Meet the people of La Casa de la Ciencia (II) José Antonio

Looks very well for his 41 years, from Madrid, by adoption from Malaga, jokes with everyone, big eyes, T-shirt and jeans forever ... We speak, of course, about our José Antonio. He is responsible for all the graphic design and illustration of the Museum.

You can find him sitting in the front of his huge Mac (essential for a graphic designer), dropping jokes between lines and color palette. Almost 7 years ago he left his steady job in Malaga for a temporal contract with Cultural Scientific Union in Doñana Biological Station in Matalascañas, Huelva. And here it is where he continued after La Casa de la Ciencia was founded.

What is that you like the most about working here? “Well, until the lift was installed my favorite thing was to load furniture (laughs). No, in all honesty, I like creative freedom. Sure, there are times of stress and hectic work when we put temporal exhibitions up. But I deal with it well.”

Next question… "And what I dislike is putting so much excitement in my work daily for later to have some visitors who do not respect the Museum. We have some vandalism cases. But they are a small minority, obviously."

The workspace of José Antonio is only separated by a thin wall from the children that are exploring “Invertebrates of Andalusia” exhibition. “The noise does not bother me. I like to hear that there is a life in the Museum. I hope to stay here the maximum time possible with my favorite colleagues: Erika and Yolanda” (laughs).

But for our main character, there is more life out there apart from the Casa de la Ciencia. He likes a lot to paint in watercolor and oil. His favorite subjects? Landscape and birds. We have some evidence of that as you can see.

He also loves travelling, but this will surprise you: he does not mention the typical tourist places (Prague, Rome, Paris…) rather Bolivia or those two weeks that he spent in Arctic. “It was freezing as hell. “In summer, the medium temperature was  -1oC. But his favorite place on earth of course is Doñana.

The big chef in his house. What do you like to cook? “Let me think… beans with ham, rustic, right? I like to cook all kinds of rice; also can cook sushi, even though my most recent Discovery is ceviche. ” I was in Huelva last weekend and bought whole kilogram of sea bass. With that you can make ceviche and also marinated sea bass. Would you like to know the recipe?

Marinated ceviche. Recipe by Sencianes (José Antonio)

• Cut the sea bass into irregular pieces with a sharp knife and not necessarily very thin. Any white fish that has a consistent meat will do, such as grouper or monkfish.
• Put the fish in the bowl and soak it with the juice of limes or lemons. 
• Add hot pepper and mix it all by using hands. 
• Then cover the bowl with transparent wrap and put it in the fridge for 15-25 minutes.  The longer you keep it the tenderer it will become. 
• Serve it on the plate without taking out the lemon juice, with plenty of fresh red onions (important that it is red) cut in thin slices and add fresh chopped coriander. You can also put a little bit of olive oil. In Peru  it is also often served with corn.

Delicious! 

Meet the people of La Casa de la Ciencia! (I) Sergio

Sergio is a security guard. He has blonde hair and is very friendly, barely in his thirties.  He wears a blue shirt and black pants, with a regulatory bludgeon that he has probably never used. Often seen hanging around the hall or exhibition "Molecules of Life", he has a sharp eye and is always smiling.

Sergio has worked in La Casa de la Ciencia for 4 years and finds it a totally positive experience. We have asked several times for any inconvenience or negative aspect of his routine and he could not think of any, apart from:  "The only thing is that sometimes the days are long, can go up to 12 hours, but in return you have more days off."

Sergio proves to be a fan of children who come to visit the museum either with their school or their family. "Every day more than 200 kids come. To me, kids are the best visitors because they are always friendly, sincere, and never complain. They always have a good time." However, they also give you the most concern: with the little ones, you have to ensure that they do not stick out from the balconies.

Sergio tells that with birthdays in the La Casa de la Ciencia something fun is usually happening. For instance, children need to discover, following a series of clues, who "stole" a valuable butterfly collection. And many of them finally figure out the guilty one and report it to security guard. There are also some who question whether exposed animals are real (invertebrates or the cetacean skeletons) or some who cry because of the gloomy presence of “murder” in La Casa de la Ciencia. And of course the favorite activity of all – Planetarium.

Sergio points out that adults often complain about other things (like "Madrid Planetarium is larger than that of Seville") or try to bargain the price of admission (3 € is money at the end of the day). And children often want to stay longer than their parents. And now it has been like time No. 32490 when Sergio has showed child the way towards "the bugs like these that the teacher explains."

Miniature Nature

 Those little trees, so fragile and vigorous, and, above all, elegant as heck... Ever feel curiosity? You are probably thinking about bonsais, right? Well, in fact the word "bonsai" in Japanese refers not to the little trees but to the art of cultivating them.

And it is a very delicate art indeed, like everything stemming from the country of rising sun. Skilled bonsai masters achieve the shrunken size of the plants by using techniques such as transplantation, pruning, wire fencing, clamping... The purposes of bonsai are mostly aesthetic contemplation (for the viewer) and the pleasant exercise of effort and ingenuity (for the grower).

 

 This weekend, our Science Museum presents free educational exhibition and workshop for all audiences!

• Friday May 23th: 18:00 to 21:00
• Saturday May 24th: 10:00 to 21:00
• Sunday May 25th: 10:00 to 15:00

The exhibition corresponds to the XVI Spring Exhibition by Seville Association of Bonsai Chokkan.  The exhibition will demonstrate the approach to common techniques of this ancient art of growing trees and plants. Members of the Association will present some of the Bonsai examples over time. The professor Eduardo Hidalgo from the Association will hold a workshop this Saturday on 24^th of May at 11:30am, where he will show the entire process of growing a bonsai tree from the scratch. A plant grown in a pot during the right weather conditions but without receiving specific treatment will be elaborated in parallel with the explanation by the expert.  This activity is aimed to all audiences and the entry is free until the seats are filled. In addition, all participants have the opportunity to win a bonsai tree by taking part in the lottery that will take place during the exhibition.

