Offspring Magazine

Today, Xiaoran and Niko talk to Dr. Alicia Baier, Co-Founder & Chairwoman of Doctors for Choice Germany. Doctors for Choice Germany is a German network of physicians, medical students, and other health professionals that campaigns for better medical teaching on abortion. They hold educational events such as the “Papaya Workshop”. Alicia talks about the abortion laws in Germany, discussing the different aspects of the current situation, including the lack of education on the topic, the myriad of ethical and political arguments as well as the feminist perspective, and the physical and psychological effects of pregnancy and abortion. Alicia explains how medical students study to conduct an abortion and what the abortion procedure normally entails. She also talks about artificial conflicts between political parties, how the abortion law is developed, and the reasons behind it. You can find more information about the Turnaway Study here: https://www.ansirh.org/research/ongoing/turnaway-study Learn more about Doctors for Choice Germany here: www.doctorsforchoice.de Learn more about Board Arbeitskreis Frauengesundheit in Medizin, Psychotherapie und Gesellschaft (AKF) here: www.arbeitskreis-frauengesundheit.de And about German Board International Federation of Abortion and Contraception Professionals (FIAPAC) here:  www.fiapac.org Episode Art: Photo by Irene Kredenets (@ikredenets) on Unsplash (https://unsplash.com/) You can follow us on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/MPPhdnetPodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/offspringmagazine_thepodcast Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/offspring-magazine-the-podcast YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/MaxPlanckPhDnet If you have any feedback, comments, or suggestions, reach out to us at offspring.podcasts@phdnet.mpg.de Check out the Offspring-Blog where we publish articles on a regular basis: https://www.phdnet.mpg.de/outreach/offspring-blog Intro - Outro music composed by Srinath Ramkumar: https://twitter.com/srinathramkumar Pre-Intro jingle composed by Gustavo Carrizo: https://www.instagram.com/carrizo.gus See you soon!

In this episode, Bea continues her conversation with Prof. Dr Peter Seeberger, a managing director at the Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces, about carbohydrate-based vaccines. They talk about the current vaccine market and its future potential, the traditional field of vaccinology, and the obstacles one faces when trying to introduce change to an established product market. Peter talks about developing antibodies and using them in creating cancer vaccines, and the different tasks involved in designing the vaccines for treatment and prevention, i.e. for cancer patients versus for the general population. Peter talks more about the companies that have been founded by his lab, about the successes, the failures, the lessons learned along the way, and the opportunities that such start-ups offer to make new tools available for a larger population and to expand a research field. Peter and Bea also discuss how recent years have shown the fundamental importance of chemistry in all areas of our lives. Learn more about Prof. Dr. Seeberger's lab and research here: https://www.mpikg.mpg.de/en/bs and https://www.peter-seeberger.de Cover Photo: © Sebastian Rost / Max-Planck-Institut für Kolloid- und Grenzflächenforschung Episode Art: Photo by Photo by Louis Reed(@_louisreed) on Unsplash (https://unsplash.com/) You can follow us on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/MPPhdnetPodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/offspringmagazine_thepodcast Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/offspring-magazine-the-podcast YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/MaxPlanckPhDnet If you have any feedback, comments, or suggestions, reach out to us at offspring.podcasts@phdnet.mpg.de Check out the Offspring-Blog where we publish articles on a regular basis: https://www.phdnet.mpg.de/outreach/offspring-blog Intro - Outro music composed by Srinath Ramkumar: https://twitter.com/srinathramkumar Pre-Intro jingle composed by Gustavo Carrizo: https://www.instagram.com/carrizo.gus See you soon!

