Trilateral Science Slam - June 19, 2018 at SO36, Berlin

Why astronomers always want to get as high as possible when they reach for the stars is a mystery that Daniel explains. He searches for life in space and looks forward to an “aha!” moment rather than an “oh-oh!” feeling upon a first meeting.

When we think of deforestation, we think of expanding deserts in hot countries – but not of Russia. Yet the declining tree population is indeed a problem in the land of the taiga and tundra. Kseniia is researching fungi, without which trees cannot live, and how they can be used for reforestation in Siberia.

Drug residues and plastic particles pollute our drinking water and endanger our health because they affect our hormonal inner life. That is why Lauren and her team are developing sustainable and cost-efficient processes for the treatment of drinking water and declaring war on waste materials.

Why on earth did so many unemployed and low-income people vote for a multimillionaire as president? Why do lower income earners tend to oppose tax increases for their higher income counterparts? Because they're about to join the club? Frieder shines a light on such paradoxes.

Some things we like to remember, some we don't. Some events have actually happened, others not... how does our brain deal with true and false memories? Can we influence our brain and, for example, hide or diminish the meaning of terrible memories? These are incredibly exciting questions that Chelsea is exploring.

In Tomsk, Nikita is known as the civil engineer with seven patents. Why one of them is reminiscent of chicken legs, and how these 'chicken legs' increase resistance to earthquakes in high-rise buildings will be explained in his slam.