See you this Saturday!

Would you like to discover your DNA? You can! At the Science Fair in Seville.

The Science Fair is an educational and cultural project organized by the Andalusian Society for the Promotion of Science, the Descubre Foundation and the Seville Teacher Center. Its purpose is to create an educational environment that enables sharing, dissemination and communication of scientific knowledge to the public, in which the actors are pupils who participate in the project voluntarily.

In its 12^th edition, La Casa de la Ciencia is participating yet another year alongside with other centers and institutions of the Higher Council of Scientific Research (CSIC) of Andalusia.

Alongside information about the activities that Museum organizes for general public, Casa de la Ciencia will carry out activities and interactive games for all the visitors.

-Workshop “Discover your DNA”

Visitors can satisfy their curiosity of Genetic world and learn how to extract their own DNA in home environment with a simple method.  The monitors will answer questions such as “How is color blindness inherited?” Developed by Ludociencia/Fun Science.

-Paleontology Workshop

It will recreate an experience of being on a paleontological site. Including methodology (data collection, fieldwork and lab work) that is followed when seeking a paleontological dig site. For few minutes participants will convert into paleontologists that are conducting a study of fossil remains. Developed by Natures SCA.

-Our crystal world: a glance inside the interior

With the little theoretical-practical introduction we will establish what is crystal and the importance of its discovery.  We will enter the inner world of crystals, mainly those around us in our daily lives (ice, salt, sugar etc.). This activity will aim to show crystal and its internal layout. There will be provided solutions for the creation of these crystals by using sugar and salt. This workshop will be divided into two final parts according to the age of participants: a) for the youngest, a craft paper of an ice crystal b) for a bit older, we will build crystal structure with sticks and cork balls. Developed by Natures SCA.

Visit and gain more knowledge and have fun at Seville Science fair. From 15^th to 17^th of May at Congress and Exhibition Centre (FIBES). For more information visit www.feriadelaciencia.org

Kids talk about Casa de la Ciencia!

It's strange to think about this: all of us were little boys and girls at some point of our lives... This blog is indeed written from an adult point of view, too serious maybe. That's why today is all about turning perspective around.

Eight kids aged 10 and 11 have visited Casa de la Ciencia and plot their impressions on an written essay, which we secretly and thouroughly read. Let's see.

"Hi. I'm Tibi. I liked Casa de la Ciencia. Casa de la Ciencia is very big. And beautiful too." Tibi likes to put the cart before the horse - to begin with the conclusions. Manuela is more of a journalist: "Two weeks ago we went to Casa de la Ciencia, also called museum of science, in which scientists research a lot of living beings from all around the world". What about Alejandro? He thinks of his experience as a "very cool expedition". Wow! Flattering!

Inside the museum, everyone first noticed "the big clock that works with water" (our clepsydra) and Marino the whale.

First stop: Planetarium or "the dark room" (why use such tricky words?) where "we observed the Universe. I saw the planets: Marses, Mercury, Uranus, the Sun, the Earth, the Moon". Everyone liked "the comfortable armchairs called POUF". Even though poor Maria got dizzy...

Now we go "to the center of the museum, where we were showed a lot of cells" "where a man explained to us the inside of the human body". Then "came another man who showed us a lot of insects: flies, butterflies, spiders, scorpions..." "That I liked too because I saw scary insects I didn't know before and their sculptures".

"Yeah and suddenly we got into a big room where we saw skeletons of dolphins and whales" - "and also a big water sphere with little crabbies". "In the roof there were sharks it was very big it was cool i had fun". 

"When we finished we went down the stairs, where we travelled back in time, because we saw fossils from thousands of years ago. Also a lot of funny minerals and rocks. The man told me that a long time ago ocean ran dry, but then it got full again". Miriam just got a Paleontology expert, congrats!.

¿Jumping to conclusions? Three of the kids liked best the Planetarium with POUF armchairs and three films, whereas Ivan' and Tibi's favourite moment was "when we sang all together in the bus".

Manuela has a bad review: "I would have liked it more if the guide didn't come with us to the upstairs collection, but besides that I'm content". Miriam invites everyone to come "because you will learn about the beggining of the world".

"Ok this is it kisses and hugs bye! THE END"

International Museum Day – 18th of May!

Nowadays museums are constantly facing industry changes that force them to rethink their traditional mission and find new ways to attract visitors towards more accessible collections. This year's theme for International Museum Day is "Museum collections make connections” and La Casa de la Ciencia accompanies it ...with music!

Eight young artists 4-9 years old and their teachers will perform musical pieces in three halls of the permanent exhibitions of Museum. Previously set out museum displays will explain the contents of the collections in question. The program will comprise works of composers K. and H. Colledge and A. Markov.

• In the cetaceans´ hall you will be able to listen to melodies describing water features: sounds of waterfall, dolphin jumps thanks to the "pizzicato" of violins and the din of the goldfish accompanied by the lively piano rhythm.
• In the invertebrates ‘hall there will be interpreted the play of butterflies and ants. Young violinists will imitate butterfly´s wing beating by moving their fingers in the relentless rhythm, while the hard work of ants will be reflected in a lively and active music.
• Finally, in the minerals´ hall it will sound like you are on fossil and stone pathes with snakes slithering between them.

You are very welcome to attend the concert and see the Museum for free on 18^th of May at 12:30, 13:00 and 13:30.

Organizers: Andalucía Música - http://andaluciamusica.es/

See you there!