Inspiration Stage: Hidden Worlds

Most of what shapes a place is hidden in plain sight, invisible until someone finds a new way of seeing it. Beneath the surface lie invisible systems, histories, and relationships that shape the world we share. Each of these talks is about a moment when entanglement becomes visible and legible, when a technology, a method, or an act of translation gives form to a connection that was always there. 

Spanning water research, urban ecology, environmental health, and art-science practices, these talks explore the reciprocal relationship between people and the places they call home. 

TALKS INCLUDE:

18:00 - 18:15 | Johannes Matzen (born Müller),  Berlin University of Applied Sciences and Technology (BHT) - Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften

Can the atmosphere solve water scarcity?

Can we turn air into drinking water? Learn how atmospheric water harvesting, driven by breakthroughs honored with the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, could provide a sustainable water source.

What if the air around us could become a reliable source of drinking water? As climate change increases droughts and water scarcity, securing access to clean water is becoming one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. Atmospheric water harvesting offers a promising alternative by extracting water directly from the humidity in the air using only sunlight and advanced materials. In this talk, I will explain how this technology works, how much water it can produce under different climate conditions, and why it has the potential to provide a sustainable water source in remote and arid regions. I will also present results from laboratory experiments and show how a digital twin helps predict performance, optimize the system, and guide the development of more efficient atmospheric water harvesters. Join me to discover how we can turn air into drinking water and what it will take to make this technology a practical solution for a water-scarce future.

18:15 - 18:30 | Kai-Ti Wu, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

The hidden economics of loving a place by the water

This talk reveals how the wellbeing we draw from Berlin's waterfronts can become real local opportunity — and asks how we make sure it reaches everyone, instead of pushing diversity out.

We all have a favourite spot by the water: a bench on the canal, a stretch of riverbank, a park where the city finally exhales. Being in touch with this blue and green infrastructure doesn't only make us feel better, it can become a real engine of local opportunity, in ways researchers can now measure. This research tracked the wellbeing Berliners draw from being near water, and found it works as an early signal of where a neighbourhood is about to grow: where people feel best, new local businesses tend to open two to four years later. The catch is that this opportunity doesn't reach everyone. Right at the water's edge, cafés, bars and hotels boom, while the small studios, workshops and cultural spaces that gave the place its character are quietly pushed out. Left to itself, the good feeling that lifts a place tends to pool where money already is. This talk follows that hidden chain: from a single good feeling to who gets to live, work and belong by the water, and asks the question that matters for any growing city: not just who profits when a place feels good, but how we turn our shared natural spaces into opportunity that reaches everyone, and keep more people in touch with the places that restore us.

18:30 - 18:45  | Yalinu Poya, Wentworth Institute of Technology

The ground remembers: Dirty secrets beneath our cities

Beneath our cities lies a hidden record of industrial activity and legacy pollutants. Using Boston as a case study, discover how students, communities, and emerging AI tools support remediation.

When we walk through a city, we rarely think about what lies beneath our feet. Parks, playgrounds, neighborhoods, and vacant lots can all carry a hidden legacy of past industrial activity, leaving pollutants in the soil that continue to influence environmental and human health today. Using Boston as a case study, I will share how my students, local communities, and I are working to investigate contamination in urban environments and uncover the hidden stories recorded in the ground beneath us. Along the way, audiences will discover how science can reveal connections between past land use, present-day environmental challenges, and future opportunities for healthier communities. The talk also looks ahead, exploring how emerging tools in artificial intelligence may help us make sense of increasingly complex environmental data, support decision-making, and identify smarter pathways toward remediation. At its heart, this is a story about curiosity, connection, and the places we call home. It invites audiences to see cities in a new way and consider how understanding what lies beneath our feet can help shape healthier, more sustainable communities.

18:45 - 19:00 | Michelle Lezana, Institute for Wild Futures (IWF)

Ancestral algorithms: How did rural women end up weaving eDNA into a tapestry in remote Patagonia?

This talk asks how knowledge returns to a community: through data—or through culture.

Before biodiversity became data, the community of Raúl Marín Balmaceda had long observed the marine life around them. Environmental DNA research later added another layer of evidence to that knowledge, revealing how life leaves traces in water. But once those traces became scientific information, another question emerged: how could that knowledge return to the community in a form that could be understood, felt, and held close to the heart of its culture? In this talk, Michelle Lezana brings a linguist’s perspective to how information moves through systems of inscription: the codes that make data legible, the languages that make it shareable, and the surfaces that allow knowledge to be carried, touched, and returned. Through RESIDENCIA REMOTA, a science-art residency framework she developed at Universidad de Aysén, she follows what happened when environmental DNA moved beyond scientific formats and encountered heritage textile techniques. For anyone wondering how genetic code could end up in a tapestry, this talk opens a different way of being “in touch” with science. What if ancestral technologies can make new scientific knowledge understandable in ways a graph, paper, or dataset cannot?

19:00 - 19:20 | Meet the Scientists

Meet the Scientists-session

Stay around for an informal networking session: ask your own questions, start a conversation, and connect directly with the speakers.