Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics: science & society

A Science Café is meant to be a casual, informal event on science & society-related topics – with experts and the lay public on one level. The Science Café is a co-operation with the Dresden club GrooveStation.

Please check the news section for upcoming Science Café sessions!

BRUCE ALBERTS: "Science and the World's Future".

What are new opportunities for scientists today, and what are the challenges they have to face? How will science and technology improve the human condition? When and how is science hampered by bureaucracy and a lack of energy, innovation, and resources? What could the international scientific community look like in 20 years or so?

IAN BALDWIN, Head of the Department of Molecular Ecology at the Max Planck Institute of Chemical Ecology in Jena, used a metaphor to describe what is important in order to understand the complexity of interactions that occur in nature - and to understand the need for action: "Ecology's future mission: Salvaging books from the burning library".

HELGA NOWOTNY, Vice President of the European Research Council, Professor em. of Social Studies of Science at ETH Zurich, and GIUSEPPE TESTA, Epigenetics Research Group Leader at the European Institute of Oncology (IEO) presented their book "Die gläsernen Gene - Die Erfindung des Individuums im molekularen Zeitalter" in Dresden in March 2010.

The advances in the life sciences are a new challenge for today's societies: They pose fundamental questions on what our future could be like and on the present. What is life? What is natural? What is meant by society, what by individual? Who will take decisions on effective mechanisms regulating law and ethics with regard to biomedicine and biotechnology. Is the individual of tomorrow invented today?

Helga Nowotny, an authority in the field of social studies of science, and Giuseppe Testa, who has worked at Dresden MPI-CBG for several years, published their rather provocative views on these questions and topics in 2009 in the renowned edition unseld of the German publishing house Suhrkamp Verlag. The event was a cooperation with Deutsches Hygiene-Museum and Suhrkamp Verlag.

The contributions of BENNO MÜLLER-HILL, author of the book "Murderous Science" and professor emeritus at the Institute of Genetics at the University of Cologne, to reviewing the past of science, especially in the National-Socialist Era in Germany, are very relevant, and very topical.
In his talk in March 2005 on "The Bad Past of Human Genetics in Germany", Müller Hill gave an insight into the social and philosophical challenges posed by current advances in molecular genetics. What are the guidelines a scientist can refer to when it comes to edging or crossing moral and ethical borders? What is today social responsibility for a scientist and what can the past actually teach us about this central aspect of scientific activity?

CARL DJERASSI, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at Stanford University, was invited by the Forum on Science & Society to talk on “Sex in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction” at MPI-CBG in December 2003. Djerassi is most well known for his pioneering development of the human contraceptive Pill in the 1950’s.
More recently he has written several fictional works discussing the influence of modern biomedical research on society, and vice-versa.

Former Senior Editor at Cell Press, VIVIAN SIEGEL, now Executive Director of the Public Library of Science (PLoS), addressed the outstanding theme of open access to scientific information in her Dresden talk in April 2004.
She presented the model adopted by PLoS, the recently established journal that has the ambition of publishing the best scientific work, competing with Cell, Nature and Science, and making it freely accessible on the web.

MASSIMIANO BUCCHI is a sociologist of science at the University of Trento, Italy, and one of the most active scholars in Europe in the field of public communication of life sciences.
Elaborating on the question whether genetics can help us rethink communication, Bucchi used the double helix in his Science & Society seminar in Dresden in May 2004 as a model to show the interrelations of science and the public.

SUZANNE ANKER, chair of the Art History Department, School of Viusal Arts, New York, USA, was Science and Society Speaker in December 2004.
Her seminar, entitled "The Molecular Gaze: Art in the Genetic Age", illustrated the artistic perception of modern science. Introducing visual art examples from various epochs and by contemporary artists, Anker highlightened the interrelationship of art and science.
Anker's works have been shown both nationally and internationally in museums and galleries. Her book The Molecular Gaze: Art in the Genetic Age, co-authored with the late Dorothy Nelkin, was published in 2004.

Initiated by the Forum Science & Society, one of his science-in-fiction plays, “Calculus”, was staged in Dresden at kleine szene of Semperoper.
In this piece, elaborating on the historic dispute of Newton and Leibniz on the authorship of the calculus, questions on scientific authorship and authority are discussed.

Adam Liska: University-industry collaborations and the harnessing of academic science.

