Notes from the North

Edinburgh Science , founded in 1989, is the educational charity responsible for the Edinburgh Science Festival . This year was the thirty-fifth time the festival has been held, a fortnight of displays, lectures and activities organised to coincide with the school Easter holidays. In 1989 it was the first-ever large-scale public celebration of science and it remains to this day one of the biggest festivals of its kind in Europe. It is without doubt one of Edinburgh’s great successes, and should arguably be as big as the globally-renowned International Festival. But it isn’t, far from it, and perhaps part of the reason for that is a nervousness, even a negativity, in the general population about ‘Science’ in general, a feeling that, unlike the Arts, it is too difficult or too inaccessible.  The festival does an excellent job of dispelling those fears by providing all sorts of ways for people to play and learn.  The hunt is on at the national Museum. of Scotland The title of this...