Old people get wrinkles and grey hair, but what else happens to the body when we age? Curious children and young people were able to find this out at the FLI stand at the 1st MINT Festival. This science festival about mathematics, informatics, science and technology took place from September 11 to 13, 2018 at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena. For three days, pupils from elementary school to high school were able to try out science in a wide range of stands, stage shows, workshops and lectures. The MINT-Festival in Jena took place for the first time.
With various age simulations, like glasses that simulate various eye diseases in old age the pupils were able to experience how aging feels like at the FLI stand. Besides, they had the chance to learn some interesting details about the short-lives Nothobranchius furzeri as a model organism in aging research. A quiz for which the children had to assign the maximum age to different animals and humans asked for a lot of thinking.
In his lecture for secondary 2 pupils Prof. Christoph Englert from FLI introduced the audience to the benefits of transgenic organisms in aging research and explained the role of genes in the aging process.
