One month to go...

This isn't exactly science but its something close to my heart which I am very proud of doing. Today is the 10th March, which means it is exactly 1 month until I run in the Brighton marathon to raise much needed funds for The Rutger Hauer Starfish Association. It is also my birthday 1 month after this event. Please consider giving me an early present by sponsoring me ♥ you can do this safely online by visiting my website.  I certainly do appreciate it and would also love it if you left a comment in my guestbook. Have a fab day and thank you! xxx

http://sarahstracks.webplus.net/index.html

So you want to be a STEM Ambassador?

I have been a STEM Ambassador since September 2009 and it is a decision I am very pleased to have made. I love it! It is such fun and you get to meet fellow enthusiastic like minded people. I think it is also a great networking tool and a nice way to make new friends. A STEM Ambassador is essentially a science communicator and to find out more about this initiative and to sign up to become an ambassador yourself, please visit their website www.stemnet.org.uk Do you have what it takes to inspire people about STEM subjects and to dispel myths and stereotypes which people still believe? I became a STEM Ambassador because it sounded fun and exciting which it is. I thought it would present me with opportunities which it has. Let me give you an example. In January 2010 I was interviewed for a  US radio station about the STEM Ambassador program and how it could be implemented across the pond. I have also met and worked with some wonderful people and I hope to work with them again. Another reason was to hone my skills at communicating science  to non-scientists as I feel I need to improve in this area. What a nice way to acquire a new skill. When I first started we were told that there were 11k ambassadors in the UK and that the goal was to have  27k by 2012. The fabulous news I recieved this month is that that goal has now been surpassed already. Of course the more the merrier and this can only enhance the diversity of experience available to faciliate STEM initiatives and inspire future scientists. On a personal note last monday I attended the Didsbury Scibar as I do every month. This time the speaker was from the University of Manchester  Dr Paul Walmsley talking about low temperature physics. In the not too distant future I may well be the chairperson for this event.

International Year of Chemistry

I can't believe that it is the end of January already. I guess things have kicked off regarding chemistry at some places in the world and it can only continue, and get better! Today marks the opening ceremony for the international year of chemistry, in Paris. Here are some interesting and useful links

Tomorrow, January 27th, the opening ceremony for the International Year of Chemistry will be held in Paris, at the UNESCO HQ

http://bit.ly/dZ4MCH

To watch the Program, please click on:

http://bit.ly/dZ4MCH

To watch the Launch Ceremony live, please click on one of the following links:

Floor – mms://stream.unesco.org/live/room_1_floor.wmv

English – mms://stream.unesco.org/live/room_1_en.wmv

French – mms://stream.unesco.org/live/room_1_fr.wmv

and this is just the beginning of a very exciting year !!!

Yesterday saw the opening of a new gallery at MOSI (Museum of science and Industry) and the ribbon was cut by Manchester's very own Prof. Brian Cox. It's a pity that I only got 20 minutes notice about this on my Twitter feed lol otherwise I would've headed over there before work to meet him and ask him to sign my copy of his book. Ah well, such is life, c'est La vie. I hope there will be future chances for this to happen when the Prof is at home long enough ;) Take care all, and enjoy 2011

Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all had a good one. It was a quiet affair for us this year remembering 2 people we've lost. As its my favourite season I made the best of it. As there was still a substantial amount of snow and the ground and it was everywhere I consider this a successful white xmas.  Back home now and looking forward to the new year and New Year's Eve when we will be seeing Queen WWRY musical. I can hardly wait for that. I just want to wish you all a happy healthy and prosperous 2011.  Thank you for reading. I hope you have some great plans for the day/evening and some great resolutions too. As 2011 is the International year of Chemistry I'm hoping it is going to be a good one for me professionally. Keeping me busy and hopefully presenting me with lots of great opportunities. Lots of love from Sarah xxx 

