ESOF2006 will be opened with the Wissenschaftsommer 2006 (German National Science Week) in a joint ceremony. The organisers are happy to confirm that the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Horst Köhler, will be participating in this event. The ceremony will be followed by a reception at t...

Theodor Hänsch, Max Planck Institut für Quantenoptik, Garching, Germany

For more than three decades, the quest for ever higher precision in laser spectroscopy of the simple hydrogen atom has inspired many advances in laser, optical, and spectroscopic techniques, culminating in femtose...

All ESOF2006 participants are warmly welcomed to the Euroscience President’s Reception in the aviation hall of the Deutsches Museum....

What myths of science have emerged as a result of good science gone bad during the process of science communications? How do such foibles affect public trust? What tips can scientists offer to reporters who may want to interview them, or to their peers in the scientific community? What tips can repo...

About 50% of the world population lives within 100 km from a coast and even more people depend on marine resources. The oc)...

It is often argued that Europe faces an 'innovation gap' - a mismatch between scientific performance and innovation as measured by patent outputs or industrial R&D. Is the situation better than is generally assumed? This seminar will explore the assumptions on which these claims rest, in particular ...

Fusion research has advanced to a decisive point: With the international tokamak experiment, ITER, whose construction will start in 2006, the fusion programmes of Europe, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, China and South-Korea are approaching the first experimental reactor...

The ageing of the European population presents an important, immediate and unavoidable socio-economic challenge: by 2050 approximately one-third of the Union’s population will be over the age of sixty. Increasing numbers of older people are a testament to Europe’s social stability and advances in s...

The last two years have been marked by a significant number of natural disasters, such as floods, hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis. Such extreme natural events can change the life and economic development of countries within minutes and throw them back for decades. They constitute a pending dang...

This introductory seminar on peer review is targeted at scientists in the earliest stages of their career (mainly doctoral and postdoc level) and will provide them with valuable insights: the perspectives of both the reviewer and the reviewed in manuscript and grant proposal evaluation will be prese...

The establishment of the European Research Council (ERC) to fund basic research at the European level has dramatically gained pace in recent months: The ERC concept and the EC proposal to create a specialized, autonomous agency funded through the EU Framework Programme have been endorsed by the EU m...

This is your chance to find out what leading European policy makers and scientists expect from science. We asked them to tell us their personal views about what science should deliver and how scientists can support their work better. Will you agree with their views? What role do you think science sh...

Pretzel with the Prof is a unique opportunity for young scientists and students attending ESOF2006 to meet renowned scientists in a casual atmosphere. In the Science Biergarten, during lunch break and around a basket of typical Bavarian pretzels, some of the ESOF2006 plenary lecturers will be happy...

Roland Schenkel, Joint Research Centre, European Commission, Brussels, Belgium

The European Union currently imports 50% of its energy and, going by the present trend, this may increase to 70% within just 20 years. The Kyoto deadlines on targets for CO2 emissions are quickly approachin...

Robert Huber, Max Planck Institut für Biochemie, Martinsried, Germany

There has been a rapid development in protein crystallography methodology and instrumentation in the last 20 years, allowing the determination of very large and complex protein structures, particularly when combined wit...

Pierre Magistretti, University of Lausanne, Switzerland

With the increasing application of functional brain imaging techniques at least two central questions have caught our attention. First, how are the signals detected by functional brain imaging produced? The signals that are detected ...

Green chemistry is the design, development, and implementation of chemical products and processes to reduce or eliminate the use and generation of substances hazardous to human health and the environment. The symposium will discuss the practical implementation of green chemistry. Is this scientifica...

Free will is a focus of debate between the natural and the social sciences. Recent advances in the understanding of brain mechanisms subserving decision-making and action-control have led neuroscientists and psychologists to question whether free will can be considered a crucial characteristic of th...

Modern societies are faced with the challenge of assessing the potential impacts of human interventions into the natural, social and cultural environment under condition of complexity, uncertainty, and ambiguity. Those interventions include new technologies, new diets, new consumer products, changes...