In this episode, Bea talks to Prof. Dr. Peter Seeberger, a managing director at the Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces, about carbohydrate-based vaccines.  Peter talks about how the research he has done for the past 27 years led to the development of a tool for the automated synthesis of carbohydrates. He talks about creating the synthesizer even when people did not believe that it could be possible, and explains how the synthesizer can be used in a variety of chemical fields, for example, in creating synthetic carbohydrate-based vaccines.  Peter explains the history of vaccines, talks about their development and how it has changed through the years, and also discusses the future of the field of vaccines, both with regard to the design of synthetic vaccines and the growing vaccine market for animals.  Peter also talks about the spin-off companies and currently used vaccines that the research in his laboratory has resulted in. Learn more about Prof. Dr. Seeberger's lab and research here: https://www.mpikg.mpg.de/en/bs and https://www.peter-seeberger.de Cover Photo: © Sebastian Rost / Max-Planck-Institut für Kolloid- und Grenzflächenforschung Episode Art: Photo by Photo by Mat Napo (@matnapo) on Unsplash (https://unsplash.com/) You can follow us on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/MPPhdnetPodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/offspringmagazine_thepodcast Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/offspring-magazine-the-podcast YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/MaxPlanckPhDnet If you have any feedback, comments, or suggestions, reach out to us at offspring.podcasts@phdnet.mpg.de Check out the Offspring-Blog where we publish articles on a regular basis: https://www.phdnet.mpg.de/outreach/offspring-blog Intro - Outro music composed by Srinath Ramkumar: https://twitter.com/srinathramkumar Pre-Intro jingle composed by Gustavo Carrizo: https://www.instagram.com/carrizo.gus See you soon!

It is currently Mental Health Awareness Week in the Max Planck Society, and we have prepared a very special episode for you! In this episode, Bea and Srinath get together with the members of the Max Planck PhDnet Steering Group - the Deputy Spokesperson, Alina Fahrenwaldt, and the Human Section Representative, Danielle Pullan, - to talk about mental health. They discuss the results of the PhDnet Survey, specifically its mental health section, and talk about the depression and anxiety scores among the MPS Doctoral Researchers. They highlight some of the factors that show the most correlation to the scores: workplace discrimination, working conditions, supervision, and conflicts at work. Danielle talks about microaggressions and mental health and makes some suggestions about how to fight against microaggressions in the workplace. Alina emphasises the importance of good supervision and gives some advice on making the student-supervisor relationship work for you. They also discuss services that MPS employees get from the Employee and Manager Assistance Program and the new Safer Spaces initiative that is currently being launched in the MPS. Whom to contact... ... for counseling, specifically related to mental health: EMAP (Employer and Management Assistance Program now by PME, not Fürstenberg anymore): https://www.mpg.de/16344036/counselling-and-mental-health ... in cases of scientific misconduct: Ombudsperson of your institute ... in cases of discrimination or micro aggression: Equal Opportunities Officer, Safer Spaces Agent (coming soon) ... for employment issues in general: Betriebsrat (works council), IMPRS/PhD Coordinator, Administration ... for legal advice: https://www.mpg.de/16344048/conflicts-and-non-scientific-misconduct (mail to: report@mpg.de) ... for Doctoral Researcher's concerns in general: PhDnet Steering group (mail to: steering.group@phdnet.mpg.de) ...for professional counseling (psychotherapist in your city) in Germany: Hotline 116 117 (for more information see: https://www.bptk.de/krisen-hotlines-und-zentraler-terminservice/); note that you can be reimbursed for private psychotherapy if you can give proof that you contacted a number of state psychotherapists who could not offer you a therapy spot. You can follow us on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/MPPhdnetPodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/offspringmagazine_thepodcast Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/offspring-magazine-the-podcast YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/MaxPlanckPhDnet If you have any feedback, comments, or suggestions, reach out to us at offspring.podcasts@phdnet.mpg.de Check out the Offspring-Blog where we publish articles on a regular basis: https://www.phdnet.mpg.de/outreach/offspring-blog Intro - Outro music composed by Srinath Ramkumar: https://twitter.com/srinathramkumar Pre-Intro jingle composed by Gustavo Carrizo: https://www.instagram.com/carrizo.gus See you soon!

Today is part two of Bea's conversation with Ben Rein, a science communicator and postdoc at Stanford University. This time, they are talking about the research that Ben did during his PhD, studying Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Ben describes using the mouse model to study the link between genetic changes, prefrontal cortex activity, and social behaviour, and how studies done in mice can be a step on a long road towards clinical trials. Ben explains the diagnostic criteria and how one goes about getting an ASD diagnosis in the US, and discusses the known causes of autism. Ben and Bea also talk about Andrew Wakefield's falsified data and emphasise the abundant evidence demonstrating that vaccines do not cause autism. Ben talks about the neuroscience of pain and empathy, studies done on the social transfer of pain, and the implications these findings can have for treatment. Bea and Ben also discuss the placebo effect, how powerful it is, and if there is a way to utilise that power outside of research. To find out more about Ben and what he does, check out his website: https://www.benrein.com/ Ben's Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dr.brein Ben's Instagram: instagram.com/doctor.brein Ben's Twitter: https://twitter.com/dr_brein Ben's research: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wPloOgsAAAAJ Episode Art: Photo by Bret Kavanaugh (@bretkavanaugh) on Unsplash (https://unsplash.com/) You can follow us on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/MPPhdnetPodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/offspringmagazine_thepodcast Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/offspring-magazine-the-podcast YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/MaxPlanckPhDnet If you have any feedback, comments, or suggestions, reach out to us at offspring.podcasts@phdnet.mpg.de Check out the Offspring-Blog where we publish articles on a regular basis: https://www.phdnet.mpg.de/outreach/offspring-blog Intro - Outro music composed by Srinath Ramkumar: https://twitter.com/srinathramkumar Pre-Intro jingle composed by Gustavo Carrizo: https://www.instagram.com/carrizo.gus See you soon!

