Sommer der Wissenschaft: a new way to experience science
EMBL alumna Jona Rada reflects on her experience during the ‘Summer of Science’ event organised by EMBL's Science Education and Public Engagement (SEPE) team
Naemi Kuehn, Public Engagement Officer, engaging with participants during a foldscope workshop during the ‘Sommer der Wissenschaft’ programme. Credit: Joseph Franciosa/EMBL
By Jona Rada, former Predoctoral Fellow, EMBL Heidelberg
Even after spending years around microscopes, I was drawn into a new world of science and discovery during the summer programme of the EMBL exhibition ‘The World of Molecular Biology’.
As a scientist and an escape room connoisseur, I was thrilled to sneak into one of the programme activities, titled ‘Microscopes and Mysteries’, an escape room experience with a touch of a treasure hunt, all revolving around microscopy.
Teamed up with teens between the ages of 15 and 18, I embarked on a journey that made me forget I was still inside the institute where I used to work. What I thought would be simple games introducing young students to basic science turned out to be an engaging quest. We used microscope cameras to observe rabbit taste buds and uncover hidden clues on walls. Cracking our way through puzzles and riddles, in the course of a few hours, we playfully moved from shining light through bottles with fluorescent liquids to preparing samples for high-tech 3D imaging.
The 2025 EMBL programme, ‘Summer of Science’ (‘Sommer der Wissenschaft’ in German), started as a collection of science games and activities that were initially designed for workshops for school students and teachers, and for EMBL Open Days. EMBL’s Science Education and Public Engagement (SEPE) Team, which also runs the ‘The World of Molecular Biology’ exhibition, wondered if they could use these to create an engaging summer programme for families and young people in and around Heidelberg, Germany, that would offer creative ways to engage with the exhibition and the science behind it.
Participants working on clues during the ‘Microscopes and Mysteries’ event during Sommer der Wissenschaft. Credits: Melanie Brauny/EMBL and Jona Rada/EMBL
“We wanted to not just show the different microscopes to the kids, but encourage them to touch and try them, even if they haven’t used one before,” said Melanie Brauny, one of the organisers of ‘Microscopes and Mysteries’. Unsurprisingly, according to feedback gathered from the participants, everyone’s favourite part of the event was that they were allowed to build and use microscopes themselves.
During the event, I was happy to observe the instruments that I had only known in the context of research being used and explored by young people of different backgrounds and ages. I realised that these activities were not only increasing access to scientific research for the younger generation but were also exposing me, a scientist, to playful curiosity.
Beyond the ‘Microscopes and Mysteries’ event, Summer of Science offered many more ways to connect to science and allowed children and adults alike to see the world with new eyes. The activities were designed with broad and diverse audiences in mind, including new activities suitable for children under 14 years old and families. These included a foldscope workshop for 7-10 year olds, activities centred around the SEPE-developed game Nexus Island, and a guided tour of EMBL’s ‘laboratory on wheels’ – the Advanced Mobile Lab.
Children using foldscopes in a workshop during the ‘Sommer der Wissenschaft’ programme. Credit: Joseph Franciosa/EMBL
The motivation behind Summer of Science was to introduce relevant EMBL science to anyone in the Heidelberg area interested in learning about it. Dorothea Deschermeier, Exhibition Manager at EMBL, fondly remembers an older visitor who visited the EMBL exhibition for the third time. “When people keep coming back, that’s when we know we are doing things well,” said Deschermeier.
‘Microscopes and Mysteries’ reminded me that science itself is the ultimate escape room — nature hides clues, scientists solve puzzles, and breakthroughs are like unlocking new doors. That excitement is the reason I became a scientist in the first place. But above all, I was happy to see the teenagers around me realising that science and research are within their reach too.
Haus der Jugend Sommerfest
‘Sommer der Wissenschaft’ wasn’t the only summer activity the EMBL SEPE team engaged in this year. In July, EMBL organised a stall at the annual Haus der Jugend Sommerfest in Heidelberg, an event attended by around 1,500 children and their families. This year’s event was themed around the topic ‘fly me to the moon’. The EMBL team designed a Schnitzeljagd (or treasure hunt) especially to fit with this theme, inviting intrepid explorers to take part in a space mission to discover a mysterious planet full of weird and wonderful lifeforms. Learn more here.
