The 160th British Association annual Festival of Science gets into full swing this morning in Sheffield. The festival will provide its usual eclectic, somewhat eccentric, mix of science in all its forms.
It will be opened formally by the president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Sir Richard Sykes, who will elaborate on this year's theme, "Prospering Through Science".
"This past year has seen an explosion of public anxiety about a wide range of issues including the safety of genetically modified food and crops, about BSE, cloning, mobile phone safety and even ways of viewing the total eclipse of the sun," Sir Richard said last week. "Many of these subjects will be explored" at the festival in Sheffield.
The Irish Times will be covering the event and publishing reports from the festival every day this week. Reflecting the festival's content, coverage will include the serious and not so serious from leading scientists.
The festival's mission is to bring together the best researchers in the world and then ask them to describe their work in everyday language. Jargon is for the most part left behind and the public gets a chance to learn what goes on in the science labs.
The conference breaks down into categories which include creating economic prosperity, promoting health and quality of life, building scientific awareness, working towards as sustainable environment, enriching culture, learning from the past and exploring new frontiers.
Papers will be delivered on the science of personal care, agriculture in the 21st century, the contribution of alchemy, using science to create sports winners, how bacteria can be good for you, dinosaur behaviour and much more.
The science festival began during the Industrial Revolution, just seven years after the association was founded. Its role is to promote the advancement of science, and in recent times this has in particular focused on making people aware of the contribution made to society by the sciences.