@misc{MuellerRoeberZimmermannEckardtetal.2015,
  author    = {M{\"u}ller-R{\"o}ber, Bernd and Zimmermann, Matthias and Eckardt, Barbara and J{\"a}ger, Heidi and Kampe, Heike and Horn-Conrad, Antje and J{\"a}ger, Sophie},
  title     = {Portal Wissen = Paths},
  number    = {01/2015},
  organization    = {University of Potsdam, Press and Public Relations Department},
  issn      = {2198-9974},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-44150},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-441506},
  pages     = {55},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {How traits are inherited from one generation to the next, how mutations change genetic information and consequently contribute to the development of new characteristics and emergence of new species - all these are exciting biological questions. Over millions of years, genetic differentiation has brought about an incredible diversity of species. Evolution has followed many different paths. It has led to an awesome natural biodiversity - to organisms that have adapted to very different environments and are sometimes oddly shaped or behave strangely. Humanmade biodiversity is stunning, too. Just think of the 10,000 rose varieties whose beauty delights, or the myriad wheat, barley, and corn variations; plants that had all once been plain grasses feed us today. We humans create our own biodiversity unknown to nature. And it is serving us well. Thanks to genome research we are now able to read the complete genetic information of organisms within a few hours or days. It takes much longer, however, to functionally map the many genomic sequences. Researchers achieve this through various methods: Activating or deactivating genes systematically, modifying their code, and exchanging genetic information between organisms have become standard procedures worldwide. The path to knowledge is often intricate, though. Elaborate experimental approaches are often necessary to gain insight into biological processes. Methods of genomic research enable us to investigate not only what is "out there" in nature, but also to ask, "How does a living organism, like a moss, react when sent to the International Space Station (ISS)? Can we gain knowledge about the adaptation strategies of living beings in harsh environmental conditions or even for colonizing the Moon or Mars?" Can we use synthetic biology to precisely alter microorganisms, planned on a drawing board so to speak, to create new options for treating diseases or for making innovative biology-based products? The answer to both questions is a resounding Yes! (Although moving to other planets is not on our present agenda.) Human land use determines biodiversity. On the other hand, organisms influence the formation of landscapes and, sooner or later, the composition of our atmosphere. This also leads to exciting scientific questions. Researchers have to strike new paths to reach new conclusions. Paths often cross other paths. A few years ago it was still unforeseeable that ecological research would substantially benefit from fast DNA sequencing methods. Genome researchers could hardly assume that the same techniques would lead to new possibilities for examining the highly complex cellular regulation and optimizing biotechnological processes. You will find examples of the multi-faceted research in biology as well as other very interesting articles in the latest edition of Portal Wissen. I wish you an enjoyable read! Prof. Dr. Bernd M{\"u}ller-R{\"o}ber Professor of Molecular Biology},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{HafnerZimmermannRostetal.2014,
  author    = {Hafner, Johann Evangelist and Zimmermann, Matthias and Rost, Sophia and S{\"u}tterlin, Sabine and Kampe, Heike and Horn-Conrad, Antje and J{\"a}ger, Sophie and Eckardt, Barbara and Mangelsdorf, Birgit},
  title     = {Portal Wissen = Believe},
  number    = {01/2014},
  organization    = {University of Potsdam, Press and Public Relations Department},
  issn      = {2198-9974},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-44146},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-441461},
  pages     = {55},
  year      = {2014},
  abstract  = {People want to know what is real. Children enjoy listening to a story but when my children were about four years old they started asking whether the story really happened or was just invented. Likewise, only on a higher level, our academic curiosity is fuelled by our interest in knowing what is real. When we analyze poetic texts or dreams we are trying to distinguish between the facts (e.g. neurological ones or linguistic structures) and merely assumed influences. Ideally we can present results that were logically understood by others and that we can repeat empirically. But in most cases this is not possible. We cannot read every book and cannot look through every microscope, not even within our own discipline. In the world we live in we depend on trusting the information of others, like how to get to the train station or what the weather is like in Ulaanbataar. This is why we are used to believing others, our friends or the news anchors. This is not a childish behavior but a necessity. Of course, it is risky because they could all be lying to us, like in a Truman Show situation. The