They are not usually to be found at the water’s edge, but in pedestrian zones: city beaches hold the promise of relaxation; a Caribbean haven for stressed townies – provided that the German summer does its stuff!

Germany has a long tradition as a location for research. Many innovations from here have shaped our world.

Anyone who has worked as a researcher in Germany later becomes an unofficial ambassador for the Federal Republic in his or her home country. But what ordinary, everyday things do researchers take away with them when they return home? We asked them for their shopping lists.

Every year, approximately 600 foreign academics come to Germany as fellows of the Humboldt Foundation in order to spend one or two years working with colleagues here. At the end of their stay, the Foundation surveys these academics on the success of their collaborations and their opinion of Germany’s internationality and research. The German hosts are also asked to fill in a questionnaire and evaluate how satisfied they were with the cooperation. For the current study the responses of approximately 1,700 Humboldtians and over 1,200 hosts from the years 2007 to 2010 were analysed.

In East Germany plastic goods were more than just cheap throwaway items. The beautiful new world of plastics became the symbol of modernity and the success of socialism.

Germany is a belated truffle nation which only discovered a taste for these fine mushrooms in the 18th century. But the truffle is now experiencing a renaissance, not least as a result of changing climatic conditions: a brief foray into a thousand years in the chequered cultural history of the truffle in Germany.

Today’s fonts are generated by computers. Typography has little to do with inkpots, paper, quills or nibs. Graphic designer and German Chancellor Fellow, Jason Mannix, tracks down an old typeface and rediscovers a traditional craft.

One coach, 30 Humboldtians from every corner of the world and almost two weeks to get to know a dozen German towns and their inhabitants. Impressions from a study trip.

From metallic grey via flaming red to brilliant blue, honey yellow and grass green, the exhibits glow in every shade at the world’s largest private exhibition of minerals, the terra mineralia.

A stroll through the culture maze.

In the USA and Germany just over half the population is female. But what proportion is engaged in politics in the two countries? Are high-ranking women politicians the exceptions that prove the rule; are they just a nine day wonder or do they really have a lasting impact?

Anyone attempting to draw up a league table of the best research institutions for mathematics in Germany is presented with a difficult question: What are the right indicators for a reliable and comparative assessment of a location’s academic quality and appeal?

You think Germany is a disaster area when it comes to services, and its inhabitants are decidedly unapproachable and unfriendly? Go to Berlin and meet the bus drivers and you’ll soon change your mind.

On Bush critics, beer-tent nostalgia, Carnival and the particular German form of political correctness. The things that amaze an American in Germany.

Brazilians really know how to celebrate football parties. But you live and learn: that the World Cup in Germany, of all places, turned into an educational trip on the subject of soccer enthusiasm. An account of a personal experience.

Several accounts have been written of Alexander von Humboldt's life. And with each epoch, his image changed - especially in Germany. A new metabiography presents a kaleidoscope of national and historical perspectives.