The Smart Piknik festival has become traditionally held in Akademgorodok, Novosibirsk, on the grounds of AcademPark attracting those who want to spend time interestingly and with use. Visitors to the festival can listen to popular science lectures, get familiarized with technological advances and find many other interesting activities for themselves.
Photo of young specialists from IPGG SB RAS participating in the Smart Piknik festival
In 2024, young scientists from IPGG SB RAS presented an extensive program at the festival. In joint effort with students and teachers from the Geology and Geophysics Department of Novosibirsk State University, an interactive exhibition was prepared for the festival. The guests could see the mineralogical collections, oil samples, fossil finds and models of paleontological specimens printed on a 3D printer, as well as learned "first-hand" what geology is. The team of active organizers of the exhibition and festival participants representing IPGG SB RAS included: Vsevolod Efremenko, Il’ya Zakir’yanov, Igor Kosenko, Ksenia Kanakova and Grigory Polivkin.
Photo of festival attendees crowding around the interactive exhibition stands
Young scientists from the Institute also gave popular science lectures. Vsevolod Efremenko made an interesting presentation titled "What past climate can tell about the present." The audience learned about what myths about climate change exist, and what lessons can be learned from knowledge about the past climate retrieved primarily from proxy data (historical records, ice cores, borehole data, etc.)
Photo of Vsevolod Efremenko giving the lecture
In his lecture “Revolutions in the Evolution” Igor Kosenko presented hypotheses about the origin of life and talked about the “Cambrian explosion of life” which gave rise to the appearance of incredible biodiversity on the planet (that included many of the groups of animals that we know today), and was featured by appearance and extinction of dinosaurs, as well as the transition to the dominance of mammals.
Already mature professor Igor Kosenko presenting his lecture
According to scientists from IPGG SB RAS, the lectures aroused great interest among the festival attendees.
In the afternoon, a Trend Talks event took place on the street stage. Within its frames, scientists and representatives of high-tech businesses made 10-minute presentations of their work. Vsevolod Efremenko also participated in this event and told the wide audience about the evolution and how evolutionary processes occur.
According to researchers from IPGG SB RAS, the festival has provided a functional platform for interesting activities and positive networking opportunities, and a large number of visitors speak highly of the Smart Piknik suggesting that such an event is needed as a good chance for the festival attendees to learn new interesting things and have fun.
– The impressions from the festival are exceptionally pleasant, so we will be there again next year’," Vsevolod Efremenko summed up.
Published by IPGG Press Service
Photos courtesy of the festival organizers (https://vk.com/smartpiknik)