After a much-too-short holiday and a successful trip into the past (see other posts), it was back to business with a vengeance even before the holidays had come to their proper close. LGH was present at the IdeenPark, an initiative by ThyssenKrupp to generate interest in science and technology.
I spent two days at the LGH information stand, explaining to the interested about how to extract DNA from tomatos with household materials (it's easy: all you need is a source of DNA, a blender, washing liquid, contact lens cleaning solution, and ice-cold alcohol). Crowds were enormous, there was hardly time for catching one's breath between demonstrations, and people had to wait for over an hour at times to gain entry to the individual theme parks.
Yes, this is fun. It involves the massacre of real live tomatos.
What struck me most about the whole thing, however, was that already very small children (grades one and two and the like) showed an acute interest in the topic. Lots of explaining was necessary, of course, but I do believe to have observed a marked curiosity in things that in my day were completely out of our intellectual grasp. Thinking back, I guess I first heard of DNA in tenth grade. It seems we've come a long way, baby.
I spent two days at the LGH information stand, explaining to the interested about how to extract DNA from tomatos with household materials (it's easy: all you need is a source of DNA, a blender, washing liquid, contact lens cleaning solution, and ice-cold alcohol). Crowds were enormous, there was hardly time for catching one's breath between demonstrations, and people had to wait for over an hour at times to gain entry to the individual theme parks.
Yes, this is fun. It involves the massacre of real live tomatos.
1 comment:
hört sich irgendwie anstrengend an... ich war gar nicht da. aber das ist doch voll stzressig gewesen, oder? so viele leute und so wirklich viele vom LGH waren ja auch nicht da... naja, gute nacht
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