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Secrets of the life scientists revealed

04 Jul 2012

Our life scientists revealed some of the strangest secrets of their field when the Michael Smith Building opened its doors to the public.

FLS Community Open Day 2012

Visitors created amazing paintings with maggots, met live amphibians used to study the healing process and took a look through microscopes worth £1 million at the Faculty of Life Sciences Open Day (30 June), a fun and family friendly event for the local community.

They also learned how leeches were used in medicine, found out how the heart works, made edible cells out of cookies and saw robots in action when they took tours of our laboratories where scientists were on hand to talk about their research on heart defects, Alzheimer’s disease, biofuel development and much more.

Adult visitors were enthusiastic:

  • "Brilliant exhibitions. Great for all the family. My three year old had a great time and I learned loads, fantastic!"
  • "A real work out for the grey matter - so many mind-blowing concepts in too short a time."
  • "I enjoyed the frog tour most. Interesting facts and felt like being a real scientist."
  • “Having open days like these that introduce science to children at a young age in a fun way is brilliant”.

And younger visitors had some firm favourites:

  • “Maggot painting was my favourite because I like maggots” (James, 7)
  • “The insect and bug tour was really interesting and the labs fascinating” (Freya, 10)
  • “It was fun holding the millipede” (Darren, 7)
  • “I really liked the fruit flies and learnt what they like to smell” (Charlotte, 8)
  • "I really enjoyed making cells out of biscuits and sweets - there was a lot to fit onto them” (Charlie, 8)
  • “I liked going in the dark room and looking at the microscopes” (Megan, 7 - nearly 8!)

FLS Associate Dean for Social Responsibility, Professor Matthew Cobb said:  

'We had a fantastic day - despite a downpour in the middle! Nearly half the visitors were members of the general public with no connection to the university. In response to demands from last year, we increased the number of tours round our labs, and visitors could extract their own DNA or even listen to the sound of a maggot's nose smelling! There was a real buzz about the place, and all of our visitors commented what a great time they had. We are already thinking about how to make the 2013 Community Open Day even better!"