2024-05-05 17:13:16
The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) will take part in the fourteenth edition of the Sofia Science Festival, the institution announced.
More than 120 scientists from 11 countries, including Bulgaria, will take part in the forum, which will be held from May 9 to 12 in Sofia Tech Park, BTA points out.
Scientists from BAS will take part in scientific lectures, presentations, demonstrations and workshops.
In the lecture “The Wonderful World of Plants”, Prof. Dr. Svetlana Nikolova – Director of the Botanical Garden of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, and Diana Venkova – Specialist in International Exchange – Index Seminum, and Public Relations, will present plant species that are distinguished by the most -interesting biology and application.
Prof. Dr. Ivan Drenovski from the Institute for Climate, Atmosphere and Water Research (IICAV) will speak on the topic “Local winds in Bulgaria – specificity and climatic effect”.
Immunologist Assoc. Dr. Petya Dimitrova from the Institute of Microbiology will explain why it is so difficult to regulate the immune response in respiratory viral infections and why it is necessary not to apply indiscriminately and thoughtlessly diverse approaches that suppress chronic inflammation but do not “work” ” good for acute infections. She will answer these questions in the lecture: “The immune response in viral infections”.
In her lecture “Climate changes in the geological history of the Earth – the last 66 million years”, Prof. Dr. Kristalina Stoikova – deputy. director of the Geological Institute, together with Assoc. Dr. Zlatka Milakovska, will present the key to understanding modern changes. In their presentation, the changes in the climate of the Earth and in Bulgaria during the last 66 million years, established in oceanic and continental sediments with microscopic, isotopic, and geochemical studies of nanofossils and organic matter, will be presented.
During the lecture “Bats prefer it hot”, Dr. Violeta Zhelyazkova from the National Museum of Natural History will present the first research in the world that connects the physiological characteristics of a given group of mammals with specific properties of their antibodies. The research has serious potential to serve for the development of targeted antibody therapies applicable in humans.
Where did the Bulgarians come from? What are the roots of our people? What is the commonality between the ancient and the present-day Bulgarians? This is part of the questions that arise when discussing the problem in the lecture “The Origin of the Bulgarians”. Visitors can get their answers from Associate Professor Todor Chobanov from the Institute of Balkan Studies with the Center for Tracology.
In the lecture “The Little Big Dinosaur”, paleontologists Vladimir Nikolov – National Museum of Natural History, and Assoc. Docho Dochev, in collaboration with the famous dinosaur expert – Prof. Steve Brusati, seek an answer to the question – whether the fossils discovered in 1985 in the cave Labyrinths, of a hadrosauroid – a duck-billed dinosaur, are of a young dinosaur or an adult individual of small dimensions, similar to the dwarf dinosaurs that lived at the same time in the territory of Romania.
Visitors will be able to touch the “Minerals and Fossils for Little Explorers” workshop with the team of scientists from the Geological Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences – Milena Vetseva, Hristiana Georgieva, Tsvetomila Vladinova, Martin Dimitrov and Radoslav Kalchev. They will answer questions including: what minerals are; what are fossils, how and in what form do we find remains of animals and plants that lived millions of years ago; where and how to find minerals or fossils in nature; how we can determine what the Earth’s climate was like a long time ago, etc.
In the workshop “Electrochemistry for green energy” at the 14th Sofia Science Festival, the Competence Center project “Hitmobile – Technologies and systems for generation, storage and consumption of clean energy” will be presented. The workshop aims to arouse interest among students and their teachers and parents in getting to know the electrochemical systems for storing and releasing electrical energy and their application in “green” energy technologies.
An opportunity will be provided for personal experimentation and demonstration of attractive mock-ups and working models, training on measuring basic technical parameters and printed materials will be provided to help visitors become familiar with the basic elements and principles of operation of various electrochemical systems.
At the stand of the Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, a lecture on “Science and art refracted through the prism of glass” will be given by Dr. Anastasia Andreeva from the University of Veliko Tarnovo “St. St. Cyril and Methodius” and Assoc. Dr. Dr. Lyubomir Aleksandrov from the Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry of the BAS.
Within the framework of a workshop for school audiences from the first to the twelfth grade, again at the stand of the Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry of the BAS, visitors will have the opportunity to learn about innovative technologies and solutions related to improving the quality of life.
Among the participants from the Bulgarian scientific community, in addition to representatives of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, there are also those from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”; from the University of Architecture, Construction and Geodesy, Sofia; from the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (NIMH); from Plovdiv University “Paisiy Hilendarski”; Medical University – Sofia, etc., the press center of the BAS notes.