Nottingham will be running its first Nottingham Science City Mini Science Festival on March 19 and 20, 2010.
Friday 19 will be a schools day and Saturday 20 will be family day.
On Saturday we will be hosting a live link to the San Diego Science Festival.
Further details will be posted here soon. Please subscribe to our RSS feed to keep up to date with developments.
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The Nottinghamshire Space Day & Moon Watch Event at the Castle on Haloween was a great success with hundreds of people listening to talks, looking through telescopes (thankfully it was pretty clear and the almost full Moon was a beautiful sight), talking to famous astronomers from history including Albert Einstein and Karl Schwarzschild. The full program and photos are given below.
4:400 – 5:00 pm: The Secret Rulers of the World – The Science Behind Conspiracy Theories by Anu Ojha
5:00 pm: The History of the Telescope, from 40 Millimetres to 40 Metres by Mike Merrifield
5:30 pm: How Big Is Space? by Alfonso Aragon-Salamanca
6:00 pm: Life on the Moons in our Solar System? by Markus Hammonds
6:30 pm: Black Holes and Quasars by Omar Almaini
7:00 pm: Sir Isaac Remembers…. by Mike Edmonds
Talk to famous scientistists from the past! including:
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The Nottinghamshire Branch of the British Science Association will be running a Science Pub Quiz at the Johnson Arms (www.johnsonarms.co.uk) on Wednesday, 16 December. We’ll start around 8.30 and aim to finish around 10 or so. The prize will be a gallon of beer for the main quiz and a bottle of wine for the picture round.
The pub serves food until 8pm and will be offering £1 off main meals that evening, so don’t miss out. Put it in your diary today.
The venue is situated at 59 Abbey Street, Dunkirk, Nottingham NG7 2NZ
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As part of the International Year of Astronomy 2009, the University of Nottingham are hosting a series of public lectures occurring monthly for the rest of the year! Come and listen to professional scientists discuss hot topics in modern astronomy! You can get more details about the lectures on their web site.
DATE |
SPEAKER |
TITLE |
| 20th August | Dr. Amanda Bauer | A Long Time Ago in Galaxies Far, Far Away |
| 24th September | Dr. Boris Haeussler | From Big Bang to… a Short History of the Universe |
| 22nd October | Asa Bluck | Our Never-Ending Universe: What Caused the Big Bang? |
| 26th November | Yara Jaffe | The Fate of Our Sun and Other Stars |
| 17th December | Arianna Cortesi | Everything Flows: Velocities of the Universe |
Lectures are normally held at 6 pm in the Maths and Physics Building, University Park Campus, Nottingham
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On the 40th Anniversary of the first Moon walk, 4 intrepid members of the British Science Association performed a fund-raising walk by travelling exactly 1/100,000 of the distance to the Moon, starting from their new base at 1 Science Park.
The event was enhanced by a continuous downpour of some liquid (believed to be water), a completely new discovery for science that it rains on the lunar surface.
They met a number of bipedal creatures on the way, believed to be intelligent, and therefore took the opportunity of distributing British Science Association membership leaflets. The Association may therefore now be the world’s first with members on the Moon.
The brave explorers raised over £100 to support the Nottinghamshire Branch Event on 31st October at Nottingham Castle.
The event was featured in the Nottingham Evening Telegraph, as seen in the accompanying photo.
With permission of Nottingham Evening Post
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Image from NASA
On July 21 to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the first walk on the Moon and to raise money for the Branch, intrepid members of the British Science Association Nottinghamshire Branch will be undertaking a 4km walk dressed in ‘moon boots’ and other ’space suits’ (some of an improvised nature).
If you wish to sponsor them, please add your pledge below. Give your email address and a phone number or address where we can contact you. You can sponsor for any amount.
Their walk will depart at 12:00 from No 1 Nottingham Science Park and will orbit the lake. The walk will be 1/100,000 of the distance which Neil Armstrong travelled to reach the Moon.
