UCSF Blogs: Our Mann in Munich

This week, UCSF director of university publications Jeff Miller is attending the EuroScience Open Forum. From Munich, Miller blogs his experiences and observations.



THE MAN IN MUNICH GETS READY TO MOVE ON Euroscience 2006 officially ended today just as temperatures jumped by 10 degrees. I learned from Sergio that a Lebanese journalist, who had come for ESOF, was now stranded here in Munich because of the hostilities in the Middle East. The Euroscience family has offered her shelter for the duration, a kind gesture and one in keeping with the spirit of the conference.

The lion is the symbol of Munich and there are dozens and dozens of fancifully painted versions in various poses all over the city.

The hit of the day was the science fair at the Marienhof, a plaza in the center of town, away from the tourist mecca of the Marienplatz and its glockenspiel. ESOF was held in conjunction with Germany's Summer of Science (Wissenschaft) that is taking place this week as well. The fair, clearly labeled on the outside as an OUTREACH ACTIVITY, consisted of one large display "hall", a small lecture "tent" and a mini-bierplatz, of course.

The Summer of Science is all about outreach to the citizens of Munich.

I had heard that the Profmobile was going to be here, too, and it was. It did not disappoint.

The Profmobile in its partially collapsed state.

The Profmobile, based in Bremen in northern Germany, is a portable, fold-down lecture platform with a lectern, screen for power points or digital displays and a Conestoga-like covering for shade. It is powered by a bicycle, which one imagines is pedaled to a public place by the professor. It is a charming blend of low and high tech and while in San Francisco's case the covering would be more likely needed for rain, the principle is the same. Bring science and the scientist directly to the people and let them both flourish in the open air. So how about it, UCSF?

The Profmobile has a test run at Munich's Wissenschaft.

The little lecture tent was full with people listening to a lecture on "Strings, Black Holes and the End of Space and Time." Inside the hall there were dozens of adults and children doing little experiments, looking at slides through a microscope, or learning about physics and computers with different hands-on activities. It was like a portable Exploratorium in a way and served to complement a host of other public and cultural events linked to the impact of science on society that have been going on all week, together with the Munich Film Festival.

German children perform experiments inside the Wissenschaft covered "hall" in Munich.

It was a fine way to end this part of the trip. Next up, an interview with Volker Deutsch, a former faculty member at UCSF who is now chair of Structural Biology at the University of Frankfurt. Auf Wiedersehen. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Science Conference in Munich, Germany July 18, 2006, 1:21 pm PDT | July 18, 2006, 2201 CEST JEFF MILLER, UCSF'S MAN IN MUNICH, YET AGAIN... Tuesday dawned warm and bright for this the third session of the Euroscience Conference in Munich. Bathers were out early on the pebble-strewn strands of the Isar River, some clad in swimsuits, some choosing to bare all before breakfast. The conference itself exposed some different truths today. The operative word was "technology." I've mentioned before that the power of the web was little mentioned at the conference's first two days, but today that changed-- perhaps because there seemed to be more Americans on the program. One of the more provocative quotes came early when one of the speakers, a gentleman from France, stated "technology is the weapon of the rich, demography the weapon of the poor." The reference sparked a very literate exchange with the English moderator, which continued for a few minutes. Neither shouted nor fumed, nor interrupted the other. Clearly, they will never be invited onto American television. Late in the day, in a session about science journalism, Rick Borchelt from Washington's Genetics and Public Policy Center presented a masterful analysis of how the norm of science writing adheres to a storytelling style that serves up science as the "technology of hubris." This is the linear, objective, infallible style that presents each bit of science news as part of some "can do" inevitable conquest. The problem with this approach, says Borchelt, is that it creates unrealistic expectations, erodes confidence in science when the inevitable setbacks or delays occur, and cultivates cynicism in the general public. He advocates presenting science as the "technology of humility," which moves beyond product journalism ( a cure, an advance, a breakthrough) to process journalism, which frames science as part of an up and down, side to side enterprise with lots of failures and dead ends. "Can do" becomes "should do." He also advised science writers to go beyond simply interpreting the science and writing it in an entertaining way for a lay audience. Doing that alone does not put science in a social context, like business or art, where failure is considered part of the creative and productive process. Wise words. Now for one small correction. My Italian science writing friend, Sergio Pistoi, explained that in Italy there is such a thing as a tax deduction for charitable giving, albeit a small one. Since I wrote earlier that no such deduction existed in Europe, I wanted to correct my error. Random observation 1: People in Munich ride bicycles everywhere and there are bike lanes at the same street height as pedestrian walkways. Only children seem to wear helmets. Beware of getting beeped and nearly run down if you happen to stray into their path. Random observation 2: Local citizens are very relaxed. Both the lifestyle and the standard of living seem very comfortable. Munich, I read, is rated by the Germans themselves as the best place in the country to live. It is easy to see why. Random observation 3: Single pats of butter are four times the size of those in America. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Science Conference in Munich, Germany July 17, 2006, 2:03 pm PDT | July 17, 2006, 2303 CEST JEFF MILLER, THE UCSF MAN IN MUNICH CONTINUES.... Attending a science conference overseas makes a person more conscious of language than is usually the case when just on vacation. In the latter case there is give-and-take between native and non-native speakers that is part of the experience. At ESOF, the conference language is English period and the facility of the presenters can sometimes be staggering, particularly when you pause to remember that English is not their native tongue. Imagine being expected to hold a science conference at UCSF entirely in Spanish and to do so fluently and sometimes colloquially. No easy task.

Cultural issues left me a little askew on day two.

