British Science Week starts today and staff and students from the University of Liverpool are involved in a whole host of exciting events and activities for schools and the public.
Here we round-up some of the highlights on offer as part of the 10-day celebration of all things science.
Family Science Fair
Ness Botanic Gardens is running a Family Science Fair on the theme of ‘Feed the World’. Expect lots of hands-on science activities, demos and talks, including the chance to brave eating an insect, like the celebrities in the jungle.
Also launching is a new aquaponics attraction, which has been developed in collaboration with Farm Urban. Aquaponics is a simple and sustainable urban farming technique that allows plants and vegetables to be grown from fish waste. As well as finding out more, visitors can learn how to construct their own simple aquaponics system at home.
The Family Science Fair and aquaponics launch takes place 11am-4pm on Saturday, 12 March. For more information please visit the Ness website.
Meet the Scientists
Visitors to Liverpool’s World Museum can learn about infectious disease as part of the University’s latest ‘Meet the Scientists’ event.
‘Healthy Lives’ will feature an array of interactive family-friendly activities, with scientists from the University’s Faculty of Health and Life Sciences on hand to explain how germs cause disease and top tips for preventing infections like the common cold.
The event takes place 11am-4pm on Saturday, 19 March. For more information please visit the Meet the Scientists website.
A World A Particle
This exhibition at the Victoria Gallery & Museum charts the contribution of the University of Liverpool to the field of Particle Physics – Past, Present and Future, from the 1890s through to our current involvement in the world’s largest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.
The exhibition is free to visit and is open Tuesday to Saturday 10am-5pm. For more information please visit the Victoria Gallery & Museum website.
Science is Cool
The University’s Central Teaching Laboratories are hosting 450 Year 7 school children across the week as part of a widening participation initiative to encourage young people to think about science as a career or option for further study.
Held over three days, the event features workshops covering everything from computer science to cave painting, with students trying out some practical and fun science experiments. The Physics Outreach Group will also be delivering their popular ‘Science is Cool’ lecture.
Lego Robots
Researchers from the University’s Centre for Autonomous Systems Technologies (CAST) are running Lego Robot workshops for school children from across Merseyside and Cheshire at FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology).
The interactive sessions will use Lego Robot Dinosaurs to demonstrate ideas from artificial intelligence, robots and space science. Lego Robots, funded by the Science & Technology Funding Council (STFC), give children the opportunity to try to drive rovers as if they were on the moon and learn about sensors and robot programming.
British Science Week 2016 runs from 11-20 March and is the UK’s largest grassroots celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths. For more information please visit the British Science Week website.
