Knit a Microbe! Nexus Art Cafe

As part of the Manchester Science Festival and Golden Ratio exhibition at Nexus Art Cafe, we are inviting all needle-clackers to contribute a microbe to our Golden Ratio colony!

Come and knit in the cafe, use this events page to organise a group knit, or drop by our Crafternoons sessions every Sunday at 3pm. You can drop your woolly microbe off at the Nexus counter, labelled with your name and contact details if you would like them back! They will then be displayed as a part of the Golden Ratio exhibition, which runs from 30th September - 20th November.

Please make sure your microbes are ready by 25th September so we have time to hang them all!

You can find the microbe patterns here, courtesy of Manchester Science Festival.

You can use the Nexus Facebook page to organise meets with other knitters, or join our Crafternoon group.

Manchester Science Festival - Nobel prize winners, comedy, craft and more

We're half way through this year's Manchester Science Festival. It's been a cracking week so far, so thanks to everyone who's come along and got involved. There's loads more on offer until the end of October for familes and adults. Here's our top picks!

Meet Manchester’s newest Nobel Prize winner
Join us tonight for an evening of Manchester science, as part of the Royal Society’s 350th Anniversary ‘Local heroes’ programme in the North West. some of our region’s Royal Society Research Fellows Prof Andrew Sharrocks, Prof Barbara Maher, Dr Alexander Oh and recent Nobel Prize winner Dr Konstantin Novoselov, chaired by Prof Dame Nancy Rothwell FRS will discuss their work on the latest developments in biomedicine, climate change and environmental pollution, and particle and condensed matter physics. The event is at 7pm tonight at MOSI. Tickets are free and you can book here.

Laugh your scientific socks off
We've teamed up with Manchester Comedy Festival to see the lighter side of science at some of our comedy gigs. Tomorrow Helen Keene takes a trip to the arctic (well, Islington Mill) to entertain us with stories of an expedition to this cruel environment in The primitive methodist guide to arctic survival.

Rosie Wilby’s will be educating the adults about the Further Science of Sex on Friday night. Do aphrodisiacs work? Why do we kiss? What’s going on in the brain when we fall in love? Spoof experiments and handmade props galore!

We’ve also got comedy for the younger ones! The Punk Scientists have travelled all the way from London, yes, London to entertain us with their mad and explosive world of science tomorrow! You can also catch crazy multi-media show Parannoyance packed with magic and storytelling on Friday. Both at the Comedy Store.

Get creative
Head to Longsight Library tomorrow or Manchester Museum on Saturday to see Wriggling rangoli. As part of the Manchester Beacon Science Festival Community Awards, ‘Inspired Sisters’, a group of Asian women from Longsight will be demonstrating the beautiful art of rangoli, looking at the science of infectious disease.

Get those knitting needles out and join us for a spot of knitting with your science. Bee knitting will run on Saturday at Manchester Museum. Learn about bees and biodiversity, and pick up a new skill.

Science Junkies
One of our headline shows, Science Junkies is action packed, adrenaline fuelled fun for the whole family! Find out about the physics and physiology of extreme sports and see some extreme sports in action! This Sunday at the Zion Arts Centre.

Please do put any pictures and feedback up on our Facebook page or send us a Tweet.

Ice ice baby... Happy Christmas from Manchester Science Festival

With Christmas day fast approaching, many of you out there are pondering on fun activities to do before the presents are opened to keep bright minds occupied, or even what to do after Christmas to burn off those turkey dinner calories and get your eyes away from Christmas repeats. Well look no further, to help you on your quest, we at McrSciFest HQ, have a couple of ideas for you to try, all science related of course...

1) Get creative and crafty and try making the amazing ice cube necklace. ABC Australia always have great hands-on science activities and this is just one of our favourites, particularly for the Festive period.

2) Get your walking shoes on and get on a scientific stroll around Manchester. Why not try it on Christmas day when the city will be quiet and hopefully covered in now. We have a couple of options on the MSF website.

3) Microbe knitting! Our patterns are still available to make your very own knitted microbe and if you're quick enough you can pop some string on the top and get it on the tree! We just can' get enough of them. Cute, cute and more cute! Find the patterns on our interactive pages.

4) There's also loads going on in our fair city over Christmas. Check out Manchester Made Easy's blog which lists their top 10 things to do in Manchester. On the list in the new Da Vinci - the genius exhibition at MOSI. We love MOSI and the exhibition is really interesting - something for all ages. Be warned - you could spend a whole day there so don't turn up at 4pm like we did! It's fab!

We hope you enjoy our little suggestions over Christmas. We'll be back with more treats, trailblazers and of course the 2010 Manchester Science Festival next year!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Manchester Science Festival x

Ice cube image courtsey of http://msp163.photobucket.com/albums/t292/courtneycolucci/Ice_cubes_openphoto.png

Microbe knitting patterns live!

Science and knitting?

That's right... we have a knitting event at this year's Festival. We'll be knitting microorganisms and learning about the science of swine flu, the common cold and more. If you can't make it or want to help though, we need a selection of finished products before the event for photos and as examples on the day:

Download our amazing microbe knitting patterns (PDF 2MB)

Please send your finished products to: Knitted Microbes, Manchester Science Festival, Museum of Science and Industry, Liverpool Road, Castlefield, Manchester, M3 4FP or drop them at reception with "Knitted Microbes, Manchester Science Festival" labelled on them. Be sure to include your details so we know who's helped! You can also upload your own pics to our flickr group!