Rock star physicist launches book as Manchester Science Festival trailblazer

Television physicist and ex- rock star Brian Cox will launch his first book with Manchester University’s award-winning scientist Jeff Forshaw at the Museum Of Science And Industry on July 7th at 7.15pm as part of the Manchester Science Festival's series of summer trailblazers.

Why Does E=mc2? (and why should we care?) is a groundbreaking journey into the real meaning of Einstein’s iconic equation, E=mc2. Raising lots of questions along the way – what is energy? what is mass? – the enthusiastic scientists take us to the site of the infamous ‘big bang machine’, the 27km Large Hadron Collider.

Brian Cox was in the band D:Ream: his last appearance with them was at the 1997 Labour party conference. He now splits his time between experimental physics in Manchester and the CERN labs in Geneva, Switzerland. He was also science adviser on Danny Boyle’s stunning film Sunshine. Jeff Forshaw, like Brian, is one of the youngest professors in the UK. He teaches Einstein’s theory of relativity to first year students.

The launch is on Tuesday July 7th 7.15 – 9.15pm in the Cardwell Auditorium at the Museum of Science and Industry (Liverpool Road, Castlefield, Manchester M3 4FP).

Tickets are £1, redeemable against one copy of the book on the night, and are available from Blackwell University Bookshop, Precinct Centre, Oxford Road, Manchester (telephone 0161 274 3331).

Why Does E=mc2? (and why should we care?) is a £12.99 hardback on Da Capo Press – available on the night for £10.99 less ticket price. More information on the book here: http://bit.ly/CoxForshaw

From rockets to astronauts...

It's been all go on the Festival front... the cutting room experiment was great fun at the weekend... was a bit drizzly upon arrival, but as soon as we started making our alka seltzer rockets, the sun came out! Loads of people joined in - mainly kids at first, but the adults were desperate for a go once they saw rockets being let off. Got some great footage on video which we will hopefully share soon.

After all that fun, we'll hopefully be doing it again in the summer and special mention goes to Charlie who brought his home made rockets down on the day and wanted to change the experiment to see what results he could get... a scientist of the future I think!

If you enjoyed that, there's an event at the Museum of Science and Industry coming up featuring Astronauts from a recent space mission... get yourself along to find out all about their mission, what it's really like to go into space and if they miss space food... http://www.mosi.org.uk/whats-on/an-audience-with-the-discovery-space-shuttle-crew

Trailblazers launch with a whizz, a pop and a bang!

To kick off our series of summer Festival trailblazers, we're heading to the cutting room square in Ancoats tommorrow to get involved in the cutting room experiment, which is celebrating the opening of the new space.

Activities such as musical statues, clothes swapping and a

silent disco will be taking place throughout the day, but at 3.30pm we'll be there with the museum of science and industry for Alka Seltzer Rockets! We'll be making them and learing about the science... there'll also be a launch pad to launch the rockets simultaneously.

Get yourselves down there early to bag a space at the rocket making table and we'll see you there!

Oh and if you'e got your own film canisters and alka seltzer (or indeed anything you want to use to decorate your rocket), bring them on down.

British Science Association new Manchester branch launch

Are you interested in organising events that engage & inspire the public with science and engineering? The British Science Assocaition is launching a new Manchester Branch and the branch will organise some events as part of the Manchester Science Festival! If you're interested, see below...

The launch meeting for the Manchester-based group of the British Science Association is taking place this Thursday (June 11th), at 5:30pm in Kro Bar, Oxford Road. Please join us to find out more about the Association and help with the planning of future public science events in the area. If you are unable to attend but would like to be kept informed about the group please e-mail natalie.lane@britishscienceassociation.org.

Where: Kro bar (upstairs), 325 Oxford Road When: June 11th, 5:30 – 7:00pm Who: Anyone with an interest in science that they would like to share!

For more information about this meeting, or the British Science Association, please visit our website (www.britishscienceassociation.org) or contact Natalie Lane (natalie.lane@britishscienceassociation.org, 0161 306 1599)

MSF at the Cutting room experiment

We've been a little quiet of late, but you'll be pleased to hear we're back and ready to go! You probably can't wait for the Festival in October, so help us help you by getting a little bit of MSF now...

Be part of the biggest user generated event in the world.

1 day. 12 events. You create.

Cutting Room Experiment is the world’s first completely user-generated event. The Cutting Room Experiment is an attempt to use a new public space to bring together the creativity of Manchester. Each individual event throughout the day will be decided by you - the audience - and Manchester Science Festival is getting involved!

The Manchester Science Festival and MOSI (Museum of Science and Industry) have posted an event idea on the Cutting Room Experiment website and we need your votes to make it happen. We want as many people to gather together to create their own alka seltzer rockets and 1,2,3... blast off simultaneously.

For our idea to be picked, we need votes. Visit cutting room experiment to register and be counted in. Then you'll get a little pice of the Festival a little bit earlier!

Keep your eyes peeled for other trailbalzer events over the summer in the run up to the 2009 Manchester Science Festival which will take place across Greater Manchester from 24 October - 1 November.