Trees are rooting deep into the ground, they connect our lives with the earth we share as humans with all other beings alive. Our researchers are passionate about understanding this natural world, and they are working hard on a sustainable future. Learn how to reduce energy use in buildings, watch the making of plastics, and see how we use virtual reality for sustainability. You can also join the fruit fly roundabout, watch leaves and chromatography, understand past ecosystems through time-travelling pollen, or understand the role of maths in the management of wildlife populations by playing matching pairs with photographs of seals, dolphins and whales. (Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Geography and Sustainable Development, Maths and Statistics, Social Anthropology)
Activities
How to Make a Fruit Fly! Come to join the fruit fly roundabout. Observe living flies and learn about the fruit fly as a model system for biological research. Observe the fascinating process of metamorphosis and colour in your maggot, pupa, or adult fly. Children will also have the opportunity to colour in print outs of cartoons of different fruit fly life stages.
Let’s Make Plastic! Watch along as scientists demonstrate the synthesis, or creation, of common plastics like nylons and polyurethanes. These plastics are in clothes, shoes, mattresses, paints, and many other things around the house. Learn about how these materials are made, and their challenges.
Leaf Chromatography! Have you ever wondered what exactly makes spinach green and why it goes yellow when it wilts? And why some leaves go red in autumn? You can get hands on in this paper chromatography experiment to separate out the pigments in leaves and make a bookmark in the process.
Virtual Reality for Sustainability Development! Virtual Reality offers the possibility of contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Contributing amongst others to Climate Action, Quality Education, Sustainable Communities. Through virtual reality we can extend experiential learning to allow people to explore the past and explore possible futures. This can inspire how we shape the present to build sustainable future. In this exhibit we will use immersive technologies to experience the past and to explore potential climate futures.
Counting Critters: Estimating the Abundance of Wildlife Populations! Play matching pairs with photographs of seals, dolphins, and whales, and see how researchers use natural markings to recognise individual animals. Use statistics to explore how we can estimate the size of a population using mark-recapture, which relies on being able to recognise individuals.
Time Travelling Pollen! On this stall you can see some of the things that peat is made of, and we explain how we can use this information to work out what our landscape looked like hundreds or thousands of years ago. Knowing about the long history of peatlands, lakes, forests, and other ecosystems can help us to understand how valuable they are: many ecosystems take so long to form that they are often effectively irreplaceable. Take a look at the exhibits, including some real peat, and fossils to look at under the microscope so that you can do some ‘time-travelling’ for yourself.
Get Golfing! Exploring Golf as a Health Measure! Did you know that on average, golfers live five years longer than non-golfers? Learn about the health benefits of golfing and give putting a go! Kids and their caregivers can learn about new health initiatives promoting golf’s physical, mental and social benefits.
Modern Minorities: Exploring Minority Culture, Language and Identity! Explore minority cultures and languages in today’s world through the Sami people, the Gaelic language in Scotland, and the Chinese community in Jamaica. We will look at the similarities and differences between each minority culture through storytelling.
Earth Science in Your World! How do we identify and source the rocks and minerals that are used in so many buildings, objects and technologies? Join us for an exciting range of hands-on practical activities to find out.
Crafty Microbes Microbes are everywhere and they can be allies or foes (and sometimes both). Join us to learn more about where, what and how microbes live around us. We will have crafts, cuddly microbes, a view of microbes growing around us, and a cool activity to test the best way to have clean hands.
Environmental heart burn: River pollution solutions! What does Scotland’s favourite fizzy drink and polluted river water have in common? Mining activities result in nearby rivers becoming acidic, full of iron and bright orange. The chemistry of these waters is bad for river creatures and can cause the release of harmful greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Explore these environmental issues, and their solutions, via a chemistry experiment
Panning for Minerals! Nature can separate minerals based on their density by swirling them around in rivers. The old gold miners knew this and used to pan the dirt at the bottom of a river looking for valuable natural resources. In this you can have a go at panning for minerals too. See if you can find gold or other treasure in some sandy sediment from the bottom of a river. Once you have your loot, see what it looks like under a microscope!
What does it CO2st? What do everyday objects and activities ‘CO2st’ our planet? As PhD students in Neuroscience, Biology, and Physics at the University of St Andrews, we are measuring how much pollution and greenhouse gas emissions are released from the experiments we conduct, the material we buy, and the lifestyle we enjoy. At our stall, test your intuitions about the environmental costs of everyday objects and discover easy ways to get involved in tracking and reducing your own carbon footprint!
