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Find of the month

The "language" of earthworms

In the calendar of animal holidays in Germany, 15 February has been dedicated to the earthworm for around 20 years, although the origin of this day is unknown. This month we therefore present a short news item that appeared on 15 January 1927 under the heading "Bunte Zeitung" in the entertainment section of the Fuldaer Zeitung. This contribution referred to a report in the popular science magazine Kosmos, in which the "language" of earthworms was discussed.

The background to the report was the zoologist Otto Mangold, who had noticed various sounds when observing earthworms in his terrarium, which he analysed and described in more detail. With the appointment of the sinologist Eduard Erkes, the news item in the Fuldaer Zeitung stated that, unlike European naturalists in Asia, it had long been known that earthworms make sounds. Specifically, it was stated: "The Chinese actually say of the earthworm that it sings, and call it ko-nū, "the singing girl", because of its delicate song. The Koreans claim that it produces the sounds si and rong and therefore call it si-rong, the sirong maker. The Chinese and Koreans were therefore aware of the earthworm's strange ability to produce sounds, and there were certainly also European scholars who were familiar with the Chinese and Korean names for the earthworm. They probably explained these names with the imagination of the people, without investigating further how the animal got this name."
The entire issue of the Fuldaer Zeitung from 15 January 1927 canbe viewed- like many other issues - on our digitisation portal FulDig(https://fuldig.hs-fulda.de/viewer/image/PPN1427470634746/107/). The news item selected as the find of the month has been printed in the right-hand column.

Research-related service of the month

NFDI-ELSA webinar series on research ethics

The Ethics working group of the NFDI section ELSA (Ethical, Legal and Social Aspects) is offering a monthly webinar series starting on Thursday, 05 February. The event series is co-organised by research data officer Dr Thomas Richter (HLSB) in his role as coordinator of the working group, who will also moderate some of the sessions. The target audience is anyone with an interest in research ethics topics.

The first lecture, ‘Introduction to Research Ethics’ (Prof. Dr. Hella von Unger, LMU Munich), will take place on Thursday, 5 February, and will include an introduction from a social science perspective. All other lectures will be held in English on Wednesdays from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m.

Further topics, dates and the link to the video conference room (no advance registration required) can be found here.
Local contact: Dr Thomas Richter, thomas.richter(at)hs-fulda.de, Tel. 0661/9640-9825.