The monologues of 'Big Van Ciencia' awaken the curiosity of the students

This afternoon the School's assembly hall hosted the informative show 'Big Van Ciencia', a cocktail of monologues, humor and science that the 4th ESO and 1st and 2nd year Baccalaureate students enjoyed. The event was organized by the Association of Mothers and Fathers (AMPA) of the School, which wanted to bring scientific topics closer to young people in an enjoyable and fun way. Its managers are scientists and disseminators with extensive experience in all types of settings, from theaters to television, through programs such as 'Orbita Laika', on RTVE.

Those in charge of achieving this objective were Helena González and Oriol Marimon, who broke stereotypes by demonstrating that, being doctors in Genetics and Cancer Biology (she) and in Chemistry (him), science can be explained without resorting to complex words and connecting in different ways. directly with students. This was undoubtedly helped by the fact that they began by explaining the biological basis of adolescents' problems getting out of bed. "It's not that you are lazy, it's that you suffer from a chronobiological delay that makes being at school at 8 in the morning for you the same as being at work at 3 or 4 in the morning for an adult," he commented. Marimon.

They both defined themselves as "geeks." "There's nothing wrong!" they exclaimed. Therefore, at a time when these students are going to make "one of the most important decisions of their lives" about their future once they finish their studies at the School, they were encouraged to continue studying what they like. "When you study what motivates you, you meet more people like you, and you learn to do what you like most."

After the introduction it was time for the monologues. González dedicated hers to genetics, a world that fascinated her since she was a child, "how the same four letters (ACGT) present in nucleotides are the origin of all living organisms." Superhero movies and comics also sparked her curiosity, characters that had undergone mutations that had given them her powers. However, the biologist lowered the public's expectations. "A mutation in DNA cannot give you superpowers. Rather, we should talk about transgenics, genetically modified organisms," she explained. Like a tomato, at least one modified to have a more resistant skin and not perish crushed at the bottom of the supermarket checkout. Achieving these results is simple, she said. It would be enough to make a cut-and-paste in the DNA of an organism and add a new gene. Thus, results have been achieved such as a fluorescent cat (from including in a cat's DNA a sequence from a species of jellyfish), a milestone that in itself does not make much sense, but when applied to the localization of cancer cells. It represents a great advance. Another great step forward in the treatment of diseases is CRISPR, a protein that can reach the cell nucleus and allows 'editing' certain genes, thus managing to cure genetically based diseases, although it could also be used for more dubious results such as changing the color of the eyes, increase height, or intelligence, or open the door to genetic doping, etc. All these ideas left a good impression on the students, who dedicated a large part of the round of questions that closed the show to them.

The second monologue, by Oriol Marimon, was dedicated to the importance of communication and language in human evolution. In a fun 'experiment' that had the collaboration of Jose Antonio and Diego, students from 2nd year of Baccalaureate and 4th year of ESO, respectively, it was demonstrated that the lack of language in an ancestor of ours like homo habilis would not have allowed him to transmit his knowledge. about how to make fire. Fortunately for us, this was later achieved by other of our ancestors, which improved their diet and, with it, the growth of brain capacity, which led them to evolve to the current homo sapiens. In his monologue, the chemist wanted to vindicate the role of women in science, often silenced, using as an example the biologist Lynn Margulis, whose work on microorganisms and their relationship with each other is the basis for many subsequent studies. about the importance of communication for the evolution of any living being, including humans.

Finally, both scientists answered the students' questions, many of which dealt with the possibility of genetically modifying human beings and raised important philosophical and ethical doubts about these advances. Ultimately, the big question that humor led us to was the following: what makes us human? A difficult question to answer that, the popularizers concluded, can only be reached if Science and Humanities continue walking hand in hand.