Day 3:Drones Expo

Saturday 24th October (also Sunday). I did this event all day and it was such fun, kids and adults alike love this and I do too. It only took place over these 2 days but I am sure there are such events as this at other venues which you can go to if you wish. So worth it. Here all the action took place at MOSI behind safety nets and for free. There was just a 10 minute queue and we were so pleased at how patient everyone was and to see the kids enjoying it so much. There were remote control quadcopters with LED's and demo's of larger ones on the hour. These demo drones had movable camera's attached to their undersides allowing people to see themselves on 2 big screens at the back. Who can resist a wave? You can see 2 videos below of these drones being demo'ed. The really cool part is that there were 2 Rolling Spider drones which operate with an iphone and I just happened to have my iphone 6 with me.So yes I installed the free app and off I went. I was told these are easier oto control.That may be true unless you are me! It was amazing. I fully intend to buy one of these for myself in the future. As a volunteer it was my job to change and recharge the batteries which only have a life of 6 minutes. There were spare parts and mini tools as well as we are the drone technicians. There was a table near the screens with 2 drone repair experts and spare parts too. Also people were free to go and chat about drones and find out all about them A guy had made 2 films using drones which he called 'Game of Drones'. What else? :) They were seeing peoples reactions to being given parking tickets and also following people who don't pick up their dogs poop. So far this event is certainly one of the highlights for me. Please check out these photo's.

Two large drones being demo'd

                                Please enjoy these 2 videos of the large drones being demonstrated.

  Whilst I was at MOSI, I got a glimpse into
the adult ball pool which is epic! I can't wait to join in the fun with this next week. This pool consists of 81,000 balls and will be here for the duation of the festival, so last day November 1st. From 10am untill 5pm every day at a cost of £5 adults only. Go on...you know you want to.....check out my 2 sneaky photo's.

Day 2: Body of Light

Friday 23rd October. I spent the whole of today in the 1830's Warehouse where the main event was The Body of Light Dance. I hadn't known what to expect but I really enjoyed this. So much so I ended up filming it! You can see the raw video further below. This is a really popular event and visitors only had good things to say about it. I never heard a negative comment. This event by Dance Manchester is a fusion of dance and technology. After the performance the choreographer explained how it worked (sensors on the clothing, talking to the computer essentially). There was then an opportunity to have a go yourself. The kids loved it! This is a free event and you can drop in anytime. There were 2 performances in the afternoon but the choreographer and tech dude were available anytime to chat about this. Nice stuff.  I hope you too enjoy the performance :)

The venue in 1830's Warehouse.

Not entirely sure why YouTube have turned this video through 90 degrees. Sorry about that.





There are plenty of other things to see in the 1830's Warehouse as well as this being the home of the 4D Theatre which is great for younger kids where you can watch and experience a 15 minute animated short called Pirates. I have, thats also great fun! In this building is an event called Cravings where you can learn how food shapes our appetites. This is a free drop in event which is here until September 2016 so you have plenty of time to see this. Its on the second floor.  I found myself talking and having fun with other visitors. Like most people I got most of the sniff samples wrong. I was surprised by this until I had a go myself.  It is bizarre :) There is also an impressive model of the human gut with explanatory notes. Here are the photo's.


 

Gut Model

The Sniff Test

Up on the second floor is an amazing exhibit called Evaporation. Artist Tania Kovats celebrates the oceans and tides, in partnership with british chemist James Lovelock who developed Gaia Theory (look it up, read the photos below or pop along and see!) Evaporation consists of 3 metallic bowls filled with seawater. They were set up at the start of the festival and are left to see what they look like at the end of it. There is also a collection of bottles of seawater from the worlds oceans. It is hoped, and the aim is that one day the collection will comprise of a bottle from ALL of the worlds oceans.Sounds impossible doesn't it but it's looking good! here are some photo's:

Project info

Gaia Theory

                             Bottles of seawater from all the worlds oceans. Such a   beautiful sight!

Evaporation

This exhibit is here until May 2016 and is a wonderful contribution to this years science festival. You do want to visit this! Excited for my third day tomorrow when I will be at MOSI all day once again volunteering at the Drones Expo. 

