"Science as adventure: the Neuron Expedition project at AFO53"
13 July 2017
For Neuron, the 53rd International Festival of Science Documentary Films in Olomouc was in the sign of animals.
We presented to the public two successful scientists and adventurers who made a record of their expedition. Jan Dungel, a scientific illustrator and zoologist, went into the Venezuelan rainforest in search of the uakari monkey, whose existence had long remained a mystery. Clips from the documentary "Uakari, Humboldt's lost monkey" were commented on by the participants in the journey themselves — Jan and Radana Dungel and the director Vladimír Šimek. The second journey took us to the rainforests of Congo, where an expedition led by the herpetologist Václav Gvoždík collected genetic material from the smallest species of crocodile with the aim of proving that it is a unique species. The most interesting selected scenes were presented by Václav's colleague and the author of the film "After the mysterious crocodile to Congo", Matěj Dolinay.
After the very gripping clips from both documentaries we also managed to answer questions from a large audience.
On Saturday, at the gala evening, we presented a symbolic cheque to the winning project of the 2018 Neuron Expedition and so opened applications for the 2019 Neuron Expedition competition.
About the Neuron Expedition
At the Neuron Endowment Fund we believe that scientific discoveries do not wait only in laboratories, and so every year, with an expert jury, we select a field research project that we support with up to CZK 1,000,000. In the three years since they were launched, the Neuron Expeditions have won the favour not only of researchers but of the public too. Their outputs chart expeditions all over the world, for instance from the rainforests of Congo, unexplored parts of the Amazon, the mountains of Uganda and Papua New Guinea. Scientists in the field are filling important gaps in scientific research — the disappearance of tropical glaciers, mapping the bottom of the Hranice Abyss, the influence of globalisation on the life of the "rich poor" or the alternative treatment of depression with the hallucinogenic substance ayahuasca; other expeditions set off in search of unknown animal species.
