Youngsters unravel science mysteries and much more in fun-packed week

Students became science sleuths for a day when they were challenged to solve molecular medical mysteries with scientists from the University of Exeter Medical School. The children played the role of Environment Agency experts tasked with averting a possible environmental catastrophe. The Year 9 youngsters were challenged to discover whether a diabetes epidemic was being caused by infectious algae carried in genetically modified bananas. Their investigation took place in a working laboratory, and involved extracting DNA from bananas and searching for the foreign DNA, examining algae for the presence of mutants and learning to preserve the specimen by freezing objects in liquid nitrogen. Along the way they learned about scientific processes, in areas including diabetes, genetics, body mass index, cell culture and DNA analysis.

Dr Lorna Harries is one of the organisers of the Men in White event, which aims to make science more accessible to young people. She said: “I love seeing the children so engaged in their experiments. They learn so much without even realising it. Our format has evolved over eight years, and we now know that it is achieving its aims of inspiring children to engage with science. One of the University of Exeter’s Clinical Sciences undergraduates says she changed the course of her career after attending one of our sessions.”

Co-organiser Dr John Chilton said: “The event will be a chance for children to meet real scientists, have a go at some of the techniques we use in the lab and fire up their curiosity about the world around them. Science is exciting, relevant and open to everyone.  It’s a creative discipline which impacts every part of society and one that children should be exposed to as young as possible.”

Dr Chilton and Dr Harries have both recently been named as Public Engagement Champions by the University, in part in recognition of their Men in White project.

Activities at the University’s Cornwall campus included a ‘Science, is it for me?’ event where students competed to become the champions of the day in a University Challenge style finale after a series of interactive bioscience, geography and environmental science sessions. Year 10 students who took part in the ‘Data, data everywhere’ event worked with experts to dig into a data mountain and explored the links between maths and the environment.

In Exeter,  students had the chance to find out what it takes to become an elite sprinter or footballer in Sport and Exercise Science, while over in the School of Physics, pupils tried their hand at measuring the speed of light, witnessed levitation and found out about strange new worlds in space that might support extraterrestrial life.

Many other sessions across the University highlighted the science and engineering behind the nation’s favourite gadgets and ensured that visiting students enjoyed an interesting and inspirational week.

To view more pictures of the event, view this Flickr set.