Day 1 of Manchester Science Festival 2015

Thursday 22nd October. It was a gentle start as a volunteer/STEM Ambassador for me as I was based at Salford University's Fredrick Road Campus. The event is called 'Your Colour Perception' and is an installation by an artist called Liz West. Most of our visitors were people who are interested in or work with colour and they only had good things to say about it. Got something out of it which was nice. I had a wander in a few times :) It is an emotional and psychological experience.  I will let the photo's speak for themselves then you can decide what you think.

Click on these photo's to embiggen :)

 Fellow volunteer Bob.

Over shoes were required before being allowed into the installation too as the carpet is part of it and must be kept unspoiled.

Its almost here!

Yes, its that time of year again. The Manchester Science Festival 2015 starts tomorrow! A 10 day extravaganza of great science for your learning, watching and hands on pleasure. I am delighted to say I am doing 7 whole days this year as a volunteer. Tomorrow I will be at the University of Salford's Allerton Studio's on an installation called 'Your Colour Perception'. Please come along and say hello if you can :) There is something for everyone at venues all over Greater Manchester including of course our beloved MOSI. There is no better way to spend the half term and evenings have something for mums and dads too. Do visit the festival website to find out more. I hope I do see some of you.Enjoy!

 http://www.manchestersciencefestival.com/


Love Sarah xxx

Marine Biology course in Italy.

Thanks to a very friendly and amazing Manchester based company called Global Nomadic, this summer I was gifted with a once in a lifetime opportunity. To go whale/dolphin watching and be a volunteer helping with whale research. My home from 27th July until 2nd August was the boat you see here, the Jean Gab. I can't stress enough how wonderful this was and I would certainly do it again, once is not enough. Sailing is so peaceful and makes you feel close to nature. I'm only sorry we didn't get to see more cetaceans but some weeks are like that. I want more, but I am forever indebited to GN for offering me this one chance. I could write about this forever I guess but after I got home GN asked me if I would write a testimonial and of course I was only happy too! You can read all about it here:

https://globalnomadic.com/resources/chronicles/sarah-murray-marine-biology-course-in-italy/

You need to scroll down to the bottom of the page where you will see our group photo. Yours truly is the second one from the left, all covered up as I got quite a sunburn on day 1. Mostly the legs but I'm okay now. I hope you enjoyed read it and well as this, not to mention the photo's :) If you have always wanted to do something like this what are you waiting for. Get in touch with them and just do it! Thank you for reading

Love Sarah 

The Experimental Weekender: Part 2 Sunday

Once again MOSI put on a nice breakfast for us. I had a custard danish today and was delighted to see mostly the same faces from yesterday. I spent this morning with the microscopes and the highlight for me was of course getting to make graphene myself using the traditional method of scotch tape and graphite particles. I learned that the secret is to make the tape come together in different places each time so that you end up with a powdery looking layer. Takes about 10 minutes. I looked at it under the microscope. Here is a picture of it. The grey and white areas which are letting through light and are difficult to see is graphene :D

Lunch was once again, very enjoyable. Fun chats with fellow volunteers and we joked about how scientists can't function without coffee. I spent the afternoon, on the front table helping kids (and adults!) make sheets of graphene which they could then place on the floor at the back if they wanted to. We were trying to make the worlds largest sheet of graphene. Alternatively, people could make a 'bucky ball' if they wanted too. We didn't get many takers as this is percieved as too difficult. I think only one person succeeded. There were many comments throughout the afternoon about how addicitve and therapeutic this is. I had initially had that very thought myself. We also had the joy of listening to The Graphene Suite again as well.

It was still rather busy at the end of this event and we started to pack up at 4pm. Experiencing a heat wave at the moment we were sent on our merry way with a bottle of water. I don't feel like I have had a weekend but I did have a great time. Thank you MOSI for looking after us. I have always had an interest in graphene and was excited to do this and not disappointed.  Chatting to other ambassadors about what I want to do (HIV research) and one lovely guy to me 'thats actually very cool' for which I thanked him. I appreciate such comments as usually people don't say anything. Myself and the other ambassadors were not really keeping track of time and we stood outside MOSI chatting for a while before going our separate ways. It would be nice to work with them again but I wish them all the best with their futures anyway. I learned alot. I know graphene is the strongest known material but now I know that it used to be the spiders silk thread. Also it can be made in the lab by CVD (Carbon Vapour Deposition) I learned that it can be used in the body to direct drugs to the affected area. Also graphene lightbulbs may be on the market next year! From the questions I was asked it was clear that some people are aware of graphene and wanted to know about its applications whilst alot of people wanted to know what it is with genuine interest. The visitors obviously had a great time which makes this all the more worthwhile. I will leave you with some feedback which they gave. I hope you found this weekend through my eyes interesting too.

