MSF11 podcasts now online!

The hubbub of Manchester Science Festival has calmed down and we've unleashed the first two in our series of weekly podcasts, all recorded at events during last October’s Manchester Science Festival.

First off, listen to the lovely Nija Dalal interview the people behind the Microbiology and art exhibition at Madlab, which was launched just before the festival and ran until middle of November. The pieces in the exhibition were produced by science undergraduates at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) and members of the Manchester DIYBio group (who run workshops where you can have a go at do-it-yourself bioscience). Professor Joanna Verran led the project and you can find out more on the MMU website.

Secondly, you can hear extracts from Timandra Harkness and Matt Parkers' maths comedy show, Your Days Are Numbered: the maths of death, at MOSI (Museum of Science & Industry). Matt was also awarded the Joshua Phillips Award in Science Communication on the evening. Timandra and Matt are currently touring the UK with the show; head over to their website for tour dates and reviews.

You can find all of the podcasts on the Manchester Science Festival website.

Bring on 2011!

Happy New Year! We’re back, raring to go and have bravely committed ourselves to writing one blog a week for our New Year’s resolution. We’ll be here to ramble and write on everything from neutrons to neurons, with a particular emphasis on activity in Manchester.

Let’s start by shaking off the Christmas cobwebs and having a peek at what’s going on science-wise in the neighborhood this month!

For an epic Saturday trip, hop on the train to Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, where the World Premier of Polar will be hosted this weekend. This show combines stunning footage of Earths’ Arctic and Antarctic regions and a live orchestral soundtrack arranged and conducted by John Harle.

BBC 2 are currently running a new series, Stargazing LIVE, presented by Brian Cox and Dara O Briain, to inspire a generation to look to the skies and learn to stargaze. This started on Monday and a programme of live events around the country have been arranged to compliment these broadcasts. To experience this first hand, head down to MMU’s John Dalton building on 13th January for a talk from Dr Paul Ruffle about the birth, life and death of starts, hosted by Manchester Astronomical Society. Image by John Gray (Eoepaidh on Flickr), taken in the Outer Hebridies.
MOSI will also be running an event later in January - more details next week!

Let us know what you think of any of these events and we look forward to seeing you at events in 2011.

Emily Wiles, Manchester Science Festival Officer