Reach for the Stars

"My brain's this big!".

He didn't really say that. Instead the Prof and his super-intelligent friends (Professor Jim Al-Khalili shown here) wowed us all this evening with tidbits from their research and made us feel very small in the process. Indeed as we discovered this evening we are a tiny part of a universe that it now appears might itself be a tiny part of a ginormous (technical term) multiverse that consists of countless solar systems just like our own. Wow!

A new telescope - the Kepler is examining a very small part of our sky in minute detail and studying every star individually - 150,000 so far. Kepler can detect and monitor areas of dimness on the surface of distant stars. If these patches of dimness repeat regularly (say every six months) then it shows that there is a planet orbiting that star (sun) every six months. Kepler has already revealed that there are billions of planets out there in countless other solar systems.

Professor Brian said that among them there are probably other planets that can support life and that there might even be other civilisations, though he thinks it's unlikely for biological reasons. If there are then we should be able to see the effects of their civilisations on their atmospheres with Kepler.

We also discovered that scientists understand less than 5% of the particles that make up the universe. 4.97% to be precise - the ones that make up things like solid objects, ourselves and the earth that we stand on. A further 25% is made up of a particle that we know is there because of the way it behaves but haven't yet discovered. I know, crazy. And that leaves a whopping 70% more 'stuff' that we understand must be there but know nothing about - dark energy. It is energy with little force but there's a hell of a lot of it and it continues to baffle scientists.

We also found out that scientists are beginning to apply the theoretical models behind forensic deduction techniques to biological problems like identifying the sources of malaria outbreaks. Theoretical physics meets biology and helps to solve real world problems. Brilliant.

Oh and we learned that the North European robin (yes bird, but different to our native species) can actually see the magnetic field surrounding the earth and uses it to chart their migration course. Amazing.

I'm jealous of the kids (including Elsa) who are spending two days with these inspirational speakers, including I'm pleased to say a number of top women scientists. Mind you it would probably be lost on me - I struggled to keep up and I'm afraid these fragments are all a bit random because they're the only bits I understood or remembered (properly I hope) from what was a wholly enlightening, baffling and inspiring evening.

This Science Summer school (held at Elsa's school: St Paul's Way Trust) is designed to inspire local children to focus their education and future careers on STEM subjects: science, technology, engineering and maths.

There'll be an estimated 2.5 million engineering jobs available by 2020 and we'll need to produce double the number of engineering graduates than we currently do. In six years time. Now I don't need a maths PhD to work out that's a challenge. Vince Cable came to the school at lunchtime today and apparently went away very impressed with this grass roots approach to the matter. As he should - with this kind of inspiration the kids will be queuing up...

Oh, one last thing before my hurty but happy brain hits the pillow: the egg definitely came first.