There were lots of exciting things happening at the National Museum of Scotland throughout the festival. Richard Bacon broadcast his BBC Radio 5 live show live from InMotion, an interactive showcase all about movement, sport and motion. During the show Bacon interviewed a line-up of top scientists who were also appearing in the festival.  Also causing a stir at the museum, mini humanoid robots previewed a choreographed dance routine that proved to be a big hit. The mini-robots recreated the movements of human dancers. In keeping with the movement and motion theme there were a number of other dance performances including a flash mob show from a 60+ dance troupe! See for yourself below, as it was all captured on video!

Speaking of video, you can see a range of fantastic new videos on our YouTube channel and on our site's Gallery covering some of this year’s festival favourites including LateLab, Firewalking and Foraging for Breakfast at the Royal Botanic Garden with author Miles Irving and River Cottage’s John Wright. The Botanics had a tasty line-up this year with a food-science programme for adults and children called Science on a Plate.

As well as causing a sensation with exciting events in the city’s finest venues, the Science Festival also made an impact with some big headlines. A mass participation experiment launched at the Edinburgh International Science Festival has reached a worldwide audience. The University of Hertfordshire psychologist, Professor Richard Wiseman, launched Dream:On – an experimental app which aims to find out if it is possible to give users more pleasant dreams –  at the Science Festival event ‘Sweet Dreams’. Hundreds of thousands of dreams have been reported back creating the largest dream database in history!

The festival’s coverage of environmental issues made a national impact as artist and designer Professor Helen Storey MBE and polymer chemist, Professor Tony Ryan OBE revealed their field of air-purifying jeans and kilts in St Andrew Square, and furthermore on the environmental front American Climate scientist, Dr James Hansen, received the 24^th Edinburgh Medal. He used the Edinburgh Medal address to call for help in making people understand the gravity of the situation surrounding the issues of climate change. Hansen described how the questions of his grandchildren had changed him from a scientist who shied away from the media and public activism to one who believed passionately that he must use his voice to change government policy and public opinion.  He stated, “It is immoral for us to leave to the next generation a planet whose climate is spiralling out of control.  I believe it is an issue of intergenerational justice – we can only pretend we don’t understand what is happening around us.”

We sincerely believe this was a successful, exciting and inspiring year for Edinburgh International Science Festival…but as always we continue to strive to make it even better. We welcome your feedback on any events you attended. What did you like? What didn’t you like? Why? Anything you can think of, throw it our way by completing our online survey, it will only take a few minutes. 

We've lots more exciting projects in development for the coming year and festival plans for 2013 (23 Mar - 7 Apr) are already underway, watch this space...

We’ve extended the Science Festival Photo Challenge so that we can receive more great photos to share with everyone, the enjoyment of the Science Festival as seen through your eyes. And if your photo is hailed as the most awesome of the lot by the Science Festival team, your photo may just win you a Kindle worth £89! Send them in today by Sunday 29th April and share your photography goodness! Hop over to ClicketKids.co.uk http://clicket.co.uk/news-and-features/science-festival-photo-challenge> for more details.

Science Festival Bloggers Challenge

You may have been following seven fantastic bloggers throughout the two weeks of the Science Festival on Twitter (#esfblog) or on Clicket.co.uk’s Blog. They were awesome and attended lots of festival events too. All their experiences were blogged and you can read all about their experiences on Clicket’s Blog. Click to read the blogs sent on 3^rd, 10^th  and 17^th April.

Be sure to check back Clicket’s Blog in the coming week to find out who, Amanda Tyndall (our Deputy Festival Director of Edinburgh International Science Festival) picked as the blogger to win the top prize of a Kindle!

In the meantime...

As recommended by one of our bloggers, Claire Connachan, from the Bloggers Challenge: “The Royal Observatory, Edinburgh Zoo, Royal Botanical Gardens, National Museums Scotland and University of Edinburgh are only some of the places you can get an interim science fix until next April when the Festival returns for another two weeks of amazing events.”

Prof. Barton, an evolutionary biologist from Durham University, has researched the effect of colour in competitive sport and has found that red seems to be the colour of winners.

