LifeScienceXplained
For Those Who Can Explain Life Sciences
The LifeScienceXplained | Sartorius Award for New Communication honors communicators who succeed in explaining complex topics from the field of life sciences in an easy-to-understand manner and is endowed with 15,000 euros in prize money.
Now in its fifth year, the competition received a record-breaking 99 entries, with three outstanding ones making it to the final round.
The award ceremony will take place on November 6, 2025 as part of the Göttinger Literaturherbst festival at the Sartorius Campus in Göttingen.
The Nominees 2025
„Prevention and Parkinson's Disease“
Dr. Eva Schäffer
In her science slam, Eva Schäffer, senior physician and neurologist, who is habilitated at Kiel University Hospital, explains why prevention can be crucial for Parkinson's disease. With humor, personal anecdotes, and scientific information, she explains how a healthy lifestyle can reduce the risk of developing the disease. She emphasizes the benefits of moderate endurance sports and a Mediterranean diet, and critically examines risk factors, such as the influence of pesticides. Eva emphasizes that prevention can slow the progression of the disease and improve quality of life after its onset. Her core message is: It is never too early or too late to start preventing Parkinson's disease.
Watch the science slam here (only available in German)
© Markus Tedeskino | © Julius Gabele
„Alzheimer's—Dangerous Slime in the Brain“
Bent Freiwald, Merle Hönig and Hakan Halaç
ACB Stories, Podcast production studio
In this episode, Bent Freiwald, science journalist and podcaster, sheds light on Alzheimer's disease, explaining what happens in the brain. The disease causes a deterioration of cognitive abilities, including attention, learning, memory, language, orientation, and motor skills. According to Bent, communication between nerve cells is disrupted by two “villains”. These processes cause nerve cells in people with Alzheimer's disease to become damaged and die. Through this podcast, Bent and the ACB Stories team successfully convey what Alzheimer's does to the brain in a clear and understandable way.
To the podcast episode (only available in German)
„How Light Becomes Stronger: Superpowers of Tiny Particles“
Naomi Weitzel
In her science slam, Naomi Weitzel, PhD student at the Institute of Analytical Chemistry at the University of Regensburg, highlights the remarkable abilities of rare earth nanoparticles. These tiny particles can convert low-energy infrared light into high-energy visible, and even ultraviolet, light—a seemingly impossible process. She illustrates this principle using a piggy bank. The particles “accumulate” infrared energy until it equals the energy of blue or UV light and then release it in a concentrated form. This unique property opens new possibilities for rare earth nanoparticles in medicine, such as cancer therapy, where certain substances can be activated in a targeted manner without damaging healthy tissue.
Watch the Science Slam here (only available in German)
Livestream Award Ceremony
Watch here the award ceremony of this year's LifeScienceXplained Award via livestream on November 6, 2025 , starting at 7 p.m.
The Jury
The LifeScienceXplained prize is awarded by an independent jury of science and communication professionals. Three criteria are decisive for their decision: verifiability, comprehensibility and creativity.
After careful consideration of all entries, the jury selects three entries from which the winning entrywill be chosen. The name of the winner and the jury's reasoning are announced at the award ceremony each year. The three final entries will be published in advance.
The Best of Four Years LifeScienceXplained
Partner
The Sartorius Prize for New Communication is awarded together with the NDR Non-fiction Book Prize. This award, also endowed with 15,000 euros, recognizes the best non-fiction book of the year published in German.
The joint award ceremony will take place on November 6, 2025 as part of the Göttinger Literaturherbst festival at the Sartorius Campus in Göttingen.