
Insect Brain Surgeons

Wednesday, 24 May 2023
Deurs Open 19:40 | Event 20:00 - 22:00
Onder de Linden
Haagsteeg 16, 6708 PM Wageningen
Image taken by Dr. Jitte Groothuis. Limited license use for #pint23 Wageningen event promotion
Insects: how do they work?! Do those little critters even have brains? Spoiler alert: they absolutely do! And what if you’re a parasite and need a bit of help to get things done? Simple, just use an insect. Come to our event to dive into insect anatomy and discover all the tricks to manipulate them!

Dr. Jitte Groothuis
Freelance consultant, artist
Employee at EIS Kenniscentrum Insecten (Naturalis)

Simone Nordstrand Gasque
PhD Candidate
Laboratory of Virology and Entomology
Wageningen University
Jitte will guide you through the beautiful intricacies of insect brains, their specific areas and their function. In the end, you too will be able to look at a miniscule 30 nanoliter brain and point out the “optic lobes” or the “mushroom bodies”, promise! Join us for an exploration of brains from (alien) ant farms to (papa) roach. Learn what we do (and do not) know of these brains on this journey, accompanied by high def photographs, digital reconstructions, and even larger than life 3D printed models of insect brains. Can you solve the puzzle and perhaps take a brain home…?
Simone is a Master of Parasites!
Not only by education, profession but also of interest. She thinks the most amazing parasites are those that manipulate the behaviour of their hosts and more specifically the ones that do so from the brains. She will take you on a journey through the amazing world of parasite manipulation, via a Pokémon-inspired parasite-host game. Here you will take the role of the parasite, the host, or the “evolved” manipulated state. Let us see if we can figure out who fits together, and maybe at the end of the night you will even have a favourite parasite!
A huge thank you to our Sponsors!