This morning, at the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), the Burgos program was presented for the Fourteenth European Researchers' Night, an action which forms part of the European Horizon Program, and will be held this Friday September 29th in more than 400 European cities, with the aim of making researchers accessible to children and adults in an entertaining and fun way, and with the collaboration of the Fundación “la Caixa” and the Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología (FECTY) – Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.

In addition to the two sites in Burgos, which are the CENIEH building and the Estación de la Ciencia y la Tecnología, and for the first time, the 2023 edition will also feature two sites outside the city: Villanueva de Río Ubierna and Villasur de Herreros, “[I]n keeping with our objective of bringing science and the scientific community to rural areas”, in the words of Chitina Moreno-Torres Rodríguez-Contreras, head of the Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit (UCC+i) at the CENIEH.

At the presentation, which included sign-language interpretation (ILS) thanks to the assistance of ARANSBUR (Asociación de Familias de Personas Sordas de Burgos), the other speakers were: Jordi Rovira Carballido, the Rector's representative for Outreach and Research Culture, Universidad de Burgos (UBU); Jaime Torres Castilla, mayor of Villasur de Herreros; Roberto Cuadrado, a technician from the Ayuntamiento de Merindad de Ubierna; Roberto Rebolleda, chair of the Asociación "Cotorreo Blanco" in Villanueva de Río Ubierna, and 

Among the activities, which can be consulted at www.cenieh.es, highlights will be two talks on evolution given by Ángela Valera, science communicator at the UBU, and the talks by the CENIEH researchers Toshi Fujioka, who will speak on dark matter, black holes and supernovas, and Josep M. Parés, who will discuss the volcano Tajogaite (La Palma).

Sapiens and Neanderthals

One of the novelties this year is the storytelling “Histories or prehistories of Sapiens and Neanderthals”, which is offered both at the CENIEH and in Villanueva de Río Ubierna and Villasur de Herreros. On all three of these sites, the sketching competition for primary schoolchildren entitled “Sapiens and Neanderthals” will be held, in which participants will have to sketch a Neanderthal boy and girl and a Sapiens boy and girl on an A3 sheet. Each young artist will receive a souvenir in exchange for their drawing.

All the activities are free, although some of those at the CENIEH require an invitation, such as the workshops and the visit to the Luminescence Laboratory, and this can be booked at Eventbrite as of today, Monday 25th.