Our Latest Videos

A small collection of movies about HITS and its research. These and many more movies you can also find on the HITS Youtube-Channel.

Floppy Keys: How the communication in the cells work

A movie produced by the Cluster of Excellence CellNetworks with researchers from EMBL and HITS. The clip was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).
Inside cells, communication between the nucleus, which harbors our precious genetic material, and the cytoplasm is mediated by the constant exchange of thousands of signaling molecules and proteins. Until recently, it was unknown how this protein traffic can be so fast and yet precise enough to prevent the passage of unwanted molecules. Through a combination of computer simulations and various experimental techniques, researchers from the EMBL and the Heidelberg Institute of Theoretical Studies (HITS) have solved this puzzle: A very flexible and disordered protein can bind to its receptor within billionths of a second. Their research, led by Edward Lemke (EMBL), Frauke Gräter (HITS), was published in “Cell”.

More about the Publication.

Tony Hey: Stretch Limos, Transaction Processing and e-science

Talk at the HITS Symposium in honor of Andreas Reuter, November 27, 2015, Studio Villa Bosch, Heidelberg.

Prof. Tony Hey is Chief Data Scientist, Science and Technology Facilities Council, UK. Since 2014, he has been a member of the HITS scientific advisory board.

Turbulent Times: When Stars approach

HITS astrophysicists use new methods to simulate the common-envelope phase of binary stars, discovering dynamic irregularities that may help to explain how supernovae evolve. The results are published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

The simulation video made by Sebastian Ohlmann visualizes the evolution of the density during a time span of 105 days. density development process in a 105 days time frame. As the core of the red giant and the companion draw closer together, the gravity between them releases energy that passes into the common envelope. The turbulent instabilities that occur during this phase become clearly evident.