Start of the new season of “De Copas con Ciencia”
Start of the new season of “De Copas con Ciencia”
Thursday 27 October sees the start of the sixth season of the successful dissemination project “De Copas con Ciencia” (Drinks with Science). An initiative that aims to satisfy the scientific curiosity of the population in a relaxed, entertaining and fun way in leisure time, bringing it to the bars. The activity is aimed at anyone with a scientific curiosity, without the need for specific training in science, and aims to be a meeting point for science lovers in order to facilitate the creation of scientific debates between experts and the general public.
The activity is organised by the research institutes: ISQCH (Instituto de Síntesis Química y Catálisis Homogénea) and INMA (Instituto de Nanociencia y Materiales de Aragón), both joint centres CSIC – University of Zaragoza, and will be repeated periodically on the last Thursday of each month. During these sessions, topics related to chemistry, nanotechnology and materials science will be discussed.
The first session of the season, with free admission, will take place on 27 October at 20:00 hours in El Sótano Mágico, Calle San Pablo 43, Zaragoza, and will feature great researchers and scientific disseminators, Fernando Bartolomé and Ramón Macías:
– My watch goes back… so the earth is not a sphere” – Fernando Bartolomé Usieto (Instituto de Nanociencia y Materiales de Aragón, INMA (CSIC-UNIZAR).
During the session, a small historical curiosity about Newton, 17th century clocks, Huygens, and the shape of the Earth will be presented, which is a surprise: it is not a sphere! Although it’s not flat either.
Fernando Bartolomé Usieto is a CSIC Research Scientist at INMA. After obtaining his PhD in Science (Physics) from the University of Zaragoza in 1995, he worked as a researcher at the Institut Néel (CNRS, Grenoble) from 1995-1998. He has been Associate Professor at the University of Zaragoza in 1998-1999 and 2014-2015, visiting researcher at the Argonne National Laboratory (USA). He is Principal Investigator of the Synchrotron Radiation and Materials – Research and Applications Group “RASMIA”, recognised as a Reference Group by the Government of Aragon and awarded the prize for New Researchers by the Spanish Royal Society of Physics. Author of more than 150 research publications on magnetic materials and nanoscience. Frequent participant in scientific dissemination.
– Boron also exists. – Ramón Macías Maza. Instituto de Síntesis Química y Catálisis Homogénea, ISQCH (CSIC-UNIZAR)
Boron is an essential element for plants and, therefore, for our lives. But what do we know about this element, what is it used for, and what mysteries does it hide?
Ramón Macías is Full Professor at the University of Zaragoza; he obtained his PhD at the University of Leeds, UK; and has been a post-doctoral researcher at the Universities of Missouri-St. Louis, Missouri, and Notre Dame, Indiana. His research work at ISQCH focuses on the development of polyhedral boron compounds capable of activating small molecules.
In addition, a Hi Score Science quiz for the general public will be held during the session to 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 from the Apple Store and the Play Store for Windows, iOS and Linux at www.HiScoreScience.org. The app also allows users to participate in the project by submitting their own questions via a dedicated website www.hiscorescience.org.