“Red is associated with dominance, aggression and anger,” said Prof. Barton, explaining that the absence of red in the British Olympic design could prove fatal for the medal haul.

Drawing on research from a range of sports, Barton found that when matched with a competitor of equal ability, the athletes wearing red won more times than not. Barton suggested that this was due to a natural instinct that we can still see in animals today.

Mandrills display status and signal dominance and confidence through the brightness of the red on their noses. There is evidence to suggest that this animal instinct and susceptibility to the colour of red is still present in modern humans.

Read more about the details of the 2012 Team GB strip and the science behind it here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17457729

The show kicked off at 2pm from the Grand Gallery with a crowd of spectators watching Richard chat to Festival Director Dr. Simon Gage as he explained what is happening at the Science Festival this year.

Next on the show was physicist Dr. Jim al-Khalili talking about his new book ‘Paradox: The Nine Greatest Enigmas in Physics’, followed by Prof. Richard Wiseman chatting about his new app Dream:ON, which was launched at the Festival this week. The app aims to influence user’s dreams through a series of soundscapes and is currently riding high in the iTunes chart.

In the second hour of the show Blue Peter’s resident scientist, Steve Mould, made an appearance along with Helen Arney who together make up two thirds of the Festival of Spoken Nerd – the country’s premier night for the insatiably sci-curious. The Australian Numeracy Ambassador, Simon Pampena, also dropped in to explain how we can be better at maths.

In the final half hour, Prof. Robin Dunbar and stand-up scientist Robin Ince took part in the programme's first ever science phone-in, answering questions from the pubic such as “Will we find life on another planet in the next 50 years?” and “If a diamond was in the vacuum of space would it exist for ever?”

To find out the answers to these questions and more you can listen to the show again on the BBC iPlayer at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01fjz88/Richard_Bacon_Edinburgh_Science_Festival/

“Time began around 13.7bn years ago and will probably end in around 5bn years time”, said Hart-Davis referring to the Big Bang, however what has changed dramatically is the way we document and measure the passage of time.

Looking back through history, Hart-Davis explained how ancient Greeks used water clocks to measure periods of time whilst other cultures used sun dials to tell the time of day and the seasons.

When mechanical clocks were introduced there began to be greater synthesis of timekeeping around the world, bought about by increased international travel.

Interestingly the word ‘clock’ comes from the Latin word ‘clocca’ which means bell. Prior to the 14^th Century time keeping was kept by a bell, perhaps in the village square, but when more precise units of time such as hours, minutes and seconds were introduced the word clock was still used to refer to time.

Hart-Davis also looked at the psychology and biology of time. He explained how our bodies naturally run on a period of 25-hour cycles so each day we have to reset our body clock by one hour.

For two months in 1962, French explorer and geologist Michel Siffre spent two months underground without any time keeping devices and was told to phone his research lab everytime he woke and thought is was 8am. Each day the call began to be later and later in the day as Siffre was relying on his natural body clock, this suggested that on average a human’s internal body clock runs a little longer than 24 hours.

You can find out more about Adam Hart-Jones’ work on the history of time on his website here: www.adam-hart-davis.org

This Wednesday and Thursday seafood will be put under the spotlight. On Wednesday Nick Nairn cooks with farmed seafood and looks at the issues with Marine Science Scotland and on Thursday Stephen Frost will look at wild fish stocks and what can be sustainably caught in our waters. All the dishes are presented to the audience so come and join the taste panel and have your taste buds stimulated by some of the best food around.

Other exciting topics coming up in the aptly named ‘Real Life Science Kitchen’ are spices in the ginger family, foraging and on Easter Sunday how could we not cover chocolate. Norman Musa and James Wong will cook up Malaysian food and explore the science behind the health claims made about certain spices in the ginger family, while foragers Miles Irving and John Wright will make good use of nature’s larder and discuss what can be safely and sustainably collected near where you live.

Sessions run at 11, 12.30, 2 and 3.30 and are priced at £3 per head. 
For bookings see: www.rbge.org.uk/scienceonaplate or call 0844 5572686

Prof. Dave Collins, from the University of Central Lancashire, argued that mental power was just as important, if not more so, than physical power. “One big reason why medal winning athletes go further, faster, higher than others is because they believe they can,” said Prof. Collins.