Karolinska Institutet has developed a Junior Faculty Programme that offers career development for junior researchers who hold a PhD but not yet a tenure position. This programme has proven to be a successful tool in strengthening junior researchers as a group and influencing decision makers. This se...

Scientists play an important role in resolving ethical and legal issues associated with modern scientific research and its applications. Only when scientists take these responsibilities seriously will researchers gain the necessary trust from society. The speakers will discuss whether the existing c...

Science transforms culture. Societies tend to see science as a source of economic wealth, rather than as a source of cultural richness. This is why we need a bridge between the culture of science and the wider culture, to build up a tradition of storytelling dealing with science. Bridge-building alr...

Clustering manifests itself at different scales in the organisation of matter. A group of objects bound together by any force can be called a cluster. It may be a group of nucleons in nuclear matter, a group of atoms, of molecules, or of nanosize droplets on a surface or else a group of galaxies in ...

In this session European Young Investigator Awardees (EURYI Awards) from the social sciences are presenting their prize winning research. Their fields of expertise range from linguistics to demography. They will present latest data and findings on such diverse projects as “Determinants of health ine...

King Ludwig of Bavaria is often portrayed as having lost touch with reality, but is this actually true? His personal interest in science and technology and other aspects of his complex personality will be explored. He was among the first to appreciate practical applications of science, such as elect...

Virtual reality experiences that evoke anxieties are used in the treatment of phobias. They are less intimidating for the patient, quick to implement and provide the therapist with greater control of the stimuli with which the patient is confronted. Patients are exposed to the stimuli they fear, whi...

Should traditional publishing be combined with open access (OA)? What are the issues facing institutions and researchers in implementing OA? At this symposium, experts and institutions committed to encouraging their researchers to provide OA to their research output will discuss: self-archiving as a...

Evolutionary processes can be studied in unicellular organisms (Protists) as well as in more complex living things. Within the protists there are examples of convergent and parallel change, and of divergent evolution such as the separation of somatic and generative nuclei. Examinations of these beau...

Science journalism and science communication are alternative careers for young scientists. TELI (a member of the European Union of Science Journalists Associations) organises a workshop to inform young scientists and advanced students about these career opportunities, provide insight in the practica...

In a rapidly globalising and interdependent world new challenges and opportunities are arising for Europe. In order to successfully build the future European knowledge-based society it is essential to enhance the quality of the science base, to strengthen the structural dynamics of the respective re...

There is no life without membranes since each living cell is encased by a biological membrane, which regulates the exchange of matter with the external environment. Artificial membranes also play a key role both in modern industry and medical therapy. Millions of people would suffer from contaminate...

Autism is a debilitating mental disorder that is still stigmatised in today's society. It typically appears during the first three years of life and affects about 0.15% of all children. Autism is characterised by social detachment, abnormal language development, abnormal and often repetitive behavio...

The x-change is a wonderfully entertaining “round up” of each day’s sessions at ESOF2006. Together with Quentin Cooper, BBC radio journalist and freelance science writer, we invite you to enjoy this informal event while relaxing over a “beer” and “bratwurst” in the science biergarten. Don’t miss it!...

Abstract forthcoming...

ESOF2006 invites members of the national and international press to the Praterinsel, a little romantic island in the river Isar for an evening of casual entertainment and socialising.

(NOTE: Event restricted to press badge holders)...

The tasks and overall mission for research-intensive universities have become more diverse and competitive, with increased expectations to apply knowledge to meet relevant societal needs. In this highly complex context, rapid and bold decisions are often needed. Few European universities have the co...

This day is dedicated to the 'grass roots' activities of the regional sections of Euroscience. The intention is to provide concrete examples of how the objectives of Euroscience can be realised by individual sections in their own respective regions. In particular, we have selected for presentation "...

After the scientific and educational deadlock of the Cultural Revolution, China is now experiencing a true revolution in the field of science. The country is developing the sciences in the same remarkable and rapid way that it overhauled its economy. The Chinese government is investing heavily in ev...

