CRETUS to participate in G-Night with hands-on science workshops

CRETUS, a member of the CIGUS Network, an initiative launched by the regional government (Xunta de Galicia) that groups together centres of accredited scientific excellence, will once again be taking part in the scientific outreach initiative “The Galicia Researchers Night, G-Night” that will be taking place on 27^th September, with four demonstration workshops to the Fonseca Cloister in Santiago de Compostela.

The first of the workshops is ‘Archaeology and Environmental Anthropology at CRETUS’. Researchers Olalla López, Ailém Paladea, and Aránzazu Fernández will present materials and short activities related to archaeology that illustrate the work conducted in this unit to study the relationship between humans and the environment over long time scales. The public will have the opportunity to examine archaeological bones, observe a cremation, and even learn how to read medieval environment-focused texts.  

The second workshop is ‘The Adaptation of Plants and Lichens to Environmental Stress’ in which postdoctoral researchers Zulema Vázquez and Jonatan Rodríguez will show how many sessile organisms, such as plants and lichens, have developed various strategies to cope with environmental pressures. This activity will provide an insight into various functional aspects of plants and lichens that allow us to identify potential variations and responses associated with environmental changes.

The third activity, ‘Calculating the Carbon and Water Footprint of Food’, will be conducted through the educational game ‘Eat Healthy, Eat Sustainably’. Researchers Sofía Estévez and José Luis Ares will show participants how to assess the impact on the environment of the food they eat each day.  The game raises awareness of the importance of our actions in caring for our health protecting the environment and sustainable development.

The final activity, ‘Values at Stake’, will be an interactive game led by researchers Javier Seijo, Antía Campos, and Benjamín Dudoudet. Participants, either individually or in teams, will assess the economic and environmental value of ecosystems. The game challenges participants to consider multiple factors in order to achieve a good balance and material type.