Saturday 27 October 2007

It's not all over...

Oh yes it is! Oh no it isn't!

There's loads still to do from Monday 29 Oct until Sunday 4 Nov!

For a start almost all the exhbitions continue to be on display across the city, and there are all sorts of wonderful and weird activities at MoSI, plus a fab show about forces at Touchstones Rochdale.

See the website for more info!

Sir Bernard Lovell



A wonderful quote to end the festival on...

Sir Bernard Lovell, answering an audience-member's question about being optomistic for the future, said, "Science has no frontier".


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Thursday 25 October 2007

Naked science




Dr Chris Smith is a worthy winner of the inaugral Josh Award - go and see The Naked Scientists at their site and download their chart-topping podcast.

Their website is about to reach 10m hits in a month for the first time. Here's hoping we can drive a little extra traffic their way...


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Jurassic Park! On the big screen!

So, apart from the beers, I also got to indulge in another personal passion in the name of work yesterday - sitting in a darkened room with 50 others, watching Jurassic Park on the big screen!

Having not seen it for about a decade, I'd forgotten how many great lines Jeff Goldblum gets in this wonderfully put together film. For instance I love Dr. Ian "I'm a chaos mathematician" Malcolm's line - "God help us; we're in the hands of engineers."

But I still think this might be his best:

"God creates dinosaurs. God destroys dinosaurs. God creates man. Man destroys God. Man creates dinosaurs..."

Completed by Ellie's riposte, "Dinosaurs eat man. Woman inherits the earth..."


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Festival beers!



Yep, that's supposed to be plural!

There is already the wonderful "Joule's Gold" (above), but last night, 40 of us crammed into the upstairs room of The Briton's Protection to hear James Sumner's talk about science, beer and pubs in history. He whisked us through 350 thrilling years of brewing, excise, pubs and ale in just under two hours (with a pint pit-stop en route)!

Probably the first and last time I'll legitimately timesheet and get paid for drinking beer in one of my favourite watering holes!!




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Monday 22 October 2007

Things to look out for: Mon, Tues, Wed

You can see a daily diary of what's on at the calendar on the website, but here are some things to fit in if you can!


MONDAY
A Cafe Sci tonight on facts, information and belief

A lecture this evening demonstrating how and why molecules are magnetic and what it could mean for the future


TUESDAY
A very special IMAX screening of 3D Aliens of the Deep

Murder and mystery at MoSI - try solving the forensic clues in this CSI Manchester workshop

The first of two Acoustics and Architecture tours at The Bridgewater Hall

A chance to find out of the Stradivarius string sound is a myth or reality


WEDNESDAY
Toys and a chance to meet a scientist at the Arndale Market

A once-in-a-festival chance to see Speilberg's dinos run riot on the big screen

Johnny Ball's talk and demo about the history of science in the NW

And not one, but two, flash bang demos

And after all that, the chance to put your feet up and have a well-earned rest with a pint!


ALL WEEK
A series of lectures on genetics and faces at Nowgen, with a free lunch - every day, 12-1.30

The Big Science Draw all week at Manchester Museum

More than we can list here at MoSI every day - pick up a daily leaflet from the Information Desk on arrival.

And of course there's all the ongoing exhibitions at MoSI, CUBE, Whitworth, Nowgen, and more...


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Festival madness...

We're in full festival swing! Everything seems to be going well and it seems very busy everywhere I've been so far.

Some highlights so far:

The IOP walk is now available to get as an MP3 to dowload from Science Places

Getting a picture and piece on the backpage of "Things to do this week" in The Guardian Family section

There's Bluetooth messages and science busking at Manchester Piccadilly station this morning, Tuesday and Wednesday (this pic was taken this morning)




SOLD OUT
Please note that the following events are already full: An Audience with Sir Bernard Lovell, and tomorrow night's Facing Up To Addiction debate.


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Thursday 18 October 2007

nearly here!

We do hope that you’ve started to notice the build up to the festival throughout the city – the IOP’s physics facts bus posters, our own six trailblazer events (all sadly finished now), plenty of press coverage and our radio campaign, the special Bluetooth messages being beamed out to mobiles at Piccadilly station and MoSI, and much more besides!...

So, in the relative calm before the storm, we thought we’d give the lowdown on some exciting upcoming events!

This is just a selection of the events running between 20-28 October at venues across Greater Manchester – do check the website for the full list.

Some suggestions of things to do this weekend (Sat 20 and Sun 21):

Find out about the science of cartoon capers and heroes at the Odeon (Saturday only)

See singing sands and the Face of Manchester at the Museum of Science and Industry

Go on a science city walk, starting from Manchester Museum

See you there?


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Monday 15 October 2007

Less than a week to go!

It's less than a week to go until we launch! There's a lot that's been done and a lot more still to do...

Firstly, thanks to the Lit Fest and all the Doctor Who contributors who turned out for yesterday's sold out trailblazer on science fiction/ fact. It was a fabulous event - despite the air con/ heating breaking!

Also we've just been tipped off about a great new website to support the film "Earth". Go and have a look!

The Bluetooth broadcasting has started - in Piccadilly station and at MoSI. In both locations, we're sending out trivia messages and festival info, a different message every hour each day! Make sure you enable your Bluetooth function to receive them.

And tomorrow is our last trailblazer - Cafe RSA on the topic "Science hearts Art". See you there?


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Thursday 11 October 2007

Spotted: gecko!


Following on from my earlier post, I was delighted last night to spot three of the IOP bus posters in the city!



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Monday 8 October 2007

Gecko alert!


Look out for this little fella hanging around on some of the city's buses, with thanks to the guys from the IOP...


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Friday 5 October 2007

Trailblazer #2 - Rainforest Day

Tomorrow's the second of our trailblazer events - it's Rainforest Day at The Manchester Museum.

Drop over there for a family-friendly day of exploration where you can find out about plants and animals from the rainforest and beyond! Meet some live amphibians, learn some amazing facts about them, and take part in art and craft activities, object handling and tours.


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Wednesday 3 October 2007

Trailblazer #1

Last night's first trailblazer event went off with a big bang!

Prof Brian Boyle gave us a sparkling tour from the view of "the year 2032" back over the 100 years of radio astronomy, and a tour it was! Taking in quasars, pulsars and more, he whisked us through the discovery and development of the technology and looked forward (ahem I mean back) to creation and findings of the Square Kilometre Array, a new global initiative in radio astronomy. And it all nicely tied in with the 50th anniversary of the Lovell Telescope...

I think the whole thing's going to be a Jod-cast, so that's a great chance to catch up on what he said if you weren't there...


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Tuesday 2 October 2007

Blog link - The Manchizzle

You spend the best part of this year planning, programming and preparing for a festival with more than 25 key partners from across the city-region.

Then you spend a good few weeks grinding out a post every 48 hours on this humble blog.

Then your website goes live highlighting all that hard work... and suddenly we get a lovely link from the Manchizzle (one of Mcr's stellar bloggers)! Nice one, ta.


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Monday 1 October 2007

Site online!



Visit now at Manchester Science Festival!

And don't forget tomorrow night is our first event - see here for more info.


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