S C I E N C E


Science & Technology pull in the crowds at Cheltenham


Travel through the latest jet engine in a pod; watch the British-builtMars Rover in action; meet a radioactive banana; see a mix of fruit juice power a small carousel and run your hands along the landspeed record holding steam car… all this and a lot more was to be seen at the Science Festival held in Cheltenham. During five days the town,


more known for its horse racing and music festivals, played host to celebrity scientists, school children, teachers and members of the general public. Talks ranged from Space


Tourism byWillWhitehorn, president of Virgin Galactic, to author and TV presenter Robert Winston on Bad inventions; from physicist and TV presenter Brian Cox on TheWonders of the Solar System to Colin Sutherland and Steve Lindsay from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Chris Hentschel fromMedicines forMalaria Venture who explored the latest battle to eradicate the disease. For the three weekdays, there


TheExoMarsRoverfromAstriumbased in Stevenage. The vehicle is a


vital part of the European SpaceAgency flagshipmissions toMars in 2018. The Bridget version was seen being put through its paces at the show.


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was a full Science for Schools programme which included such attention-attracting titles as Chemistry with a Bang, Water Rockets, The Golden Coconut, and Bending It Like Beckham – World Cup Science. Two well-known local schools


played a part in the programme. The Cheltenham College Sports Centre was the venue for visitors to design, make and test their own water rocket with the help of the National Physical Laboratory. Cheltenham Ladies College had an inflatable STARLAB for visitors to crawl into to explore the night sky and the wonders of space. Among the many serious


topics discussed at seminars were the Plight of the Humble Bee, Carbon in the Community, Is Debt Putting British Science at Risk?, GlobalWater Security, and Should Computers Have Rights Too? There was chance to


experience surgery at first hand in a simulated operating theatre, guided by surgeon Roger Kneebone and his team. Visitors were able to take the role of the surgeon or the patient through a simulated minor operation using real surgical instruments. Continuing the medical theme,


a team of doctors and scientists, led by pathologist Suzy Lishman, explored the health of our hearts, including a virtual autopsy and a live dissection of a pig’s heart. Sleep-deprived presenter of


Radio 4’s Today programme, Evan Davis, discussed questions about SLEEP with sleep researcher Russell Foster. In Imperial Gardens there were


more totally free exhibits. Don Wales, co-driver of the British-built steam car, was there with the vehicle which gained the world landspeed record for a steam powered car. Not far away was a vehicle of a very different type. This was


ExoMars Rover built by in the UK. This vehicle will be able to navigate itself and carry a suite of materials from the red planet. Its drill will obtain core samples from well below theMartian surface when the Exo Mars programme is launched in 2018. Across another part of the


gardens visitors, via a pod capsule, were able to travel through the new GEnx jet engine from GEAvionics, based on the edge of the town. Bath University’s Centre for


Sustainable Chemical Technologies was busy demonstrating a conventional fuel cell as well as how fruit juices via a cell can power a small carousel. In another part of the gardens


the EPSRC Nuclear FIRST Doctoral Training Centre, jointly run byManchester and Sheffield Universities, was showing its radioactive tea party. The yellow cake has a special recipe, with bananas, Brazil nuts, and Lo-Salt, which are particularly good at accumulating naturally-occurring radioactive materials such as radium and potassium, present at some level in almost everything. The cake sits on a characteristically coloured uranium glass dish.As well as giving a striking green colour, the uranium in the glass fluoresces strongly and if you look at the base of the dish which is lit from underneath with an ultraviolet light, you can see this.AGeiger counter ticks away, detecting radioactivity from both the glass and the cake.


Circle No.E23


An invitation fromradioactive tea party being staged at the festival.


The record-breaking steam-powered car on display at the festival. Here it is seen in action during its record breaking runs.


Technology in Education No.176 June/July 2010 42


This was staged by the EPSRC Nuclear FIRST Doctoral Training Centre, jointly run byManchester and Sheffield Universities.


Check out our website: www.technology-in-education.co.uk


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