Thank you for your help.
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In this podcast (created by the University of Nottingham) Professor John Brookfield reflects on what it was like to be Charles Darwin for a day.
During National Science and Engineering Week 2009 he gave Darwin’s famous lecture dressed as the famous scientist. It was part of the School of Biology’s Darwin celebrations of Darwin 200.
Here John also talks about Darwin’s remarkable theory and its impact on modern science.
The School of Biology’s 200 years of Darwin celebrations were funded by the Nottinghamshire Branch of the British Science Association.
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Do you want to gain experience in podcasting? Are you attending an event in Nottinghamshire involving science or engineering? Do you know a scientist or engineer you could interview?
We would love to help you record your experience and publish it here. If you are a member of the Association (join here) we can lend you a small high quality recording machine and help you with the technicalities. Either post a comment below with your contact details or contact Geoff Parsons at geoffparsons@bydesign-group.co.uk. We will send you the recorder, a set of instructions and a return envelope. Our podcast expert will also provide support. You can talk to him on 024-7671-7275 or email at philip.brown@britishscienceassociation.org.
So what are you waiting for? Get into the growing world of podcasting!
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On Saturday, 14 March 2009, the University of Nottingham, School of Biology hosted a Darwin 200 Celebration at the University of Nottingham Portland Building. 275 people came out for the event which ran from 11 am to 4 pm and included a range of evolution-themed activities and information stations.
Photo1: ‘Darwin’ explains his theory of evolution
The highlights of the day were two 30 minute talks by “Charles Darwin” (Prof. John Brookfield) in which he outlined his theory of evolution and how his experiences led him to develop it. Darwin discussed his voyage on the HMS Beagle and described the Tree of Life during his lectures (photos 1 & 2).
photo2: ‘Darwin’ explains his theory of evolution
Following his talk, members of the audience asked Darwin questions such as where he might travel if he were to take a big expedition today. The first lecture, as well as an interview with Prof. Brookfield, is available for podcast from the University of Nottingham website (http://communications.nottingham.ac.uk/podcasts.html).
photo3: Museum specimens provided insight into the diversity of life and the clues which helped Darwin to develop his theory
Before and after Darwin’s talks, there was plenty to keep people busy. A large exhibit of zoological museum specimens was on display, including butterflies, birds, fish and even a duckbilled platypus (photos 3 & 4).
photo4
Microscopes and computers allowed visitors to see into the world of single-celled organisms (photo 5). Visitors also had the chance to examine snails under a microscope and learn about their reproduction.
photo 5: Microscopy stations offered an up-close look at single-celled life (protozoans) and snails
The Frozen Ark hosted a station to raise awareness of its aim to preserve genetic material and tissue samples from endangered species (photo 6).
photo6: The Frozen Ark aims collect, preserve and store DNA and viable cells from threatened and endangered animal species.
The Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) station told visitors how they could explore nature while helping to generate valuable scientific data about our environment, and then invited them onto the lawn and take part in a soil and earthworm survey (photos 7 & 8).
photo 7: The OPAL project provided information about how people can get involved with nature and offered the opportunity to take part in a soil and earthworm survey.
photo 8
A variety of activities for children and families were on offer. Family activities included making chromosome models to illustrate mitosis and meiosis, trying to guess whether the next organism in a sequence has more or fewer genes than the one before it, building a genetic code with beads or sweets, matching species to habitats, looking at adaptive radiation in sticklebacks, a computer game examining the evolution of mimicry, and the chance to get an up-close look at a tarantula (photos 9 & 10).
Photos 9 and 10: Visitors tried to guess whether the next organism in a sequence has more or fewer genes than the one before it and built genetic codes with beads or sweets.
photo10
Activities for young children invited them to explore the connections between lifestyles and body shape; and also to consider the ways in which humans have overcome the limitations of our bodies (photos 11 & 12).
