Why do people go to work despite being ill?


“Presenteeism” is the term used to refer to the behaviour of people in employment who go to work despite being ill. This widespread phenomenon has far-reaching consequences, not just for the individuals concerned, but also for the companies and for the entire economy. Heiko Breitsohl is working to create a greater awareness of this tricky issue.

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Flying high with reduced weight

The aviation industry has a keen interest in reducing the amount of cables in aircraft. A team of researchers is now working on the advancement of wireless communication in avionics.

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We are what we eat

Today’s Western dietary style is not only harmful to our climate and to biodiversity, but ultimately also to humans. Karlheinz Erb is studying land use and has reached some challenging but also some encouraging conclusions regarding our dietary habits.

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German-Mandarin, Syrian-German or Slovenian-German? On the valences of multilingualism

The nation state idea aspires to perfect monolingualism. The field of linguistics, on the other hand, regards multilingualism as something normal. And not all forms of multilingualism are alike: While some educated middle-class parents may opt to send their children to Mandarin lessons while they are still in kindergarten, Syrian-German speakers receive very little societal respect. ad astra spoke to the linguist Alexander Onysko and the educational scientist Hans Karl Peterlini about the status of multilingualism.

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