Popular pasta dishes or recipes for soap bubbles - making light fare out of complex scientific topics was the task faced by five young scientists in front of a large audience at the "Groschen" awards ceremony on Monday evening.
Explaining research in layman's terms - that's what the Landessparkasse zu Oldenburg Science Communication Award is all about every two years. In less than eight minutes, the five finalists succeeded in vividly presenting their topics, ranging from theoretical physics to German studies. Physicist Dr Sebastian Wilken was ultimately awarded the "groschen 2018" prize worth 10,000 euros. The Audience Award, and therefore 1,000 euros, went to biologist Anne Depping.
What does spaghetti Bolognese have to do with organic solar cells? Wilken, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Energy and Semiconductor Research (EHF) at the University's Institute of Physics, answered this question in his entertaining presentation. In passing, he explained the physical processes that take place inside the solar cell. By the end, the jury and the audience had understood how a well-functioning organic solar cell must be constructed: The polymers, i.e. the spaghetti, between which there are tiny football-like molecules, i.e. the meatballs, need an adhesive - that's the sauce. This is the only way the material can convert light energy into electricity as efficiently as possible.
In her presentation, Depping described how birds travel thousands of kilometres to find their way to their wintering grounds and back to their breeding grounds. The doctoral student from the Neurosensory Science working group at the University's Institute of Biology put virtual glasses on migrating songbirds and explained how the animals can see the Earth's magnetic field. In her Master's thesis, she discovered which molecule in the birds' eyes is responsible for their magnetic sense.
The other three finalists, who each received a prize of 500 euros, also managed to present even difficult topics in an understandable way: Jannik Ehrich, a doctoral candidate at the Institute of Physics, mentally sent the audience to the Kramermarkt to look for a sausage stand in the crowd. Among other things, he explained how tiny systems - such as nanoparticles - release energy as heat in their environment. Geoinformatics specialist Robin Rofallski from the Jade University of Applied Sciences compared his method for calculating the volume of giant soap bubbles - or even large flocks of birds and fish - with a recipe for cooking eggs. Dr Jan Michalsky, a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for German Studies, addressed a completely different topic: among other things, he described how the voices of people who like each other become more similar over the course of a conversation. Birds of a feather flock together, he concluded.
The LzO Prize for Science Communication has been awarded since 2010 and was announced for the fifth time this year. The jury selected the five finalists from a total of 21 applicants from the universities of Oldenburg and Vechta as well as Jade University.
