IfADo at Dortmund Science Night 2026: Science you can smell

On September 25, 2026, the second Dortmund Science Night took place at the Dortmunder U. At around 50 stations, the approximately 5,000 visitors had the opportunity to learn about current research, try out experiments, and get hands-on.

The numerous hands-on activities proved particularly popular. This included the IfADo stand ‘Duftes Holz’, which went down particularly well with children. There, visitors were able to smell various wood shavings and then match the scents they perceived to the corresponding pictures.

The activity tied in with the “Duftes Holz” research project run by IfADo in collaboration with researchers from the Thünen Institute of Wood Research in Hamburg. The study investigated how people perceive the smell of different wood materials and what influence visual information has on the evaluation of wood odours.

The result: wood odours are perceived as significantly more pleasant when a corresponding image is shown at the same time. At Science Night, visitors were able to gain an insight into this research and try for themselves how different smells can be perceived. At the same time, 50 new data sets were collected for the research.

The large number of curious visitors and the engaging discussions demonstrated just how much interest there is in research. For IfADo, Science Night was a fantastic opportunity to bring research to life and engage in conversation with visitors.

This news article was created with the support of artificial intelligence and has been carefully checked and revised by the editorial team and the relevant scientific supervisors. AI-generated images are identified as such.