Drawing on his research with body builders, he explained how participants were given a placebo drug but were told it was a performance-enhancing steroid. In every case the amount of weight the participants were able to lift increased by up to 12.5% under the placebo. Once the participants were informed the tablets they had taken were actually saccharine, the improvement immediately reduced proving that it really is mind over matter.

However Prof. Andy Jones, who worked as part of Paula Radcliffe’s training team, showed detailed information of the world-record holder’s fitness programme arguing that physiology is more important than psychology.

Using research carried out at the University of Exeter, Prof. Jones was able to accurately predict Radcliffe’s word beating marathon time of 2:15:25 hours two weeks before the marathon took place. “With this technology we can predict the timing of long distance runners with only a 0.2-0.4% error of accuracy,” said Prof. Jones.

Intrigued by the dominance of successful East African athletes in the Olympic track events, Dr Yannis Pitsiladis has spent the last ten years at the University of Glasgow trying to find an answer to athletic success in genetics.

“Humans are 99.9% the same, yet even slight differences in genetics can result in large differences in phenotype”, argued Dr Pitsiladis, whilst admitting that there is still no evidence available to support the notion that genetics plays any determinant factor in the success of athletes.

“When competing at such a high level where talent, training and motivation are the same, it is the little things that matter,” was the view from nutritional scientist Dr Ron Maughan of Loughborough University. Although scientific evidence supporting the importance of a high carbohydrate diet has been around since the 1920s, coaches and trainers have been slow in paying attention to nutrition argued Dr. Maughan. “Diet significantly influences athletic performance. All athletes should adopt specific nutritional strategies before, during and after training and competition to maximise their mental and physical performance” said Dr Maughan in the IOC Consensus Statement on Sports Nutrition 2010.

This Thursday the role of performance enhancers in sports will be examined at the Science Festival in an event titled ‘Designer Athletes: Fair Play or Foul Play?’ with Greg Whyte who recently trained comedians David Walliams and Jon Bishop for their Sports Relief challenges.

In an event last night exploring the trend in building nanotechnology into clothing, Samantha Fernando, of Scottish outdoor apparel company Keela, explained how building far infrared technologies into their clothing had helped people with physical ailments.

“We have found that for many people with physical difficulties using far infrared clothing has dramatically reduced their pain and discomfort in certain areas”, said Fernando.

By placing panels of ESP material on key areas of apparel, thermal far-infrared, is reflected and reabsorbed back into the body creating greater heat retention and penetration into joints, rather than heat escaping as would occur in a normal t-shirt or trousers.

In the event, sponsored by Sporting Chance Initiative, Fernando also explained how far infrared technology could also be used in sports clothing for paralympians this summer at the London Olympic Games, by increasing movement and flexibility.

Later today, other groundbreaking fusions of science and clothing will be on display in St Andrews Square as the Catalytic Clothing exhibition is unveiled. For the first time, a small field of bespoke denim kilts, kindly produced in Edinburgh by 21st Century Kilts, will be catalysed and ‘planted’ with denim jeans in St Andrew Square to demonstrate how clothing can be used to clean the air around us.

Artist and designer Professor Helen Storey MBE and polymer chemist Professor Tony Ryan OBE have used textiles as a catalytic surface to purify air. This evening they will discuss the technology behind their collaboration and the benefits it could bring at the National Museum of Scotland at 6pm.

As it turned out what does happen is a very funny and slightly educational experience – opening the doors for swathes of academics from all fields to do stand up comedy about their research.

This week the Edinburgh Bright Club will be hosting a show as part of the 2012 Edinburgh International Science Festival. I sat down with Bright Club Edinburgh organiser and long-time performer Pete Gwynne and Mark Payne who performed for the first time last year.

For both of them, Bright Club is a very unique way of sharing their research with the general public. Pete is a microbiologist and Mark, a mathematician – subjects which definitely benefit from the addition of comedy!