“fabulous guides”

“I have learnt lots about what graphene is and what it is made of”

“[I learnt that] graphene is the thinnest material you can make and it was discovered in Manchester”

“It’s the strongest material in the world”

“I learnt how to make a microscope”

“Being a scientist or STEM Ambassador is really interesting”

“I have learnt about STEM jobs, super materials, nanotechnology and nanometres”

“I learnt what motivated the scientists to do what they do now”

“I learnt how to pursue a scientific career”


Sarah

The Experimental Weekender:Part 1 Saturday

I spent last weekend, 27.6.15 and 28.6.15 at MOSI in my role as a STEM Ambassador participating in an event called The Experimental Weekender. This was all about the wonder stuff known as Graphene. Although on both days the event was 11am until 4am we had to be there around 9am for a briefing. MOSI were kind enough to offer us a light breakfast of coffee/water and warm danish pastries. Very tasty, I had a cinnamon one, thank you! Better than this though whilst enjoying our refreshments it was nice to sit around a table, meet and chat to fellow Ambassadors. This event took place on the ground floor but other things were going on too. There was a circus and a funfair and an event in the power hall called electric pencils. Here people are invited to draw or scribble on a piece of card, then an LED is placed along the drawing and the circuit is complete as the LED lights up proving that graphite/graphene conducts electricity. Very cool! On Saturday I had my first taste of everything, and familarised myself with each activity. Some of the other volunteera are graphene scientists and very nice people they were too.Very happy to have met them. I made a 3D shape put it on a wooden skewer and then held it up to a large computer screen with various 2D shapes on it in shadow. This is a way of identifying a 3D shape. I then spent most of the day on one specific activity which was a demo illustrating how drug delivery systems work. It was a heart and lungs which had 2 squeezy pumps on the end of tubes to force the water (which represents blood) around. At various points there were iron oxide particles in the tubes representing nanoparticles.

We would get people to squeeze the 2 pumps whilst explaining what was happening. We had a magnetic cube too and a jar of water containing iron oxide particles. This allowed us to show what was happening on a larger scale as our model unfortunately wasn't working too well. As the water (blood) circulates, and you place the magnet near some of the iron oxide particles they all move together and congregate at the magnet. Once the magnet is taken away, the particles quickly separate and move away. We then placed the magnet near to the jar and see all the particles move in a big splodge towards the magnet and would also follow it. This illicited 'oohs' and 'ahas' of amazement from children and adults alike. A nice feeling. We had to be careful with the magnet because the table legs were made of steel and it can wipe phones in close proximity. I did make a loud noise on the table once, before I was aware of this but others did too throughout the event :)

At one stage a graphene scientist stepped into a nanotube and had trouble getting out of it. Fun to watch!

  







MOSI had a musician in residence who had composed some music especially for this event. She played with an orchestra giving us snapshots of this new work for 30 minutes at a time. It was beautiful and had a calming influence.

 At one stage quite a crowd had gathered with some people even sitting on the floor. This lovely orchestra was called The Graphene Suite.
 




There were 2 sittings for dinner and I was asked to go on the first one. A lovely buffet was set up for us, in the room where we'd had our briefing. There was a good selection of sandwiches, mini spinach flans, potato wedges (replaces with sausages and apple slices on Sunday), a selection of fruits, brownies and flapjack. A choice of tea, coffee, water and 3 fruit juices (apple, orange and cranberry). This was once again a great chance to talk to the others. After lunch I resumed what I was doing and watched what was going on around me, watching people, that is visitors and Ambassadors alike enjoying themselves. It remained busy and we started to pack up at 3.45pm. I left happy having had a great time and knowing I would be doing it all again tomorrow.