Tarantula tickling, paper skyscraper-building and devising lie detectors are among the many activities planned for Galway this week during its own seven-day science and technology festival.
The 7th annual event hosted by the Galway Education Centre comes hot after National Science Week, and culminates in the biggest one-day event of its kind in Europe next Sunday .
The Armagh Planetarium's travelling stardome, the Scottish "Rude Mechanicals" and the "Madlabs" electronics workshops are among the activities booked for the programme starting today, along with a big bug show and talks by science educators. Venues will range from schools to city and county libraries to the Children's Discovery Museum in Ballybrit, while the one-day exhibition takes place on Sunday in Leisureland and the Galway Bay Hotel, Salthill.
Fans of English soccer captain David Beckham will have the opportunity to attend Bending it like Beckham. The analysis of his scientific genius will examine video footage of some of his more famous "ball paths".
There will also be demonstrations by US science educator, Mr Walter Rohr, Mr Dominic McDonald of the Oxford Trust, Dr Tom Mason of the Armagh Planetarium, Mr Richard Robinson, a science "magician", and Dr Bunhead, familiar to viewers of BBC, ITV and the Discovery Channel.
Sustainable Energy Ireland will host workshops in the Children's Discovery Museum, and the National Centre for Biomedical Engineering's science roadshow will visit schools. There will also be a debate on how science and the media interact, entitled Frankenstein Foods, Genetic Superhumans, Stem Cell Scares at NUI, Galway on November 18th. Last year's Sunday festival exhibition attracted over 15,000 people. Details are available from (091) 745602 or www.galwayscience.ie
