The Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Fest 10alamenos9 is back with more than a hundred activities

From April 20 to 28, the second edition of the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Fest 10alamenos9 will take place.
From April 20 to 28, the second edition of the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Fest 10alamenos9 will take place.
Research
(19/04/2017)

The nanometer - 10 to the -9th meter- is a miniscule unit representing the world of nanoscience and nanotechnology, a field which is sometimes unknown but which has visible effects. With the aim of discovering what happens in the nanoworld and see what is being done in the fields of research and technology at a small scale, from April 20 to 28, the second edition of the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Fest 10alamenos9 will take place.

From April 20 to 28, the second edition of the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Fest 10alamenos9 will take place.
From April 20 to 28, the second edition of the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Fest 10alamenos9 will take place.
Research
19/04/2017

The nanometer - 10 to the -9th meter- is a miniscule unit representing the world of nanoscience and nanotechnology, a field which is sometimes unknown but which has visible effects. With the aim of discovering what happens in the nanoworld and see what is being done in the fields of research and technology at a small scale, from April 20 to 28, the second edition of the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Fest 10alamenos9 will take place.


The new edition of the festival, coordinated by the University of Barcelona as part of the project NanoDivulga, has more than a hundred activities, doubling the number of activities from last yearʼs edition. Fifteen entities are taking part in the organization -universities and research institutes-, lots of them being reference entities in Spain and Europe in the field of nanotechnology.

The event, funded by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) and sponsored by BASF (main sponsor) and Sesderma, has several headquarters. In Catalonia, the entities holding the activities of the festival are the University of Barcelona, CosmoCaixa and Biblioteques de Barcelona (Barcelona library network), as well as the Museum of Gavà, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), in Bellaterra. There will be other activities in Zaragoza (Institute of Nanoscience of Aragon and CSIC), in San Sebastian (NanoGUNE) and Madrid (CSIC and NANODYF Network). A total of 5.000 people are expected to take part in the activities, around 2.000 in Barcelona, among general audience, students and teaching staff.

According to Jordi Díaz, specialist at the Scientific and Technological Centers of the University of Barcelona (CCiTUB) and promoter of the festival, “the aim is to show that nanotechnology is more present than what we think and to show its functioning and uses”.

In Barcelona, most of the activities will be carried out in CosmoCaixa. There will be activities aimed at primary and secondary schools -with the project Nanoinventum-, apart from exhibitions, demonstrations with nanotechnology products and enhanced reality, workshops and seminars by international distinguished researchers, as well as workshops related to different fields of nanoscience.

Nanotechnology and art

This year, the festival is adding an art exhibition with more than sixty pictorial works and scientific illustrations representing the nanoworld. The exhibition is a collaboration between the entity Belles Arts Francisco Valderrama and NanoDivulga UB, and will be available during April in the Museum of Gavà.

Nanotechnology at the library

From April to June, Biblioteques de Barcelona (libraries network) will focus the conference series Visions de la Ciència on the world of nanotechnology, analysed from all perspectives: applications, medicine, risks, ethics, art, etc. The series of conferences are coordinated by Jordi Díaz, who will give the first lecture on April 24 in Biblioteca de les Corts (library of les Corts), entitled “El nanomon, realitat o ficció? Les nanotecnologies: la nova revolució industrial”.

Nanofest in the Paranimph of the University of Barcelona

As part of the festival, on May 9 the Paranimph of the Historical Building of the University of Barcelona will hold the second edition of the Nanofest, as a closing ceremony for the last edition of the project NanoEduca, the first training project on nanotechnology in secondary and upper education high schools which -during the first three editions- has trained 2.000 students from more than a hundred centers in Catalonia, and which will get to the Basque Country and Madrid.

The festival will be a tool for the participating high schools so that they present the resulting videos and posters from their works on nanotechnology as if they were in a scientific conference.

The program NanoEduca, elaborated by CCiTUB, the Institute of Education of the UB and NanoDivulgra UB, together with ICN2, CESIRE and UAB, was created with the aim of getting high school teachers familiar with the tools, language, and processes of nanoscience and nanotechnology, and creating learning workshops that can be applied in the classroom. 

What is NanoDivulga UB?

The project NanoDivulga was set in 2015 with the aim of getting the world of nanotechnology and nanoscience closer to society and highlight the unique traits of nanomaterials and nanotechnologies. The activity was born in the University of Barcelona, promoted by the Scientific and Technological Centers (CCiTUB), the Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit (UCC+i) and the Institute of Education Sciences (ICE), with the collaboration of the Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (IN2UB).