As part of the annual Cambridge Science Festival, University of Cambridge academics will be visiting schools in three counties next week (Monday 13 March until Friday 17 March) to provide pupils with the opportunity to see the fun side of science. They will discuss intriguing topics such as nanotechnology, cloning and life beyond earth, and give students an opportunity to understand and explore these complex topics.

Children at 30 primary and secondary schools will be able to attend interactive talks, especially prepared for their age-group on a variety of topics from maths and science to health, archaeology and philosophy.

Talks include:

Nanotechnology: leaping with tiny steps into the future

Nanotechnology is heralded as the new technological revolution that will improve all aspects of human society. At the same time, sinister pictures are painted of it getting out of control and turning the surface of the earth into an uninhabitable gooey mess. What is nanotechnology really about? (Key stage 4 and sixth form)

Human engineering – genes, clones and stem cells

We have learnt so much about our genes and how they work, and how stem cells specialise to build and maintain our bodies. Can we now begin to engineer ourselves? How could we do it and how much should we try? (Key stage 4)

Is anyone out there?

Might life have evolved on other planets in the solar system, or are we alone? What is needed for life to occur and what might it look like? Could there be life on planets around other stars? (Key stages 1 and 2)

The Schools Roadshow is being held in the run up to the Cambridge Science Festival, hosted by the University of Cambridge. It is supported by The Vodafone UK Foundation.

The Cambridge Science Festival is the UK’s largest free festival of scientific events and will be held 15-26 March 2006 in and around the University of Cambridge. There is a wide range of events for children and adults of all ages.

Celebrity mathematician and University of Cambridge graduate Carol Vorderman will be opening the 2006 Cambridge Science Festival, and delivering an inaugural talk for a family audience on Saturday 18 March.

The Science Festival will run from Wednesday 15 March to Sunday 26 March. It provides people of all ages the opportunity to explore science through hands-on activities and talks hosted by people who study or work with science, engineering and technology.

The first ‘Science Weekend’ will be held 18-19 March, when many of the laboratory tours, demonstrations and hands-on activities will take place. Vorderman will open up the Science weekend on Saturday, March 18 in the Courtyard, Downing Site, Downing Street, Cambridge. A second ‘Science on Saturday’ event takes place on March 25, with further Open Days at Physics, Astronomy, and Maths.

The Festival will also continue its ‘Spotlight on Science’ lecture series, which will include environmentally-focused lecture ‘Priorities for People and Planet’, as well as health and technology lectures ‘Autism and the Extreme Male Brain’ and ‘The Mathematics of Luck, Risk and Gambling’.

The 2006 Cambridge Science Festival is sponsored by Cambridge University Press, The Technology Partnership (TTP), Microsoft Research, the Vodafone UK Foundation, Science Magazine and Oracle. Supporters of the Festival include Cambridge Evening News and BBC Radio Cambridgeshire.

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