A child screams! But don´t worry. It was just someone who didn't like holding black soldier fly larvae.
"Here with us, you can touch the larvae we use in our process to handle food waste. Some people find it exciting, others don’t think it’s very pleasant," says Cecilia Lalander, a researcher at the Department of Energy and Technology and one of those who have been at SciFest many times.
Visitors can also see how efficiently the larvae eat bananas and carrot cake (a bit fancier food for SciFest than for everyday use) — especially if they stop by several times. Once grown, the larvae themselves are used in animal feed.
From Lego robots to diatoms
Opposite, a group is programming Lego robots. It takes a few rounds between the computer and the obstacle course on the floor before the robot completes its mission. A girl watches a movie with jump scares to see how her body reacts. At the same time, some youths are brushing stones with toothbrushes to remove diatoms.
"Yes, it's a method we use in environmental monitoring. Then they can look at the diatoms under a microscope. But it’s hard to learn to recognize diatoms, so an alternative is to filter water samples from the tank to extract DNA and get a species list," says Karl Lundén, an Environmental Assessment Specialist at the Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment.
Cows on stage
On stage, Sigirid Agenäs explains what happens in the cow from “grass to ice cream”. t The audience is made up of around 70 children aged between 10 and 12. They are very curious. Why does that cow have a collar? What happens if a cow loses its tail? Can a cow eat kebab? Will cows be affected by a warmer climate? She’s part of the stage program where researchers perform alongside students from various Uppsala schools. There, students could meet researchers who talked about everything from female Viking warriors in Birka to life in space.
It’s a buzz of young visitors, student volunteers, and exhibitors from Uppsala University, SLU, and SciFest's financiers and partners. The energy isn't just in the solar panel booth – the whole Fyrishov arena is vibrating with it. Among the crowd, we find SLU's new communications director Sara Arvidson, who is visiting. She is impressed by the efforts of the SLU team. "I really believe in this! Meeting young people in this way with our researchers and environments," she says.
Girl power
We continue upstairs. There, even more people are discovering exciting research. Live bees (behind glass) are, of course, a big draw.
"The first question we get is whether they are real! And then they want to know where the queen is. They also think it's cool that there are almost only females in a bee colony. The girls shout 'Girl power' when they hear that," says Barbara Locke Grandér, SLU Honey Bee Research Centre.
On top of the observation hive lies a cozy varroa mite. Barbara places it on her shoulder. That’s how big a varroa mite is on a bee – like walking around with a parasite the size of a plate on your body. The visitors shudder. Varroa is the biggest problem for beekeepers because they spread viruses to the bee colony.
Horses become mummies
A group of youths is conducting an experiment to understand photosynthesis together with researchers from the Department of Plant Biology. At the "Touch and Smell the Forest" booth, they can take a forest shower and experience three different forests – and maybe a nice break from SciFest… Across the way, visitors can participate in a real research project by sharing their thoughts on the future with AI. "Cool, scary, good" is written on one note. And what’s that? A horse peeks out from a booth. There, visitors can try bandaging different animals and brushing the teeth of dogs.
"It’s great to see the children's interest; bandaging is very popular, both on the horse model and on the stuffed dogs. At one point, they looked like mummies from all the bandages," says Karolina Enlund, from the Department of Clinical Sciences.
"Yes, and we've been interviewed by many students too, who had it as a school assignment," says Lena Olsén, also from the Department of Clinical Sciences.
People went home – eventually!
And so it went on for three days – first, the school classes came on Thursday and Friday, then all curious visitors were welcome on Saturday. Researchers, students, and other SLU members have done a fantastic job of presenting their subjects in a fun and interactive way.
When it hits four o'clock on Saturday, many visitors still don’t want to leave. It takes two microphone announcements to finally empty SciFest of people. Now it’s time for the horse Olle and all the other stuff that have been used to be loaded into trucks heading to the various campuses of SLU and Uppsala University.
Text: Anna Lundmark, SLU's representative in SciFest's project group.
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