LACA President Diego Lamas talks crystals on Argentinian TV

Diego Lamas, President of the Latin American Crystallographic Association, recently participated in the Argentinian TV show 'todo tiene un porqué' ('Everything has a reason') aired by the TV Pública Argentina channel. On this occasion, the program was dedicated to explaining what a geode is and, in that context, Diego was invited to explain how crystals are formed and demonstrate simple experiments that can be performed at home or school. For example, he explained how to make beautiful crystalline sugar sticks and how to imitate a geode by growing crystals in an eggshell. He also explained the main topics studied in Crystallography and commented on some of the work presented in the Argentinian Crystal Growing Competition for Secondary Schools and in the IUCr Crystal Growing Competition for schoolchildren.

Here is a link to the program, in Spanish, on the Argentinian TV site.

Diego Lamas (center) explains how to obtain sugar polycrystals from a seed crystal.

"Todo tiene un porqué" is a cultural, educational and scientific magazine of federal character; its purpose is to offer the audience solid and attractive content that can teach while entertaining. The content presented in the program raises questions that seek answers in different disciplines (physics, chemistry, psychology, sociology, philosophy, biology, anthropology, etc.) and is supported by scientific advisors who analyze and check the rigor of the information, which is presented in a dynamic and varied style. With the participation of scientists, researchers and other invited experts, this TV show aims to stimulate in viewers the desire to know more and even generate interests that could become future vocations.