Star Gazing

Among the venues we planned to visit on this year's Doors Open Day we chose the Lyell Centre, within the Research Park at Riccarton, where now reside the earth and marine sciences from Heriot-Watt University and British Geological Survey.

One of the many exhibits was a tank representing a marine environment, with typical inhabitants including a starfish (top row, upper and lower surfaces), sun star (bottom row, ditto) and brittle star (extra). NB, the hands are those of the demonstrator, not mine.

Unsurprisingly we bumped into a few members of our U3A geology group and compared notes, agreeing that we were beginning to suffer from information overload, a condition not apparent in the many young people enjoying the hand-on demonstrations.

A great deal of effort had been made to make the visit appealing to all generations.