Today, Bea talks to Ben Rein, a science communicator and postdoc at Stanford University, about his journey in science communication. Ben talks about his unexpected start in science communication when a video he made to show his friends how to correctly use masks went viral on Tik Tok in 2020. From his own experience, Ben shares what it is like to establish yourself on already existing platforms and talks about some beginner mistakes he made at the start that one should avoid. He explains how he picks topics for his videos and shares some negative experiences that come from being a public scicomm figure. Ben also talks about his passion for mentoring and the difficulties of balancing scicomm and academia, first as a PhD student and now as a postdoc. Bea and Ben discuss how misinformation spreads on social media and what can be done to combat the spread. Ben talks about his debunking videos, what motivates him to create them, and about the extra time and effort that goes into creating them. To find out more about Ben and what he does, check out his website: https://www.benrein.com/ Ben’s Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dr.brein Ben’s Instagram: instagram.com/doctor.brein Ben’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/dr_brein Ben’s research: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=wPloOgsAAAAJ Episode Art: Photo by Hello I’m Nik (@helloimnik) on Unsplash (https://unsplash.com/) You can follow us on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/MPPhdnetPodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/offspringmagazine_thepodcast Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/offspring-magazine-the-podcast YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/MaxPlanckPhDnet If you have any feedback, comments, or suggestions, reach out to us at offspring.podcasts@phdnet.mpg.de Check out the Offspring-Blog where we publish articles on a regular basis: https://www.phdnet.mpg.de/outreach/offspring-blog Intro - Outro music composed by Srinath Ramkumar: https://twitter.com/srinathramkumar Pre-Intro jingle composed by Gustavo Carrizo: https://www.instagram.com/carrizo.gus See you soon!

Today, Xiaoran and Bea continue their conversation with Prof. Dr. Ferdi Schüth, a director at the MPI für Kohlenforschung, about the future of energy production and storage. Ferdi talks about ammonia, what we need (or think we need) it for, how we produce it, ways that ammonia synthesis can be improved, and what an ideal ammonia decomposing plant would look like. He expands more about on the topic of hydrogen in the future of energy and discusses the ways we currently store hydrogen as well as how the seasonal storage problem can ultimately be solved. Ferdi also discusses the most efficient energy sources for different technologies, from cars to aviation, and explains the major downsides of nuclear energy: cost, waste, and proliferation of nuclear weapons. He also talks about consulting the government in the questions of science policy and his opinion on where science should stay in relation to politics. Learn more about Prof. Dr. Schüth’s lab and research here: https://www.kofo.mpg.de/en/research/heterogeneous-catalysis Episode Art: Photo by Mika Baumeister (@mbaumi) on Unsplash (https://unsplash.com/) You can follow us on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/MPPhdnetPodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/offspringmagazine_thepodcast Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/offspring-magazine-the-podcast YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/MaxPlanckPhDnet If you have any feedback, comments, or suggestions, reach out to us at offspring.podcasts@phdnet.mpg.de Check out the Offspring-Blog where we publish articles on a regular basis: https://www.phdnet.mpg.de/outreach/offspring-blog Intro - Outro music composed by Srinath Ramkumar: https://twitter.com/srinathramkumar Pre-Intro jingle composed by Gustavo Carrizo: https://www.instagram.com/carrizo.gus See you soon!

