This year's Long Night of Science on 7/7/2023 was the most successful ever for the IPB. Almost 2000 guests made their way to the Weinberg Campus to join us for the “Street of experiments”. People could try detecting the pH using red cabbage juice, separate colors by paper chromatography, and perform experiments with water, oil and colors. DNA extraction from bananas required patience and skill from our guests and the big caterpillar race sparked everyone’s fascination. Gummy bear experiments as well as tip box filling competitions were also extremely popular. When it came to guessing fragrances and identifying plants by their seeds, quite a lot of experimenters had to think twice. But in the end a sweet tea completely without sugar from Aztec sweet herb awaited. For the older night owls a presentation about plant flavors offered lots of interesting insights about bioactive compounds research at IPB and the use of artificial intelligence in this quest. At the computer modeling stand, there were impressive pictures of dancing enzymes. When the aspiring scientist had answered tricky quiz questions at all the stations, they could finally receive their young scientists' diplomas. All in all, the crowd was immense, the guests were enthusiastic and the organizers pleased.
