Vibrant ExpeditieNext

Each spring, AMOLF participates in ‘ExpeditieNext’, the national science festival for kids. This year, AMOLF expanded its contribution by offering two activities: ‘Make your own hologram’ and the newly developed ‘Taste enhancers’. ‘ExpeditieNext’ 2026 took place in Enkhuizen on May 1.

‘ExpeditieNext’ is popular with both visiting kids and their families, as well as with AMOLF researchers. Organized by the Nationale Wetenschapsagenda, the event aims to spark kids’ interest in science. Each year, a town outside the Randstad is transformed into a lively festival site filled with hands-on activities. The event is also highly popular among AMOLF researchers, so much so that the registration list fills up quickly.

‘Make your own hologram’

Much of AMOLF’s research focuses on light and the interaction between light and matter. The hologram activity at ‘ExpeditieNext’ aims to inspire kids to explore the possibilities of light manipulation. After being filmed in a video booth, they see a projection of themselves appear in the room. Their parents receive the video by email, and to recreate the effect for friends and family at home, the kids make a small hologram pyramid to take with them.

‘Taste enhancers’

Researchers in the Self-Organizing Matter group, led by Wim Noorduin, developed a new demonstration to illustrate their research on chiral molecules. The activity introduces mirror-image molecules, which resemble one another – much like our left and right hands – but have different properties. Kids started by smelling different types of fruit and then assembled a chiral molecule puzzle. Interestingly, at the end of the day, it turned out that the participating kids had created almost equal numbers of left- and right-handed molecules.

‘ExpeditieNext’ 2027

• Next year, ‘ExpeditieNext’ will take place in Gorinchem on April 27
• More information about the event on the ExpeditieNext website

Image credits

• Header image: Photo by Shutterstock
• Article image: Photo by Wessel Zwart