only time we are able to know that we are in reality is when we transcend our selfconsciousness and when we accept two propositions: first, that we are not only objects but also subjects in the consciousness of others and second that our dialogic relations are again observed by a third party that is not part of this intersubjective world. For religious people this is "belief" - belief as the assumption that all human relations only become real, serious and beyond any doubt if they know they are under the eyes of God. Only before Him something is in itself and not only "for me" or "among us". That is why biblical language distinguishes between three forms of belief: the relationship with the world of things ("to believe that"), the relationship to the world of subjects ("to believe somebody") and the assumption of a subjective supernatural reality ("to believe in" or "faith"). From an academic point of view belief is a holistic hypothesis. Belief is not the opposite of knowledge but it is the attempt to save reality from doubt by comprehending the fragile empirical world as an expression of a stable transcendent world. When I talk to students they often ask not only about what I know but what I believe. As a professor for Religious Studies and a believing Catholic I am caught in the middle. On the one hand, it is my duty as a professor to doubt everything, i.e. to attribute each religious text to its historical context and sociological functions. On the other hand, I, as a Christian, consider certain religious documents, in my case the Bible, an interpretable but nevertheless irreversible, revealed text about the origin of reality. On weekdays the New Testament is a collection of ancient writings among many others, on Sundays it is the revelation. You can make a clear distinction between these two perspectives but it is difficult to decide whether doubt or belief is more real. This issue of "Portal Wissen" explores this dual relationship of belief. What is the attitude of science towards belief - is it a religious one? Where does science bring things to light that we can hardly believe or that make us believe (again)? What happens if research clears up erroneous assumptions or myths? Is science able to investigate things that are convincing but inexplicable? How can it maintain its credibility and develop even so? These questions appear again and again in the contributions of this "Portal Wissen". They form a manifold, exciting and surprising picture of the research projects and academics at the University of Potsdam. Believe me, it will be an enjoyable read. Prof. Johann Hafner Professor of Religious Studies with Focus on Christianity Dean of the Faculty of Arts},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{WilkensSuetterlinKampeetal.2014,
  author    = {Wilkens, Martin and S{\"u}tterlin, Sabine and Kampe, Heike and Eckardt, Barbara and J{\"a}ger, Sophie and Zimmermann, Matthias},
  title     = {Portal Wissen = Time},
  number    = {02/2014},
  organization    = {University of Potsdam, Press and Public Relations Department},
  issn      = {2198-9974},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-44149},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-441497},
  pages     = {55},
  year      = {2014},
  abstract  = {"What then is time?", Augustine of Hippo sighs melancholically in Book XI of "Confessions" and continues, "If no one asks me, I know; if I want to explain it to a questioner, I don't know." Even today, 1584 years after Augustine, time still appears mysterious. Treatises about the essence of time fill whole libraries - and this magazine. However, questions of essence are alien to modern sciences. Time is - at least in physics - unproblematic: "Time is defined so that motion looks simple", briefly and prosaically phrased, waves goodbye to Augustine's riddle and to the Newtonian concept of absolute time, whose mathematical flow can only be approximately recorded with earthly instruments anyway. In our everyday language and even in science we still speak of the flow of time but time has not been a natural condition for quite a while now. It is rather a conventional order parameter for change and movement. Processes are arranged by using a class of processes as a counting system in order to compare other processes and to organize them with the help of the temporary categories "before", "during", and "after". During Galileo's time one's own pulse was seen as the time standard for the flight of cannon balls. More sophisticated examination methods later made this seem too impractical. The distance-time diagrams of free-flying cannon balls turned out to be rather imprecise, difficult to replicate, and in no way "simple". Nowadays, we use cesium atoms. A process is said to take one second when a caesium-133 atom completes 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between two hyperfine levels of the ground state. A meter is the length of the path travelled by light in a vacuum in exactly 1/299,792,458 of a second. Fortunately, these data are hard-coded in the Global Positioning System GPS so users do not have to reenter them each time they want to know where they are. In the future, however, they might have to download an app because the time standard has been replaced