Christmas and Science come together this month in “De Copas Con Ciencia”
Christmas and Science come together this month in “De Copas Con Ciencia”
De Copas Con Ciencia is an initiative of the research institutes, the Instituto de Síntesis Química y Catálisis Homogénea (ISQCH) and the Instituto de Nanociencia y Materiales de Aragón (INMA), both joint centres of the CSIC and the University of Zaragoza, which aims to satisfy the scientific curiosity of the general public in a relaxed, entertaining and fun way during leisure time by bringing it to the bars. The activity, which this month brings together science and Christmas, is aimed at the whole population with a scientific curiosity, from high school students to senior citizens and people with no specific training in science.
The session, with free admission, will take place on 16 December at 20:00 at El Sótano Mágico, Calle San Pablo 43, Zaragoza (http://elsotanomagico.com/) and will be repeated periodically on the last Thursday of each month. During these sessions, topics related to chemistry and materials science such as nanotechnology, superconductivity, the environment, the world of crystals, space, etc. will be discussed.
The Christmas special on Thursday 16 December will feature:
– “Christmas, Crystals and Chemistry” – Fernando J. Lahoz (ISQCH)
Starting with references to Christmas, we will travel through the world of crystals and crystallography. We will see how the careful observation of the behaviour of crystals has led crystallographers to provide vitally important clues to understand and modify the properties of chemicals and materials, starting from their molecular organisation at the atomic level to establish the most important paradigm of modern science, “the powerful relationship between structure and property”.
Fernando J. Lahoz is a chemist by training who soon became fascinated by the extraordinary potential of X-ray diffraction experiments to uniquely determine molecular structures. After several postdoctoral stages in Madrid, Parma (Italy) and Cambridge (UK), he joined the CSIC as a researcher, first at the ICMA and later at the Institute of Chemical Synthesis and Homogeneous Catalysis (CSIC – UNIZAR), where he has been the director for the last 10 years. His scientific interest focuses on understanding the reactivity and/or catalytic activity of new metal complexes from the study of their crystal structures.
– The most beautiful idea ever thought of – Carlos Pobes (INMA)
Christmas, dates longed for by some and hated by others. Dates of gifts, reflection and dinners. In this talk we will anticipate all this by opening a beautiful gift, one of Nature’s best kept secrets.
Carlos Pobes is a researcher in the group of materials and quantum devices (Q-MAD) of INMA specialising in particle physics and low temperatures and currently developing superconducting radiation sensors. In 2011 he was selected to take care of the IceCube neutrino telescope at the South Pole. He has been involved in outreach work for more than 10 years. Among his activities, he is the presenter of the Aragón TV programme ‘En ruta con la ciencia’, which has received numerous awards throughout its 13 seasons and almost 200 programmes. He also talked about his polar experience in the blog www.eldiamaslargodemivida.com.
In addition, during the session there will be a face-to-face competition Hi Score Science, aimed at the general public, which will reward the scientific knowledge acquired by those attending the session.
Hi Score Science is a game of questions and answers about science, in Spanish and English, for mobile devices, iOS and Android that is developed between the two research institutes, the ISQCH and INMA, which allows to include explanations of the scientific reality behind each of the answers. The game can be downloaded free of charge and without advertising in the Apple Store and Play Store and for Windows, iOS and Linux at www.HiScoreScience.org. In addition, the application allows users to participate in the project by sending their own questions via a dedicated website www.hiscorescience.org. All questions received and finally published will retain the authorship of the person who submitted the question. Hi Score Science has received the first prize in the international contest of Science in Action in the category “Science Teaching Materials in Interactive Support” (IBM Award), the D+I TOP SEAL, a national recognition that rewards the best projects of INCLUSIVE SCIENTIFIC DISCLOSURE and has been nominated for the PREMIOS TERCER MILENIO in the category “Dissemination in Aragon”.
