In The Field

ESOF: Science trucks, walking fuel cells, and more

The EuroScience Open Forum (https://www.esof2006.org) isn´t like most of the science meetings I´m used to attending. Normally I´d be sitting in three hours of the latest research into paleoclimatology. Here, the focus is on celebrating European science and bringing it to the public in a most informal fashion.

Witness just a few of the wonders on display at ESOF: Mysterix, the interactive “science truck” where anyone can perform physics and biology experiments. “Pretzel with the Prof,” an informal chance to get career advice from leading researchers in the sunny Science Biergarten here. And the “Bremen Profmobile,” a moving science platform where, if you feel so moved, you can lecture about your research for 15 to 20 minutes to the public.


And just now, walking through the exhibit hall, I nearly bumped into a blonde woman wearing a plastic bubble around her head and long metallic strips of blue cloth over her body. She handed me a piece of chocolate emblazoned with a promotion for the southwest German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, and told me she was a fuel cell.

I can´t wait to see what else the next few days bring.

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