Altogether, as many as 11 unforgettable workshops and 35 different presentations were carried out in 21 laboratories a year ago. The Night of Laboratories is organised by Nokia Networks and EIT+ Wroclaw Research Centre, but the event is joined also by Wroclaw universities, companies, state-owned and scientific institutions, which will open the door to their laboratories on that only night. The originators admitted that they had been inspired by the success of the Night of Museums, during which thousands of people stand in long queues to visit museums and galleries. The Night of Laboratories also attracted a large audience, and limits of places for individual shows were quickly exhausted.
The Night of Laboratories is addressed to lovers of science – those who read and look for opportunities to expand their knowledge, learn about facts and take part in interesting experiments. The number of science enthusiasts grows in every age group. Proof? Crowds visiting knowledge centres and science parks, such as Wroclaw Hydropolis or Humanitarium in the EIT+ campus in Pracze. Apart from that, the Night of Laboratories is an amazing opportunity to cross the threshold of otherwise unavailable places and to meet specialists whose work is veiled with mystery (e.g., police criminologists). On that Night, you can watch their actions from a close distance. The Wroclaw Night of Laboratories was the first event of this kind to popularise science in Poland and proved a great success.
‘We hope for an even larger interest than a year ago, because this year’s group of partners of the event was joined by several new institutions, which means even more interesting places to visit and additional attractions. However, please remember that the level of interest is very high and the order of registration will decide. Last year all entrance passes were sold out at an express pace, and places for some workshops or lectures were booked out a few hours after the start of registration,’ explains Agata Kołacz, an organiser of the Night of Laboratories from the EIT+ Wroclaw Research Centre.
Geneticians, criminologists, Nokia...
The program of the Night of Laboratories includes visits to geneticians’ workrooms and laboratories where new sources of energy and solutions useful in the communications industry. Like a year ago, there will be an opportunity to discover the use of thousands of 3M’s products. Allergics visiting the Euroimmun training laboratory can perform allergological tests on their own and make use of a fluorescence microscope. For future engineers, it is possible to only to visit Nokia’s laboratories, but also to check how electromagnetic phenomena affect electronic devices and radio systems. They will see this in the Institute of Communication – the National Institute of Research and the Institute of Electrical Engineering.
Presentations at the Chair of Histology and Embryology of the Medical University, whose employees will talk about the structure and functioning of living tissues, are worth particular recommendation. The Dolby company invites all music lovers to visit its audio laboratory.
The University of Life Sciences will prepare a series of thematic workshops with crime as a leitmotiv. The participants accompanied by anthropologists will check, for instance, the difference between a cut wound and a torn ragged wound and traces left in the body by toothed knives and by chainsaws; we will also learn if deadly poisonous fungi and destructive parasites are really as horrible as they are described. Workshops on similar topics will be prepared by the Wroclaw University, which will make its forensic laboratory available to visitors.
An interesting event will also be held in the International Laboratory of Strong Magnetic Fields and Low Temperatures of the Polish Academy of Sciences, where a magnetic field that is one million bigger than the gravitational field and temperatures close to absolute zero are not unusual.
There will also be attractions for children. The Humanitarium Science Centre and the Wroclaw Technology Park along with the ProMathematica Foundation will prepare workshops during which the youngest participants will discover if it is possible to fill a balloon with snow, liberate a genie from the lamp or launch a rocket and cause a foam explosion. Every young scientist will be allowed to check this on his own.
Participation in the Night of Laboratories is free of charge, but, because of logistic conditions, the number of visitors is limited. Registration will be possible from 23rd September via: www.noclaboratoriow.pl, according to the ‘first come, first served’ principle.
In order to find more information and a detailed program of the 2nd Night of Laboratories, visit: www.noclaboratoriow.pl.
