Science on stage... and on the streets!

This year's international celebration of science that is "Science on Stage" was as good as ever by all accounts - more details and photos are on the ESA site.

And shoppers on Dublin's Grafton Street might get a bit of a surprise on Saturday, 26 May 2007 when live "physics busking" will be performed by some familiar faces from the Irish delegation to Science on Stage!

Irish science communication competition

An article in today's Irish Times (12 April 2007) highlights an event that sees the seven Irish universities in the Republic go head to head next month in a competition designed to find the ultimate postgraduate science communicator:

The annual Science Speak competition takes place on Thursday May 3rd, in the Royal Dublin Society Concert Hall at 7pm. A panel of judges will hear seven competitors, one from each of the universities who must explain their scientific research in ordinary language and without recourse to technological jargon.

[...]

Science Speak is a joint initiative organised by the RDS and The Irish Times in association with Irish Universities Promoting Science. It is sponsored by the Discover Science Engineering programme and by Wyeth Biotech at Grange Castle, Dublin.

Admission to Science Speak is free of charge but places are limited, so it is advisable to book a seat. book online at www.universityscience.ie or by telephone on (01) 240-7217.

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Promoting science in Second Life's on-line world

The on-line simulation of the world that is Second Life was home to some a dramatic science demonstration recently as sections of it were "flooded" (virtually) as part of a campaign to raise awareness climate change.



Like it or not, climate change is the big science story of the moment, and although this stunt (in the positive sense of the word!) was pioneered by an environmentalist it shows the impact that science-based content from scientists could have. Rumour has it at least one Irish science outreach programme is planning to setup shop on Second Life too.



National Geographic News has more information on the virtual flood:

Tokyo, Amsterdam, and the entire Mediterranean island of Ibiza were inundated with floodwaters today due to rising sea levels brought on by global warming.



Or at least, that would have been the headline if events in the virtual world Second Life mirrored reality.

A rolling flood temporarily swamped several areas of the online world as part of a campaign to illustrate the potential environmental and financial impacts of climate change.

"Our message was, You may have a second life, but [you still need to] offset your second life in real life," said David de Rothschild, a London-based environmentalist and adventurer whose nonprofit Adventure Ecology helped stage today's flood.

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