RECETOX once again took part in the annual Mendel Festival in Brno this year. This time, we focused on the topic of soil and its sustainable use. At our booth, lecturers, scientists, and volunteers discussed with visitors how we analyze soil composition – from both biological and chemical perspectives. Popular science activities were also prepared for younger visitors; children could enjoy, for example, sand painting.
“In the biological section, visitors could explore soil texture and observe soil invertebrates – springtails and nematodes – under the microscope. In the chemical section, they had the chance to create a chromatogram and learn how we analyze pesticides in tomatoes or cucumbers. Sand painting is also one of the most popular activities at our booth,” explained Anna Ireinová, lab technician from the RECETOX Mechanistic Environmental Toxicology unit.
In the afternoon, as part of the accompanying program, researcher and PhD student Lenka Suchánková from the RECETOX Centre gave a lecture titled “Sustainable Development – The Greatest Challenge of Our Time?”
The total attendance reached 10,475 participants. The expert lectures held in the CEITEC MU atrium attracted 250 attendees, the family program welcomed 2,430 visitors, and 485 people took part in guided tours of the campus (SIMU, Anatomical Museum), the Moravian Provincial Archive, and the brewery at Mendel Square.
The first weekend of September once again belonged to the Brno Science and Technology Festival. Thanks to the enthusiasm of scientists and science communicators, the RECETOX center joined the event once again. This year, all prepared activities were thematically focused on soil and its health – visitors learned, for example, about methods for examining soil contamination, both through chemical and biological approaches.
The Soil Blitz sampling campaign, organized by the Soil Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology Research Group at RECETOX in September 2024, has already produced results. During the campaign, members of the public in Brno carried out soil health surveys on their properties in the city. Participants were trained to become citizen scientists.
