Knowledge should not be confined to books and laboratories. It must be set free to fly so that everyone can enjoy it. That is why I have carried out educational projects such as the Talking Brains exhibition for CosmoCaixa, my podcast on language Logonautes or some books for the general public. In this section you will find some of these educational adventures, created with the desire to discover the fascinating world of how we speak, listen and understand.
Talking Brains
I was co-author and content director of this exhibition about human language from a biological perspective, from the perspective of the brain in which it is inscribed. In other words, I conceived it from scratch, along with three other people. Together, we developed and promoted it until the Obra Social La Caixa Foundation purchased it to be exhibited at the Cosmocaixa Museum. I developed the specific content (texts, audiovisuals, multimedia games, etc.) together with a content team that I coordinated from the company In Medulla Continguts, which I founded in 2016.
Logonautes: exploring language and the brain on board of stories
Logonautes is a podcast about brain and language that explores relevant topics in the history of linguistics and speech and language pahology, with a healthy dose of narration but also based on scientific documentation. It’s a very personal project in which I explore topics that often haunt me, accompanied by a selection of great music.
Books
I think you’ve already realized that one of my favorite things to do is write. Telling stories about the topics I’m passionate about and spreading that enthusiasm is wonderful. Sharing scientific knowledge, especially when it involves turning seemingly incomprehensible content into something easy and fun, is a formidable challenge that I’ve taken on on several occasions.
El lenguaje. Las bases neuronales de la comunicación.
Language is a faculty that defines us as a species. All people speak (or sign) by virtue of this unique ability that, despite the great diversity of languages that exist, unites us more than it differentiates us. In this book for National Geographic, which I co-wrote with Oriol Borrega, language is presented from various perspectives, such as the emergence of language in the Homo species, the features of language in animal communication, the implementation of language in the brain, language pathology, language acquisition, and the approach to human language from the perspective of new technologies.
La Eva africana. Los orígenes de la humanidad.
At the end of the twentieth century, the existence of the most recent common female ancestor of all human beings, the African Eve, was discovered. This discovery was made possible thanks to the mitochondrial DNA we all carry in our cells, which allows us to open a window to the past and peer in to explore the traits of a great-great-grandmother shared by all inhabitants of the planet, regardless of the distance that separates us or how different we feel. In this book, which I wrote for the Human Evolution collection published by RBA, I present this relative we all share, where she is believed to have lived, and what biological and cultural characteristics she might have had.
El origen del lenguaje. Un hito en la evolución.
Language is present in everything we do. It’s so natural to us that it’s very difficult to conceive of life without it. It makes us human. In this book, which I wrote for the Human Evolution collection published by RBA, I explore the evolutionary paths that have led us to where we are, and what makes this ability unique when compared to other species.
Events
There’s nothing like getting out of your cave and sharing experiences face-to-face with others. As a result of the outreach projects I’ve carried out, I’ve given talks, interviews, and conferences in a variety of settings. My work as head of communications for the College of Speech Therapists of Catalonia allowed me to interview very interesting people and create content on topics of concern to the general public in various media. The Talking Brains exhibition led me to give radio interviews and coordinate a series of lectures on the brain and language at the CosmoCaixa Museum.
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Interview at the Spanish national radio
In this interview by Estrella Montolío and Carles Mesa, at RNE’s Gente despierta broadcast, we discuss Talking Brains, an exhibition I developed for the CosmoCaixa science museum in Barcelona. Estrella Montolío, professor at the University of Barcelona, is a renowned linguist with a long trajectory in language and communication popularization. It was a dream come…
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Gourmet breakfast! Science at the 7 portes
Last November, the people from the newspaper El Punt Avui, 7 portes, Big Van Science and the ACCC invited me and professor Anna Gavarró to a talk with round table, as a part of the cycle Breakfast with Science, in the celebrated restaurant 7 portes, at Barcelona. You can see the whole talk here as…
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Cycle of conferences for CosmoCaixa
Following the Talking Brains exhibition, we coordinated a series of lectures featuring diverse professionals who discussed topics such as the relationship between dementia and language, the genetics of language, linguistic and cognitive diversity among humans, and the characterization of language in the brain. The participants were: Wolfram Hinzen (ICREA-UPF researcher), Jaume Bertranpetit (ICREA-UPF researcher), Peter…
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My stand-up show at a Pint of Science
If you do not know Pint of Science, you should immediately go and attend one of their events. They organize a festival of talks on science popularization across many European countries. The talks are informal monologues delivered by the researchers themselves, in order to bring science to a wide audience in bars, pubs and other…
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Interview at Mossega la Poma
We have been invited to Mossega la poma (Bite the apple), a space about technology with a long trajectory that started when, years ago, its director Tomàs Manzanares discovered the first Macs. His blog and his program have grown up to have guests like Els amics de les arts, Antoni Bassas or Xavier Tries. It…
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Interview at Zetatesters
Nothing like ending April visiting our friends at Zetatesters. We laughed a lot and they gave us chocolate and tons of love. Thanks a lot, pals! You can listen to the full podcast here. [Audio in Spanish]