From microscopic parasites to the stars in the skies, there is so much to discover at the BNSS during British Science Week! On Saturday 12th March, 10am-12.30pm, the regular Young Explorers session will welcome local astronomer Bob Mizon and his inflatable planetarium. This session is £4 per child and must be pre-booked.
Following this, BNSS member and Fusion Scientist Brendan McNamara will give a talk at 2.30pm titled “Plutonium: the stellar element for our future energy”. McNamara says “The UK faces a decreasing and unreliable energy supply due to government policy. The world will run out of fossil fuels in a century as will Uranium for PWR reactors. Only Plutonium can last for thousands of years. This will leave no spent fuel mountains, no high level wastes, and no giant Geological Disposal Sites. The UK must start a Plutonium fuelled reactor programme as soon as possible to be energy independent for 500 years on existing nuclear stockpiles.”
On Tuesday 15th March at 7.30pm, Dr Lindy Holden-Dye, a Chair in Neuroscience at the University of Southampton, will speak about her research on nematode worms, which are often parasites but also used as model organisms to study the nervous system.
To round off British Science Week, Dr. Sara Bate, who directs the Centre for Face Processing Disorders at Bournemouth University, will give her talk “Face recognition: an individual differences approach”. This will look at the features we use to distinguish faces and the people with 'face blindness', a condition which may affect up to 2% of the population.
- The full programme is available online: www.bnss.org.uk
The museum’s special programme of events is part of British Science Week 2016 (11 - 20 March) – a nationwide celebration of the best of British science, technology, engineering and maths.
“Education and sharing learning experiences is one of the main aims of the Bournemouth Natural Science Society, so we are thrilled to be putting on events for British Science Week,” said Katherine West, Communications Officer for the BNSS. “We hope that people will leave our events inspired by science and the natural world.”
