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The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) has published its format “Research Topics” since 2008. Every six to eight weeks, researchers present individual contributions of one relevant aspect of their research or present a new research project. Since 2017, scholars at the MPIWG have been contributing to “The Conversation,” a public platform for research content related to current topics, which are accessible on this page. 

Latest Research Topics

No 64
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Twenty-Four Years of the History of Rationality

A navigator fixes a course by the stars; a weaver strings a loom with an intricate pattern of colors and shapes; a city official discerns a link between a certain well and the outbreak of an ep...

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No 63
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Elephant Ivory, Zoos, and Extinction in the Age of Imperialism (1870s–1940s)

Elephants are some of the most widely displayed animals in zoos, circuses, and wildlife sanctuaries across the world. Their wild populations in Africa and Asia, however, are at risk of extincti...

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No 62
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The Mississippi Project: Disclosing the Anthropocene in the American Heartland

If the Anthropocene truly marks a new geological epoch, then traces must be present everywhere. Geologists are searching layers of lake sediments, ice cores, and corals for stratigraphic eviden...

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No 61
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Leonardo da Vinci’s Intellectual Cosmos: Exhibitions with Museo Galileo and Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (2019/2020)

To mark the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), the Museo Galileo (Florence) is preparing an exhibition dedicated to a reconstruction of his library. The exhibition...

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Latest Articles on "The Conversation UK"

No 16
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Terrorism: A Very Brief History

What is it that allows someone to be labelled as a terrorist? Recent acts of spectacular violence, such as the mail bombs sent to American anti-Trump critics, or the mass killings by Canadian “...

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No 15
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Poland's Wild Boar Targeted in Pointless Cull That Could Actually Spread Swine Fever

Most of Poland’s wild boars are being culled to stop the spread of African swine fever, a deadly viral disease that endangers farm pigs. The Polish Hunting Association was mandated to organize ...

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Wikipedia Editathon Articles

No 1
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Dr. Dora Ilse: The Senses of Butterflies

How do butterflies find food? Do they smell flowers’ nectar, or identify them from their colors? Do they even have a sense of what color is? The biologist Dora Ilse (October 9, 1898–October 21,...

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