Day 9

31^st October. Sadly this means it is the last day of the science festival for this year. It has been a full and fun week, enjoyed by one and all. I was Maths busking in the air and space hall for most of the morning. My chosen busk for today was the tying a knot in the scarf trick. I seemed to spend most of yesterday handcuffed to Katie but today I was with Duncan. He did the mind reading birthday trick. Around mid morning was a steam engine demo and we stopped to watch that. A very amusing guy who asked questions of the kids in the audience. The demo included 2 coke cans filled with hot water to show the power of steam. They were crushed. I was impressed by this and think it will be something I remember from this festival. At 2.30pm I helped Duncan assisted an event he had helped on earlier. A workshop given by a lady from Imperial College London. This was called ‘Through the looking glass’. Different shapes were built from plastic models and viewed at various angles through homemade kaleidoscopes. Then it ws time to go home, its all over L I went to collect my things and most other people had gone home. Carolyn presented me with a gift bag containing a bottle of red wine. A sweet note on it thanked me for all I’d done from the MOSI team. I was very touched and hadn’t expected this. Thanks very much! xxx Duncan and I chatted with the mathematicians who were keen to recruit more buskers and invited us for a drink. So we joined them in a nearby pub for coffee. I met Bubblz the maths clown at last aka Caroline and a familiar face started speaking to me. I realised it was a guy I’d seen in costume dressed up as mathematician John Dee. His real name is Costel and he lives near me so we exchanged email addresses as you do. These maths people never switch off. They had to travel back to London and be at work the next day, some had written prep to do for this and he they were surrounded by luggage talking about maths and looking rather comfortable. It was truly wonderful to meet and work with all of thse lovely and skilled people during the course of these 9 days. I shall miss it and thus hope to do it again next year. I looked forward to the xmas do which of course has now passed. I hope everyone is well and wish them luck in all they do if I don’t see them again. XXX   

Day 8

Saturday 30^th October. This morning saw the beginning of a largely maths themed weekend and I sent most of it at maths busking. This took place in the air and space hall of MOSI. We were briefed by 2 experienced maths buskers Rufus and Katie who had come all the way from Oxford University. Maths is my weakest subject, so I was abit apprehensive though I needn’t have worried. One of the busks we did was the rope/handcuffs one so at least there was one ‘trick’ I could do.  We also challenged people to put a knot in their scarves without letting go of it with their hands. There was also the turning your waistcoast inside out whilst handcuffed. That’s a neat trick and I needed  bit of practice. Like most things, its easy when you know how. We made emergency pentagons from strips of paper and read people’s mind telling them their birthdays. I still have that card with all the numbered boxes on. I can do it, but didn’t memorise any of the number sequences like my fellow buskers did! You can find out all about maths busking from this link
   http://www.mathsbusking.com/
I was back science busking in MOSI in the afternoon. One of the STEM managers made we laugh by asking how I was so alert and full of energy after all this time. Funny because I felt like a zombie and thought I must’ve looked like one too. Bless her! The penultimate day and so I’m feeling a little sad anyhow. Before we went home today we were treated to the 4D theatre which was fantastic, I had fun there too. Two 20 minute animated films are showing, we saw one called pirates in the museum. Of course we had to wear special glasses to feel the effects and feel them we certainly did. Our chairs moved around at angles to the movement of the characters onscreen. We had a couple of blasts of air. One squirt of water on our faces. Crabs or whatever nibbling at our angles and finally bubbles coming out of the screen. It was difficult to tell wether these were real or onscreen and I was sat at the back. Like everyone else I put my hand out to feel them and oped one. So real then. Alas no photo’s from today.  

Day 7

Friday 29^th October. Today I was at MOSI, all day busking. Firstly upstairs in the lobby and it did get quite busy. After lunch they wanted us to busk downstairs to try and get people in. Somehow that didn’t happen, we were happy doing it upstairs were it was warmer and we saw enough people. It was quite overwhelming sometimes! During lunch we met Seth, a maths busker, who showed us a few tricks. All in all a fairly quiet day. It seems that way as the festival will soon be over :(

This evening it was time for us to revisit The Briton’s Protection and revisit a talk I really enjoyed last year and found rather quirky. You’ll see why after this description lol. It was called ‘Drinking up Time’ and takes us an a time travelling adventure to explore the scientific understandings of alcohol, since 1600. Dr James Sumner of Manchester University meets Newton, Davy and others to do this aided by his time machine which is of course a wine box! There were a few changes this year and the time machine now has flashing lights. A lighthearted hilarious talk I’d encourage everyone to see if they get the chance. Enjoy these pix. I did try to capture the wine machine.