• The science divulgation festival will take place in A Coruña from May 13 to 15.
• Research staff from various areas and research centers of the UDC will participate in the event, in the localities of A Coruña, Ferrol and Carballo.
• Spain leads the world participation in the festival, with 850 talks in pubs of 67 cities, whose organization is independent and in which all those involved act on a voluntary and non-profit basis.

A Coruña, Friday, May 10, 2024.– The ninth edition of the international popular science festival Pint of Science, which will take place on May 13, 14 and 15, will feature a total of 850 talks in 67 locations in Spain, in what is the most ambitious edition in the history of the event in our country. During the three days of the event, the pubs of our cities will become improvised laboratories where the most cutting-edge researchers will share the latest advances in science in Spain. 

Several researchers from CITIC are participating this year, sharing their expertise in talks that will be held in A Coruña, Ferrol, and Carballo.

In the case of the city of A Coruña, Pint of Science will be held in the bars A Olímpica, (Alfredo Vicenti Street, 39) and Bar Árnica, (Herrerías Street, 2), with a total of 11 talks by 12 researchers. 

On Monday 13th, in at La Olímpica, Susana Ladra and Hilda Romero, researchers from CITIC, will be giving the talk “Segredos do son aos bits” (Secrets from sound to bits), explaining how the graphics of the scores is formed by patterns and characteristics that allow to relate the sound with its representation. At the same time, musicians can search for scores with their instrument or humming, all thanks to the analysis of data and musical information. María José Servia, from the Zoology area, will also participate. Additionally, at Bar Árnica, Xavier Fonseca Blanco from the Civil Law department and Paula Nuevo Valencia from the Interdisciplinary Center of Chemistry and Biology (CICA) at UDC will hold colloquia.

On Tuesday, May 14 at Bar Arnica, Xabier Pérez Couto, researcher at from CITIC, will speak about “O destino das estrelas” (The destiny of stars), where he will explain what will happen to the Sun when it burns all its hydrogen and, consequently, what will happen to the Earth and the other planets of the Solar System. He will delve into what white dwarfs are and why they are key to understanding the fate of the planet. 

On the same day, José Antonio Cortés Vázquez, from the Sociology department, will participate at Bar Árnica; and Pedro Galán, from the Zoology area; and Irene González, from the Civil Law area, at Olímpica, On the 15th, Bar Árnica will feature Armand Hernández Hernández, from CICA; and La Olímpica will host Israel Temprano and Castro Rivadulla, both from CICA.

Pint of Science in Ferrol and Carballo

On the 14th at the Monique Coffee in Ferrol, the CITIC researcher Salvador Naya will present “Máis que números e cervexas: a maxia dos datos!” (More than numbers and beers: the magic of data!) He will delve into the relationship between statistics, data, and the beer industry, and how it influenced the development of modern statistics by telling the story of William Sealy Gosset, who worked as a statistician at the Guinness brewery in the early 20^th century. He will also talk about the use of artificial intelligence in advertising for this beverage, using Guinness as an example, which employed emerging technologies to immerse the public in interactive experiences aimed at reinforcing its brand image.

Jesika Asatryan, from the Polymers Group of the Center for Research in Naval and Industrial Technologies (CITENI) will also participate on Tuesday 14. On Monday, the first UDC researcher to participate will be Manuel Romero, from the Faculty of Nursing and Podiatry. On the 15th, Ana Álvarez García and Mariola López Morado, both from CITENI, will become the two featured researchers.

In Carballo, Pint of Science makes its debut led by, among other members of the organization, Verónica Bolón. The CITIC researcher is delighted to bring the festival to her hometown for the first time “For me, who enjoys science communication greatly, it is a pride and a stroke of luck to bring this festival to my hometown and make science accessible not only to residents of major cities. I am confident that it will be a great success, and we hope to continue celebrating it for many more years to come. In this inaugural edition, all participants are from Carballo or have very strong roots here, making it a completely local festival. We have a total of 8 speakers, of which 3 are from the UDC: María Andrade Suárez, Eva María Souto García and myself”. 

On May 15, at Café Valle Inclán, Bolón will speak on “Avances y desafíos de la inteligencia artificial” (Advances and Challenges of Artificial Intelligence), a talk in which she will explore the advances and challenges of AI from its origins to the present day, as well as its ethical and social challenges.

The meeting points will be Cafetería el Mercado (Mercado de Abastos, Gran Vía Street); El Bodegón (Vázquez de Parga Street, 68), and Café Valle Inclán (Valle Inclán Street, 34).

Pint of Science 2024 is a free event for all attendees. The complete program by city can be consulted at: https://pintofscience.es/.