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science & society mission projects events contact Science Cafés A Science Café is meant to be a casual, informal event on science & society-related topics – with experts and the lay public on one level. The Science Café is a co-operation with the Dresden club GrooveStation. Please check the news section for upcoming Science Café sessions! Seminars BRUCE ALBERTS: "Science and the World's Future". What are new opportunities for scientists today, and what are the challenges they have to face? How will science and technology improve the human condition? When and how is science hampered by bureaucracy and a lack of energy, innovation, and resources? What could the international scientific community look like in 20 years or so? IAN BALDWIN, Head of the Department of Molecular Ecology at the Max Planck Institute of Chemical Ecology in Jena, used a metaphor to describe what is important in order to understand the complexity of interactions that occur in nature - and to understand the need for action: "Ecology's future mission: Salvaging books from the burning library". HELGA NOWOTNY, Vice President of the European Research Council, Professor em. of Social Studies of Science at ETH Zurich, and GIUSEPPE TESTA, Epigenetics Research Group Leader at the European Institute of Oncology (IEO) presented their book "Die gläsernen Gene - Die Erfindung des Individuums im molekularen Zeitalter" in Dresden in March 2010. The advances in the life sciences are a new challenge for today's societies: They pose fundamental questions on what our future could be like and on the present. What is life? What is natural? What is meant by society, what by individual? Who will take decisions on effective mechanisms regulating law and ethics with regard to biomedicine and biotechnology. Is the individual of tomorrow invented today? Helga Nowotny, an authority in the field of social studies of science, and Giuseppe Testa, who has worked at Dresden MPI-CBG for several years, published their rather provocative views on these questions and topics in 2009 in the renowned edition unseld of the German publishing house Suhrkamp Verlag. The event was a cooperation with Deutsches Hygiene-Museum and Suhrkamp Verlag. The contributions of BENNO MÜLLER-HILL, author of the book "Murderous Science" and professor emeritus at the Institute of Genetics at the University of Cologne, to reviewing the past of science, especially in the National-Socialist Era in Germany, are very relevant, and very topical. In his talk in March 2005 on "The Bad Past of Human Genetics in Germany", Müller Hill gave an insight into the social and philosophical challenges posed by current advances in molecular genetics. What are the guidelines a scientist can refer to when it comes to edging or crossing moral and ethical borders? What is today social responsibility for a scientist and what can the past actually teach us about this central aspect of scientific activity? CARL DJERASSI, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at Stanford University, was invited by the Forum on Science & Society to talk on “Sex in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction” at MPI-CBG in December 2003. Djerassi is most well known for his pioneering development of the human contraceptive Pill in the 1950’s. More recently he has written several fictional works discussing the influence of modern biomedical research on society, and vice-versa. Former Senior Editor at Cell Press, VIVIAN SIEGEL, now Executive Director of the Public Library of Science (PLoS), addressed the outstanding theme of open access to scientific information in her Dresden talk in April 2004. She presented the model adopted by PLoS, the recently established journal that has the ambition of publishing the best scientific work, competing with Cell, Nature and Science, and making it freely accessible on the web. MASSIMIANO BUCCHI is a sociologist of science at the University of Trento, Italy, and one of the most active scholars in Europe in the field of public communication of life sciences. Elaborating on the question whether genetics can help us rethink communication, Bucchi used the double helix in his Science & Society seminar in Dresden in May 2004 as a model to show the interrelations of science and the public. SUZANNE ANKER, chair of the Art History Department, School of Viusal Arts, New York, USA, was Science and Society Speaker in December 2004. Her seminar, entitled "The Molecular Gaze: Art in the Genetic Age", illustrated the artistic perception of modern science. Introducing visual art examples from various epochs and by contemporary artists, Anker highlightened the interrelationship of art and science. Anker's works have been shown both nationally and internationally in museums and galleries. Her book The Molecular Gaze: Art in the Genetic Age, co-authored with the late Dorothy Nelkin, was published in 2004. Events Initiated by the Forum Science & Society, one of his science-in-fiction plays, “Calculus”, was staged in Dresden at kleine szene of Semperoper. In this piece, elaborating on the historic dispute of Newton and Leibniz on the authorship of the calculus, questions on scientific authorship and authority are discussed. Agoras Adam Liska: University-industry collaborations and the harnessing of academic science.
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