The 21. Scientific Picnic of Polish Radio and the Copernicus Science Centre was held at the National Stadium on June 3th, 2017. This year’s motto was: EARTH.

At tent A32 the Nencki Institute prepared two presentations: Earth and its little inhabitants: ants (Lab. of Ethology) and Earth - the only known place where the brain has evolved... (PhD Students Nencki).

The first show presented fragments of ant colonies grown in observational slots. The visitors watched the queens, the workers and the offspring of the ants and watched their interactions interact. They also learned how organized anthrop societies are and how important they are in different terrestrial ecosystems. The children had the opportunity to draw or make their own visions of the ants.

The presentation Earth - the only known place where the brain have evolved...... allowed people to become acquainted with the evolution of the nervous system, to try to identify the brains of different animals, to lay down a three-dimensional model of the brain and to find out what functions each of its components perform. Volunteers received cerebral hats that they could take home with them - they will make it easier to remember information about functional brain anatomy. For the youngest, games and experiences were developed to broaden their knowledge of the central and autonomic nervous system.

Every hour a demonstration of the principle of signal transmission between neurons took place.

In the A4 tent “A living book” meetings with the scientists, among others with dr Paweł Boguszewski, were held.

Our tent was visited by more than 5000 guests.

The Polish Radio 3 and 4 conducted interviews with Julita Korczyńska.

This year, as before, online participants (http://www.polskieradioeuro.pl; www.pikniknaukowy.pl) could watch the Picnic in real time.

All participants who visited the 21. Picnic: the organisers, the hosts and the guests promised to return next year.