The symposium “Biología en el Siglo XXI: Sociedad, genes e ideas” gathered more than 100 people at Fundación Ciencia & Vida

28/07/2016

On Friday, July 22, the symposium for non-scientific public “Biología en el Siglo XXI: Sociedad, genes e ideas” (“Biology in the XXIst Century: Society, genes, and ideas”) was held at Fundación Ciencia & Vida. This event, organized by nine young scientists, ranging from undergraduate students to postdocs, was the closing experience of the course “Comunicación y Liderazgo” (“Communication and Leadership”) given by our Intramural Coordinator, Nicole Halçartégaray, under the auspices of Universidad Andrés Bello and Fundación Ciencia & Vida.

The talks, of about 7 minutes each, addressed several topics in the areas of immunology, microbiology, genetics and neurosciences, all of them very contingent and relevant to today’s society. The speakers showed the skills learned in the course, managing to capture the attention of the audience and transmitting sophisticated information in an entertaining way. These abilities became evident at the end of the presentations when the audience congratulated the students and participated actively asking complex questions.

More than 100 people attended the event, including speakers’ family and friends, as well as high school teachers and students, thus demonstrating the vast interest of the general public in learning about the advances in science, and reaffirming our belief regarding the need to continue doing this kind of initiatives for non-specialist audiences.

Organizers and speakers (from left to right): José Rizo, Natalia Ramírez, Pablo Castro, Alan Briones, Nicole Rivera, Nicole Halçartégaray, Ana Inostroza, Betsi Flores, Francisca Guevara and Sebastián Marty.