by sophisticated transitions to ytterbium. The conventional character of the time concept should not tempt us to believe that everything is somehow relative and, as a result, arbitrary. The relation of one's own pulse to an atomic clock is absolute and as real as the relation of an hourglass to the path of the sun. The exact sciences are relational sciences. They are not about the thing-initself as Newton and Kant dreamt, but rather about relations as Leibniz and, later, Mach pointed out. It is not surprising that the physical time standard turned out to be rather impractical for other scientists. The psychology of time perception tells us - and you will all agree - that the perceived age is quite different from the physical age. The older we get the shorter the years seem. If we simply assume that perceived duration is inversely related to physical age and that a 20-year old also perceives a physical year as a psychological one, we come to the surprising discovery that at 90 years we are 90 years old. With an assumed life expectancy of 90 years, 67\% (or 82\%) of your felt lifetime is behind you at the age of 20 (or 40) physical years. Before we start to wallow in melancholy in the face of the "relativity of time", let me again quote Augustine. "But at any rate this much I dare affirm I know: that if nothing passed there would be no past time; if nothing were approaching, there would be no future time; if nothing were, there would be no present time." Well, - or as Bob Dylan sings "The times they are a-changin". I wish you an exciting time reading this issue. Prof. Martin Wilkens Professor of Quantum Optics},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{DemskeSuetterlinRostetal.2013,
  author    = {Demske, Ulrike and S{\"u}tterlin, Sabine and Rost, Sophia and Zimmermann, Matthias and Kampe, Heike and Eckardt, Barbara and Horn-Conrad, Antje},
  title     = {Portal Wissen = Borders},
  number    = {02/2013},
  organization    = {University of Potsdam, Press and Public Relations Department},
  issn      = {2198-9974},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-44143},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-441430},
  pages     = {55},
  year      = {2013},
  abstract  = {The new edition of the Potsdam Research Magazine "Portal Wissen" approaches the subject "Borders" from different perspectives. As a linguist, this headline makes me think of linguistic borders and the effects that might result from the contact of two languages at a particular border. There is, for instance, ample evidence of code-switching, i.e. the use of material from at least two languages in a single utterance. The reasons for code-switching can be manifold. On the one hand, code-switching may result from a limited language competence, for example if a speaker lacks a particular word in a nonnative language. On the other hand, code-switching may be a matter of prestige if the speaker wants to demonstrate his or her affiliation to a certain social group by switching languages. If code-switching does not only occur sporadically but involves whole language communities over a longer period of time, it can result in significant changes of the involved languages. Which language "gives" and which one "takes" is determined by sociolinguistic factors. It is, hence, quite easy to predict that German varieties spoken in language islands in South and Eastern Europe as well as in North and Latin America will absorb more and more language material from their neighbouring languages until they disappear unless political will strives to preserve these language varieties. Increasing mobility of modern societies has multiplied the extent and the intensity of language contact and certainly comprises a large number of different contact situations besides the one most commonly known, i.e. the contact between German and English. From a historic point of view, German witnesses a strong influence of various Romance languages such as Latin, French and Italian. In Potsdam, one cannot help being reminded of the French influence during the 18th century. Overcoming language borders becomes also apparent in the everyday life of an international research university. In March this year, the Annual Conference of the German Linguistic Society took place in Potsdam, with more than 500 participants. Lingua franca of this conference was English. Compared to previous conferences, this further increased the number of international participants. The articles in this edition illustrate various approaches to the topic "Borders": On the trail of "Boundary Surveys", we follow the Australian explorer Ludwig Leichhardt. "Travellers Across Borders" is focussed on articles dealing with the literature of the colonial Caribbean or with the work of an Italian geologist deep beneath the earth's surface, for example. Looking for the "Boundless", our authors follow scientists who discuss questions like "Why love hurts?". The present issue of "Portal Wissen" also takes into account "Drawing Up Borders" in an article that is concerned with the limits of workrelated stress. Instances of successful "Border Crossing" are provided by the "Handkerchief Lab" as well as by new biotechnological applications. I would like to wish you inspiring border experiences, hoping that you will get many impulses for crossing professional borders in your field of expertise. Prof. Ulrike Demske Professor of the History and the Varieties of the German Language Vice President International Affairs, Alumni and Fundraising},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{StreckerKampeSuetterlinetal.2013,
