Where referees meet beetles

There is already a good atmosphere when Olivier Cottet takes to the stage. The newly redesigned auditorium at Einbeck is filled almost to capacity. “The Science Slam is a great opportunity to show what we value: enthusiasm, innovation and openness,” says the Head of Global Product Development. And he immediately takes up an important idea of every slam: “Today we have Leo in the audience. He’s six years old – and he needs to understand what you’re saying.”

Each slammer has ten minutes to present their chosen topic in the most interesting and comprehensible way possible. Four of them have gathered in Einbeck, while one is connected digitally – so raise the curtain!

Cabbage stem flea beetles and roots

Svenja Bänsch accompanies us on a journey through the annual cycle of Oli, a cabbage stem flea beetle who actually looks really cute. Oli is basically having a good time in the “enchanted ecosystem,” but that can’t be said for the oilseed rape plant. Because the little creepy-crawly can cause a lot of damage. In order to work on plant resistance, our Phytopathology unit is therefore looking after the beetles and studying their interaction with plants.

The event continues in a poetic vein – with a specially written ode by Roland Schwarzenbacher. With the topic of his doctoral dissertation – how do we help plants to help themselves? – he kindles a great deal of interest among the audience at the Science Slam. The concept of strengthening the immune system with the active ingredient BABA (beta-aminobutyric acid), combined with genetic optimization, is intended to bolster the natural resistance of plants, Roland explains.

Tony Pawlik’s slam goes a few levels below ground to introduce us to the world of roots, which are vital for every plant. The audience’s response reveals precisely that many people know the part of our crops they can see, but are unsure when it comes to their roots. How can we make them more visible and thus analyze them better? Tony has many suggestions that could take root.

“Amelie, last year’s winner, was so good and that inspired me,” says Tony, describing what motivated him to take part in the slam. “I wanted to participate so as to enhance the visibility of root research.” The concept is not new to him because he watches a lot of science slams in his private life. “Of course, taking part yourself is something else,” he says with a smile.

Exercises to relieve stress

In her slam, Selen Pfändner shows how we can break out of the hamster wheel of stress. The concept is called “Make yourself flow” – relaxing breathing exercises that the audience tries out right away, and a calming technique the former German referee Bibiana Steinhaus once used during her first top-flight match: positive visualization of the decisive moment. “I hit on the idea one night when I was having trouble falling asleep,” she says. Stress resilience, not plant resistance, was therefore paramount. After a quiet night, Selen just knew she had to put the brainwave into practice.

The relaxed audience then waits for the last slam, a double act with Natalja Beying in the auditorium and Manny Saluja connected from the U.S. Together, they use a specially built station to demonstrate how genome editing techniques work – because sometimes you have to be allowed to play with (molecular) scissors, they both explain with a twinkle in their eye.

Training with professionals

In the end, all the slammers won – at least in the audience’s view. The voting also showed how tight the contest was: Svenja (cabbage stem flea beetle) shared first place with Natalja and Manny (genome editing).

All participants showed that a slam is a great opportunity to hone presentation skills. After all, it’s not easy to explain a topic – which can come from any area of KWS – in an exciting way in a short space of time. Assistance was provided in advance by Manuel Maidorn, Science Communicator, and Carlos Günter from the Scouting and Licensing team. In a joint training course, they helped the participants translate a complex concept into a storyline – something that is not only useful for the slam. “The stimulus to include anecdotes in the slam came from the course,” says Selen. “After the training, I had the idea of incorporating my anecdote with Bibiana Steinhaus, and my storyline was ready in next to no time.” |