The organisers for this year’s Sidmouth Science Festival have been working flat out to deliver this year’s jam-packed programme of workshops, demonstrations and Zoom talks.

Liz Bramley from the organising team said: “We are very lucky to have engaged a number of excellent speakers for this year’s Sidmouth Science Festival.

“We even have a virtual link to the University of Wisconsin! There is a wide range of subjects so there should be something of interest for most people and some talks will be on Zoom.”

The talks start on Saturday, October 9 and run throughout the week. The first talks are all about geology, followed on Sunday by Science in the Garden and Fermenting and Plants in Space. On Monday evening Prof Glenn Patrick discusses Cosmic Particles whilst on Tuesday Mrs Chris Blockley Blatt talks about Solar Orbiter (Zoom). On Wednesday morning Jacky Klein Zooms in from London to talk about Art and Technology, followed by a talk about Sleep. In the afternoon Robin Ince makes a welcome return visit to talk about his new book, The Importance of Being Interested. And in the evening Prof Richard Thompson OBE FRS discusses Marine Litter.

There will be something very unusual walking the streets of Sidmouth on October 9; a huge dinosaur! The Science Festival are working with Jurassic Fibre to bring the dinosaur to the Jurassic Coast. There will also be activities in Kennaway House, All Saints Church, Masonic Hall and the Methodist Hall. And don’t miss the world record tin can telephone which will connect Connaught Gardens with the Bedford Steps on the Esplanade!

Coastal Erosion is the topic on Thursday, plus a Science in the Pub session in the evening.

On Friday, October 15 we are very pleased to welcome Prof Sir David Spiegelhalter to talk about ‘Can we believe all the Covid numbers in the news?’ David is Chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication in the Centre for Mathematical Sciences at the University of Cambridge. He also appears regularly in the media.

On Saturday the very loud Dr Mark Lewney demonstrates string theory with the rock guitar at the Youth Club whilst in the Parish Church it is Sustainability Day with Dr Alice Bell and Prof Peter Stott discussing their books. Dame Julia Slingo and Doug Eltham will give the evening talks.

Preferred booking is through Eventbrite on our website www.sidmouthsciencefestival.org