Elephants & Butterflies

Behavioral economist Bertil Tungodden is aiming to show how people perceive fairness in different ways, and how this influences their behavior.

How can we explain adequate behavior in social situations? Psychologist Marcel Brass uses behavioral experiments and neuroscientific methods to investigate social intelligence.

The RAS gene is a mysterious protein, and causes canter. Oncologist Channing Der co-discovered it in the 1980s. With his arduous research, he has made a big contribution to better therapies.

Moral philosopher R. Jay Wallace takes a close look at the rules, norms and agreements which are fundamental to our social relationships and society as a whole.

Physicist Cecilia Clementi uses statistical methods and AI to explain biological phenomena: for example, how the movement of atoms in proteins determines their function.

Photosynthesis is the most fundamental process of life. Microbiologist Robert Burnap is decoding its mechanisms to take them as a blueprint for artificial catalyst.

German studies scholar Michel Chaouli explores new forms of literary and art criticism that give space to individual experience and break with academic conventions.

Neuroscientist Panayiota Poirazi is creating neural computer models of dendrites to explore their role and train algorithms to learn like humans.

The certainties of Western liberalism are falling apart. Political scientist Andrew Hurrell analyzes how liberal ideas have evolved, and how they are contested today.

Valentina Forini studies the invisible. She uses string theory and mathematics to identify the smallest objects of nature and close the gaps in standard models of physics.

Chris Soulsby investigates isotopes to determine the age of water molecules in order to develop more sustainable resource management methods and climate resilient city planning.

To understand how nerve cells communicate with each other, neurobiologist Benjamin Judkewitz is x-raying the brains of a virtually transparent species of fish.