Hello good afternoon.
My name is Marcela Colombres and I am a scientist.
I come to share an idea that I believe to be fundamental:
science can be a transforming agent of our society.
I want to start by sharing a childhood memory.
At my age eight,
children and adults used to play hide and seek,
and in the midst of darkness, adults allowed themselves to be children again
and the kids wanted to be great
to stay up late playing together.
Above all, I remember the ritual of spreading across the lawn
staring at the stars in silence.
Until the first “why” appeared.
And we spent hours inventing stories from the universe
and the adults did not know what to do with so many questions we asked.
I remember those moments with great affection because it was,
I believe, the moment when I approached science irreversibly.
And here I want to stop a little,
and tell you that we all know
that children are scientists by nature.
Everyone likes to ask, to invent, to experiment together.
And there is a moment, close to adolescence,
in which the hormones arise,
and curiosity begins to diminish, mysteriously.
For most, this curiosity is diluted.
Some take her into old age.
And there are others who spend most of their time
trying to get infected with this spirit.
Is well,
as a scientist I would like to mention a very curious fact
which was seen in the brains of children,
where curiosity is strengthened,
and it has been found that the same molecular mechanisms are activated
than when we eat chocolate.
By this I do not mean that they should eat chocolate,
but who knows,
that a curious child is hungry for curiosity.
It has also been shown that, through curiosity,
it is possible to improve learning by increasing memory.
And why is this relevant?
Because no doubt a child who likes science, who is curious,
is above all a child who is not afraid to err.
It has the ability to ask questions, create new ideas,
collectively, as we scientists do.
and fail several times before reaching the result.
A perseverance is activated.
And they are children who learn little by little,
that the best decisions are those made on the basis of evidence,
that we can conclude from a study.
And a person who makes evidence-based decisions
becomes, in the long run, a better citizen,
able to make decisions
without considering beliefs with dogmas, only facts and evidence.
Part of this spirit was what led us to create
a unique initiative at the national level,
the “Scientist Bus”.
The “Bus ComCiência” is the first in our country
and travels through rural Chile
working with rural school teachers and their students,
traveling through rural Chile and inspiring through science,
of scientific seminars, and through the inquiry of science,
a methodology that promotes
the questioning of facts by children
and from these, can conclude on their own,
without being given the already digested learning.
This initiative was a dream designed by Eduardo Ergas
and Bernardita Mendéz, who through their two foundations
have assembled this project through an incredible team.
In fact, we were selected as the five initiatives
the most crazy in Latin America.
Basically, what I would like today is to be able to infect you,
invite them to return to their childhood,
to this moment in which perhaps they were lying on the grass observing the universe
watching animals,
or were touched by the contact with nature.
And be in your own life
adults who allow children to ask themselves,
but most of all they can look up their own questions.
That’s what I had to share with you today.
Thank you.
(Applause)
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