The air was full of learning at Our Dynamic Earth earlier today. Organisers were expecting around 1,000 children from schools across Scotland to visit and learn about environmental science.
The event is open all weekend and is free for adults and children to take part in or watch scientific experiments to show the depth and breadth of the research undertaken in Scotland.
You are invited to meet the scientists who will tell you about tsunamis and earthquakes and you are invited to take part in Operation Weather Rescue.
The showcase is presented by the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council.
Amy Grant and Lisa-Marie Grice playing with an augmented reality sandpit where you can make it rain virtually, watch lakes form and learn how to defend your landscapes from flooding. Brought to UnEarthed by the British Society for Geomorphology.
Event Director Julia Maddock said: “UnEarthed is about the science that shapes the lives of people living in Scotland and beyond, in ways you may already know – like air pollution and flooding – and in ways you may be yet to discover!
Elle Kennedy and Kiera Nelson from Larkhall Academy have learned about cloud formation with the NERC National Centre for Atmospheric Science.
Come and find out how metals and minerals make your smartphone work, how what you put in your shopping trolley could help protect an orang-utan in the tropics, and what could happen as sea levels rise as the world gets warmer.
“This is a chance for all – children, families and adults – to get hands on with environmental science and ask big questions of the scientists working on the biggest question of all: How can we understand our changing planet?”
11 year-old Humza Hussain from Preston Street Primary has a closer look at a wave machine that demonstrates wave motion and sound below and above the sea
Dr Hermione Cockburn, Scientific Director at Dynamic Earth added: “We’re incredibly excited to welcome NERC to Dynamic Earth for this fantastic event. This is a great opportunity for youngsters to meet the scientists behind the research and pick their brains on anything earth related. At Dynamic Earth we aim to inspire young people with science and this event is set to do just that!
“This kind of event is always very popular, so we would encourage visitors to head down early to avoid disappointment.”
During the weekend entry to UnEarthed includes free entry to the permanent Dynamic Earth exhibits.
Scientists from Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales are showing off their research across more than 30 interactive exhibits, from predicting the weather with the help of the University of Edinburgh’s supercomputer technology to protecting our forests with the Royal Botanical Gardens, Edinburgh.
Scottish bases of NERC’s research centres, the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and the British Geological Survey, will be offering activities including the chance to gape at the creatures found in Scotland’s lochs or build your own wind turbine.
We met a software designer from University of Edinburgh who is using tiny computers made with Raspberry Pi to show off weather stats and data.
Fascinating scientific equipment is on display, including a 4-tonne drill used at the bottom of the ocean, and geological research vessel, the White Ribbon, used to map the seabed and understand our coasts.
Brand new science from UnEarthed’s flagship citizen science project, Operation Weather Rescue, will be on show thanks to thousands taking part in digitising Victorian weather records made by intrepid volunteers on the side of Ben Nevis more than 100 years ago. Take part in Operation Weather Rescue here: https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/edh/weather-rescue
We spoke with Sue Dawson a geographer about the investigations into a submarine landslide some 8,000 years ago. Listen to Sue telling us about it here.
