Almost one million register at the 4th Science Festival of the UB

This activity is open to everyone and free of charge.
This activity is open to everyone and free of charge.
Research
(09/05/2018)

The Historical Building of the UB is holding, on Friday, May 11, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Science Festival of the UB, which reaches its fourth edition this year. This activity has become a must for all those who want to discover, in a dynamic and innovative way, a part of the research that is carried out at the University of Barcelona. This activity is open to everyone and free of charge, but school groups need to be registered previously, in order to organize the visit and offer material. At the moment, almost one million students have registered, most of them are secondary education students.
 

This activity is open to everyone and free of charge.
This activity is open to everyone and free of charge.
Research
09/05/2018

The Historical Building of the UB is holding, on Friday, May 11, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Science Festival of the UB, which reaches its fourth edition this year. This activity has become a must for all those who want to discover, in a dynamic and innovative way, a part of the research that is carried out at the University of Barcelona. This activity is open to everyone and free of charge, but school groups need to be registered previously, in order to organize the visit and offer material. At the moment, almost one million students have registered, most of them are secondary education students.
 

There will be around thirty dissemination activities during the morning, including workshops, lectures and games, to show the task of the researchers of the university, from all knowledge areas. There are several aims: promoting science discoveries, encouraging participants to get a scientific and thinking attitude towards any situation as well as claiming the relevant role of science in all areas of life.

Activities for every one

The Festival reaches its fourth edition with many new workshops. Participants will discover, among other things, what a city is useful for, how to assess water pollution and will discover language diversity surrounding our lives.

Per a què serveix una cuitat? (What is a city useful for?). A workshop proposes studying the original Cerdà plan in a collective and participative way. People will find out about the proposed equipment -distributed in an equal and fair way around the city- and will see the changes compared to the current Eixample.

Com avaluem la contaminació de lʼaigua? (How to assess water pollution?). In order to protect the environment from effects of human pollution, we need to know the toxic effects of the chemical compounds we throw out that have an impact on living beings. One of the workshops will show how one of the most standard and internationally known tests works, which allows us to quantify the toxicity of any substance in a precise and objective way.

La diversitat lingüística a la nostra vida (Language diversity in our lives).  There are about 5,000 spoken languages around the world. There are more than 300 in Catalonia. One of the workshops intends to discover this diversity which is part of our daily life and which goes unnoticed many times.

Also, the most successful activities from other years such as the workshop on visual perceptions, chemistry and color, and symmetries, will be present in the festival.

Percepcions òptiques. El cervell enganya. (Visual perceptions. Brain tricks). Each participant can try to solve a visual perception task for three times. Some of the most known visual illusions will be used to record the results and assess how brain can trick us.

In La química i el color (Chemistry and color), participants will see the effects of UV radiation in different substances, with a special emphasis on fluorescence. Also, they will find out how to find blood in a crime scene and will measure the pH in different common-use substances.

The workshop Simetries (Symmetries) will work on the concept of symmetry through games with geometrical pieces, bullets and other elements which will enable participants to discover different symmetries and acquire basic concepts.


The life and science of Physician Richard Feynman

A conference has been scheduled as part of the festival, which will go through the figure of Richard Feynman (1918-1988), one of the most influential and creative 20th century physicians. The conference will take place on May 11, at 12 noon, in the Aula Magna of the Historical Building of the UB. The conference will be given by the professor of History of Science and Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, United States), David Kaiser.

Under the title “Following his own path: the life and science of physicist Richard Feynman”, Kaiser will go over the most important scientific contributions of this physician as well as the historical context in which he lived, the day of the hundredth anniversary of his birth. The conference will be given in English and is open to the general audience, but previous registration is required, here.

The festival is funded by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology from the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, and the conference by David Kaiser is supported by the US Embassy in Barcelona.

Promotional video: http://www.ub.edu/ubtv/video/iv-festa-de-la-ciencia