BioVT at the children's holiday programme at RPTU

Experience science up close - 33 young researchers had this opportunity at the RPTU children's holiday programme during the autumn holidays.

In the iLAB-workshop ‘ Investigating the superpowers of algae and cyanobacteria’, the children immersed themselves in the exciting world of algae research. To begin with, the young scientists researched how the popular bubbles for bubble tea are produced and thus had their first contact with a product obtained from algae - sodium alginate. They mixed this with fruit juice and dripped the mixture into a calcium lactate solution. This created small, round fruit juice bubbles, which of course had to be tasted straight away. After this first scientific success, the children were ready to slip into lab coats and conduct research in a real laboratory. There they learnt how to cultivate microalgae in the laboratory in a photobioreactor and got a fascinating insight into the world of tiny algae cells under the microscope. With the knowledge gained from bubble production, they then succeeded in enclosing a microalgae in bubbles.  They then carried out an exciting photosynthesis experiment with these green ‘algae bubbles’. They observed that the algae reduces the carbon dioxide content in its environment and thus makes an important contribution to regulating our climate.

In another experiment, the young researchers discovered that various dyes can also be extracted from algae and cyanobacteria. The extraction of the blue dye phycocyanin from the cyanobacterium spirulina was particularly impressive. To see what benefits can be derived from the research, a delicious algae dessert was served afterwards: a ‘smurf yoghurt’ coloured with blue algae dye and decorated with the fruit juice bubbles they had made themselves. Science thus became an experience for all the senses.