Public screenings and discussion of popular science films, excursions to the laboratories of Akademgorodok, workshops provided by young scientists during the All-Russian Festival “Science 0+” – there was a chain of such popular science events organized by scientists of the Krasnoyarsk Science Center SB RAS this autumn.

For several years now, the last weeks of autumn in Krasnoyarsk have been marked by the events devoted to the popularization of science. This year, in addition to traditional presentations at the All-Russian Festival “Science 0+”, scientists from the Krasnoyarsk Science Center of SB RAS conducted a series of screenings of popular science films and organized an excursion to the laboratories of the Center.

The autumn popular science marathon began with the FUNK Contemporary Science Cinema Festival. Within the framework of the festival, a group of scientific communications of KSC SB RAS organized free screenings of popular science films for everyone, followed by a discussion with an expert scientist. The venues for these events were the Quantorium children's technopark and Yushin Brothers creative space located in the city center. It is there that scientists have an opportunity to communicate with a new audience.

About 200 Krasnoyarsk residents plunged with interest into discussions about possible dangers of artificial intelligence, forms of interaction between art and science, consequences of the Chernobyl accident, and relationship between scientists from different fields of science. One of the permanent experts of popular science events at the Krasnoyarsk Science Center SB RAS, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Sergey Bartsev, noted that he took the film on artificial intelligence, which he had to comment on, as another warning about the potential danger of any scientific achievements which, due to political, military or financial purposes, may be harmful for humans.

While scientists went to the city to show popular science films, to conduct the traditional “Days without turnstiles” they invited the residents to their laboratories. The organizers of the All-Russian campaign “Days without turnstiles” are the Russian Science Foundation and the administration of the Science Festival “Science 0+”. Journalists and active users of social networks visited several Krasnoyarsk laboratories which are implementing projects of the Russian Science Foundation.

At the L.V. Kirensky Institute of Physics guests got acquainted with photonic structures which can be used to develop new fiber optic cables. They are necessary for modern telecommunication equipment, as well as for various optoelectronic sensors and devices. At the Institute of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, visitors learned how a vacuum gas collector works, which allows reactions and production of substances sensitive to oxygen and water from atmospheric air. And finally, at the Institute of Biophysics, they had an opportunity to see the well-known BIOS-3 - a closed life support system, in which the world's first successful human-involving experiments to create a lunar base were made in the 70-80s of the last century.

“We would organize excursions more often, the demand in such a format of acquaintance with science is large, but we should understand the peculiarities of the work of scientists. A laboratory is not a museum. We cannot often distract researchers from their work, especially when they are occupied with complicated and important experiments. Therefore, we adapted to the calendar of events and conduct excursions several times a year, on selected dates,” - says Ekaterina Burchevskaya, a public relations specialist at the Krasnoyarsk Science Center SB RAS.

The autumn ten-day events of the popularization of science in Krasnoyarsk ended with the All-Russian Festival “Science 0+”. Luminous organisms and levitation of superconductors in a magnetic field, Tesla coil and safe chemical “cuts”, forest soil profile with living organisms and milk quality test, remote surgical suturing and crimping network cables - all nine institutes of the Center presented their workshops during two days. Souvenirs specially prepared for the festival with the logo and unofficial symbols of the Krasnoyarsk Science Center SB RAS were very popular among the children's audience.

“This time at “Science 0+”, the flow of people was continuous, so I was able to get out of my black tent only in the last minutes before the festival closed. I didn’t have time to look at other sites, but my daughter told me what else there was, ” says the organizer of one of the sites, senior research associate, Candidate of Biological Sciences, Lyudmila Burakova, sharing her impressions of the festival.

Next time, Krasnoyarsk citizens will be able to talk with Krasnoyarsk scientists during the “Science Week”, which is scheduled for early February and will be timed to coincide with the Day of Russian Science. You can follow the announcements of events on our official website and in the Center's groups on Facebook and Instagram.