Neither had any experience with stand-up comedy before Bright Club – in fact for most performers it's their first time on the stage. Pete had always wanted to try Stand Up so thought he’d try it out after seeing a Bright Club show, whereas Mark got involved through a friend – and that's how most people get into performing! There is some training - performers are invited to workshops, where they get to discuss their ideas, get some public speaking lessons and practice their jokes.

The first performance is a mix of excitement and terror. At his, Pete remembers the person who was on before him, remembers being introduced and then it was all bright lights. It quickly gets better – once you get your first laugh the nerves melt away and you begin to relax.

The subject matter of Bright Club is always different, each show can include a mix of science, history, literature, film studies –as academics, each performer will have their own specialised, sometimes slightly obscure, area to talk about. It’s an excellent opportunity for them to explain what it is they do and how it affects the rest of us in real life.

But it’s not just a one-off experience. Pete has now performed both in Edinburgh and Glasgow while Mark has gone on to start a public engagement society at Heriot Watt University, which has even held its own stand up event. Mark describes Bright Club as “Brilliantly terrifying!” - the experience may be a little nerve wracking but the skills gained can be transferred to the seminars and talks they give in everyday life.

Bright Club Edinburgh have staged performances at venues around the city including The Stand, City Café and at the RBS Museum Lates - the National Museum of Scotland’s late-night event. And this Thursday (5^th April, 8pm), as part of the 2012 Edinburgh International Science Festival, ‘Bright Club Bodies’ will be performed at the Ghillie Dhu.

So what can we expect from the Science Festival performance? “I will be hilarious”, Pete promises - apparently he has a graph. And thanks to some additional support, ‘Bright Club Bodies’ will include a top comedy compere and dynamic comedy dance duo ‘Kitsch Kats’.

“We’re really lucky to be sponsored by the Physiological Society for the Science Festival performance – it means we get to perform at a great venue and comedian Andy Zaltzman (The Bugle, 7 Day Sunday, Andy Zaltzman's History of the Third Millennium, Series 1 of 100) is coming up from London to compere for us.”

Bright Club is certainly something that must be experienced. You don’t need to be an academic to enjoy it – there are no highly theological sophisticated in-jokes, just normal people telling us about the strange and wonderful things that happen to them in the course of their research.

‘Bright Club Bodies’ (Edinburgh International Science Festival)

- 8pm, Thursday 5^th April

- Ghillie Dhu (6 Rutland Square)

- Tickets (£10/£8 conc.) http://www.sciencefestival.co.uk/whats-on/categories/show/bright-club-bodies

Edinburgh enlightenment exchange, one of this year’s festival highlights lived up to its namesake and delivered so much more. Hume, Smith, Black and Burns would have been proud of their modern contemporaries, who have not only kept the flames of enlightenment alive, but have achieved what previous generations could only have dreamt of. From the alchemy of nuclear chemistry to glimpses of ‘immortal cells’, the morning session alone provided enough inspiration for a lifetime.

The exchange balanced a mixture of variation and depth with twelve talks and discussions, covering the four themes of Discovery, Create, Innovate and Inspire.

Quentin Cooper(@MaterialWord) from BBC Radio 4 Material World masterfully captained the good ship enlightenment through all four themes with his trademark wit and enthusiasm; our first stop was that of discovery…

Prof Polly Arnoldopened the talks with insights into the nuclear world and how transmuting the potentially hazardous by- products of fission could lead to a cleaner future for all.

Dr Peter Lovattaka Dr Dance, followed in step with a lively discussion demonstrating the benefits that dance and rhythmic motion can have on attaining a happier, brighter and more creative mind.

Dr Tilo Kunathspoke elegantly on tapping into the potential of  induced Pluripoten stem cells and how we all carry a wealth of potentially immortal cells, side stepping the need for embryonic cell cultures.

After a short break for some excellent refreshments provided by the National Museums Scotland we were recharged and ready for ‘Create’

Suzy Glasschampioned the need for ‘play’ in the creative process and why we need to allow ourselves to fail along the path to success. She also mentioned how this has affected her work with the residents on the Scottish island of Canna.

Prof Simon Kirby and Tommy Perman charmed us all in their exploration of ‘networked society’ and talked us though just some of their most recent projects, including the now ‘famous’ Cybraphon- the emotional tweeting robot.

