Plethora of Manchester researchers to appear at Bluedot Festival

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The University's Jodrell Bank Observatory aims to embed science as a normal part of our culture. One of the ways it is doing this is via this year's Bluedot festival - named after iconic scientist Carl Sagan's ‘pale blue dot’ refererence to Earth.

The festival invites you to camp out under the stars and to explore a stellar programme of music, science, arts, technology, culture, food and film. Bluedot’s mission is to entertain and inspire through a weekend of ground breaking encounters, including performances, DJ sets, comedy, talks, workshops and live experiments.

One of the highlights of the weekend will be the Star Field – a space jam-packed with scientists from the University of Manchester showcasing their research to the festival attendees. You will discover a world of wonder and discuss the latest discoveries, with tents and stalls packed with displays and interactions for all ages.

The following groups from the University will be part of the Star Field:

• Explore the Moon, Mars & Meteorites with Dr Sarah Crowther and scientists from the School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences and the Isotope Geochemistry and Cosmochemistry Group
• Plants that Bite Back with Professor Amanda Bamford and scientists from the Faculty of Life Sciences
• Discover more about energy and the journey electricity makes to our plug sockets with scientists from Manchester Energy and the Dalton Nuclear Institute
• The Science behind Music with the volunteers of the Manchester branch of the British Science Association.
• The Evolution of Local Environments with Dr Christine Lane, Dr Emma Shuttleworth and scientists from Geography
• Britain Breathing with Dr Sheena Cruickshank and scientists from the Manchester Immunology Group in association with the British Society for Immunology and theRoyal Society of Biology
• Exploring the Big Bang in 3D and Virtual Reality with Planck ; Understanding ALMA, Exploring the Universe and Pulsar Hunters with scientists from the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics
• Discover graphene with Dr Cyrill Bussy, Dr Ivan Vera Marun and scientists from theCentre for Doctoral Training in Science and Applications of Graphene and 2D materials and the National Graphene Institute
• Climate Change Synaesthesia presented by Tyndall Manchester, the Manchester Museum and the Manchester Climate Change Agency
• Exercise like an astronaut with Dr Alex Ryan and scientists from the Faculty of Life Sciences
• Virtual Reality and Nao robots with Dr David Rydeheard and scientists from the School of Computer Science
• Photon Science with Professor Phillip Dawson and scientists from the School of Physics and Astronomy
• Chemistry in Space with Dr Katayune Presland and scientists from the School of Chemistry and the Royal Society of Chemistry
• Seeing into the Invisible – Amazing Light Sources with the Public Engagement team and scientists from STFC Daresbury Laboratory and the Cockcroft Institute
• Science Superheroes with Dr Heather Williams and the Science Grrls
• Stomp rockets with Manchester Girls Geeks

To find out more, visit www.discoverthebluedot.com/stage/the-star-field.