Otley Science Festival

Do you expect to find caffeine when you stop for a coffee, linalool lurking by the soap or theobromine when you pop in for a chocolate bar? These are the chemical compounds responsible for a lot of the tastes, smells and colours of everyday life; for the next few weeks you will be able to find models of the molecules responsible in 15 shops and businesses all over Otley.

These chemical clues form the Otley Molecule Trail, a scientific treasure hunt with prizes organised as part of the Tenth Otley Science Festival. We are asking you to search the shops of Otley for models of these and other organic molecules – and you could win a Molymod molecular modeling kit of your very own!

These are now appearing in shop windows around Otley, looking something like this:

Otley Molecule Trail runs from 23 October to 9 November and you can pick up a trail leaflet from Otley Courthouse, Otley Library and the CORE, or download it from here. All you need to do is write down where you find each of the 15 molecules shown in the leaflet, hand in your answers at the Courthouse by 6pm on Thursday 9 November, then see if we draw your name at 11am at the Science Fair at Otley Courthouse on Saturday 11 November.

You can find all the details on our Otley Molecule Trail page

With the September Science Cafe behind us we now look forward to the Festival week from 6th – 11th of November and in the the run up to it a new feature for this year:

Otley Molecule Trail

– Win a Molecular Modelling Kit

Between Monday 23 October and Thursday 9th November find the 15 molecules hidden around Otley in various shops in our FREE to enter molecule trail.

From Monday 23rd you can pick up the entry leaflet from Otley Courthouse or download it from this website then hunt the molecules for a chance to win a molecular modelling kit. Return your entry to Otley Courthouse before 6pm on Thursday 9th November.

The first three correct entries picked at 11am at the Science Fair at Otley Courthouse on Saturday 11th November will receive a molecule modelling kit.

Many thanks to Spiring Enterprises Ltd and Keele University School of Chemical and Physical Sciences.

10th Otley Science Festival

The Festival runs from Monday 6th to Saturday 11th November. You can pick up a programme from Otley Courthouse and many other locations around the area or check the schedule of events here.

There is also a programme of events for schools during the day from Tuesday 7th to Thursday 9th. Some have already sold out. You can check the schools programme here.

Tickets for all events are available from Otley Courthouse.

You can find more details on our Science Café page

Unfortunately it has been necessary to make a change to our originally published schedule for the Science Festival week which came too late to be included in the Courthouse autumn printed programme. Due to circumstances beyond our control the Tuesday and Wednesday evening events have been swapped so Professor Robert Winston is now speaking on Tuesday 7th and the Science Cafe will be on Wednesday 8th.

You can find the full schedule for the week here.

This summer there are a couple of great science fun sessions for children (age 7+) at Otley Courthouse. On August 7th and 8th JuniorSTEM are running Lego robotics workshops. Build creations and bring them to life!

The sessions run from 10.00 to 13.00 and tickets cost £5. You can find more details and book on the Courthouse ticket site here. Or you can pop into the Courthouse and buy them in person.

We are celebrating our 10th anniversary this year and it seems appropriate to recognise another 10th anniversary today: www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/29/iphone-at-10-how-it-changed-everything

Both 10 years old and going strong! We might not have had quite the same impact as the iPhone but we do have some extra activities planned to celebrate our first decade so keep in touch to see what’s coming.

Thanks to our speakers, Dr Antonios Stavropoulos-Kalinoglou, Prof Ben Varcoe, and Dr Paul Ko Ferrigno for 3 engaging and interesting talks at last night’s Science Cafe.

Here is a quick look back to the evening:

 

There’s more information on the Science Café page

 

The line up for this Science Café now in place. On the evening we will be covering:

• Immunity in a test tube; engineering Biology for better health
• Why Schrödinger’s Cat Is Hard to Understand: The Physics of Quantum Information
• Exercise and arthritis: a painful story or healthy relationship?

There is more information on our Science Cafés page

In the meantime, here’s a quick look back at the last one: