Last month’s Science Cafe at the Tobacco Factory gave plenty of us a new-found enthusiasm for building stuff out of things!

The lovely guys from My Future My Choice ran a cafe-workshop to explain what it is they do in local schools and to give us a chance to get involved.

My Future My Choice is an educational charity that connects education to aspiration. They link industry to learning, and explore the relevance of traditional and modern technologies with young people.  They use cardboard jet planes and sail boats to achieve this aim, by asking the young people to build them and think about the design and engineering involved in doing so.

Check out their blog to see how they’ve used paper and corrugated cardboard for making aircrafts with school children.

And so, after hearing a brief talk, we were tasked with designing any sort of craft from the plethora of bits and pieces they had brought with them. Our only guidance was that the craft should move, once placed into the wind tunnel they’d generated along the side of the room.

Many of us were initially daunted, having little or no experience in the foreign world of engineering, however there were enough engineers in the room to bolster our confidence, and soon we were taping together card and paper into weird and wonderful shapes (often with little plan or forethought). (Apart from one group, who spent the whole hours or so planning, and didn’t build a thing. They maintain that it would have been the best craft though!)

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I was part of the predominantly-female group in the corner. (Kind of) True to stereotype, us girls set about greasing chassis with lip gloss and filing wood with nail files. It was epic. All around the room, plans were formulated, or just bashed together with sheer willpower, and a magical group of craft specimens completed the line up for the wind tunnel test at the end of the evening.

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An impressive number made nano-progress along the carpet, seemingly unhindered by the laws of physics, and many ideas were generated for the My Future My Choice schools projects.

Then to top off the night, we all stared in amazement at this:

Theo Jansen’s Strandbeests

Bristol Science Cafe would like to thank My Future My Choice for such an entertaining and interactive Cafe event!

Keep an eye out on Bristol Science Cafe’s webpage for details of this month’s cafe, which is free to all with a  first-come-first-seated admission policy.

Written by Laura Walker

A collaborative group from the Bristol Heart Institute (BHI) and School of Clinical Sciences exhibited their stall “Hand on Heart” in the Galleries and Cabot Circus, Bristol, from Thursday 8th – Sat 10th March.The event was part of the University of Bristol’s Discover 2012 festival for National Science and Engineering Week.

The team, led by Laura Walker, taught members of the public about their heart health and encouraged them to pledge something they could do each day to keep their hearts healthy. Researchers also spoke about a British Heart Foundation project, currently running in collaboration with the BHI, to help improve lung function during cardiac surgery.

 

Over 1200 people of all ages visited the stall, where researchers were on hand to explain their work, answer questions and promote the ground-breaking research happening within the University of Bristol and the BHI. Over the 3 days, 700 frisbees, numerous British Heart Foundation goodies, and teacher’s resource pack were given out to encourage active lifestyles. For more information about Discover, please visit  http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2012/8272.html

Written by Laura Walker

Practical support in terms of help, advice and selected resources is available from the physics in society team, please email physics.society@iop.org.

The physics in society team can also talk to you about potential ideas before you start applying for a grant through this scheme. The 2012 grant scheme has two rounds and Round 2 will close at 12 noon on Monday 30
April 2012. All projects funded through the 2012 grant scheme must be completed by 31
December 2012.

More information about the grant scheme, including application forms, guidelines and summaries of past projects, is available online at http://www.iop.org/about/grants/outreach/page_38843.html.

Please down load our latest programme by clicking here (pdf, 235kB).

On Thursday 8^th of December, Clifton High was honoured to have Dr Ruth Morse from the University of West of England come in and talk to us about haemopoietic stem cell research. She explained what it entails, the ethical issues it raises, applications and implications on the donor’s and patient’s lives. Dr Morse really got the students thinking about where their views lie and the opinions of others.  Her use of props such as pictures and tasty treats made the whole experience more interactive than the normal run of the mill lecture. The statistics and knowledge she shared were fascinating and thought provoking. During the talk we took a break and served hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows and this pause allowed the pupils to reflect, discuss and even debate the topic whilst coming up with questions to ask Dr Morse.

© 2001 Terese Winslow, Lydia Kibiuk

Not only are stem cells advancing and in the current news but to many of the students it was relevant to their studies and provided a great source of background knowledge and further insight. This first meeting of the science café was a huge success with pupils ranging from years 10 to 13 attending.  Parents of students also attended and the feedbacks we’ve had was that it was

 “ Extremely interesting”

“ Gave the deserved credit on the study and research of stem cells which is so often slated by media”

“ Has sparked a new interest”

Dr Ruth Morse was a fantastic guest speaker and with the success of the first Science café meeting, Clifton High is hoping to hold one once every half term with the possibility of more.

They’re looking for undergraduates, masters students, PhDs, academics and experts from range of disciplines talking about their public engagement work. The focus of the videos will be key skills for public engagement, and encouraging contributors to reflect on those skills, what works, what have they learnt, what mistakes have their made.

If you are interested we would like to invite you to take part in short video interviews on Thursday the 8th December.

Filming location will be confirmed shortly, but it is likely to be a central location in Bristol. The videos will be shot by Picnic Films who specialise in making fun, simple and spontaneous videos that value the contributors, and get the best from their knowledge and experience. You can see some examples of their work here: http://www.picnicfilms.co.uk/?page_id=27

Please email  melanie.windridge05@imperial.ac.uk  with your availability on the 8th December if you are interested in taking part.

He also made reference to the UK Energy Flow Chart 2010 (embedded right). Full details can be found via the main DECC site www.decc.gov.uk.

Stuart also recommends people that are interested in the topic read ‘The Revenge of Gaia’ by James Lovelock (Amazon link).

For full details please click here.

The final programme for Communicate 2011 is now confirmed, including:

• Opening keynote from Dr Rita Gardner, Director of the Royal Geographical Society
• Reconnecting Nature and Economics – panel debate by experts from Good Energy, Coca-Cola, RSPB and the University of Edinburgh; and a video address from TEEB study leader Pavan Sukhdev.
• The Changing Policy Landscape – an overview of the new Natural Environment White Paper from Martin Brasher, Head of Wildlife, Habitats and Biodiversity, Defra.
• Special Guest Robin Ince, star of BBC R4’s “The Infinite Monkey Cage” on using comedy to make a difference.
• The Elephant in the Room – communicating the most difficult environmental issues, led by Aubrey Manning and Mark Lynas.
• The Psychology of Persuasion – with experts from policy, academia and the third sector presenting the latest insights on effecting behaviour change.
• A chance to influence the future third sector and policy co-operation of the Living with Environmental Change Research Programme.
• Sharing best practice in environmental communication with the delegate showcase and new media marketplace.
• Closing keynote from award winning conservation biologist and environmental journalist Tessa McGregor.

For full details, visit the website at www.communicatenow.org

Register Now and secure your place at this annual sell-out event.

We look forward to welcoming you to Bristol this November. For further information please contact Ben Connor, Communicate Project Manager, at ben@bnhc.org.uk

To help, please email us on streetparty@bscia-bsba.org.uk

Link to Bristol City Council’s information about Victoria Park is here.