Mirjam den Hoed stands in the hangar at the airport in Schönhagen, Brandenburg. Den Hoed, a meteorologist, is unpacking a structure made from expanded polystyrene foam that looks like a cross between R2-D2 and a time bomb. However, she is neither a Star Wars fan, nor is she planning a crime.

When the Games of the XXXI Olympiad start in Rio de Janeiro, on August 5, Rio’s new port area, “Porto Maravilha,” will be among the areas drawing the world’s attention. Not just because the Olympic flame will burn there among spectacular new buildings such as the Museu do Amanhã after the opening ceremony, not just because the track and field events will be held at the nearby Sambódromo venue, and not just because the port itself will be one of the “live sites” for the Olympics.

Feryad Fazil Omar has been working for more than 30 years at the Institute of Iranian Studies at Freie Universität Berlin to support mutual understanding of the German and Kurdish languages and cultures. The university teacher, who is also the head of the Institute of Kurdish Studies in Berlin and president of the German arm of the Society for Threatened Peoples, recently published his third dictionary.