Following the events of September 2001 and March 2004 in the US and Spain, security concerns have been at the forefront of European and international agendas. Several initiatives are in progress confirming the international commitment to address security concerns in general, and in particular direct...

The German neurophysiologist Emil du Bois-Reymond stated that the functioning of the human mind cannot be explained by its physical conditions and never will. His theory held good for more than 100 years. It seemed that all the constituents of man - personality, consciousness, acceptance of moral va...

International cooperation and exchange of ideas are necessary for the advancement of science. However, there have always been countries who benefit from an influx of scientists (brain gain) and others who lose (brain drain). The most frequent migrational patterns are those from developing to develop...

Astroparticle physics deals with the smallest and largest structures in the universe, connecting quarks to the cosmos. Multi-messenger observations provide surprising insights into the universe and open new perspectives. Processes under extreme conditions challenge the validity of physical laws. New...

Throughout the last two centuries, mathematics has developed at an unprecedented pace. New territories have been explored thanks to the identification of new pertinent concepts and to the development of new tools, some of which are related to the advancement of technology. Interactions with other sc...

The process of developing new drugs is extremely complicated, time consuming and expensive. There is a fierce competition among scientists to develop the next successful drug and companies all try to be the first to put it on the market. The media have a hard time trying to keep up with all differen...

David Reddy, Hoffmann LaRoche Ltd., Basel, Switzerland

Vaccines are the most important medical intervention for preventing influenza and reducing its health consequences during a pandemic. In the past, however, vaccines have never been available early enough during a pandemic, nor in suff...

Gerry Gilmore, Cambridge University, United Kingdom

Cosmologists can now say that our Universe consists of 5 percent of matter like that of which we are made, 25 percent some other, still unknown, form of transparent matter, and 70 percent of a still mysterious form of dark energy, which ...

Andrey Solov'yov, Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Germany

Clustering is a general physical phenomenon manifesting itself at very different levels of matter organisation or self-organisation. A group of objects bound together by some interaction can be called a cluster. Such clu...

Günter Stock, Berlin Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Germany

The European research area is no longer a dream but it has become our daily life reality. With the creation of the European Research Council, a new element in sponsoring research has come into European science ...

Over 150 planets have now been detected outside the solar system. The direct detection of radiation emitted by one of these planets opens up the possibility of better characterisation of the others. In addition, the geochemical composition of debris disks around young stars can be deduced. These dis...

A weekend in a luxury hotel, financed by a car company. A printable article, with the compliments of a pharmaceutical company. Expensive video material, free of charge, showing brand-new products made by a computer chip manufacturer: commercial enterprises try to use the media for their PR work in m...

Earning a PhD marks an end to academic training, but a starting point for a career in science. In this session, attendees will learn about five different popular pathways including Pharma, Biotech, Entrepeneurship, Law and Finance. Panelists who have taken different roads will share how they got to ...

Following the use of vision and speech recognition for man-machine interactive interfaces, the next step is to transfer the human sense of touch into the computer realm.Tangible Acoustic Interfaces (TAI) rely on various acoustic-sensing technologies to detect the position of contact of users interac...

Imagine implanting biodegradable materials that can generate or repair human organs; using flexible plastic electronic newspapers every morning to download the daily news; and living and working in smart buildings with coatings that are able to regulate temperature and lighting automatically. Advanc...

Ever wondered how the headlines of newspaper articles are generated, why you should never say ‘no’ to a journalist, or why scientists and journalists are more similar than we think? In this workshop, scientists will get more than a glimpse into the world of media and public communication: they will ...

The proportion of women studying science subjects is rising. However women are far less likely to stay in research than their male colleagues. Work by the Athena Project and the Royal Society Chemistry over the last five years has examined reasons why women do not stay in UK academic chemistry. This...

Infectious disease is the major cause of death worldwide and each year new infectious agents appear. What mechanisms lead to the development of new infectious agents? Genetic mechanisms and human behaviour strongly influence the development of new pathogenic variants. What are the basic mechanisms l...

