Can we count on mosquitoes?

Audience: children aged 6 to 11 and their parents.

Get ready to dive, thrill, and zoom! Water rushing by, mosquitoes piquing your curiosity, and cells revealing their secrets: three storytellers take you on a journey where science becomes an adventure. Come and experience an intense moment, where artists transform research into a true epic. With swirling water, buzzing mosquitoes, and a tiny world revealed before your eyes, discover three different scientific tales!

Shows, podcasts, and illustrations will be created as a result of this residency. The podcasts will be available on all major online music platforms.

The La science rend des contes residency has brought together three storytellers in the laboratories of the University of Montpellier since September 2025. This project has been developed in partnership with the network of media libraries and scientific culture as part of the UM's Science with and for Society certification.

Francine Vidal's show offers a sensitive immersion into the world of mosquitoes. It is accompanied by contributions from scientists who share their daily research activities: Mathieu Sicard, professor at the Institute of Evolutionary Sciences in Montpellier (ISEM*), and Claire Loiseau from the MIVEGEC* laboratory.

What is a mosquito? While this question may seem simple, the answers are not... There are a thousand and one ways to approach a mosquito, a tiny living creature that can ruin an evening, or... a whole life! An important element in the journey of pollen or a virus, it is also a key character in tales from Africa and even the Far North. In short, mosquitoes are unavoidable! Especially since there isn't just one, as you will hear and see in this show featuring a storyteller, a singer, and two scientists.

*ISEM – (CNRS, IRD, EPHE, CIRAD, INRAP, and University of Montpellier)

*MIVEGEC Unit – (CNRS, IRD, INRAE, and University of Montpellier)