Editorial

May 20, 2019

Our next installment of Köpfe und Ideen is an interview with the Swedish sociologist Richard Swedberg, in which he pleads for a sporty approach to theory building. The ability to theorize is – at least theoretically – something that all human beings have at their disposal.  In conversation with Hans-Joachim Neubauer he argues that it first requires practice and a certain impartiality. In the second step time and fresh air are of use.

April 11, 2019

Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor is one of two writers in residence of the current Fellow group and has swapped Nairobi for Berlin for a year. For Köpfe und Ideen she has composed a reluctant love letter to her temporary home – which is at the same time a document of a journey into foreign lands.

March 6, 2019

The second installment of this year’s Köpfe und Ideen once again takes us deep into the realm of evolution with Permanent Fellow Dieter Ebert. The evolutionary ecologist/geneticist investigates one of biology’s most widely ranging themes, namely the eternal game of virulence and resistance. His model system is Daphnia and its symbionts – water fleas and their accompanying bacteria, viruses and microsporidia. Sonja Kastilan has a look at his work.

January 31, 2019

Today I am sending you the first of five texts for the latest edition of our magazine   Köpfe und Ideen.    In the present article the science-writer Manuela Lenzen describes one of this year’s focus groups “The Major Evolutionary Transitions in Organismality.” Three of the Fellows in this group give accounts of their work on a theory which would explain the cooperation within organisms, whose entities – whether individual cells or individual creatures – must in fact be on a competitive footing with each other for the best resources.