After a chance meeting Dr Sabrina Maniscalco wondered what Schrodingers cat, a Finnish circus and research physicists could teach each other? The result was the Quantum Circus, as she shared the lessons learnt from this cross-cultural project.

Lunch provided the perfect break to let the ideas; inspiration and activities of the morning sink in. We returned from lunch to Angus Farquhar from NVA, who helped us pick up the pace and opened the afternoon session to ‘Innovation’

Angustook us though the high and lows of running an event on Arthurs Seat. Using hundreds of runners and thousand of LEDs he hopes to inspire all of us to look at this evocative landscape in new way.

The accomplished Gavin Starksinformed us of his concerns for the future and the solutions he and his colleagues are working on at AMEE to promote a shift toward more sustainable business practices.

Dr Chris Lintottinspired us all with his tour of theZooniverse amongst other citizen science projects and gave some great examples of how crowd sourcing can really change we way we see the universe.

As you may imagine we were already pretty inspired by this point but after a short break we were happily surprised to discover there was yet more room for ‘Inspiration’

Prof Stephen Blackmorethe Regius Keeper at The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh brought us back down to earth, reminding us of the importance that plants play in sustaining life on a ‘leafy earth’. 

Subathra Subramaniamthen led us on an interactive talk asking us to focus on the importance of water in our daily lives. She explained how she drew her inspiration from Cape Farewell expeditions, which gave young people from across the world to access to both the scientific and artist skills needed to express their own impressions of the world around them.

Prof Richard Wiseman was left to wow us with his magic in a fascinating finale. Exploring the psychology behind some of our favourite illusions; he even conjured up the fabled six of jacks from the audience in a rather unique card trick.

Quentin Cooper then invited all of the day’s speakers to return to the stage to form a rather enlighten panel for questions and discussions, but as Quentin was quick point out “that we were in real danger that the panel had reached critical (intellectual) mass and had become some what self sustaining”

Faced with the indefinite continuation of E2, the most willing audience members speakers and even staff opted to continue the discussions well into the evening and retired to celebrate a good day ‘well learned’ in the pub. And from there who knows where E2 may lead…

“Dance is a form of communication where we reveal what is in our hearts”, said Lovett, when sharing the findings of his research on the connection between dance and feelings.

Along with another Science Festival speaker Prof. Richard Wiseman, the pair conducted an experiment where participants were shown the same sequence of dance steps but each time the dancer changed their emotional motivation from happy to sad or neutral. The participants were then asked to identify the emotion of the dance in both full light and darkness where small lights were attached to key joints of the body to show the movement.

Most people taking part in the experiment were able to correctly identify the intended emotion with only a slight reduction in accuracy once the lights were turned off. “In the darkness the form of the dance is gone but the emotion is still present,” said Lovett. Interestingly, the results showed that men were better at identifying sadness and neutral emotions in the dark compared to women. Doctor Dance put this down to the male systemising versus female empathising way of thinking.

Performers from the Dance House Community Company also showcased a piece they had been working on with Mills titled ‘Body Beats’, and shared their love of dance with the festival audience. If you missed it last night you can watch the company’s rehearsal online here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxlHqXhg0XM&feature=player_embedded

For more information on Dr. Peter Lovett and his work at the Dance Psychology Lab at the University of Hertfordshire, check out this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B10-qvlODwo

According to Dr. Persaud, the secret to success can be found by analysing where we fit on an internal to external spectrum of thinking about success. “Belief in what controls your destiny is crucial,” says Dr. Persaud, arguing that people who believe destiny is their hands are internal thinkers. Whereas people who believe they are victims of circumstances that are outside of their control are categorised as external thinkers of success.

Psychoanalysts have identified key factors in success, namely brains, beauty and personality, but confidence is really important says Persaud, “Men tend to overestimate their IQ whereas women classically underestimate their IQ. It is not how bright you are but how bright you think you are.”

The research also looked into the differences between the English and the Scottish when examining success. According to the findings, Scots come out quite low on self-confidence, they also believe that chance plays a big role in getting ahead and that hard work or graft is less important. Participants from Scotland also believed that being born in to a wealthy family resulted in success, more so than their English participants.

