Utrecht - Weekend van de Wetenschap 2024 in het Hubrecht Institute. Foto Thijs Rooimans 9 October 2024 Throwback to the weekend of science! Back to news This past Sunday, we opened our doors to the public for the Weekend of Science, and what an incredible day it was! More than 700 visitors, of all ages, came to the Hubrecht Institute, Westerdijk Institute, and Regenetive Medicine Center to take a look behind our doors. Utrecht - Weekend van de Wetenschap. Fotografie door Thijs Rooimans Throughout the day, visitors had the opportunity to engage in various hands-on scientific activities and mini lectures. Children were eager to step into the shoes of a scientist, whether they were observing tiny worms and zebrafish under the microscope, feeding organoids, or exploring the fascinating world of fungi (with plenty of laughs during the ‘fungi farts’ experiment!). One of the favorite activities was mixing and matching colors in experiments, letting kids feel like true lab professionals. “Look mom, I’m a real scientist!”, cheered a little kid wearing a white lab coat. Another big hit was a game of ‘Guess who?’ where they tried to guess which one of our very own scientists their opponent had picked. Utrecht - Weekend van de Wetenschap. Fotografie door Thijs Rooimans Our guests found the new workshop ‘What are proteins?’ also fascinating. Who knew that proteins are more than just what we eat? One very young guest found this their favorite activity. “I learned a lot and the scientists explained it really well to me!”, he shared as he was leaving. Utrecht - Weekend van de Wetenschap. Fotografie door Thijs Rooimans The kids collected a stamp for every activity they completed, and at the end of the day, they were rewarded with a small prize to spark their curiosity further (a magnifying glass). Utrecht - Weekend van de Wetenschap 2024 in het Hubrecht Institute. Foto Thijs Rooimans The enthusiasm and curiosity our visitors showed was amazing to see. We hope that this event was not only an enjoyable experience but has also helped make science more accessible and inspired many minds.
