“I would like to live a scientific-social revolution”
2025/09/01 Galarraga Aiestaran, Ana - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria
Ainhoa Latatu Núñez (Bilbao, 1973) studied biology at the University of the Basque Country, where she completed her doctoral thesis on microbial ecology in water systems. Then he started at the Summer Basque University, where he continues to work in one and the other. He is currently the director of the GOI Centre, as well as responsible for training at the university level. He is also in charge of organizing the Ikergazte congress. Among so many tasks, he has found the space to answer the questions of Elhuyar magazine in a meticulous way, without losing his smile.
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What has surprised, disturbed or impacted you the most since you started working?
What has really amazed me, since I started in the laboratory and in research and until today, is what the Internet has brought us; also, of different aspects. On the one hand, how did we work? At first there was only one computer in our lab, but then every team had their own. And the Internet was just beginning. And what did we use it for? Well, above all, we looked for bibliography; we shared files, via FTP, in a very laborious way; we also had a very basic chat application to talk between laboratories and researchers. And then there is what it has brought about in terms of knowledge and its dispersion, or to what extent we can now go down this path. How we all have in our pockets a small window open to the world, open to that knowledge, and how it has changed our way of working.
Being open to the world can also lead to another consequence: somehow, losing even the references close to you. I think to a certain extent we are not fully aware of what the Internet has brought us. Somehow, we've still come a short way, and it's happened all of a sudden.
What revolution or discovery would you like to witness?
A difficult question... In the end, I have decided that I would like, not to see, but to live a scientific-social revolution. It seems to me that we need to work together, institutions, the populace and science, which often seem to me to be on different paths.
For example, with COVID, climate change and other important issues, it seems that there are two parallel worlds: on the one hand there is the knowledge, or the proposal of some measures, that can provide the opportunity to solve the situation; and on the other hand, they may not be socially ready or listen to what the scientists say.
And on the contrary, the same thing remains, scientists may not hear what society says. So I’d like to start thinking about how we’re all going to put this together. And not only those more scientific issues mentioned, but also building a more just world socially, overcoming these imbalances between countries, in terms of gender or between cultures... I think we have a big challenge on our hands and we have to face it together.
