Are we really alone in the Universe?

This was just one of the fascinating topics covered by youngsters from Thomas Telford School at the Science Live Conference which was held in Birmingham to generate greater enthusiasm for science amongst GCSE students and to show them that science really does offer solutions for many of the world’s great problems.

The Year 9 students heard inspiring talks from five of Britain’s top scientists, all working at the cutting edge of their specialisms, including the renowned evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and theoretical physicist Jim Al-Khalili.

During a fast-moving, exciting and thought provoking day, the students learnt about a wide range of scientific applications such as explaining how Zebras get their stripes; the existence of blackholes, wormholes and whether time travel could really happen. They also found out about the coding of human DNA and what this really means; the evolution of humans as well as trying to answer the question “Are we really alone in our Universe?”

Science Teacher at Thomas Telford School, Miss Kyley Platt said: “The students were also very amused to discover that if you travel through a blackhole in space, you may get ‘spaghettified’, that we share 50% of our DNA with a banana, that their 200 thousands great grandfather would have been a fish and that if you go to the loo in space you have to strap yourself down first! What a fantastic way to encourage young people to consider a career in Science.”