OLD & YOUNG
DEAR READERS OF RUPERTO CAROLA,
Heidelberg University is a comprehensive university that has set itself the task of contributing to a better understanding of the complex social challenges of our time and of taking an active part in shaping the future. To achieve these goals, we need a large number of strong disciplines. Equally important are research conditions that promote interdisciplinary thinking and working. Bridging the gaps between disciplines and research institutions – whether internally or in cooperation with our partners outside the university – is an integral part of our institutional strategy “Heidelberg: Realising the Potential of a Comprehensive University” that has led the university to success in both rounds of the German Excellence Initiative.
With our research-themed magazine “Ruperto Carola”, we want to share this aspiration and this challenge with our readers. Now as ever, Heidelberg University aims to use the full potential of a comprehensive university with the different bodies of knowledge, methods and cultures inherent to each discipline and to create an environment that enables researchers to work together at answering humanity’s greatest questions. The subject of “Young and Old” is one of these major social challenges; the articles in this issue offer a glimpse of the many different ways in which Heidelberg University scientists are exploring this field of research.
I wish you a productive and stimulating reading experience.
Yours, Prof. Dr. Bernhard Eitel
Rector of Heidelberg University
- Interview with Konrad Beyreuther and Manfred Schmid: Limited optimism. Demographic change and its consequences for society
- Andreas Kruse: Symbolically immortal: The potential of intergenerational relationships for individuals and society
- Sabina Pauen and Hans-Werner Wahl: Young in Maturity – old at birth? New perspectives at the intersection of infant and gerontological research
- Jörg Riecke: The key to the world. The etymology of the terms “young” and “old”
- Markus Pohlmann: The assigned age. How societiy defines “young” and “old”
- Christian Baldus: Too young, too old, too weak? Age limits in privat law
- Stefan Maul: Honouring the elderly. Old age insurance in the early high cultures
- Christiane Schwieren and Johannes Schröder: A dangerous combination? How demographic change and climate change are interconnected
- Astrid Riehl-Emde: Just don't feel like it anymore? On the sexuality of couples in the second half of life
- Beate Wild und Wolfgang Herzog: Depression – a geriatric disease? Therapeutic approaches for a worldwide affliction
- Thomas W. Holstein: Forever young. How stem cells make hydra immortal
- Stephan Herzig: Out of balance. How genetic switches decide about our age
- Cornelis Dullemond und Ralf S. Klessen: The life and death of stars. On the development stages of celestial bodies
- Bernd Kober und Bernd Kromer: In the archives of the earth. How researchers read the signs of times
- Veit Probst: Ancient books – young media. Heidelberg University Library digitises invaluable medieval texts
- Edgar Wolfrum und Cord Arendes: From a memorial site to a place of learning. Conveying history across generations: “Ordensburg Vogelsang”
