On Friday, 16 January, this year’s edition of Biologists’ Night took place, with the theme: ‘Biology full of signals – discover how life speaks’. Our doctoral student, Joanna Macur, actively participated in this nationwide celebration of biological sciences! In collaboration with Ewa Serwa (Department of Evolutionary Biology and Vertebrate Conservation, University of Wrocław), Joanna organised a lecture and laboratory session devoted to vertebrate brains. Primary school pupils not only explored the secrets of the structure and evolution of the nervous system, but also had a unique opportunity to observe specimens using microscopes and stereomicroscopes! One of the main ‘stars’ of the class was… a brown bear! In the part dedicated to mammals, the bear’s brain structure took centre stage as participants explored its fascinating anatomy. Our doctoral student shared histological slides of a brown bear’s brain with the participants, prepared as part of her pilot project funded by the Internal Research Fund of the Institute of Nature Conservation of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Joanna also presented the participants with magnetic resonance images (MRI) of a brown bear’s brain. We are delighted that the event attracted so much interest. We would like to thank all participants for joining us on this scientific adventure and for asking so many interesting questions!
