What Kind of Water Did the Dinosaurs Drink? 💧
At RWTH Science Night on November 14, Professor Heribert Nacken dives into the World of Water. We spoke with him in advance about his field of research – water – and his second passion: virtual reality.
❓ What can visitors expect from your lecture?
🗨️ A journey around the globe – all about water. We’ll explore flooding and drought, water purification, and the basics of water management. Each topic will be introduced at interactive stations before children answer questions about them. The event is based on the popular children’s TV show “Runaround” – meaning that the kids use colored cards to show which answer they think is correct.
❓ What kind of tasks will there be?
🗨️ A wide range! We’ll start with estimation questions, for example, how much water you use when brushing your teeth, cooking, or flushing the toilet – and then move on to the question of whether the dinosaurs drank the same water we do today.
❓ And did they?
🗨️ Yes. Unlike money, for instance, water is constant – it can’t be increased or reduced, only transformed between liquid, gas, and solid states. Incidentally, the cards don’t go up quite as quickly for that question as they do for the first!
❓ Has awareness of the topic changed over the years?
🗨️ Water can no longer be viewed in isolation from energy and nutrition – they’re all interconnected, and sustainability plays a key role. About 70 percent of global water consumption – and that’s also one of the questions – comes from agriculture. Yet water is only one of nine factors within the so-called planetary boundaries. Everything is connected: it’s not enough to reduce CO₂ emissions alone. Water use, microplastics, ocean acidification, sustainable agriculture – all of these are part of the same complex system.
❓ What do these planetary boundaries mean in practice? Can everyone make a difference?
🗨️ Absolutely. Take a simple example: as a meat eater, you produce about 1,800 kilograms of CO₂ per year, as a vegetarian around 1,400, and as a vegan about 1,050. I’m not telling anyone to become vegan, but as an engineer I say: 1,050 instead of 1,800 – that’s a significant difference.
❓ At Science Night, you’re also present in another role …
🗨️ … yes, with our virtual reality booth, as the Rector’s Delegate for Digital Transformation in Teaching & Learning. Our team will be there to assist students – and, of course, curious parents – as “buddies” when they experience virtual reality for the first time.
❓ Is there a particular message you’d like to convey that evening?
🗨️ Oh, I don’t have a specific mission. The RWTH Science Night is simply a fantastic event where the University not only showcases its research, but also how approachable it is to everyone. That’s what it’s all about – and that’s what I think is great.
RWTH Science Night: ➡️ https://lnkd.in/ek9XCTzE
📸: Niels Knippertz
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