Cultural issues were on my mind today a lot. My choice for the morning session was the international migration of scientists, a key issue for Europeans who are stung by the loss of so many of their most talented PhD students to postdoc positions in the US, some of which are based at UCSF. Some highlights: Germany complains a lot about losing quality scientists and as I mentioned in my first posting, are attempting to lure them back. But the morning's moderator reminded the audience that Germany had benefited in the 1990s from an influx of Russian scientists leaving their country. Ironically, many have now moved on because of the difficulty finding permanent work. There were 79,000 European PhD's in the US in 2002. India and China have now become the chief source of foreign-based PhDs in the US in the years since. In Europe, foreign-based PhDs largely hail from Algeria and Morocco. The chief reason for the migration? No surprise, Career prospects. The US spends twice as much on scientific research as Europe. The actual number of German PhDs who stay in the US seems to be small according to one presenter, perhaps a few hundred. But the issue is one of quality. Data are pretty sketchy however, and as my science writing friend from Italy, Sergio Pistoi, reminded me, Italy has a bigger problem than the Germans

Part of a lively exchange at a session on drug development.

Brian O'Neill, an American climatologist now working in Austria, presented a contrary example of an American scientist going against the flow. His basic message: quality research and a concentration of experts will be a magnet no matter where the science is based. Of course, if you have a spouse or partner who wants to work in Europe, good luck. This undermines the attempts to attract more Americans or other foreign nationals who are part of two-career couples. Jeff's personal note: the web has barely come up in many of the presentations, and does not seem central to science communication planning. Newspapers remain strong here, although there are early signs that circulation troubles are coming.

Desserts are an important part of Munich's dietary fare.

I ran into more Americans today, but this remains very much a pan-European show; southern Europe is seriously underrepresented for reasons I have yet to determine. And most everyone drinks beer at lunch and still manages to stay awake in very warm rooms in the afternoon. Guess they're acculturated. Like any good San Franciscan, I keep asking for water. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Science Conference in Munich, Germany July 16, 2006, 3:28 pm PDT | July 17, 2006, 0028 CEST) A UCSF MAN IN MUNICH

Jeff Miller on the Ludwigsbrucke over Munich's Isar River. The Euroscience Open Forum banner is visible on the Deutsches Museum in the background.

The city of Munich is 800 years old, which is about as long as it took me to get here from New York's JFK Airport. The plane is ready to board BUT...The crew is on its way BUT...The mechanical problem can be fixed BUT...The plane is ready to depart BUT...The plane is ready to take off BUT...We wish we didn't have to send you to an airport hotel BUT... And by the way, who are those people singing hymns? Worn out and frazzled by all the BUTS, I finally arrived in Munich-without my luggage of course, which stayed behind in Frankfurt perhaps because my bags were tired too. Fully reconnected and somewhat revived some hours later, I attacked this morning's Euroscience Open Forum with a sense of purpose.

The ESOF Munich banner.

Founded in 1997, Euroscience is a pan-European "grass roots" (their quotes) association of individuals who aim to construct scientific Europe "bottom up" (their quotes again). A word about these quotation marks: grass roots and bottom up action are not the norm in Europe, where power rests with bureaucracies, a recurring theme and a cause of much frustration among scientists here. As for ESOF, European scientists of all stripes belong as do research professionals, science administrators, engineers, teachers, postdocs, members of the general public and public affairs communication types like me. This is the organization's second big meeting (the first was held in Stockholm in 2004) and being patterned after the AAAS meetings in the US, the agenda is full and rich. Today's agenda covered such topics as "Myths of Science," "Aging," "What Do You Expect from Science?", "Storytellers of Science," and "The Future of Research in Europe."

Scientists and science bureaucrats debate the relative merits of pure and applied science in a European context during a panel discussion in the Deutsches Museum, part of ESOF Munich 2006.

Interesting note: We all wear name tags with our home countries spelled out in big letters, akin to wearing a big flag in your lapel. (Speaking of flags, it is true what you may have read about Germans and their new found pride in waving their flag since the World Cup. I have seen at least a dozen cars with rooftop and side window flags flapping.) The mildly rebellious of the scientists, reacting to the nationalism inherent in this conference name tag approach, have crossed out their country names and simply written "Euroscience." Never missing a chance to promote UCSF, I have my business card and its logo prominently displayed as well. Some observations from the first day of meetings: * Americans' general ignorance about science and the near majority's fervent rejection of evolution brings snickers of disbelief and superiority here. It's not a pleasant feeling to represent a country in the grips of an irrational fever. * Clive Cookson, Science Editor of the Financial Times of London, gets 70 press releases and announcements daily, none of which he reads. * Surveys of German newspaper readers show that Germans want more science coverage and that circulation increases when papers add more science stories. One newspaper science editor explained that his paper now has a science page EVERY DAY, as well as a new bimonthly science magazine that is a big success. Try to sell that idea to an American editor * Scientists here are very envious of the science research model like we have at UCSF, as well as the role of philanthropy in advancing the scientific agenda. One big difference: in America, both corporations and individuals get tax write-offs for charitable contributions, with some qualifications of course. Needless to say, the words "tax" and "deduction" are not heard together in the same sentence in Europe. * The Germans have a special effort under way to lure German scientists back home from the US. The brain drain of Europe's top talent to places like UCSF, where the chance to do innovative science without comparable restraints is a huge draw, is particularly upsetting. But no one here thinks it will be easy.

A Science Beer Garden, something UCSF should consider.
• More than half of German universities do not have even one person devoted to raising private funds of any kind. • And, lastly, the Germans' well-known love of the sun and their hang loose attitude about nudity live on… at least in and along the rocky shoreline and shallows of the Isar River.