Category Content and Substance

[In this category, the focus is on the videos’ scientific depth.]

1st Prize: David Peter and Team | YouTube Channel somethingwithscience | Mainz
How do we know that the world around us is real and not just a trick of our brain? Scientific insights show that space and time could actually be a simulation. In his video, Constraints on the Universe as a Numerical Simulation, David Peter explains what’s behind this unimaginable idea.

2nd Prize: Dr. Aaron Lindner | Max Planck Society | Munich
Computers that read our thoughts – it may sound like a long way off, but it is not that unrealistic. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems measure brainwaves and develop a “thought reader,” which, for example, helps paralyzed people to communicate. How man and machine will interact in the future is shown in the video Brain-Computer Interface – A Direct Connection to Thought.

3rd Prize: Ben Bode and Team | YouTube Channel SOundSO gesehen | Cologne
What makes preimplantation and prenatal diagnosis such a delicate subject? What do we actually mean by these awkward terms? In his video Early Detection I Genetic Testing and Designer Babies, Ben Bode provides answers to the basic questions. By all means form your own opinions!

Category Scitainment

[This category focuses on the entertainment value of the videos.]

1st Prize: Stefan Müller | Ottersberg
He breaks down the world into its smallest pieces: in his video Brickscience TV – Collider, physics and math teacher Stefan Müller shows how scientists are searching for the smallest particle of our universe. His brickfilm explains how a collider (particle accelerator) works and what makes researchers’ hearts beat faster. Brickfilms are films featuring Lego bricks and toys.

2nd Prize: Alexander Giesecke and Team | YouTube Channel TheSimpleClub | Karlsruhe
Renewable energies can be stored. How? By converting them into chemical energy through water electrolysis and storing them as gas. This can then be converted into electricity. In their video Power to Gas – Energy Storage of the Future?, the video makers have tested the solution in their own lab.

3rd Prize: Malte Derks and Team | MD Films for the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research | Ludwigsburg
What do Canadians have in common with electrons? Quite a lot – as is shown by the video Superconductivity: Flowing in the Fast Lane. The video is about how superconductors work and under what conditions it can be used to save energy in real life.

Category Untitled

[A competition for videos at the intersection of art and science.]

1st Prize: Karim Niazi | Zurich
Oil is a fought-over resource. The problem is not that it will be used up at some point. Rather, we will run out of energy to extract oil. Karim Niazi’s video Hydrocarbon is an artistically somber plea for renewable energies and an (ecologically) aware lifestyle.

2nd Prize: Dr. Wolfgang Höhl and Team | University of Munich (LMU) | Munich
A marble roller coaster floats through silent space. Three marbles roll along its rails. Is the earth one of them? The video Marble Spaceship shows the apparently endless cycle of our universe.

Only two prizes were given in this category.

Community Award

[This award is given to the audience favorites of the YouTube community.]

1st Prize: Alexander Giesecke and Team | YouTube Channel TheSimpleClub | Karlsruhe
For information on the video, see Category Scitainment

2nd Prize: Ben Bode | YouTube Channel SOundSO gesehen | Cologne
For information on the video, see Category Content and Substance

3rd Prize: Finn | YouTube Channel BYTEthinks
The NSA scandal has brought home the fact that (almost) nobody is surfing the Internet anonymously. Everybody leaves behind traces. And yet there are scientifically proven loopholes and gaps. How you can navigate the Internet without leaving traces and protect your privacy is shown by the video Invisible on the Internet – Surfing Anonymously.