Max Planck Research

MaxPlanckResearch contains a wide variety of articles about research going on at the institutes of the Max Planck Society.

Max Planck Research

The magazine is written in an informative and easy-to-read manner – ideal for members of the general public including school students interested in the latest scientific developments. The magazine is published quarterly and available online.

Selected articles of the Institute

schematic drawing of a female body, an arrow leads from the uterus with ovaries to the brain

A cycle in the brain

Max Planck Research • 4 | 2023
Fluctuations in female hormone levels affect the brain. A team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences has found that some brain regions grow and shrink during the menstrual cycle.

Illustration that emphasises certain areas of the brain that enable orientation in space.

The head’s navigation system

Max Planck Research • 3 | 2023
Finding yourself in a foreign city, you quickly feel lost in the maze of unfamiliar buildings and streets. But after a short time, you can find your way even without a city map or navigation system.
© KI Bild Midjourney | created by Gesine Born | Bilderinstitut

Blood pressure and the psyche

Max Planck Research • 2 | 2023
Our mental health and that of our cardiovascular system have a complex interaction.
© Blueastro/Shutterstock.com

Period of depression

Max Planck Research • 1 | 2023
Scientists led by Julia Sacher from MPI CBS and Osama Sabri from the Leipzig University Hospital have discovered in an elaborate patient study that the transport of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain increases in women with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) shortly before menstruation.
© pexels.com

Best forgotten

Max Planck Research • 2 | 2022
A natural disaster, a dented car, an injured person - memories of traumatic experiences can be controlled by deliberately suppressing the images that arise.
© shutterstock

Please use complete sentences

Max Planck Research • 2 | 2022
Compared to the complex use of human language, the way animals communicate with each other appears quite simple.
© shutterstock

Don’t stress yourself

Max Planck Research • 1 | 2022
When the human body is exposed to stress, it goes into the very same emergency mode that it used in the Stone Age. However, that reaction is not nearly as well suited to our way of life today.
© Veronika Engert

From heavenly bodies to human brains

Max Planck Research • 3 | 2021

What holds matter together? What binds the universe? What is the nature of human thought? Charlotte Grosse Wiesmann of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences has always been interested in the big questions. Grosse Wiesmann, who originally studied physics, now investigates which developments in the brain enable children to empathize with others.

Risk factors are less decisive in old age

Max Planck Research • 2 | 2021
People who smoke or suffer from high blood pressure, obesity or diabetes are not only at greater risk of suffering a stroke, heart attack or dementia, but are also more likely to develop depression or depressive moods.
© shutterstock

Max Planck Research