“Doors open” with the mouse at the University of Bayreuth
With the motto ‘ZusammenTun’ (Doing together), the Ecological-Botanical Garden and the Collaborative Research Centres Microplastics and MultiTrans welcomed a total of around 250 young scientists.
On the annual German Unity Day holiday on 3 October, the Maus invited children for the fourth time to open otherwise closed doors and explore the secrets of companies and institutions.
150 inquisitive and discovery-happy children visited the Ecological-Botanical Garden and the joint programmes with the SFB 1357 Microplastics at the University of Bayreuth. These provided insights into our soils, waters, their creatures and plastic. The children learnt vividly what happens to plastic in our environment and what effects they can have. At the stations, the children were able to experience the different types of soil and their properties and functions by feeling, kneading and moulding them, and they were also able to catch water fleas and observe them under a microscope. Ants are too clever to eat plastic, but what happens when they encounter larvae that have worked their way through polystyrene? And what are plastics anyway? What properties can they have and why isn't there just one type of plastic? The children investigated these questions using observations, everyday objects, environmental samples and experiments.
Meanwhile, 100 other children at the SFB MultiTrans were given an insight into the connections between energy and matter. The children were able to build their own materials from balls and boxes, track transport flows with a laser pointer and light up a digital clock or torch with a homemade battery made from potatoes or coins. After all, batteries and solar cells have become an integral part of everyday life. Targeted research into these so-called functional materials can revolutionise their performance and make them more sustainable. The starting point for such innovations is the observation of the transport flow of electrons, ions, molecules and heat in the materials.
The great response from enthusiastic children and their satisfied parents and other carers shows the relevance of this event and makes us look forward to offering it again next year.