Faszination Forschung Ausgabe 15

Inhalt

Editorial

Editorial
With painstaking precision and devotion to detail, good scientists challenge accepted ideas – bit by bit. They are motivated by the desire to improve the world around us and our everyday lives. In this edition of Faszination Forschung, we invite you to discover how years of work by TUM researchers can result in truly groundbreaking findings.

Titelgeschichte / Cover story

One Step Ahead of the Bad Guys
Georg Sigl is a professor of IT security. His job is to uncover security gaps in technical systems, particularly, control systems embedded in machines and production units. These embedded systems are increasingly being targeted by hackers, and Sigl leaves no stone unturned to identify weak spots, whether it’s listening in on how cell phones compute or dropping acid on processors.

Research and technology

Nano Sprays with a Spark
Why complicate something so simple? This was the question posed by researchers at TUM’s Institute for Nanoelectronics. The group led by Prof. Paolo Lugli wanted to replace complex and expensive coating methods using exotic materials with common spraying and inkjet printing processes. With impressive results. The list of industrial applications that can use these innovative methods is long and growing all the time.
Exoskeleton Enables Paraplegic Man to Walk
The first kick of the 2014 soccer World Cup in Brazil was taken by a paraplegic man wearing a mind-controlled robotic suit known as an exoskeleton. Prof. Gordon Cheng, head of the TUM Institute for Cognitive Systems, played a key role in this global premiere.
The First Maps of the Human Proteome
A group of researchers led by Prof. Bernhard Küster has published one of two initial comprehensive maps of the human proteome. Following the first complete sequencing of the human genome in 2001, a second key to unlocking the mystery of life has now been found with the mapping of the proteome – in other words, all the proteins in the human body.
Study Highlights Forest Growth Trends from 1870 to the Present
faster since the 1960s. The typical development phases of trees and stands have barely changed, but they have accelerated – by as much as 70 percent. The study is based on long-term data from experimental forest plots that have been continuously observed since 1870.
Lurking in the Liver
The hepatitis B virus is a silent killer. It can lie dormant in human liver cells for years and then eventually lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer. No cure has been found to date. But now Prof. Ulrike Protzer has discovered that it may be possible to eliminate this persistent virus from human cells.
“Algorithms are powerful and useful. But by themselves they are blind.”
Algorithms, until recently strictly the preserve of computer enthusiasts and mathematicians, are now pushing their way center stage – quite simply because of the key role they play in the supercomputers that are digitalizing our lives. The dawn of the big data world is welcomed by some as a golden era, but feared by others as the realization of Orwell’s worst nightmare. But what are the economic, social and legal implications of big data? What are the potential opportunities and risks? We interviewed philosopher of science Prof. Klaus Mainzer, Chair of Philosophy of Science at TUM and Director of the Carl von Linde Academy, about his latest book on computing the world, “Die Berechnung der Welt. Von der Weltformel zu Big Data,” to find out more.
Using Thoughts to Control Airplanes
Pilots of the future could be able to control their aircraft by merely thinking commands. Scientists at TUM and TU Berlin have demonstrated the feasibility of flying via brain control – with astonishing accuracy.
New Views of Earth in the “Light” of Gravity
The completion of ESA’s GOCE satellite mission is not so much an ending as a milestone in the ongoing exploration of Earth – as revealed by gravity. By providing the most accurate measurements and models yet of Earth’s gravitational field, GOCE is enabling researchers to sharpen the picture of our dynamic planet, from mantle convection to melting glaciers. TUM Prof. Roland Pail coordinates the international GOCE Gravity Consortium.

Standpunkt / Point of view

Point of View: Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Wolfgang A. Herrmann
Digitalization as a Means of Economic and Social Empowerment

Autoren / Impressum

The Authors – Imprint
Faszination Forschung Ausgabe 15

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Faszination Forschung 15 (2014)