Oooohh Science.

So last night I found myself in the middle of a busy week, in London, in the Royal Institution of Great Britain, listening to 3 minute slots of excellent science. This was because I had received an invitation to the FameLab National Finals. This was something totally new to me despite the fact it has been running since 2005. What started as a fun event at the Cheltenham Science festival has gone global with 20 odd countries holding their own versions and requiring an international final to be held at the festival in June this year. The basic premise is for the contestants to talk on a science topic of their choice for 3 minutes. It should be informative, accurate and entertaining and the 10 finalists had all been through regional heats so had honed their talents prior to this evening. The field was varied and strong with topics such as quantum tunnelling, hydrogen fuelled transport and epigenetics. My particular favourites were a fantastic piece about how the measle virus can utilised to treat cancer and the eventual winner's talk on why carrots are orange (based on how electrons are trapped in a box, that is the beta-carotene molecule…. you kinda had to be there).

Science seems to be crawling back out of the lab and back out into popular culture again. It seems to go in waves with people declaring that science is the saviour of the planet one day and a freakish out-of-control monster the next. In reality there are so many exciting breakthroughs that we never get to hear about. It's sad that this amazing celebration of science communication could only be viewed online last night when the equivalent event in Turkey had 20 million viewers. The speakers are funny, bright and inspiring and I'd urge you to have a rummage through the FameLab site and even consider attending the festival as the programme has just been published and looks astounding. Unfortunately I am going to be in Africa so won't make it this year but will have to make room in my crazy schedule in 2013!

To visit FameLab CLICK HERE

To see the Festival Site CLICK HERE