10 reasons to visit Latitude Sciences | Everyday

Located in Malvern North, the Faculty of Science at the University of the Republic may be left behind for many Montevideos. No problem: the teachers move once a year to the city center, or at least to the symbolic center of the city of Montevideo. Or until the pandemic hit. However, the custom will resume in 2023 with the launch of a new edition of the fair’s exhibit, the interactive space Latitude Sciences. And this year, although no different from previous years, it is different from previous years.

Post-COVID-19, the resources of the University of the Republic, especially the Faculty of Science, have not increased as enrollment has increased and the visibility of science in society has increased. More importantly: at the high school level, there will be dark clouds in the teaching of some subjects that are critical to the construction of citizens’ scientific citizenship, such as physics, astronomy, geography, botany and other subjects. Science. Philosophy. This year, the teachers, students and officials of the Faculty of Science moved to the city center, bringing all kinds of scientific knowledge to attract the public, whether adults or children, with a special flavor.

Latitude Sciences runs Wednesday, September 6th through Friday, September 8th, 10:00am to 6:30pm in just under three days, lightning fast, and you can ask at the physical booth. Here are some suggestions, but the best is for everyone to allow themselves to be swayed by the most unbiased curiosity.

1) Learn how physics and astronomy capture the curiosity of children and teens

Who dares to ask a curious creature who has just been exposed to meteorite fragments whether he is interested in astronomy? The worst-case scenario is that you ignore our questions and continue to listen fascinated to the stories behind some of the meteorites collected by the Astronomy Department of the Faculty of Science’s Institute of Physics.

If that wasn’t enough, maybe we can get closer to the queues on the Esplanade, where, with safety and guidance, curious people will be able to observe the sunspots of the stars that make life possible on Earth. what are these? Why is it important to know them? How do stars provide the energy needed for life to exist in the universe? Of course, the questions we might have in mind pale in comparison to those posed by those who just observed after queuing!

But not everything is astronomy. Miniature tornadoes, tricks where magicians are actually electromagnetic forces and much more await you at the Institute of Physics booth (e.g. guns that shoot smoke rings, hair on end, and more in other editions).

2) Partial color

At the booth of the Institute of Biochemistry, visitors will be able to learn more about how some pigments from local plants and bacteria (and near our base in Antarctica!) are very useful in making solar cells as we produce renewable and clean energy. Because not only can high-quality science be done in Uruguay, but we can also add color to the things around us.

3) play math

There is a great deal of math behind many of the games we play. But at the Math Center booth, games, besides being fun, help us see the little things. What is an infinite puzzle? And a spider game or a Möbius strip?

4) Lots of legs

Contact with wild animals is always a rewarding experience. Of course, bringing a whale, even a live one, to a government atrium is quite complicated. However, not all great things in this world are fascinating. At the stand of the Institute of Biology, not only live specimens and collections of insects, crustaceans, arachnids and myriapods (all arthropods) can be seen with the naked eye and a microscope, but also students and teachers. They’ll tell us the secrets of a few of them. If we talk about small things, nearby we can see fungi, bacteria, worms and many other things.

5) Water, water!

We’ve just come out of a water crisis where, in recent months, we’ve turned on taps that have undrinkable salty water flowing out of us. Reality makes us realize how vulnerable we are when we pollute freshwater rivers or when we waste resources for purposes that do not benefit all. At the booth at the Institute of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, you can answer questions about water quality, what we must do to protect it, what we do to cause problems and what can help.

7) Dare to Dream

It is rarely said, but the most important thing we do during the day is not to study or work, but to sleep. Yet we pay so little attention to our sleep that most of us get less than the recommended amount of sleep. So on Wednesday the 6th and Thursday the 7th from 2:30 to 3:00 pm, chronobiology researcher Bettina Tassino gave 25 girls and boys (ages three to five) a Let’s Play Until Bedtime activity. On Thursday at 10:30 a.m., Bettina’s colleague Ana Silva, who studies biorhythms and sleep, presented the “Let’s Talk About Sleep” event.

8) Speeches for every taste

During Latitude Science, different researchers from the Faculty of Science will give lectures on different topics. We recommend that you check out that program, but here are some we recommend. For example, Gabriela Fernández’s speech, “Old Issues Meet New Challenges in the St. Lucia Basin,” to the public on Thursday at 3:30 p.m., promises. On Friday the 8th at 10:00am, Omar Defeo will focus on “Environmental Impacts on Coastal Systems” with presentations on “Invasive Alien Species” at 10:30am and 11:00am. The morning session will be moderated by Ernesto Brugnoli, and “Southern Ocean, Oceans of Encounter” will begin at 1:00 pm and will be led by Natalia Venturini.

9) Short film premiere

In our country, a team of researchers has made a valuable contribution to the understanding of the sturgeon’s immune system. “Wait a minute!” you’ll say. “There are no sturgeons in Uruguay!”, and they would rightly object if they mentioned wild sturgeon (although some certainly escaped from hatcheries). The problem is that in our country the River Negro breeds sturgeon to produce caviar. Ana María Ferreira, Valeria Silva and Andrea Villarino and other colleagues started researching the fish at the request of the farming company immune system.After years of hard work and many advancements, the whole story is told in a short film Swimming against the tide: Two Uruguayan researchers seek growth

Directed by Tania Dangiolilo and bearing the GEN stamp, the center combines art and science to, among other things, produce a fantastic documentary about Clemente Estable. The documentary was funded by the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Mines’ 2022 Women in Productivity Call. Premieres on Friday the 8th at 4:30pm.

10) Your questions don’t bother

The last will be the first. So the reason we stayed last is actually the most important: to stimulate curiosity about the various scientific disciplines taught in the Faculty of Science, and at the Latitude Science Fair and Exhibition, questions don’t bother. On the contrary: In science, questions are almost always more important than answers. Here, girls, boys, and teens will find teachers, seniors, and beginning students alike, all with the same mindset to turn the spark of scientific curiosity into a raging fire that, far from dazzling, ignites The surrounding world and universe. We live in a warmer world.

That: latitude science
when: Wednesday 6th to Friday 8th September 10:00 to 18:30
Where: Montevideo City Hall Atrium
clarify: The meeting quota is 40 people, and admission is in order of arrival.