conflicts.

With his prognoses on international politics he has become one of the most influential authors in the United States. The British historian, Paul Kennedy, from Yale, is considered to have been one of the brains behind the Clinton era. Thoughts on India and China as future super powers, the likelihood of military conflicts, the poker-player Vladimir Putin and the unrecognised strengths of the Europeans.

Rising Japanese life expectancy is creating new challenges for the country's legal system. A new guardianship system based on German experiences is designed to allow dignified and selfdetermined ageing.

Kosmos talked to the Science Council's Secretary- General Wedig von Heyden about rampant evaluation fever, dreams of a German Harvard and the future of academic quality control.

When it comes to promoting quality at higher education institutions, African universities use the same recipes as the Europeans. Bologna appears to be everywhere.

There is a new dominant stag in the territory of the research indices. In future, everything that can be said about the academic performance of a researcher is to be captured in a single coefficient.

Since it is so difficult to measure their success, scholars will seek their salvation in busying themselves even more with research, teaching and studying. Yet it is idleness, trying things out and letting them tick over that often results in the best ideas - as natural scientists, of all people, will only be too ready to assure their despondent colleagues.

Every Humboldtian has to go through it. Who becomes a Fellow and who doesn't is up to the Foundation's Selection Committee. An insider report.

Most German postdocs wishing to go abroad head for the United States - given the high academic standards and better career prospects. The following examples show that there are other options, too.

Hungarian universities are swapping over to Bachelor courses, a change of system with unclear implications for the quality of teaching and research.

Sociologist Peter Weingart on politicians' longing to get things straight, on reports disappearing in drawers, and on academics having a go at being politicians.

Research on stem cells in the USA is under pressure. While the patients are expecting to benefit from effective therapies in the near future, conservative politicians want severe restrictions imposed on research. Stem cell researcher David Anderson on his discipline, which has turned into a political issue.

The hour of the scientific policy advisors has come in the European Union's accession negotiations with Turkey. Two Humboldtians are among the experts being consulted.

In dialogue with the Islamic World: similarities, differences and new ideas in public diplomacy on both sides of the Atlantic. A comparison of German and American strategies.

As a resistance fighter against the Apartheid regime, he was a prisoner on Robben Island, together with Nelson Mandela. Today, educationalist Neville Alexander is regarded as one of South Africa's most important intellectuals and education experts. Kosmos talked to him about the links between science and politics and the sort of education system South Africa needs in order to compete in science internationally.

In Japanese literature, whether it be classic poetry or today's light reading for people on the underground, pictures play an important role. Kosmos talked to German language and literature scholar Teruaki Takahashi about Japanese traditions, European influence and Japan's special liking for comics.

Mutual concepts of the enemy have not only started to poison the relations between the Western and the Islamic world since the 11th September 2001. Tit-fortat disparagement can draw on tradition. Kosmos talked to art historian Lucy-Anne Hunt about the renaissance of the crusader image and its historical roots.

Liquid crystals are observed under a polarisation microscope in the laboratory. But they really belong in art galleries.

In Germany's Federal Parliament elections, parties scrambled for the final percentage points with sophisticated election campaigns - only to end up with a stalemate. Small wonder, say Russian observers. Reason enough to compare German and Russian election campaigns.

They are bent on broadcasting time but still criticise the flood of images that media democracy produces. In the year 2005, modern politicians are sitting in the image trap. The ideas of a fifteenth-century philosopher could help them out. 

Imaging methods have revolutionised brain research and turned it into a topic of public debate. Kosmos talked to neurologist Hans-Jochen Heinze about why the colourful pictures of the brain are so suggestive, what new therapies they can pave the way to and how brain research could also help the healthy in future. 

When it comes to competing for the best brains, the USA can clearly boast a long-standing lead. But America's supremacy is on the wane - for reasons of its own making. Whereas a successful model has been put on the line at home, it is in fact inspiring the country's rivals.

Originally, historian Sven Beckert had only intended to study at New York's Columbia University and then return to Germany. But one year turned into eighteen. Now however, as a Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Award Winner, Beckert is spending a longer period in Germany for the first time again. Kosmos talked to him about the advantages of American universities, what frustrates German doctoral candidates and his newly discovered enthusiasm about living in Europe.

Yes, he really does still exist: the travelling researcher tracing the tracks of Humboldt around the world and feeling at home wherever he happens to pitch his tent. French palaeontologist Denis-Didier Rousseau gives an account of his work.

The Chilean political scholar Carlos Huneeus was the first Ambassador of the Aylwin administration in Germany. Kosmos talked to him about his moving between politics and science.

Europe is running out of researchers - says the EU and seeks to promote the mobility of scientists and scholars. However, reliable figures on migrations in, to and from Europe are not available.

Poland is terra incognita to most West European academics. Irena Lipowicz thinks this ought to change. The Ambassador for German-Polish Relations speaks about her country's image in Europe, the tough measures required during the run-up to accession to the EU and jokes that are no longer funny for young Poles.

Stemming the brain drain is not a priority everywhere. The conditions Iranian academics have to live in at home are almost an invitation for them to emigrate.