Glasgow Science Festival: Weegie Science

Don’t think the science ends this summer – Scottish science, cool experiments and more than a few crazy uses for electricity and dry ice are just around the corner. This June, Glasgow will play host to its own Science Festival, taking place all over the city, and including the very best of robots, virology, and awesome building competitions that anyone can enter.

For the young’uns, there’s some brilliant beginner astronomy programs, along a with a personal-favorite opportunity to hear real astronauts talk about their experience in space (and how they eat soup up there. Don't say you've never wondered). The Festival also includes a safari exploration of Kelvingrove Museum, a mass project to make a coral reef, and best of all, a city-wide contest to answer some of the bigger engineering challenges with the power of K’nex building. Almost enough to make you wish the parents were young enough to play along on that one.

For the bigger kids in town, there are intriguing discussions about whether athletes who use prosthetics have an advantage or simply make the best of a scientific opportunity, acrobats who defy the laws of gravity to illustrate the physics involved, talks on whether or not it’s ethical to display human remains for the purposes of science, and the ultimate battle to decide whether robots are here to help us or destroy us (my money is on destroy, but that’s just me).

The Festival runs from 5 June through to the 17 June, and is hosted by the University of Glasgow and a host of other institutions around the city. If you just can’t wait to get a handle on some of the scientific goodness, visit www.glasgowsciencefestival.org.uk and plan your experience for each day.