Our biological clocks divide us into early birds or nightclubbing 'owls'. The symposium will address the genetic basis of this clock, what happens to us when the clock goes wrong in disease, and the implications of biological rhythm in a society that rushes around the globe and stays open all hours....

Tackling uncertainty is a major issue in the political debate on climate change. Better models are required to provide a more robust scientific basis for climate policy. Paleoclimate data reveal, unambiguously, that the earth's climate is not steady. Natural variations occur on timescales of a few y...

The observational break-throughs in the search for planets around other stars happened in the 1990s. The observational focus is now shifting towards a better characterisation of these exoplanets, and towards the detection of lower-mass, earth-like planets around other stars. Ground-based extremely l...

Accepted wisdom is that the impact of a giant meteorite killed off the dinosaurs. The Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction coincided with a meteorite impact but also with major flood volcanism in the Deccan province of India. Both events had disastrous effects on the environment and both contributed ...

The peer review process is acknowledged by the scientific community as the most effective way to ensure quality control in the publication of research findings. Without it, the publishing process would be arbitrary and perhaps be susceptible to influence. The onus would then be on the scientific com...

The x-change is a wonderfully entertaining “round up” of each day’s sessions at ESOF2006. Together with Quentin Cooper, BBC radio journalist and freelance science writer, we invite you to enjoy this informal event while relaxing over a “beer” and “bratwurst” in the science biergarten. Don’t miss it!...

One of the most attractive branches of the Deutsches Museum is the “Flugwerft Schleißheim” (aerodrome). This is the site of the historic airfield which was built between 1912 and 1919. In the early nineties it was restored and enlarged with a new exhibition hall. Today the Flugwerft hosts one of the...

Attracting and retaining more women is vital for the future of European research. Nevertheless, European female students are still significantly underrepresented in engineering studies (less than 25%). Women all too rarely occupy posts of full professors in Europe. In this symposium some examples of...

Digital Earth is a multi-resolution, three-dimensional representation of the planet, into which vast quantities of geo-referenced data can be embedded. Digital Europe is the equivalent vision for our Continent. Much progress has come through the increased availability of high resolution images from ...

In the eyes of many, technology is evolving faster and faster, and offering ever more ingenious inventions. New disciplines like genetic engineering give rise to intense ethical debate and fears that society could be losing control of science and technology. But not everybody reacts in the same way:...

Small-scale fundamental research has advanced science and innovation enormously. Examples include lasers, restriction enzymes, RNAi and the structure of DNA. Much has been achieved by small groups driven by curiosity. However, are we in danger of rejecting this approach in favour of externally drive...

The intentional and unintentional introduction of species from different biogeographic regions is called a biological invasion. This is considered to be a threat to global biodiversity, especially on islands and in ecosystems that were not much affected by humans. The session will address invasion p...

The role of Professional Associations of Scientists in determining Europe’s strategy needs to be thought through. National associations and societies such as the RSC, the IOP, the DPG, the SFP, the BA, AFAS and very many others group thousands of members and take an active interest in national polic...

Over 20 organizations sponsoring innovative research programs for scientists under the age of 21 established the Network of Youth Excellence in 2005. The Network advances collaboration, facilitates student research conferences and exchanges, shares information, and supports establishment of new stud...

Patenting began over 200 years ago with the intention to create financial incentives to inventors, which in turn would improve innovation for the benefit of society. The patent system has undergone a marked development since and has overall served the industrial world well. However, there are signs ...

Volcanoes of the Deep Sea reveals the astounding sights that lie 12,000 feet below the surface of the ocean, while delivering a real-life tale of mystery as scientists search for an animal that may be one of Earth's greatest survivors—an ancient species that is decorating the deep sea floor with its...

Bob Jones, European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)

EGEE-II is a project that integrates national, regional and thematic Grid efforts to provide a seamless Grid infrastructure for the support of scientific research. The infrastructure supports distributed research communities, wh...

Jean-Marie Lehn, Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France

Chemistry has developed from molecular chemistry, which has mastered the combination and recombination of atoms into increasingly complex molecules, to supramolecular chemistry; the harnessing of intermolecular forces for the g...