Photos 11 and 12: Children were invited to explore the connections between lifestyles and body shape; and to consider how humans have overcome the limitations of our bodies.
photo12
Academics were present to answer questions and discuss their research, and all the research groups from the School of Biology displayed posters explaining their work. A Graffiti Wall gave visitors a chance to let us know what they thought and respond to questions such as “Can there be an alternative theory to evolution?” and “Are we still evolving?” (photo 13).
Photo 13: The graffiti wall encouraged people pose and respond to questions about evolution
Feedback forms were received from 21 children (under 14) and 33 young people and adults (over 14). The children gave the event an average of 8.6 marks out of 10 and listed the most interesting things they learned about as being chromosomes and genes, DNA, giant sloths, adaptation, stickleback evolution, how to look for worms, what the Frozen Ark is, and that spiders are hairy. All adult respondents rated the event as fairly or very satisfying overall (Fig 1).
Figure 1: Adult feedback forms asked them to rate how satisfying, participative, informative, interesting and enjoyable the event was. Responses were overwhelmingly positive with no negative ratings in any of the categories.
Recommendations for future events included better acoustics/microphone for talks and better advertising. Visitors said the event was “great”, “good fun”, “really enjoyable”, “very well organised”, “exciting”, and “perfect”. The event was supported by a National Science and Engineering Week East Midlands Grant with additional funding from the British Science Association Nottinghamshire Branch.
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Featuring guest speaker Chris Goodall, author of ‘Ten Technologies to Save the Planet’
5.30pm for a 6.00pm Start
Tuesday 31st March 2009
No 1 Nottingham Science Park
Jesse Boot Avenue
Off University Boulevard
Nottingham NG7 2RU
Our Guest Speaker: Chris Goodall is one of the UK’s leading writers on climate change and energy issues. His book Ten Technologies to Save the Planet (Profile Books, November 2008) looks at the ten best global opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. An accessible popular science book, it was one of the Financial Times Books of the Year. In February 2009, Barclays and Profile will be jointly publishing his Green Guide for Business, which examines why improving a company’s green credentials will benefit the business, its customers and employees. His 2007 book ‘How to Live a Low-carbon Life’ won the Clarion award for non-fiction.
The Climate Change Seminars: These seminars are linked by an assumption: that science and scientists are playing a positive role by producing solutions to help mitigate the impact of climate change. Carbon capture and sequestration, new technologies to harness solar, wind and wave power; more energy efficient homes and cars – all these part-solutions, and many more, are fundamentally the products of scientific research and analysis (although allied to innovative engineering and in some cases politically led).
The seminar series will be held quarterly and is designed to promote debate and discussion about these important issues while also encouraging networking among individuals drawn from science, business, academia and other interested communities.
The Venue: No.1 Nottingham Science Park is one of the newest business locations in Nottingham and is helping the city realise its aspiration to become one of the UK’s premier locations for science and technology enterprise. Built by developers Blueprint, it incorporates low energy design, a brown roof, a biomass boiler and a public access lilypad walk featuring sustainable drainage and linked to a nature reserve.
Details: A light finger buffet and drinks will be available; networking is encouraged; invited guests include prominent local figures from business, academia, science and environmental groups.
Registration: This event is FREE, however prior registration is essential. Please register by calling or e-mailing Vanessa Corns at vc@nde.org.uk or by calling (0115) 934 9582 no later than Monday 2nd March 2009.
www.nottinghamsciencepark.co.uk
How to get there: How to get there: An Ordnance Survey map can be seen at:
http://getamap.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/getamap/frames.htm?mapAction=gaz&gazName=pc&gazString=NG7%202RU
Parking is available at the venue. If travelling by bus, services 13 and 14 – city centre to Chilwell – both stop near to the science park and can be caught at Beastmarket Hill or Castle Boulevard. The last return bus arrives in the city centre at 23.03. Alternatively you can find bus travel details at http://www.triptimes.co.uk/ or at http://www.nctx.co.uk/times/index.asp
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