To hear an interview with Dr. Raj Persaud on BBC Good Morning Scotland click here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-17584269

Alt-w Shortcuts is a group show of eleven selected artists who have each received an award from the Alt-w Fund which supports experimental and interactive practice making use of technology as both platform and medium, and recognising the changing role that digital culture has in our society. While there is a digital element to each of the artworks, this is encompassed within a range of other media including sculpture, drawing, film, animation, sound, photography, tapestry, installation and song.

Many of the exhibits have an interactive element including Droplets by Yann Seznec. Visitors can water his tree shaped wall installation and watch it spring into life. Or download an App to your smartphone so you can ‘listen to your furniture’! – an artwork by Kirsty Stansfield inspired by Edison’s early phonograph. There is also a fun portrait of famous robot Freddy by Wendy McMurdo and two very different 3D rapid prototypes by David McAllister and Mandy McIntosh.

Funding to develop all the works in the exhibition, has come from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the Alt-w Fund. Other exhibiting artists are ~in-the-fields, Simon Yuill, Thomson and Craighead and Donna Leishman.

See www.travellinggallery.com for further information on all the artists plus a list of venues and locations on the Travelling Gallery tour.
 

Simply answer the following in 140 characters or less!

What is Life? The Universe?...& Everything? 

To enter tweet your answers @Edscifest starting with the following hasttags:

        #LifeIs

        #UniverseIs

        #EverythingIs

Your answers can be profound, moving, factual, humorous or just straight-up silly! 

The best answer for each question will win a copy of the book Tweeting the Universe and 2 tickets for the Science Festival show (Tweeting the Universe) next Saturday 7 April in The National Museum of Scotland!

Not on Twitter? No problem, you can post your answer on the competition posting on our Facebook page or alternatively email to marketing@scifest.co.uk. Please note though your answer must be no more than 140 characters (inclusive of hashtag intro) to be valid. 

Deadline for entry is 2pm Thursday 5 April and winners will be announced shortly after. 

*note to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Fans 42 is not a winning answer! 

We need to develop sustainable and efficient methods of food production that minimise impact on the environment. Food shortages and subsequent price rises have also resulted in civil unrest and riots in a number of countries around the world. The UN’s annual report on food security highlights the issue that while one sixth of the world’s population are currently undernourished a similar number of people are estimated to be obese.

Food security raises many issues of high public interest both in UK and globally covering areas such as: a growing global population; unequal access to available food; pressures on available agricultural land; climate change; loss of biodiversity and genetic erosion; food pricing and trade agreements; obesity vs malnutrition; food sovereignty issues where multi-national corporations are buying agricultural resources in developing countries and increased threat of disease risk to crops, animals and people.

The UK is heavily dependent on imported food to supply the needs of a growing population; recent forecasts indicate the proportion of food that we import is set to increase significantly over the next 20 years. Disruptions to the supply of imports will have serious knock-on effects; economically; socially and to the health and well being of the population.

Food security is a complex issue, which intersects many different research disciplines and is also a topic that everyone can engage with. Feeding the 7 Billion is an accessible and interactive exploration of the main issues around food security and how science might help secure the future of our food. The event involves a chaired panel debate including a short film capturing some of the public’s views on food security. Please come along and put your questions and comments to the panel.

Created by Edinburgh charity Hoda, Rock Opera is composed of a short animated film, an online game and a free mobile phone application aimed at families, schools and other activity providers.There is also a teacher resource pack developed in partnership with the Science Centre, and visitor attraction Our Dynamic Earth. 

As a literary hub in the city Scottish Storytelling Centre is hosting a number of events for both adult and family audiences. Children’s events involve storytelling, singing sessions and lots of imaginative fun, and welcome some well-known writers such as Steve Cole (Z-Rex and Astrosaurs), Mick Manning (Taff in the WAAF), Simon Basher (Planet Basher) and Malcolm Rose (Jordan Stryker). For adults there’s an equally exciting line-up featuring authors Brian Clegg (How to Build your own Time Machine), Stuart Clark (The Sky’s Dark Labyrinth) and Tali Sharot (The Optimism Bias). Click here for full line-up of Storytelling Centre events.

