APPEARANCE & REALITY: Of Facts, Errors and Lies

A fundamental assignment of scholarly research is to sift through an abundance of apparent options, and separate facts and verified knowledge from untruths and falsehoods. In other areas of life, too, we are constantly challenged to distinguish between facts, error and lies. This is the theme of the 11th edition of “Ruperto Carola”, the research magazine for the whole University. 21 Heidelberg academics take up different aspects of this theme – from fake artworks to a divine appearance through “writing on the wall”, from planetary signals to neuromorphic engineering.

How do viruses manage to trick the human immune system? How was it possible for the German automobile industry to deceive consumers with an environmentally toxic scam? What role does imposture play in literary production? The articles in the current edition offer answers to these questions. But researchers are also concerned with different dimensions of APPEARANCE & REALITY in disciplines such as linguistics, neuropsychology, theology or astrophysics.

“Ruperto Carola” appears twice a year in German with English abstracts and is addressed to all the members of the university, to its partners in the sciences and the humanities, in politics, business and society – and particularly to alumni, friends and an interested readership at home and abroad. The magazine is available free of charge in the Communications and Marketing department of Heidelberg University (Alte Universität, Grabengasse 1).