MRC at the Cheltenham Science Festival June 2006
The MRC has supported Cheltenham Science Festival since its launch in 2001. Over the past five years we have sponsored many successful festival science events and lectures. We have provided speakers and advice. We have also found new ways to demonstrate basic aspects of the MRC’s work at the festival, through running interactive experiment stands and encouraging our scientists to get stuck in.
The MRC has once more had a high profile part in the Cheltenham Science Festival in 2006. To mark its fifth anniversary, festival organisers revisited three of the big science issues from 2001; cloning, human genetics and electricity, in a series of lectures entitled ‘Five Years On’.
The MRC sponsored one such event called ‘Genetics – Five Years On’, which was hosted by Robert Winston with contributions from geneticist Armand Leroi, Marcus Pembrey from the Institute of Child Health and Mark Ross of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.
The four experts looked at how scientists learnt the sequence of the human genome – hailed as the blueprint for life – and asked whether it has turned out to be as useful as predicted.
To coincide with the imminent publication of the findings of the MRC’s Ageing Consultation, we also sponsored an event called ‘The Ageing Population.’ Raymond Tallis, a leading expert in geriatric medicine, looked at some of the issues around growing older in the UK in the 21st Century. Reassuringly, Raymond summarised startling new evidence that shows that people are not only living longer but are also staying healthier for longer then ever before.
Around 15,000 visitors attended the sixty-odd lectures and events held during the festival but this was nothing compared to the estimated 45,000 people who took part in the whole festival experience over the five days it ran. A big draw was the Discover Zone, a huge space in the city’s Town Hall, that is dedicated to bringing hands-on science to the general public.
MRC scientists ran two experiments on a purpose-built stand in the Discover Zone; ‘DNA Takeaway’ and ‘Now you see it.’
The DNA Takeaway experiment explored how we can extract DNA from good old frozen peas using simple household goods such as washing up liquid, salt and alcohol. After a bit of pea mashing, blending and shaking, children and adults alike looked on in amazement as cotton-wool like strands of DNA separated from the pea solution in a test tube. MRC scientists explained the nature of DNA and how the experiment worked. They also made sure that everyone got to take home their own small vial of pea DNA.
Our second experiment, Now You See It, involved getting people to collect and stain plant and animal cells, which they could then compare and contrast by looking at under a microscope. Most popular by far was the chance to collect and look at cheek cells, especially amongst the hundreds of school children who visited the MRC stand. Once they’d looked at their own magnified cheek cells, scientists printed out the microscope image for them to take home.
A fantastic contribution was made by MRC-funded PhD student Sarah Forbes-Robertson, who took part in the final of Famelab; a nationwide search to find the UK’s best new talent in science communication. Ten fearless finalists had just five minutes each to explain a difficult scientific idea to a panel of judges that included Kathy Sykes (Festival Director), Roger Highfield (Daily Telegraph) and Mark Lythgoe (Neurophysiologist.)
Sarah talked about genetics and although she didn’t win the overall final, she did win the vote for best science Podcast. Well done Sarah and to all the other MRC volunteers who took part during the festival.