interview

Professor Tommaso Calarco: ‘Quantum technologies 2.0 can bring huge benefits for society’
This week, quantum technology is one of the news headlines. The Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger for work "that has laid the foundation for a new era of quantum technology". But what is this new era about? We asked Prof. Tommaso Calarco, Director of the ...

Prof. Maryna Viazovska: ‘Science is a dream of the future and a refuge for the soul’
In July 2022, mathematician Prof. Maryna Viazovska received a Fields Medal, a prestigious honour often described as the 'Nobel Prize of Mathematics'. The 37-year-old professor, who works at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, is the second woman to receive this prestigious award in the 86-year history of the prize. We spoke to ...

Prof. Benjamin List: “Communicating science accurately is vital – otherwise we will never achieve trust in science”
Prof. Dr Benjamin List was awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on asymmetric catalysis alongside David MacMillan from Princeton University. He studied chemistry at the Free University of Berlin and earned his doctorate at Goethe University Frankfurt (1997, Prof. G. Mulzer). He worked at the Scripps Research Institute Department of Molecular ...

Sophie Gutenthaler: “Understanding a process is the key to not being afraid or suspicious of it”
Sophie Gutenthaler received a B.Sc. in Biochemistry and Chemistry and a M.Sc.in Chemistry from LMU Munich, supported by a Deutschlandstipendium. As part of her studies, she gained international experience during a three-month research internship at the University of York, funded by PROSALMU. During her master’s studies, she led science workshops for gifted children and was ...

Sander van der Linden on how psychological inoculation protects against false news
Sander van der Linden, Ph.D., is Professor of Social Psychology in Society and Director of the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge. Professor van der Linden, we have seen many attempts to debunk climate and health disinformation. How well do fact checks fare? Sander van der Linden: ...

A scientist’s opinion: Interview with Gérard Assayag on AI in music
Gérard Assayag is an Ircam research director and head of Ircam Music Representation Team in Paris. He has co-designed various music research software environments which are used in many places for computer assisted composition, analysis and improvisation. How can an AI-tool play music together with a human musician? Gérard Assayag: By listening to music our ...

A scientist’s opinion: Interview with Emilia Gómez on AI in music
Emilia Gómez is a senior researcher at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in Sevilla and a guest professor of the Department of Information and Communication Technologies at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. In recent years you worked on two large European projects that investigated AI to analyse music: PHENICX and TROMPA. ...

Interview with Dr. Ed Pertwee: vaccine hesitancy and lessons learnt
Rumors, conspiracy theories and misinformation during a health crisis: "The problem seems to be informational reliance on social media, not social media usage per se," says expert Dr. Ed Pertwee. With possible new Covid-19 waves in the back of our mind and in order to save lives, understanding communication during a health emergency is critically ...