A warm welcome to another new host, Xiaoran! Today, Xiaoran and Bea talk to Prof. Dr. Ferdi Schüth, a director at the MPI für Kohlenforschung. His research group works on a variety of topics, among them electrochemistry and mechanochemical reactions. Ferdi talks about the energy system of the future, stepping away from the fossils and focusing on renewables, and the role that hydrogen will play in the future energy infrastructure. Ferdi explains the importance of technology to store and transport electricity produced through renewables in different parts of the world and describes the difficulties involved in moving liquid hydrogen. He also talks about the substantial CO2 footprint from the production of chemicals and about transforming the chemical industry, for example, the production of aromatics, to be sustainable, as well as making the hydrogen production green. Learn more about Prof. Dr. Schüth’s lab and research here: https://www.kofo.mpg.de/en/research/heterogeneous-catalysis Episode Art: Photo by NASA (@nasa) on Unsplash (https://unsplash.com/) You can follow us on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/MPPhdnetPodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/offspringmagazine_thepodcast Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/offspring-magazine-the-podcast YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/MaxPlanckPhDnet If you have any feedback, comments, or suggestions, reach out to us at offspring.podcasts@phdnet.mpg.de Check out the Offspring-Blog where we publish articles on a regular basis: https://www.phdnet.mpg.de/outreach/offspring-blog Intro - Outro music composed by Srinath Ramkumar: https://twitter.com/srinathramkumar Pre-Intro jingle composed by Gustavo Carrizo: https://www.instagram.com/carrizo.gus See you soon!

A warm welcome to our new host, Juli!  In this episode, Juli dives right into the topic of the Higgs boson discovery and its implications with Dr. Dominik Duda, a post-doctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Physics.  Dominik explains the theoretical background behind the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012 and why it took so long to detect it from the first time its existence was proposed in the 1960s. He also talks in detail about the technology that allowed this discovery to happen, how the research direction changed since then, as well as about the new theoretically proposed particles and phenomena that are yet to be discovered.  Dominik talks about ATLAS, a particle detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, how it is constructed and upgraded, and how it can be used to identify the traces that different fundamental building blocks of matter leave behind. He describes the insights on the Higgs boson and other particles that can be gained thanks to it. Learn more about ATLAS here: https://www.mpp.mpg.de/en/research/structure-of-matter/atlas-detector-particle-collisions-at-the-lhc Episode Art: Photo by Devon Rogers (@dev) on Unsplash (https://unsplash.com/) You can follow us on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/MPPhdnetPodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/offspringmagazine_thepodcast Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/offspring-magazine-the-podcast YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/MaxPlanckPhDnet If you have any feedback, comments, or suggestions, reach out to us at offspring.podcasts@phdnet.mpg.de Check out the Offspring-Blog where we publish articles on a regular basis: https://www.phdnet.mpg.de/outreach/offspring-blog Intro - Outro music composed by Srinath Ramkumar: https://twitter.com/srinathramkumar Pre-Intro jingle composed by Gustavo Carrizo: https://www.instagram.com/carrizo.gus See you soon!

In this episode, Bea continues her conversation with Prof. Dr. Jochem Marotzke, a managing director at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology. Bea and Jochem discuss ocean warming, greenhouse effect, interplay between the ocean temperature and the currents, and how we can measure the energy that the ocean takes, mitigating the effects of climate change but causing the imminent rise of the sea level. They talk about some of the ways to combat and prepare for the sea level rise, including some nature-based solutions, as well as about the ways to prevent further rise by cutting the carbon emissions down to zero. Jochem also talks about renewable energy, alternative energy sources, as well as the nuclear power and the price we pay for it, literally and through long-lasting consequences of its mismanagement. Learn more about Prof. Dr. Jochem Marotzke and his research here: https://mpimet.mpg.de/en/staff/jochem-marotzke Episode Art: Photo by Kelly Sikkema (@kellysikkema) on Unsplash (https://unsplash.com/) Photo credit: MPI-M/David Ausserhofer You can follow us on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/MPPhdnetPodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/offspringmagazine_thepodcast Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/offspring-magazine-the-podcast YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/MaxPlanckPhDnet If you have any feedback, comments, or suggestions, reach out to us at offspring.podcasts@phdnet.mpg.de Check out the Offspring-Blog where we publish articles on a regular basis: https://www.phdnet.mpg.de/outreach/offspring-blog Intro - Outro music composed by Srinath Ramkumar: https://twitter.com/srinathramkumar Pre-Intro jingle composed by Gustavo Carrizo: https://www.instagram.com/carrizo.gus See you soon!