The Daimler and Benz Foundation is funding a special event format that sets out to stimulate a dialog of trust between science and the public. The “Innovative Science Communication” competition, launched at the beginning of 2023, was won by the Senckenberg Natural History Collections Dresden (SNSD). The “SenckenBike” project, initiated by the Senckenberg Museum Dresden, is receiving funding of around 30,000 euros: This series of five open-air events is being carried out with two electric cargo bikes. Fitted out as mobile pop-up research stations, the SenckenBikes are intended to bring research and researchers from the SNSD into the city and initiate a dialog with society at large.
Since 2009, the former Dresden State Natural History Collections, together with the Museum of Zoology and the Museum of Mineralogy and Geology, has numbered among the research institutes and natural history museums of the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research, with headquarters in Frankfurt am Main. Under the name Senckenberg Natural History Collections Dresden, this institution became a member of the Leibniz Association following the merger with the Senckenberg Society for Nature Research. With over 7.5 million objects, the SNSD is one of the oldest and largest collections of its kind in Germany. Portions of the collections and the latest research findings are shown to the public in changing special exhibitions at the Japanese Palace in the Baroque Quarter of Dresden.
The SenckenBike project aims to arouse interest in topics from the research fields of biodiversity and geodiversity by encouraging as many people as possible to spontaneously visit the mobile research stations. With their communication concept, the initiators above all want to reach people who do not normally take up the offers of traditional museum work or who are not actively interested in scientific topics. In the new format, the museum is now coming to them with its research activities.
With various topics adapted to the location, the aim is to show where Senckenberg’s scientific work offers points of reference for people’s lives, for example with the topic of biodiversity loss. Visitors can engage in discussion with the scientists on site. Children will always have the opportunity to participate in the research; a small booklet for young researchers also invites them to actively continue their activities. After a visit to the mobile research station, visitors can inform themselves of follow-up events and the next locations via the social media channels or the project page on the Internet.
The SenckenBikes are versatile, can be set up almost anywhere, and highlight the sustainable focus of this project. The eye-catching design of the charging boxes is intended to generate a powerful external impact even when on the move. The bikes can be loaded with a number of different modular boxes corresponding to the various scientific topics presented. Along with selected illustrative objects from the collections, they also contain materials for hands-on research such as binoculars, cup magnifiers, identification literature, and much more.
Following the launch of this project in mid-2023, the topics, dates, and locations for 2024 were first of all determined in close consultation with the scientists. A graphics agency developed the name (“SenckenBike”), the slogan (“Exploring the diversity of nature together”), the design of the cargo bikes, the advertising material, and the project website. The cargo bikes have already been procured and tested. Once the main content of the individual theme days was defined, suitable materials were selected for the respective module boxes.
The project is planned as a series of events to present various facets of the SNSD’s research activities. The SenckenBikes will appear at various locations in Dresden on five Saturdays between April and September 2024. The planned topics and locations include the following: “Forbidden souvenirs – What souvenirs my I take home with me?” at Dresden Airport, “STEINaltes Dresden – A journey through the history of the earth” in the city center, and “Insect diversity – Preserving and promoting” at the Japanese Palace. Each project day is prepared in close cooperation with the scientists and the museum’s education department. Sustainable reuse of the electric cargo bikes and of the module boxes and materials is already planned as a fixed element of educational museum programs at schools and daycare centers.
Why can’t you divide by 0, and why is the theorem of Pythagoras valid? As part of the funded project “True Math!”, a participatory online series of events was staged at which interested people of all ages explored mathematical issues under the guidance of Prof. Christian Spannagel from PH Heidelberg. The aim was to give participants “eureka” experiences. Even through certain rules are familiar from school days, they often cannot be explained – because the true nature of mathematics was not conveyed at that time.
This is exactly the pivotal point of the format: In six two-hour online sessions held between October 2024 and February 2025, well-known mathematical rules and facts were put into question, and explanations were devised together. The topics included divisibility rules, prime numbers, fractions and percentages, binomial formulas, and probability. By jointly arriving at the solutions in direct interaction, participants experienced how mathematicians work and why – above and beyond mathematics – it is so important in everyday life to question things critically and not to be satisfied with mere assertions.
An average of 336 people participated in the six “True Math!” livestreams on Twitch; the first stream attained the highest reach with 553 participants. A total of 306 people subscribed to the accompanying newsletter. According to surveys, about 58 percent of the participants were male, 40 percent female, and two percent diverse. The largest age group was 20-29 years (31%), followed by 50-59 (25%) and 40-49 years (22%). Around 63 percent of the participants were working and 23 percent in school or studying.
The “True Math!” Discord community developed dynamically: Between October 2024 and March 2025, its membership grew from 677 to 1,548 users. The community provided a lively space for exchange between the streams and for joint discussion of the mathematical topics. Dissemination of the content via social media was also successful: The recordings of the streams were published both as full-length videos on YouTube and as shorts on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. The 100 videos published across all platforms were viewed about 2.5 million times in all.
The streams currently have the character of classroom discussions, but partner and group work will also be possible in future. The “True Math!” project sees itself as the beginning of a transfer and research program for interactive formats of science communication in mathematics.
