Outreach
Last updated: Apr 24, 2025
While I'm not a very chatty person in my everyday life, one of the activity that I prefer the most is reaching out to people and talk about evolution and biology. The expression people have when they are enjoying science is definetely priceless!
That is the reason why in 2017 I engaged with BioPills, an Italian science-communication project that wants to communicate the beauty of life sciences in an effective mannner but without forgetting factual accuracy. At the moment, I am the chief editor of the "Environment and Nature" section of the website. I am also in charge of organizing hikings in different Italian natural settings, in order to let people escape from the urban routine while directly immersing themselves in field-based learning of biology.
Unfortunatly, the website is currently only in Italian, but if you are interested in learning more about it, don't esistate to get in touch!
That is the reason why in 2017 I engaged with BioPills, an Italian science-communication project that wants to communicate the beauty of life sciences in an effective mannner but without forgetting factual accuracy. At the moment, I am the chief editor of the "Environment and Nature" section of the website. I am also in charge of organizing hikings in different Italian natural settings, in order to let people escape from the urban routine while directly immersing themselves in field-based learning of biology.
Unfortunatly, the website is currently only in Italian, but if you are interested in learning more about it, don't esistate to get in touch!
1. Web articles
One of the main activity I've been carrying out with BioPills is the writing and publication of outreach articles on our website. Over the years, I dealt with many subjects, ranging from zoology to ecology, and from book reviews to interviews. You can find all the articles I published by visiting my account page on BioPills.
See a list of selected articles
- Miriade. La microscopica moltitudine – Marco Colombo.
2024. Book review - Mycosium: il simposio divulgativo di micologia.
2024. Interview - The tale of Tal – Gianpaolo di Silvestro e Luca Vergerio.
2023. Book review - Correre tutti i rischi. Lettere sull’avventura della ricerca – Charles Darwin.
2021. Book review - Sbiancamento dei coralli: cause e conseguenze.
2020. Dissemination article - Sbiancamento dei coralli: cause e conseguenze.
2020. Dissemination article - Biodiversità : una ricchezza inestimabile.
2019. Dissemination article - Ragno violino (Loxosceles rufescens).
2019. Dissemination article - Malmignatta (Latrodectus tredecimguttatus).
2019. Dissemination article - Mantide orchidea (Hymenopus coronatus).
2019. Dissemination article - CBD: la Convenzione sulla Diversità Biologica.
2019. Dissemination article - Mimetismo: quando l'evoluzione diventa arte.
2019. Dissemination article - Fauna di Ediacara: un esperimento fallito?.
2019. Dissemination article - La medusa immortale (Turritopsis nutricola).
2018. Dissemination article - Lo strano caso delle rane deformi.
2018. Dissemination article
2. Webinars
With BioPills I also collaborated in organizing live webinars dealing with various biological topics. My main role was to moderate the webinar, by introducing the speaker and the topic, and by reading questions from the audience. You can find all the webinars hosted by BioPills on the YouTube channel.
See the list of webinars I moderated
- Organismi marini biofiltratori: dall'ecologia agli studi sul campo.
2023. Speaker: Martina Capriotti - La natura che affascina: biomimesi, sostenibilità e innovazione.
2022. Speakers: Stefano Roccio, Gabriele Greco - Tra social network e superorganismi: cosa ci insegnano i più sociali tra gli insetti?.
2022. Speaker: Donato Grasso (recording available under request) - Ragni e dintorni: meraviglie e segreti del mondo aracnologico.
2022. Speaker: Filippo Castellucci - Epigenetica ed evoluzione: un incontro possibile?.
2022. Speaker: Mauro Mandrioli - Tra DNA e specie a rischio.
2021. Speakers: Giorgio Bertorelle, Victor H. Muñoz Mora, Nicola Raulli (recording not available) - La nuova rivoluzione verde: un incontro tra genomica e agricoltura.
2021. Speaker: Mauro Mandrioli (recording available under request) - DNA barcoding: un codice a barre per ogni specie vivente.
2021. Speaker: Maurizio Casiraghi - Aspettando il Darwin Day.
2021. Speaker: Guido Barbujani (recording available under request) - Insetti commestibili: dalla preistoria al COVID-19.
2020. Speakers: Giulia Maffei, Giulia Tacchini - Un mare di microplastiche: combattere una minaccia invisbile tra immersioni e ricerche scietifiche.
2020. Speaker: Martina Capriotti - Un mare di microplastiche: combattere una minaccia invisbile tra immersioni e ricerche scietifiche.
2020. Speaker: Martina Capriotti
3. Other activities
Every now and then I also participate in side activities which involve the collaboration between BioPills and other scientific initiatives.
For example, following SMBE 2023 in Ferrara, Italy, I established a collaboration with "In the Light of Evolution" (LoE), a scientific outreach project by the Swiss Bioinformatics Institute, the Swiss National Science Foundation, and the University of Lausanne. Specifically, the objective was to translate the LoE website into Italian (take a look at the "Banana split story") and hopefully to jointly organize outreach activities.
Also, for over 2 years, BioPills has provided articles to the "Giornale dei Biologi" on a monthly basis. I took care of reviewing articles dealing with zoology, ecology, and related subjects, and I also wrote my own piece: "Abbiamo ancora bisogno di parlare di fossili viventi?" (which may translate in something like "Is there any use in discussing the living fossil concept?").
For example, following SMBE 2023 in Ferrara, Italy, I established a collaboration with "In the Light of Evolution" (LoE), a scientific outreach project by the Swiss Bioinformatics Institute, the Swiss National Science Foundation, and the University of Lausanne. Specifically, the objective was to translate the LoE website into Italian (take a look at the "Banana split story") and hopefully to jointly organize outreach activities.
Also, for over 2 years, BioPills has provided articles to the "Giornale dei Biologi" on a monthly basis. I took care of reviewing articles dealing with zoology, ecology, and related subjects, and I also wrote my own piece: "Abbiamo ancora bisogno di parlare di fossili viventi?" (which may translate in something like "Is there any use in discussing the living fossil concept?").