Zientzia Jolasak: Playing and talking with science

Isometric map of the Ibaeta campus with six centres: CIC nanoGUNE, POLYMAT (the Joxe Mari Korta and Ikerbasque buildings), CFM, the Faculty of Chemistry (EHU) and, behind them, Tecnun and DIPC. In the middle, a large lighthouse; in the top corner, POL, Zientzia Jolasak's character, standing and waving. In the top corner, next to POL and behind the lighthouse, the purple Sorleku games workshop, with a giant playing card as its roof.

CIC nanoGUNE1 game. see its games POLYMATJoxe Mari Korta4 games. see its games Ikerbasque4 games. see its games CFM1 game. see its games Faculty of Chemistry · EHU1 game. see its games TecnunUniversity of Navarra1 game. see its games DIPC4 games. see its games

Games

Centre

Which stage?

Type of game

10 games

Serious games10 games
Cards
A path of ten POLYMAT games on polymer chemistry, energy, health and sustainability. With an account, your progress and points are saved.
Organisations: POLYMAT
Designed for ages 15 and up
Polymer adventure
From secondary
Start the Polymer adventure · Polymer adventure
Party gamesDuration: 15-25 min
Cards
25 artistic covers and 27 article titles (two decoys). Read the titles and find each cover's pair. Digital version: 12 pairs per game, in as few attempts as possible.
Organisations: Ikerbasque
What do you read?
From higher education
See the game · What do you read?
Party gamesDuration: 10-20 min
Cards
Everyone knows the secret word… except the impostor. One word each, discussion and vote. 40 words: light, batteries, hydrogen and polymers. One device (3-12 players) or cards at the table.
Organisations: Ikerbasque, POLYMAT
The scientific impostor
From secondary
See the game · The scientific impostor
Party gamesDuration: 10 min
Cards
The Passion for Knowledge 2026 cards: any two cards share exactly one symbol; find it before anyone else. Each symbol is the research topic of a guest of the festival: meet 18 people from science. 1-4 players on the same screen; four modes with the printed cards.
Organisations: DIPC
P4Kartak
From primary
See the game · P4Kartak
Party games2-5 playersComing soon
Maze
CIC nanoGUNE has developed a fast way to make magnetic microcatheters and microrobots. Steered by magnets, they travel through very narrow channels and could deliver cells or drugs exactly where needed.
Organisations: CIC nanoGUNE, Ikerbasque
«Rapid Fabrication of Self-Propelled and Steerable Magnetic Microcatheters for Precision Medicine». Advanced Materials 38 (2026). doi:10.1002/adma.202506591 (opens in a new window)
NANOMEDIKUNTZA
Personalised and precision healthFrom secondary
Party games2-4 playersComing soon
Maze
With the University of Cambridge, POLYMAT has created fabrics with conducting-polymer electrodes that pick up brain and muscle signals at once, from the skin. They could help in rehabilitation and prosthetics.
Organisations: POLYMAT, Ikerbasque
«Body surface potential mapping of the cortico-muscular axis using smart textile electrode arrays». Nature Communications 17 (2026). doi:10.1038/s41467-026-75134-1 (opens in a new window)
GARUNETIK ESKURA
Personalised and precision healthFrom primary
Party games2-5 playersComing soon
Cards
In hot climates, geothermal heat pumps can warm up the ground. CFM has simulated a low-cost concrete that, from the rooftop, radiates surplus heat to the sky and reduces the drilling needed.
Organisations: CFM, DIPC
«Radiative-cooling concrete as a low-cost heat-rejection solution for Geo-thermal energy storage in hybrid ground-coupled heat pumps». Journal of Energy Storage 178 (2026). doi:10.1016/j.est.2026.123543 (opens in a new window)
KONKRETE
DecarbonisationFrom secondary
Serious games2-5 playersComing soon
Cards
Polyester in clothing, blended with other fibers, is hard to recycle. POLYMAT, the Faculty of Chemistry and Ghent University break it down at just 65 °C and recover its monomer almost pure.
Organisations: POLYMAT, Faculty of Chemistry (EHU), DIPC
«Solvent switch strategy to facilitate the downstream process of chemical recycling of plastics». Resources, Conservation and Recycling 226 (2026). doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2025.108686 (opens in a new window)
BIRZIPLASTIK
DecarbonisationFrom secondary
Party games2-5 playersComing soon
Cards
In every cell, some genes regulate others. At Tecnun, researchers used tensor networks, a quantum-inspired technique that runs on conventional computers, to infer these relationships from individual cells.
Organisations: Tecnun (University of Navarra), Multiverse Computing
«Tensor network-based gene regulatory network inference for single-cell transcriptomic data». iScience 29 (2026). doi:10.1016/j.isci.2026.116619 (opens in a new window)
GENEEN INTERAKZIOAK
Quantum technologiesFrom secondary
Party games2-5 playersComing soon
Cards
DIPC and CFM researchers studied time crystals: quantum systems that retain a two-pulse rhythm under imperfect periodic driving. They combined an IBM quantum processor and classical simulations to study this behaviour in two dimensions.
Organisations: DIPC
«Realization of two-dimensional discrete time crystals with anisotropic Heisenberg coupling». Nature Communications 17 (2026). doi:10.1038/s41467-025-67787-1 (opens in a new window)
KRISTAL KUANTIKOA
Quantum technologiesFrom secondary