Elsewhere science gets sociable as the city’s hottest live-entertainment venues, Ghillie Dhu and The Jam House, stage some literature-meets-science events. Hear award-winning historian and author Louise Foxcroft discuss the history of people’s struggles with weight and food in Calories and Corsets, join writer and poet Melanie Challenger as she ponders some of the things that have disappeared from our world in On Extinction and uncover The Story of Time with The Book of Time author Adam Hart-Davis.  Furthermore you can catch writers Marcus Chown, Nessa Carey, Bruce Hood, Steve Fuller and Robin Dunbar as part of the Festival’s fantastic programme at The National Museum of Scotland!

Following all of the Science Festival’s book-based events there will be book signing opportunities so don’t forget to bring a copy of the book in question along. This is just some of the fantastic literary line-up at this year’s Science Festival. For full details see What's On. 

Cooking demonstrations with Scottish meat, fish, fruit and vegetables will provide a new context for scientists and foodies to talk about what we eat, what it does and where it comes from. Just as all the best party conversations take place in the kitchen, we are expecting the lively atmosphere of the Real Life Science Kitchen will stir up passions about food and science issues.   

We have attracted some of our top named chefs, like Nick Nairn, Tom Kitchin and Neil Forbes, and TV celebrities like James Wong or John Wright of River Cottage. They are keen to join with scientists to dispel the myths that surround our food getting straight to the heart of the matter: are superfoods really super, for example, or do aphrodisiacs work?  With hands-on experiences for all ages, learning to appreciate good quality food and understanding that this depends on the welfare of livestock, and the way we grow our fruit and vegetables, has never been such fun!

Science on a Plate starts at the Botanics on Saturday 31^st March and runs to 9 April.

Beneath the crazy costumes and impossibly large ray guns, sci-fi offers us a window to endless possible worlds. Through the medium of film, we can address some very real questions about our present and future, and debate the promise and challenges presented by science and technology.

What do Frankenstein and Splice have to say about playing god, humanity, biology and scientific responsibility, and what’s the relevance to today’s cutting-edge synthetic biology research? Beneath the fast-paced, violent action sequences, and that tough metallic exterior, what are RoboCop’s views on resurrection, human nature and the unnatural? And how real is the ‘real’ of Gattaca’s world of gene selection and discrimination? Add to this A Scanner Darkly’s take on the future of psychoactive drugs, plus the memory manipulation of Transfer and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and there’s quite a selection.

But how plausible are the scenarios? How far-fetched is the science and what do the films ask us to consider? Scientists authors, ethicists and philosophers will explore these big questions after each screening and also in our special Human 2.0 event. Then, for a little light relief, the Science Festival comes to a suitably cosmological conclusion with Rocket Lolly – where Brighton’s Spacedog and Scotland’s DJ Bongoboy merge retro-science film gems with cutting-edge music and sparkling tunes from the outer reaches of the known musical universe. A guaranteed feast of retro-futurist fun.

Media Partner: The Skinny

This year’s Science Festival Brochure is out on 7 February and whilst mums the word on the details till then we can tell you this year’s programme is bigger, more diverse and entertaining than ever. For those who think of science and cringingly recall labouring over tedious equations and learning long Latin genera names in school, do not despair. We take a broad approach to science and no matter where your interests lie there’s bound to be something that appeals in our fantastic line-up. This includes over 70 events for adults; sure to be entertaining, fun nights out with a difference!

This year our event’s themes include food, sport, technology, music, film, the environment, philosophy, psychology…even comedy, all with a scientific twist! Furthermore we’ve taken science out of the lab and lecture halls and into some of the hottest venues in the city such as Ghille Dhu, Summerhall and The Jam House. Meet other festival-goers, take part in genuine experiments and gets hands-on with some really cool stuff. Forget dull lectures with old fogies talking at you, think lively, interactive, sociable science fun!

To get a copy of our brochure sent straight to your inbox upon its release sign up to our Newsletter or to request a print copy (or multiple copies) by post email jo@scifest.co.uk.