22/05/2013

Show me content for...

Events	Resources
Volunteers	Teachers
Professional development	Families & teenagers (aged 12+)
Families (children aged 12 & under)

Register with us and you can....

Sign up to our free e-communications
Become a member of the Association
Create your own web account, & post comments
Be part of British Science Festival
Save your favourite items

Register

Get involved

Choose from...

What's happening in your area?

Blog

Welcome to the blog, you can read all about the latest news for the sections and take a look in our archive. Scroll through the latest posts below, or select a section from the dropdown.

Dec 18

Get Set... Demonstrate! Guest blog from Matthew Tosh, on the art of science demonstrations.

As Christmas approaches, I'm thinking of what trick I can perform for our dinner guests this year. Previous tricks include making water boil at less than 100°C, (not) burning a £10 note and making fast-food ice cream using liquid nitrogen. It's great fun and always results in our guests talking about science. I feature demonstrations in my own work and so I'm always on the hunt for new ideas.

By happy coincidence, the British Science Association has launched the first stage of Get Set... Demonstrate: A nationwide search for the most exciting, thought-provoking and wow-factor inducing science demonstrations. I think I've covered the principle adjectives there. As a former teacher turned presenter, researching a new demonstration, practising and refining it remains an essential aspect of my own professional development. It opens the mind to alternative ways of communicating and explaining scientific concepts. Furthermore, I really enjoy watching new takes on old ideas; different teachers and presenters often have their own interpretations of well-known demos.

Click for more

Dec 11

Tasty spoons and drinkable clouds: the art of engineering

by Katherine Mathieson

Last week I went to a delicious event. The Royal Academy of Engineering hosted a one-off event called ‘Tasty spoons and drinkable clouds: the art of engineering’. Two unusual engineers discussed their adventures with materials and flavour.

Click for more

Dec 10

Sir Patrick Moore

The British Science Association was saddened to learn of the death of Honorary Fellow, Sir Patrick Moore. Tributes have flooded in to the inspirational and eccentric presenter – with scores of renowned scientists remembering Sir Patrick as one of the earliest influences encouraging them to pursue a career in science.

Click for more

Dec 06

Nesta Failure Fest: Education, Innovation and Enterprise

by Katherine Mathieson

I usually find failure an embarrassing topic: to be discussed quietly among friends or even kept secret. But at Nesta’s Failure Fest on 22^nd November, failure was to be shared, talked about – even celebrated.

Click for more

Dec 03

Skylon – the latest notch on Britain’s bedpost of aviation history?

by Dan Richards

The Skylon concept space plane has been designed a testbed for the new Sabre engine. Image credit: REL This week has seen a UK company announcing the successful testing of an innovative new propulsion system, designed to propel a single vehicle into space almost as easily as a conventional airliner.

Click for more

Nov 13

More tea madam? Not if my kettle has anything to say about it

Persuasive technology, the environment and kettles that answer back – Birmingham Café Scientifique, 6 November 2012

David Chapman

Click for more

Nov 06

Science and the US election

Anyone who has picked up a newspaper or watched the news on television in the past few weeks can hardly fail to notice the huge amount of coverage dedicated to the American Presidential election.

Click for more

Nov 02

Global food security – how can we feed the nine billion?

By the year 2050, the world’s population is predicted to have risen from 6.8 billion to 9 billion. Feeding them all, without damaging the environment or contributing to climate change, is acknowledged to be one of the major challenges facing world governments.

Last month, the problem of ‘Feeding the Nine Billion’ was explored at a session at the British Science Festival in Aberdeen. A panel of experts explored the issues surrounding global food demand from four different perspectives – nutrition, livestock, resource management, and economics.

Click for more

Nov 02

Space weather: a new hazard

Increasingly, we are becoming more and more dependent on power and communication systems in many different aspects of our daily lives. This leaves us even more susceptible to disruption during particularly violent periods of solar weather.

Bad solar storms could potentially shutdown electricity power grids around the UK if the position of electrical power transformers is not moved in order to cope with powerful geomagnetic induced currents (GIC) caused by coronal mass ejections (CME) from the Sun.

Click for more

Oct 24

Planet Under Pressure: six months on

Sciencewise-ERC is the UK’s national centre for public dialogue in policy making involving science and technology issues. The British Science Association is working in partnership with Sciencewise acting as the public face and engaging the public in emerging science issues.