This year the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (IBE), a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), offers various activities during the PRBB 2025 open day. These include a guided tour of the Human Genomic Diversity laboratory: “What does DNA tell us about our recent history?”, a talk on paleogenomics by IBE Principal Investigator Pablo Librado, and the the #BeyondAbility workshop: towards functional diversity in science and research management.

What does DNA tell us about our recent history?

Oral tradition or written documents shed light on our past or who we are. However, these approaches have their limitations. What can DNA tell us about our past and who we are? What do we know about our evolutionary history?

PhD students Santiago Pérez and Juan Carlos Guevara, from the Human Genomic Diversity Group at the IBE, will show us, and Aris Jiménez, from the Algorithms for Population Genomics Group, will lead this interactive talk on population genetics.

From the steppe to history: paleogenomics reveals the domestication of the horse

For thousands of years, the horse has been the companion that transformed human life: the best means of land transport, capable of connecting distant populations and influencing biology, economy and culture. Its role in warfare was equally decisive, revolutionizing strategies and becoming the ancient equivalent of modern tanks. Entire empires rose and fell thanks to this animal, which also shaped linguistic and cultural boundaries as we know them today. In this talk we will discuss how, thanks to the sequencing of ancient genomes from fossil remains, the bioinformatic analyses overturned what was known until 2018 about the domestication of the horse and its profound impact on human history.

Pablo Librado, Principal Investigator of the Ancient Population Genomics Group at the IBE, will give this “Ciència a la fresca” talk in the PRBB square at 11 am.

#BeyondAbility Workshop

Judit Sainz, administrative staff at the IBE, is taking part in the BeyondAbility workshop, which will take place at the PRBB square. This activity includes different games to overcome challenges related to disability (such as recognizing an object by touch or shape without seeing it, drawing with eyes covered, and discovering how a person with dyslexia perceives a text).

 BeyondAbility Workshop 2024. Credit to Judit Sainz.
 

Register on the website https://openday.prbb.org for guided tours of the building in groups of 10 people and accompanied by researchers. The minimum age is 12 years. Younger children (aged 6 to 12) will be able to take part in a dynamic space with age-appropriate experiments.