  author    = {Strecker, Manfred and Kampe, Heike and S{\"u}tterlin, Sabine and Horn-Conrad, Antje and Zimmermann, Matthias and Eckardt, Barbara and G{\"o}rlich, Petra},
  title     = {Portal Wissen = Layers},
  number    = {01/2013},
  organization    = {University of Potsdam, Press and Public Relations Department},
  issn      = {2198-9974},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-44140},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-441404},
  pages     = {53},
  year      = {2013},
  abstract  = {The latest edition of our Potsdam Research Magazine "Portal Wissen" addresses the topic "Layers" in many different ways. Geoscientists often deal with layers: layers of soil, sediment, or rock are the evidence of repeated and long-lasting processes of erosion and sedimentation that took place in the early history of the earth. For instance, mountains are eroded by water, ice and wind. The sand that results from that erosion might eventually form a new layer on the ocean floor known as a sediment horizon. After tens of millions of years, tectonic plate movements can deform the ocean floor, pushing it upwards as mountains are created, bringing the layers of sand from former mountain chains together with fossilized sea dwellers into the realm of climbers and mountaineers - a fundamental cycle within the Earth system that was succinctly described by Ibn Sina nearly 1000 years ago, and later by Charles Darwin when he was crossing the Andes. The landscape around us overlays the products of recent processes with those from the past. Slow processes or extreme events that happen very rarely - like floods, earthquakes or rockslides - wipe out certain characteristics, while others remain on the surface. In this sense, the landscape is like a palimpsest - a piece of parchment that monks in the Middle Ages scraped clean again and again to write something new. Analysing rock layers and soil is similar to the work of a detective. Geophysical deep sounding with sound and radar waves, precise measurements of motions related to earthquakes, and deep boreholes each provide a glimpse of the characteristics of what lies beneath us, giving us a better understanding of spatial distribution of the various layers. Fossils can tell us the age of a layer of sediment, while radiometric isotopes in minerals reveal how quickly a rock moved from deep within the Earth up to the surface, perhaps during the process of mountain building. Thin layers of ash tell us when there was a devastating volcanic eruption that influenced environmental conditions. The shape, gradation, and surface conditions of sand grains reflect whether wind or water was responsible for their transport. We know, for instance, that northern Germany was a desert landscape more than 260 million years ago. At that time, the wind made huge dunes migrate across the region. Over time, climate and vegetation slowly alter the physical and chemical characteristics of sand and rock at the surface, turning them into soil, the epidermis of our planet. Mineralogical analyses of layers of the soil layer tell us whether the climate was dry or wet. These kinds of observations allow us to reconstruct links between our climate system and processes that have taken place on the Earth's surface, as well as those processes that originate at much deeper levels. The clues we use might be hidden under the surface of the earth or clearly visible on the surface, like in the mountains, or even in freshly cut rock alongside roads. On the following pages, we invite you to accompany scientists from Potsdam into their world of research. They track hidden traces of longgone earthquakes in the Tien Shan Mountains; they discover ancient forms of life in deep-sea sediments. They even examine layers in outer space that can tell us something about the formation of planets. "Portal Wissen" not only presents scientists of the University of Potsdam who deal with the sequence of layers formed by solid rock, but also those scientists who deal with levels of education or social strata. Research scientists explain how to implement the social mission of inclusion in teaching, and how pupils from the Berlin district Kreuzberg examine language in urban neighbourhoods together with students from the University of Potsdam. Although these types of "layers" are very different, they all have something in common. Their structure and profile are evidence of continuously changing conditions. The present will leave traces and layers that future geoscientists will measure and examine. We already speak of the Anthropocene, a geological era dominated by humans, which is characterized by far-reaching changes in erosion and sedimentation rates, and the displacement of natural habitats. I hope that you will discover exciting and inspiring stories in this edition. And remember - it is always worth having a look beneath the surface. Prof. Manfred Strecker, PHD Professor of Geology},
  language  = {en}
}