Matea, thank you for finding the time to join us for this interview! You will be the first master’s student we will introduce in Presenting Alumni. Furthermore, you are one of our non-Croatian participants, coming from North Macedonia, but you’re doing your studies in the UK. And another interesting fact is that you do some part time research as well? Sounds totally cool!

Most of us probably know someone who’s suffered from cancer, is still suffering or, unfortunately, we have it ourselves. Media daily feed us information on this topic, covering a wide range of news on the newest cancer drugs, treatments or medical discoveries. And yet, you might wonder why, after years and years of research, we still haven’t successfully found a universal cure for cancer. The answer to this is more complex than it seems – so let’s take it step by step.

We rely on computers to make all sorts of decisions these days: computers can decide faster and better than humans, for the most part. Whether you swipe a card in a store, open up Netflix to take a look at its recommendations or search your computer for that one file you just can’t find, a computer takes a look at the data available, runs an algorithm and gives you a result. That data can be your account balance, past viewing activity or an index of your files, but it can be something much more important – and as we grow to trust computers to perform more and more tasks that humans have traditionally been doing, how can we make sure that they make the right decisions? And are they making good decisions right now? Or are they actually amplifying sexism and racism?
Quantum
“Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it.”
Niels Bohr (and others, with variation)
As part of our short summer break, instead of bringing you a shiny new story, we want to share some information on our S3 alumni survey. So strap on your seatbelts and get ready for some stats!
Hi, Nikolina, and welcome to our Presenting Alumni session. As it was time to talk to a PhD student, whom better to choose than a long-standing alumna. For those who don’t know, Nikolina has participated in the school five times, and this year would have been her sixth!
But before we dwell into more details, let’s get to know you…
DIY: Soap bubble cyclones

Bubbles are generally fun to make and play with, but did you know you could witness some interesting physics by heating one up? You can watch mini cyclones form and dissolve. Try simulating a hurricane on a bubble in your kitchen!
Terraforming Mars

You’ve probably heard of terraforming, be it in a game, a movie or Elon Musk’s Twitter feed. Even if not, you’re almost certainly aware of all the buzz around Mars and our plans of colonizing it. The feat of modifying an entire planet to better suit our needs would be as taxing as it sounds, but it has become the topic of serious scientific discussion.
So, could we really do it? And how?
Hello, Lajos! Thank you for joining us in our series of interviews. We decided to talk to you because you were one of the foreign participants of the Summer School. Moreover, you decided to continue your education outside of your home country. In your case, you are studying in the UK, but you’re from Hungary.
Let’s first get to know you a bit more…

Although we had to cancel the Summer School this year, we haven’t been slacking off. In fact, June was quite eventful for us here at EVO.
Besides launching this blog and our alumni newsletter, the finale of our science communication competition, Znanstvenik u meni, was held at Infinum HQ in Zagreb on the 13th of June. Interested?