"FÄKT!" will grab you too

Ötzi, cancer & Hawara: dull science my ass

The Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) offers free, exciting and entertaining videos for children and the young at heart on various topics as part of the "FÄKT!" project.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/stock.adobe.com/ÖAW)

Whether it's about the ice mummy Ötzi, the function of proteins in breast cancer, the question of whether our local dialects are dying out or how music sounds like bat calls: in any case, you should reach for "FÄKT!" instead of reaching into the fake toilet. The communication project for simple science communication not only, but especially for the "TikTok" generation provides excitement. Want to bet?

"Imagine scientists make great discoveries, but nobody understands them," say students Marie-Sophie "Miso" Tschak and Julia Winkler. What can help? Science communication! The cheerful duo are the moderators of "FÄKT!", the new science communication project of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), which was launched this year.

"Science communication is super important because it helps us to explain complicated topics in a way that everyone understands and also to recognize and correct misinformation," emphasize Miso and Julia, "and so we can also make better decisions!"

The project name "FÄKT!" was inspired by the words "fact" and "fake". As part of FÄKT!, the friendly girls interview local scientists from a wide range of research areas for videos, clips and reels - not only, but especially - on social media. After all, the aim is to reach the young target group where they can be found.

Incidentally, the entertaining films are not only successful with the youngsters: The videos are also exciting and informative for adults.

So far, for example, we have learned how much electricity and energy the internet and AI technologies consume, what Ötzi the ice mummy has to do with today's heat, how to swear well and correctly, why the dialect is not dying out, what bats do for us, how to sleep well and correctly, etc. We have linked the whole list here for our Krone+ subscribers.

You can find the videos here

• The FÄKT! school and social media videos are available here:
  -> Homepage: www.faekt.science
  -> Youtube:
  https://www.youtube.com/@faekt.science
  -> Instagram:
  https://www.instagram.com/faekt.science/
  -> Tiktok:
  https://www.tiktok.com/@faekt.science
  -> Edutube:http://www.edutube.at/#FÄKT

And there is sure to be something for everyone among the topics that we are still preparing for you. In any case, we want to continue to captivate you in the course of FÄKT!