The UB Science Festival is back
The 3rd Science Festival of the University of Barcelona, to be held on Friday May 12 during all day at the Historical Building, comes with many new activities. A neuroconcert, a place dedicated to the figure of Sabater Pi, a workshop on the cultural heritage of Mexico and an activity about astronomy to better understand the Milky Way are some of the new activities of the festival, which also includes the most successful workshops from the previous editions.
The 3rd Science Festival of the University of Barcelona, to be held on Friday May 12 during all day at the Historical Building, comes with many new activities. A neuroconcert, a place dedicated to the figure of Sabater Pi, a workshop on the cultural heritage of Mexico and an activity about astronomy to better understand the Milky Way are some of the new activities of the festival, which also includes the most successful workshops from the previous editions.
Neuroconcert with five voices a cappella
One of the distinguished novelties for the festival is the neuroconcert, at 19 h, in the Ferran Soldevila garden of the Historical Building. The aim of this activity, organized by the Institute of Neurosciences of the UB, is to talk about the musical perception and emotions it creates, with a dialogue with musicians and neuroscientists, accompanied by a live concert of five voices a cappella.
This is not the first time La UB Divulga organizes a neuroconcert. In 2013, they programmed ten concerts within the project NeuroUB: Neuroscience, Music and Art, and the experience was a success. To understand the mechanisms through which music creates specific emotional states has been a fascinating objective for neuroscience for years.
A space dedicated to the figure of Jordi Sabater Pi
The expert in African ethology, primatology and anthropology, Jordi Sabater Pi -mainly known for his discovery of the albino gorilla Snowflake, which he gave to the Zoo of Barcelona -will have an own space in the Festival. Sabater Pi studied Psychology at the University of Barcelona and was emeritus professor of the Department of Clinical Psychiatry and Psychobiology since 1987.
Apart from a poster about his most distinguished contributions in his fields of expertize as scientist and researcher, the exhibition will include almost two hundred natural-themed drawings belonging to the extensive Sabater Pi Collection, given to the Universityʼs CRAI years ago. Some of the drawings are taken from Sabater Piʼs field journals, others are notes on animals and plants. Most of these works are painted in aquarelle or crayons.
History and meaning of UNESCOʼs world heritage
One of the new workshops proposes visitors to discover and value the properties listed as UNESCOʼs world heritage through community participation. After a brief explanation on the meaning of world heritage and the international importance of preserving it, the workshop stresses on the necessary participation from local communities so that this preservation is effective. In these lines, the UB PhD student Amilcar Vargas will talk about his research in several archaeological sites which are world heritage in Mexico, his place of birth. At the end, visitors can play crosswords with words related to the content of the activity and the places of world heritage they know about or would like to discover, with the help of a map and pictures from those places. They will be invited to take part in the collective creation of crossword games.
Three dimensions of the Milky Way
Astronomy lovers are lucky since the team of the Institute of Cosmos Sciences (ICCUB) is exhibiting a large-scale representation of the Milky Way, a project created within the framework of the Gaia Mission, led by the European Space Agency (ESA). The stand will include a workshop to create constellations, which will serve to understand the three dimensions of the 1.000 thousands of stars in the Milky Way.
Activities for all ages
The main aim of the festival is to reach non-specialized audiences from all ages. Therefore, there will be a place with a selection of science-themed children books, tales and comics so that the youngest ones can enjoy some reading too. In the afternoon there will be a play for the kids too, the show Flebotín, un mosquit del Cretaci (Flebotín, a mosquito from the Cretaceous) from the project Pintaʼm un conte.
Attendants will have the opportunity to build a DNA double helix, join an introductory workshop on text editing with Ramon Llull manuscripts and medieval scientific texts, or make a Iuris test.
Also, they will discover the relation between chemistry and color, and will be able to try to fool their brains, try virtual reality in first person, or see and touch fossils from unicellular bodies from 40 million years ago, among other activities.