H C 02 | 2020 ar MAX RESE PLANCK Max Planck Research 2020 2020 SCIENCE HISTORY ARCHAEOGENETICS IRON RESEARCH | 02 Approved for species protection The bitter legacy of slavery A legend from the 3D printer R A ALL E ALL S ALL EARS 2 COVER: PHOTO: ADOBE STOCK; PHOTO: UNSPLASH LEFT: / JASON ROSEWELL ecording is running. REver since the development of good quality sound technology, we have been able to create background music whenever – and nearly wherever – we want it. As a current survey confirms, nearly two-thirds of people living in Germany listen to music, podcasts or the radio over their headphones several times a week. Using special technologies, researchers have been able to trace the effect of soundwaves, and can even turn them to good use. Max Planck Research · 2 | 2020 EDITORIAL Dear reader, Who thinks of physics or neurobiology when listening to “Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish or Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony? Instead, we let the sounds transport us, the voices touch our emotions, and the rhythms carry us away. But before any of that can happen, we first have to actually perceive sound. Sound reaches our ears in the form of waves; it is converted to electrical signals, which are then unscrambled by our brain’s busy switchboards. This last sentence may admittedly sound a bit flippant. But this is how one of the researchers featured in our “Focus” article describes the essence of his work – and it is far from trivial. What actually happens in our brain when it pro- cesses sound? Why do we perceive some tones or sounds as pleasant and others 3 as unpleasant? And what’s behind the success of hit songs like “Yesterday?” From the melancholy and gentle Beatles song, we move on to the raw reality of the animal kingdom. When dusk falls, the great hunt begins. Bats swoop through the air in search of prey. The animals use ultrasound to locate their targeted prey even in complete darkness. They have developed sophisticated hunting methods to ensure that moths and grasshoppers do not escape them. But the creatures they hunt have their own defenses. Speaking of ultrasound: we experience its practical application on our own bodies, for example during a thyroid gland examination. But how else can ultrasonic frequency help us? In fact, scientists are using ultrasound to join particles into three-dimensional structures. And such acoustic holograms are far more than just gimmicks. One day, they could be used to produce artificial tumors or organoids for testing pharmaceuti- cals, and in this way, probably also reduce the number of animal tests. We wish you an exciting reading experience full of surprising insights! Your editorial team Max Planck Research · 2 | 2020 40 50 PHOTOS: AXEL GRIESCH (TOP LEFT); KATHARINA DUBNO (TOP RIGHT); CRISTINA CHIMPANZEE GOMES/TAI PROJECT (BOTTOM LEFT); BIGTUNAONLINE / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO (BOTTOM RIGHT) 66 80 40 HEARD 50 FOUGHT 66 SWAPPED 80 WAVED Researchers are using modern Mariela Morales Antoniazzi Some viruses can Damascene steel is technology to track the is campaigning on behalf jump from chimpanzees often used for decoration ultrasound calls made by bats. of people in Latin America. to humans due to its pattern. Max Planck Research · 2 | 2020 CONTENT 03 | EDITORIAL 50 | VISIT TO Mariela Morales Antoniazzi 06 | ON LOCATION Campaigner for human rights In the Atacama Desert in Chile KNOWLEDGE FROM 08 | IN BRIEF 58 | Approved for species protection Europeans considered bears, wolves and ibexes 17 | NOBEL PRIZES 2020 either as a food source or as trophies, and hunted them to extinction. Yet over the last few centuries, our relationship with iconic 18 | VIEWPOINT mammals has changed. Surviving the anthroposcene 66 | Viruses from the wilderness Surviving in the Anthropocene Humans have taken dominion over the Earth – to an Some pathogens can jump from chimpanzees extent that threatens the basis for human to humans and pose a danger to them – and life. Here, new findings in science and vice-versa. technology have played a key role on the path to this new era. 74 | The bitter legacy of slavery Scientists have succeeded in returning a part of their history to three men from Africa who 5 IN FOCUS lived in Mexico City during the 16th century. All Ears 78 | “Stricter laws are a sign of 24 | Sound takes form helplessness” Ultrasound can be used to manipulate tiny An interview with Tatjana Hörnle about particles and even to arrange them in any the demand for more severe penalties in cases desired patterns through the use of acoustic of child abuse. holography. Physicists are already working on medical applications. 