State government of North Rhine-Westphalia funding a start-up from CITEC researchers at Bielefeld University

Seven researchers from the Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC) at Bielefeld University impressed the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of Science with their start-up paraXent in the start-up contest “START-UP-Hochschul-Ausgründungen NRW” (University Start-Up Spin-Offs North Rhine-Westphalia). The team was able to win over the jury of experts with its ideas and was granted a funding award of approximately 250,000€. The funding period begins on 1 July 2016. [Weiterlesen]

CITEC researchers have developed a new mental training technique for athletes    

It’s not only controlling the ball, physical endurance, and dexterity that matter when it comes to playing soccer. Members of a soccer team also have to be at the top of their game when it comes to tactical strategy. Researchers at the Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC) at Bielefeld University have developed a mental training technique that helps soccer players improve their tactical action. The “kicker” here is that the players can practice with this method without actually being on the playing field. [Weiterlesen]

Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology presents its “Home with a Brain” at the Automatica trade fair in Munich

What must an intelligent apartment provide in order to make everyday life safe, healthy, and comfortable? The Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC) will give a glimpse into the home of the future from 21–24 June 2016 at Automatica, the international trade fair for automation and mechantronics held in Munich. Under the banner “A Home with a Brain,” CITEC will exhibit its new research developments at Stand 315 in Hall B4. Here, the service robot Floka will be debuted to the public for the first time. Floka is fitted with a new “social” robotic head that was also developed at CITEC whose facial expressions can signal happiness, worry, interest, or anger.     [Weiterlesen]

Scientists have for the first time used adult human stem cells to “cure” Parkinson’s disease in rats. The finding might someday also lead to therapy prompting a full recovery in human patients for what is considered one of the most severe neurodegenerative diseases, and one that presently has no cure.
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Bielefeld University partners with the Palucca University of Dance in Dresden

How can a sequence of dance steps best be learned? This question was the subject of a project led by researchers from Bielefeld University and the Palucca University of Dance in Dresden, who developed the study along with dancers and dance instructors. Together they researched whether dancers learn a dance sequence better by seeing or by listening, that is, if a dance instructor first demonstrates the sequence, or if he or she first gives a spoken explanation. The research article detailing the results of this study was recently awarded “Best Paper” at the October 2014 conference of the German Society for Cognitive Science.[Weiterlesen]

Bielefeld University responsible for German part of the European Social Survey

How far do politicians pay attention to what people in Europe actually think? That is just one of the topics covered by the longitudinal European Social Survey (ESS). It will be studying the social and political views of more than 50,000 people in both Germany and roughly 30 other European countries. For the first time, Bielefeld University will be responsible for the sub-study assessing people’s attitudes in Germany. It will be starting this month. The ESS is considered to be one of the largest social-scientific surveys in Europe.[Weiterlesen]

Conference at Bielefeld University’s Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF)

Religion and religious freedom are not just a current and pressing topic in countries such as Egypt that are presently drafting new constitutions. When both drawing up and interpreting constitutions, experts also look at those of other countries and the experiences gained there. ‘Constitutional migration’ is the name given to the process by which ideas and concepts from one constitution transfer to another constitution. How this proceeds with reference to relations between the state and religion and particularly with reference to religious freedom is the topic of a conference to be held at Bielefeld’s Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF) from 11 to 13. September.[Weiterlesen]

Genetic analysis of Antarctic fur seals, alongside decades of in-depth monitoring,* has provided unique insights into the effect of climate change on a population of top-predators. Published in Nature this week, the findings show that the seals have significantly altered in accordance with changes in food availability that are associated with climate conditions. Despite a shift in the population towards ‘fitter’ individuals, this fitness is not passing down through generations, leaving the population in decline.[Weiterlesen]

Biologists at Bielefeld University publish study in ‘Nature Communications’

Thanks to a fungus, the medicinal plant ribwort plantain gains a higher concentration of the defensive compound catalpol. Biologists at Bielefeld University report this discovery in a study to be published this Thursday (22.5.2014) in the scientific journal ‘Nature Communications’. The increase in catalpol gives the plant better protection against pests. In the study, the research team worked with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. These are known to colonize the roots of land plants. The plants benefit from this, because the fungus provides them with nutrients and minerals. However, are the impacts of this marriage of convenience with the fungus on plant chemistry equal for all plants? That is what the researchers wanted to find out.
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Bielefeld University calls on academics to publish their research data

Whether the coalition agreement of the three ruling political parties, the CDU, CSU, and SPD, the German Research Foundation (DFG), or the European Commission with its new billion Euro research and innovation programmes – the calls for better access to scientific data are prominent. But what do these political demands mean for research at universities? How can data be made available for further analyses beyond the borders of the laboratory?  And where can research data to be found online? Bielefeld University is the first higher education institution on Germany to pass a resolution by the Rektorat calling on its academics to make research data easier to find and as accessible as possible to further analysis. And the decisive aspect here is that the coordination centre for research data [Kontaktstelle Forschungsdaten] at Bielefeld University library is delivering an immediate response to this by providing new digital advisory and publication services.[Weiterlesen]