For many, science is associated with highly trained experts in distant laboratories, far removed from everyday life. But, at its core, science deals with something universal: curiosity.
On February 1st, 2025, the campus of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) became a place where that curiosity came to life for everyone. Nearly 2,000 children and adults explored seventeen interactive science booths, stage shows, lectures, guided experiences, and more, making the Science Festival the largest event of the year held at OIST.
"It was such a pleasure to see the joyous faces of both the kids and parents. Science Festival 2025 has been a huge success, not least thanks to the almost 200 OIST community members and junior high school volunteers who helped out as support staff to make it a success," says Arisa Ikeda, manager of the OIST Community Relations section that spent many months planning and organizing the festival.
Thrills of the world
As the lights dim, a single spotlight focuses on the bucket. A hose is lifted from within, and with one end now covered in soapy water, the other connected to a container of dry ice, it produces bubbles that makes the air around us that was previously invisible clear for everyone to see. The milky bubbles drift lazily through the air as a collective "oooh" sweeps through the audience of 500 children and their parents. The room is captivated by the explanations and demonstrations of the different properties of light - from scattering rays through a prism, over making infrared light visible and normal light invisible, to showing how different chemicals produce different colors when burned.
"It was wonderful to see that the kids were both thrilled by the flashy display and by the explanations of the different types of light. There was so much energy and enthusiasm!" said PhD student Jack Featherstone, hosted the show together with fellow student Monika Eggenberger and translator Mari Takenouchi. Whenever Jack asks the crowd a question, a flurry of hands shoots up in the air together with a wave of "hai!", ready to participate or ask their own questions. "My hope is that they took home the message that science comes in many forms - whether creating fire, exploring wavelengths of light, or finding new ways to protect your skin from UV, science always benefits from different perspectives."
Elsewhere, in a seminar room deep inside the OIST campus, a small, black bead makes its down through the layers of colorful liquids of different viscosities in a tall glass tube. It's barely a third of the way through the last, thickest layer, when another pebble is dropped by a pair of tweezers at the top of the beaker, racing hastily towards the first, rapidly catching up but then dramatically slowing down until it's just a few centimeters behind the first, both now descending at a mesmerizingly slow pace through the final layer of corn starch. Around the multicolored tube stands a small crowd of entranced young learners, their eyes fixed on the slow-motion pebble race for minutes on end.
Building curiosity one question at a time
Science is not just about the spectacle and the wonder of the world - it's also driven by the questions deep within us. A few steps away from the cylinders, a toy submarine, controlled by a child with a joystick, glides silently through a clear tank of corn syrup, leaving no ripples in its wake. But as it moves behind a polarizing filter, sharp, angular waves suddenly shimmer in rainbow colors. Next to the booth, a researcher explains the phenomenon to a curious parent: the syrup's high viscosity absorbs motion as internal friction, preventing visible waves. This friction temporarily aligns the fluid's molecules, altering how they interact with light - an effect normally invisible to the naked eye. The polarized sheet filters out this altered light, revealing the beautiful patterns in the syrup.
Another highlight of the day is the Science Lecture, where Professor Vincent Laudet shares his vast knowledge and the latest research on anemonefish with his characteristic wit, eliciting laughter and gasps of wonder. The kids eagerly ask him questions like "why do they not get stung by sea anemones?" and "why don't they have more than three bars?", showcasing their earnest interest in the tiny fish. To the first question, Prof. Laudet explains that this was actually only very recently discovered in their lab: unlike many other fishes, anemonefish have a very low level of sialic acid in their skin mucus, which prevent them from triggering the stinging cells of sea anemones. Prof. Laudet also explained that we don't know why the fish don't have more than three bars - yet. His engaging explanation of the open scientific mindset clearly fascinates the researchers-to-be, underscored by his personal devotion to marine science: "Anemonefish are a treasure, Okinawa is a treasure, and we need to protect them both. And kids - if you have dream, keep it, fight for it, and go for it!"
Putting on the coat and goggles
The kids not only experienced or learned about science - they got to feel it. One science booth was dedicated to the world of safety in lab experiments and personal protective equipment, or PPE, with the young scientists posing in child-sized lab coats and hilariously adult-sized safety glasses and trying their hand at the lab-staple activity of pipetting. One parent remarked how surprising it was to see such relatively mundane aspects of scientist life be of such interest to the children. Kids looked at fingerprints through electronic microscopes, sifted through sand to remove plastic waste, identified marine animals in a competitive quiz, and so much more at the 17 interactive science booths, staffed by a corps of volunteers making up roughly a fifth of all members of the OIST community, all to experience what science feels like.
Photobooths throughout campus, manned by volunteers from a high school in Okinawa, allowed parents to capture these unique moments of joy and curiosity. At one of them, featuring an oversized version of the graphical template used for the portrait photos of OIST faculty members, a kid is striking a silly pose for his parents watching, with one leg up, fingers extended, and face contorted into a mischievous grin. When asked what he wanted to be when he grows up, his answer was simple: "Professor!"
To see more of the delightful pictures taken by OIST photographers and volunteers, check out this Flickr album.
