Science Year - Science year is about projects and events organised from September 2001 to October 2002 involving schools all over the UK and aimed primarily at the 10-19 year old group. Its purpose is basically to make science appealing to everybody, so it reaches out to cover all aspects, not just the most obvious, touching on fashion, music, forensics, communications etc. Science Year has the backing of the Dept. of Education and Skills, Dept. Trade and Industry, NESTA , ASA and BA plus many important sponsors. Right from the home-page the Science Year Web Site excels in science appeal. Teachers will find all the information on the project and a thousand ideas in the sci-teach section for all age groups. The younger age group will find loads of ideas for the summer holidays (a sneak at say 'undercover-science' will give inspiration and clever explanations to phenomena which will greatly boost any parent's profile). For the older group, I can strongly recommend the careers section - particularly the words of wisdom from experts working in the field. If still in doubt, just for fun try their "unscientific" career test - it worked! The site is a mine of information, updated every week and designed to use all the latest internet technology for pictures, animation video clips. etc whilst the site map, glossary and trouble-shooting make navigating smooth and enjoyable. It's easy to spend hours browsing, and that unmistakable British sense of humour sprinkled here and there make it very hard to exit. Rating: 10 out of 10 (23 August 2002) CCL
http://www.scienceyear.com/home.html
Space.com - Space.com has all the special effects that you would expect from a site catering to the intellect of those who insatiably seek space knowledge. Currently offering a live special report on the experiences of Dennis Tito, this site has high tech graphics of amazing accuracy and films that are dazzling in their realism. Space news abounds and includes a story about the newly discovered ability of black holes to spin. Go on a virtual space tour; take a space trivia and constellation identification quiz. Trying to get some kids excited about space? The sections SpaceKids and Teachspace are fun and educational, and there are online games of puzzles and racing starships. If your interest in space orbits through the financial galaxy, there is an extensive business news section including company profiles of the biggest corporate players in the global space industry. If you can't get enough space from the site, there are reviews of space software, books, and movies, too. (4 May 2001) SS
http://www.space.com
Edinburgh International Science Festival - The Edinburgh festival runs this year from the 6-17 of April, although potential visitors may find a few events, sadly, affected by the Foot and Mouth Epidemic (for instance, events held at the Zoo are off as the Zoo is closed for the duration). The site holds details of the various programmes on offer, and for those of us who can't attend in person, also features an "interactive" section which offers a variety of activities for different age and skill levels, including a "find-a-dinosaur" and "memory " in the games section, an experiment about the perception of time and an interesting section on optical illusions. Much more is promised, so it should be worth coming back to again. (2 April 2001) KN
http://www.sciencefestival.co.uk/
The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures - The Christmas Lectures, sponsored by Glaxo Wellcome and televised by Channel 4 in the UK, are an opportunity for young people to learn directly from scientists. This year 's Christmas lecture series is entitled Rise of the Robots and features Prof. Kevin Warwick of Reading University. The Royal Institution's website features information about this year's lectures, as well as an archive of previous lectures from recent years. Channel 4 also offers a website (www.channel4.com/robots/) which promises a number of features, including a live streaming version of the last lecture and the 'Robot Constructor'', described as "a challenge to design a software robot that is capable of surviving in a number of hazardous virtual environments". At the time of our review, however, this website hadn't quite launched yet, which is a shame, because it certainly sounds promising... (23 December 2000) KN
http://www.rigb.org/events/christmaslectures.html
Agra-Europe - Agra-Europe is one of the few organisations in Europe that actually understands the European Union's agricultural policy. They are a specialist newsletter publisher and conference organiser, and their web site is one of the best for making sense of Europe's GM food fights, farm subsidies and other arcana -- though most of the information is for sale, not for free. One timely topic, though, is details of the conference they are running, tomorrow and Thursday, on Europe's food safety laws. The venue? Brussels, where talk of dioxin in chicken, and who-knows-what in Coke, is sure to make things interesting. (22 June 1999)
http://www.agra-europe.com/
