Sidmouth’s Science Festival goes online
Scintillating subjects from the world of science will be explored in greater depth at this year’s Sidmouth Science Festival, running from Friday, October 9 to Sunday, October 18.
Every year, the 10-day festival aims to inspire and engage people of all ages directly with science, engineering and technology. Festival organisers aim to ‘excite curiosity in people to explore science in their lives’ and usually there’s a whole host of hands-on events taking place at various venues across the coastal town, which are educational and fun.
As with so many other festivals this year, the event will be a virtual one, with all workshops and sessions taking place online.
A big name in the world of nature kicks off the festival on Friday, October 9.
The Devon-based naturalist and TV presenter Nick Baker shares his insatiable curiosity for the natural world, with a detailed look into the life of one of our most enigmatic birds, the common swift.
The one-hour talk, titled ‘A Screaming Success’, runs from 3pm to 4pm, and explores how anyone can ‘do their bit’ to help these beautiful birds.
The antics of an arguably less loved bird are revealed the following day, at the ‘Gull Behaviour Citizen Science’ session from 3pm to 4pm.
Gull experts, Dr Alex Wilson and Dr Katherine Herborn, are looking for help with their Citizen Science experiment about gull behaviour during the one-hour session.
Other highlights of the week include a fatberg analysis on Sunday, October 11; an Ada Lovelace Day on Tuesday, October 13; a talk about beavers by Richard Brazier from the University of Exeter on the Wednesday and a special talk about survival at the limits – from mountains to intensive care medicine – on Friday, October 16.
There are others ways to get involved with the festival from the comfort of home.
The Royal Society of Biology outreach and engagement team has produced some easy to follow scientific experiments to do at home. Visit the science festival’s website to discover why leaves change colour in autumn, how butterflies drink and why slugs and snails need slime.
For further information about the online events visit www.sidmouthsciencefestival.org
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here