80 | A legend from the 3D printer In ancient times, Damascene steel was the 32 | Sound check material of choice for sword blades. Today, Operatic singing. Birdsong. Loud shouting. a form of this composite material can now be An off-pitch violin. We instinctively find some produced using a completely new technique. sounds pleasant, and others unpleasant. But how do we decide whether something sounds good or bad? 86 | POST FROM ... Santiago de Chile, Chile 40 | Getting their bearings Two shadows flit around in the evening light: a bat is chasing after a moth in a wild dance 88 | COMMUNITY NEWS between hunter and prey. But how do the animals use sound to track each other? 90 | FIVE QUESTIONS on over-fertilization and biodiversity 48 | INFOGRAPHIC 91 | PUBLISHER’S INFORMATION Racing against the virus Max Planck Research · 2 | 2020 CLOSE TO HEAVEN: THE VERY LARGE TELESCOPE IN THE ATACAMA DESERT IN CHILE. 6 PHOTO: M. CLARO/ESO Max Planck Research · 2 | 2020 ON LOCATION They are called Antu, Kueyen, Melipal and Yepun – in the 7 language of the indigenous Mapuche people, the names of the Sun, the Moon, the Southern Cross, and Venus. These four telescopes form the heart of the most advanced observa- tory in the world, at an elevation of 2,635 meters on the Cerro Paranal in the middle of the Atacama desert in Chile. From here, the astronomers probe the depths of the universe with the main mirrors, each with a diameter of 8.2 meters, and the four movable 1.8 meter auxiliary telescopes. This telescope facility, the Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory (VLT), can be connected to an interferometer that produces images of the sky with an angular resolution of thousandths of an arc second. This level of precision would enable the two headlights of a car on the moon to be distin- guishable from one another. However, the telescope is only as good as its instruments. Max Planck scientists have helped to invent some of these, such as the GRAVITY and MATISSE interferometers, the SPIFI spectrograph and the SPHERE planet hunter. Recently, researchers under the direction of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics succeeded in getting a clearer view into the heart of the Milky Way with their hi-tech optics. There they were able to observe that a star does not orbit the supermassive black hole at the heart of our Milky Way along a closed path, but rather describes an open curve in the form of a rosette. Albert Einstein predicted this effect more than a hundred years ago. Max Planck Research · 2 | 2020 IN BRIEF NEW TEam, NEW IDEas In July 2020, three new Vice Presi- manities, Social and Human Sci- Vice President of the Chemistry, dents took office at the Max Planck ences Section is Ulman Linden- Physics and Technology Section. He Society. Asifa Akhtar, Director berger, Director of the Max Planck is responsible for technology trans- of the Max Planck Institute of Institute for Human Development in fer and Cyber Valley, but the issue of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Berlin. In this position, he will take sustainability is also close to his Freiburg, is the first female Vice over the scientific management of heart. Blaum also aims to improve President of the Biology and Medi- the Minerva Foundation for the Pro- the exchange with the Chinese cine Section. Born in Pakistan, motion of Scientific Cooperation Academy of Sciences. Nicola Leibin- Akhtar wants to advance interna- with Israel. Lindenberger is also ger-Kammüller, Chairperson of the tionalization at the Max Planck keen to provide new stimuli for the Management Board of Trumpf, took Society and is the contact person for appointment procedure at the Max office as an external member of the the Max Planck Schools. Equality Planck Society. Klaus Blaum, Direc- Executive Committee. and diversity are also important to tor of the Max Planck Institute for www.mpg.de/15105526 her. The Vice President of the Hu- Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, is the R, E ) OF HT IG RH E O R USS A FT T E ID AV D ROM L ROM R (F E LL I 8 UM A IE N FA E ST PHOTOS: MARCUS ROCKOFF, PHOTOS: MARCUS ROCKOFF, The new team supporting Max Planck President Martin Stratmann: Asifa Akhtar, Ulman Lindenberger and Klaus Blaum (from left). IDEntIFY NG VICTIms During the Nazi era, the predecessors Planck Institutes of Psychiatry and than one thousand cases. Some of of several Max Planck Institutes used Brain Research. Max Planck President them had lived at the mental institu- the remains of victims of the Nazi re- Martin Stratmann responded to these tion in Eglfing-Haar, near Munich. gime for their research. After the end findings by having an external expert The Nazis had murdered them be- of World War II, the Institutes kept committee investigate the identity and cause of their physical or mental dis- and in some cases even used these origins of all the victims whose re- abilities. Other victims came from the specimens, most of which were sec- mains had been found.