Science Weekend: Hundreds of scientific institutions open to the public

Children and adults can immerse themselves in science for two days. On Saturday and Sunday, the Weekend of Science will take place in the Netherlands again. More than 300 locations across the country are participating. The theme is "How does it work?".

Zaterdag en zondag is het Weekend van de Wetenschap! 300 bedrijven en kennisinstellingen in Nederland openen hun deuren voor kinderen, hun ouders/verzorgers en iedereen die zin heeft om de wonderbaarlijke wereld van de wetenschap te ontdekken. pic.twitter.com/6al6yOp143

— Robbert Dijkgraaf (@RHDijkgraaf) October 6, 2023

This weekend visitors can hack computers in Arnhem and fly an airplane in a simulator at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam. At the Museon in The Hague, they can build the city of the future in the game Minecraft.

Furthermore, professor of neuropsychology Erik Scherder will give two interactive 'Speed Lectures' on brains at the Rijksmuseum Boerhaave. In Maastricht, you can learn more about the Einstein telescope, a large detector for gravitational waves that the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium plan to build together under the Limburg hills. In addition, the museum Naturalis explains how dinosaurs are prepared and how artificial intelligence can recognize insects and their sounds.

The ESTEC space test center in Noordwijk is also opening its doors, and in Exloo in Drenthe, visitors can travel through the universe in inflatable tents. In Haarlem, the first boat made with a 3D printer will be christened.

The weekend will be opened on Saturday morning by outgoing Minister of Science Robbert Dijkgraaf. Tapker Koen van der Jagt, neuroscientist Kayla Green, and biologist Mátyás Bittenbinder are the ambassadors. In addition, a survey is conducted each year during the weekend. This year, the theme is "How curious are you?" The test subjects are shown videos and then they have to answer questions. The researchers are curious about what exactly curiosity is and how it differs from person to person.