NanoGUNE takes part in Pint of Science Donostia 2026 with three talks on nanoscience, light and information storage
CIC nanoGUNE once again joins the Pint of Science Donostia festival, one of the world’s leading international science outreach initiatives. In its 2026 edition, the festival will fill the city’s bars with science on 18, 19 and 20 May. In addition to participating as a local sponsor, nanoGUNE will feature in the program with three talks delivered by researchers from the centre, bringing some of the most relevant advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology closer to the general public.
Pint of Science is held simultaneously in more than one hundred cities and towns across Spain and in 27 countries on five continents. In Donostia / San Sebastián, the festival will host 54 scientific talks, making the city the second in Spain in terms of number of sessions and the first in talks per capita—clear evidence of the strong local research ecosystem.
nanoGUNE talks at Pint of Science Donostia 2026
In this edition, three nanoGUNE researchers will share their work with the public.
Edoardo Vicentini – The secret life of light on surfaces
Tuesday, 19 May – 7:00 pm – Mala Gissona (Zabaleta Kalea, 23. Donostia / San Sebastián)
Light usually travels freely through space, but its behaviour changes radically when it interacts with a surface. Edoardo Vicentini will show how, at these interfaces, light can become confined and couple to the atoms of a material, giving rise to invisible surface light modes. The talk will introduce how scientists study these phenomena and why they are key to advancing our understanding of light–matter interaction, with implications for materials science, chemistry and nano-optics.
Stefan Merkens – Nano-cinematography: seeing is believing
Tuesday, 19 May – 7:00 pm – DUIT (Antonio Arzak Kalea, 4. Donostia / San Sebastián)
Many functional materials exhibit key properties that only emerge at the nanometre scale and in liquid environments, making direct observation extremely challenging. In this talk, Stefan Merkens will take the audience into this hidden world using advanced nano-imaging technologies, allowing dynamic processes at the nanoscale to be visualised. Understanding these processes is essential for improving materials used in areas such as energy storage, catalysis and the detection of hazardous substances.
Jokin Yeregui – All the world’s digital content in a DNA molecule
Wednesday, 20 May – 7:00 pm – Mala Gissona (Zabaleta Kalea, 23. Donostia / San Sebastián)
In this talk, Jokin Yeregui will explore the potential of DNA as a digital information storage system, capable of storing up to one million times more data than magnetic hard drives in the same physical space. The session will address how nanomaterials can enable secure and long-lasting storage, as well as the development of codes to convert digital information into DNA and retrieve it later. The ultimate goal is to optimise synthesis and sequencing processes to create accessible and efficient storage platforms.