Cienciaes.com: The Intelligence Funnel. We spoke with Jorge Laborda.

2009-06-26 09:00:00

I have a friend who likes to embarrass people. He often proposes mental problems that invariably become a source of enriching discussion. I must confess that I am as hooked as the others and I enjoy it like a Cossack, among other things because, carried away by the test, we almost always end up talking about topics related to science and, there, I have an advantage.

A few days ago a large group of families with children went to dinner. My friend did not miss the opportunity. At dessert, he stood up ceremoniously, asked for silence by tapping the glass with the spoon and said:

A bottle of wine costs 10 euros more than its cork, the two together cost 11 euros. How much does the bottle cost and how much does the cap cost?

The question generated a healthy and very enjoyable discussion that managed, among other things, to keep the children’s attention. It didn’t take them long to find the answer but the domino effect had begun, other questions and other answers arose and then, as almost always, one of those present commented on news that was related to science.

I had just returned from VI Conference of Young Researchers of Albacete and I could not suppress my enthusiasm for having shared some unforgettable days with the young blood of science. Taking advantage of the children’s presence, I spoke to them about Popeye and his hormone (it’s funny, the little ones had not heard of Popeye), one of the stories I had read in a book written by Jorge Laborda, titled: The Intelligence Funnel and other essays. It never ceases to amaze me how the dissemination of science manages to capture the attention of children and adults.

To enjoy talking about science it is not necessary to be a scholar, it is enough to be an ordinary person with the ability to be surprised by any phenomenon of Nature. Of course, not everyone has access or the basis to understand the complex articles that are published in scientific journals, but there are a good number of people who act as translators between the inaccessible peak of research and the plain of people who They have other priorities.

One of those people is our guest today,
Jorge Laborda Fernandez, scientist and popularizer. As a researcher he has to his credit the discovery of two important genes related to development; He has been a prominent National Expert in the European Union, where he promoted research in Synthetic Biology, and dean of the Faculty of Medicine of Castilla-La Mancha, where he currently continues to carry out his research work. Jorge Laborda strives to lower science from its high pedestal to street level, within the reach of the common citizen. For years he has been publishing popular articles in newspapers and magazines, translating what in other places is incomprehensible to those of us who are not specialists in the subject. Today he presents us with a collection of those articles in his work: The Intelligence Funnel and other essaysedited by Azarbe, and a scientific fiction novel dedicated to young people Adenius Fideliusedited by Nausicaa.

If your hobby, or your curiosity, leads you to want to know more about Laborda’s work, I recommend visiting his website: Kilo of Science. The articles that appear in it are the interpretation, entertaining and easy to understand, of some of the most relevant scientific advances that have been published in specialized magazines from the year 2000 to the present. Perhaps one of the stories told there will allow you to sow the seeds of an unforgettable evening with your friends, in the light of Science.