The National Museum of Natural History takes part in the thirteenth edition of Sofia Science Festival

In Sofia Tech Park, from 11 to 14 May, the thirteenth edition of Sofia Science Festival took place in its traditional four-day format. The event once again gathered representatives of the national and international academic community.

Museum’s scientists and researchers took to the festival stage to present the results of their research projects and deliver presentations.

The project “Caves as a reservoir of new and re-emerging zoonoses — ecological monitoring and metagenomic analysis in real time”, funded by virtue of Agreement KP-06-PN-51/9 dated 2021 under the Competition on Fundamental Research Projects of the Bulgarian National Science Fund, was presented with a poster and a brochure at the museum stand in the “Discoverer” section. The project results were the focus of a presentation “To Bedbug with Love and More Stories about Ones Who Are Not in Your Bed” by Dr Nikolay Simov, Associate Professor (NMNHS) and Dr Boyan Zlatkov, Chief Assistant (IBER-BAS).

In their presentation “The Green List or What Makes Environmentalists Proud” Dr Violeta Zhelyazkova, Chief Assistant (NMNHS), and Dr Maria Kachamakova, Chief Assistant (IBER-BAS), talked about protection of endangered species and recovery of their populations during the last decades due to the right human (non-)intervention.

In his presentation “Paleoart — A Window into the Prehistoric World” Vladimir Nikolov, PhD student (NMNHS), allowed the audience a glimpse into the long-lost worlds that he studies as a palaeontologist, demonstrating the possibilities of paleoart — the elegant combination of science and art. The President of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Academician Julian Revalski, who was among the festival guests, took a special interest in the presentation.

The Centre for Research and Protection of Bats (NMNHS) took part in the event with a demonstration on a stand, where Katrin Dimitrova and her team of volunteers talked about the role of bats in nature and why it is important to protect them. The researchers offered an interesting game called “Do you speak… bat language?” to the youngest visitors who learned how you can use your mobile device to pick up sounds and, in that way, identify the different bat species.

The stand also offered products with a cause, such as the latest NMNHS edition “Titans’ Song: A Story of Dinosaurs” by Vladimir Nikolov, the profit from which goes towards support of palaeontological expeditions near the town of Tran. Another book with a cause — “As Long As the Larks Sing” by Nikolay Boev was offered at the stand in support of the research activities of Durankulak Bird Ringing Camp, along with various items with the Camp’s logo — t-shirts, cards, badges, etc.