This is the second prize in the Fotón Emitido category, which recognises outreach projects in these fields. The jury valued the optics-related content we have published on Maldita Ciencia as an initiative that “identifies hoaxes, ‘fake news’, myths or simply common questions about natural phenomena, and clarifies them by turning to scientific knowledge, consulting specialist researchers in each of the areas addressed,” and does so “with the immediacy and dissemination capacity of the internet”.
At Maldita Ciencia, we have addressed topics related to optics on several occasions. For example, here we explain why an optical illusion cannot be used to diagnose health problems, and here we explain where the colours seen in space images come from.
The first prize in this category was awarded to Xavier Rovira Algans, from the Faculty of Science and Technology at the University of Vic – Central University of Catalonia, and Xavier Gómez Santacana, from the Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle at the University of Montpellier (France), for “El nacimiento de la fotofarmacología", an article published in the journal Investigación y Ciencia that “clearly conveys the social and broader value of multidisciplinary research in pharmacology and optics”.
In the Fotón Absorbido category, which recognises educational initiatives related to this scientific field, the first prize went to “No tenemos estrellas verdes, pero sí televisor de puntos cuánticos”, by IES Manuel de Falla in Coslada (Madrid), and an accésit was awarded to the project “Descubre la luz”, by CPR Alborada in Vigo (Pontevedra).