Is it possible to bring the mammoths back to life? How to grow rice, which simultaneously heals and feeds? What is origami DNA? The presentation-announcement of another popular science LuckyBooks’ book was held at the International Book Festival "Green Wave" in Odessa.

During an open interview with author Alina Stefan, parents of future readers and teenagers themselves got to know where we deal with biotechnology in everyday life and why this topic is worth coverage.

We all join the era of biotechnology, says Alina Stefan, but writing such a book is not easy. After all, from the vast industry you have to choose the most important and describe very complex processes in a simple language. Moreover, above all it should be interesting to children. However, medical education, the thirst for new discoveries and my teenage children help a lot:

Telling about biotechnology is telling about practical application for improving our life, and first of all for improving health. Biotechnology is a new medicine for incurable diseases or diseases, which are difficult to treat by other methods (genetic, oncology), and new products that can feed the planet's population which is constantly growing, and more environmentally friendly opportunities to receive energy without destroying natural resources. And it’s even the opportunity to restore the life of extinct animals, which we lost because of careless management of the planet.

The book will be written as an adventure story, illustrated by comics. It is advantageous to distinguish it from encyclopedias, because the characters, which are of the same age as readers, will discover the world of biotechnology during exsitingand often dangerous adventures. By the way, LuckyBooks invites illustrators who are ready to work together within this format.

However, in addition to the educative mission, the author also has another goal - to raise the issue of popularizing science and alternative education, so that young readers will see opportunities for additional possibilities of implementation, not only at school. According to Alina, children should learn to think critically, demand constant self-development, and be able to independently seek information, deepen their knowledge and share them with others.

The adolescents who came to the meeting with the author were especially interested in the genetics of extinct animals and the medicine of the future.

10-year-old Nikita says:

When I grow up, I want to realize my childhood dream – create something like "Jurassic Park". I loved him very much when I was a child, I watched every part of that film. In a book about biotechnology, I would be interested to read, in particular, about the genes of pterodactyls of the Mesozoic era. They have not been studied well so far, and, for example, some of my classmates claim that they are the ancestors of birds. But in fact it is not so, they were reptiles.

13-year-old Sofia dreams to obtain the profession of biologist-scientist:

Biotechnology is such a big topic, you can constantly read about it and do not fully understand it. I am personally interested in everything that is associated with the treatment of diseases, because there are constantly emerging new epidemics and we have to struggle with them all the time. I would like my future profession to be connected to that topic and help the world.

The international book festival "Green Wave", during which LuckyBooks project was presented, is held annually and unites more than a hundred participants in summer in Odessa: publishers, booksellers, writers. This year's event is devoted to the non-fiction genre. According to the organizers, now this format is a general trend, and especially it is popular among teenagers. Therefore, publishing modern Ukrainian popular science for children is very timely.