Registration is already open for the 2^nd Cultural Competition “I think I saw 1 scientist”, created by the scientific dissemination group Nunca Vi 1 Cientista (NV1C, I’ve never seen a scientist) to stimulate children’s contact with the scientific universe. This year, children should submit a video of up to one minute answering the question: Why is science important? They will compete in two categories, 5–8 and 9–12-year-old, and the top three in each category will receive awards. Winners will be announced on November 4th.

This is the second edition of the contest, held in celebration of children’s month, and according to scientists and science disseminators Ana Bonassa and Laura de Freitas, creators of the NV1C, the question about the importance of science was thought to provoke a reflection at a time when the situation in the country is not favorable to science. “We expect some adults to learn something from children. Our idea for this contest is to bring a little light and awareness for adults too,” Laura said.

Registration is open until October 31, and to participate, the child’s parents must complete the application form. The 2nd Cultural Competition “I think I saw 1 scientist” is sponsored by RIDC Redoxoma and supported by FAPESP Agency.

In 2018, in the first edition of the contest, the channel received 50 videos of children answering the question “What is science for you?” Winning videos can be viewed here.

Nunca vi 1 cientista

With over 100,000 followers on social media - added YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter - in a year and a half of activity, NV1C has just earned the ScienceVlogs Brazil (SVBr) seal of quality for scientific publishers, which guarantees that the channel conveys serious scientific information, with recognized sources representative of the current scientific and academic consensus.

The founders of NV1C met in 2018 when they were finalists in FameLab Brazil, an international science communication competition. “I saw people that worked with science communication but never really used language aimed at laypeople. I was already a scientist and I couldn’t understand some science communication posts,” says Laura, who is a pharmacist and biochemist and a postdoc at the Laboratory of Photoinduced Processes and Interfaces, under the supervision of Professor Maurício Baptista, from the Instituto de Química of Universidade de São Paulo (USP) and RIDC Redoxoma.

With humor and using casual language, the goal of NV1C is to make people understand how science works, develop critical thinking, and question the sources of the information they receive. “We want science to be easy to understand, and that people learn to question. They can't just accept absolute truths, miracle cures,” says Laura.

Another exciting aspect for them is to inspire young people to pursue their careers in science. “We need to form this cycle, we need new scientists,” says biologist Ana, a postdoc in the Energy Metabolism Laboratory, under the supervision of Professor Alicia Kowaltowski, also from IQ-USP and Redoxoma. And it looks like they are succeeding. “We did a YouTube live and got comments from 12- and 15-year-old girls saying they want to be scientists. This is very cool, we are women in science and we see girls wanting to be scientists because of us.” According to social media metrics, NV1C's audience is mostly women and most are between 18 and 34 years old.

Unlike other channels of dissemination specializing in a particular area of knowledge, the NV1C is a channel open to the exact, human and biological sciences. In more than 70 videos posted on YouTube, they have pointed to vaccine myths and truths; deconstructed miracle solutions to cure diseases and fad diets; discussed humanities topics such as power and ideology; taught personal finance; visited the nuclear reactor of the Institute of Energy and Nuclear Research (IPEN) at USP; explained how to interpret information from scientific articles; and introduced scientists and other science disseminators. And they were irreverent, as in a video with over 70,000 views so far in which, in response to criticism from the education minister to public universities, they went after stark naked people at USP (the peladões). They did not find naked people and took the opportunity to show how much people study and work at the university.

On Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, they comment and explain scientific news. “We have as a rule not to simply share the news, but explain it in another way, so that people understand.” And mostly, they report misleading advertising. This is the part that followers like the most. According to them, what arouses most people's interest are the posts that reveal gimmicks, such as those denouncing advertisements for cholesterol-free soybean oil, collagen capsules and NASA pillows, among many others. They also use these networks to explain memes scientifically. “Memes are on the rise, and when they go viral, our content goes viral together, so people end up getting the information,” says Ana.

Apart from some aggressive comments and eventually a tougher discussion, the interaction with the followers is very positive. “We read and respond to all comments. And we note the many suggestions for videos.” According to them, this is the way to realize that their work is impacting in some way. “We observed some cool reactions from people. By the way, the first was my mother, who, after I started the NV1C, started to question many things and consult me if the information is true,” says Laura. To account for the growing number of followers, the group NV1C currently consists of 22 people, including staff and collaborators.

And back to the kids, this week NV1C started posting a special series of videos with answers to questions asked by kids. In the first video, doctoral student and science disseminator João Victor Cabral Costa explains why the sloth moves slowly. Do you know why?