Popular science extravaganza "Bath Taps Into Science" to return this month

Bath Taps Into Science, a free two-day science extravaganza makes a welcome return this month, celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution (BRLSI). This joint venture between the University of Bath and BRLSI aims to make science fun, engaging and accessible to everyone.

From 18-19 October, families from around Bath will be invited to BRLSI’s home in Queen Square to explore the wonders of science through an array of hands-on activities and experiments. Exhibitors will include scientists, volunteers from the BRLSI’s new Academy of Imagination, students from the University of Bath, and representatives of local schools, societies and industry.

Participants will be invited to break codes, create magic potions, craft origami darts and build artificial hands, all in the name of scientific discovery.

Image: Bath Taps Into Science

Other unmissable activities (among many others) include: 

• Amazing mazes. Crack some fiendish mazes and learn how computers solve problems, such as telling the difference between a cat and a dog. 
• Foods of tomorrow. Would you eat an insect burgers, lab-mad chicken nuggets or ‘bacon’ made from fungi for the sake of the planet – after all, eating less meat would hugely benefit the environment.
• The 1,000m bubbles. Cutting-edge research on optical fibres (used, for instance, in telecommunications and medicine) rely on the science of soap bubbles – here is how.
• Are we more united than divided? Play a digital ‘values’ game to explore whether girls and boys (or Tory and Labour voters) hail from different planets or are in fact more similar than many believe. The team running the stall will compare players’ assumptions with findings from large datasets.

The Bath Taps team is led by Maths Professor Chris Budd OBE from the University of Bath, with support from Becky Thoburn, BRLSI’s Learning and Engagement Officer and others. 

Professor Budd co-founded the event with Bob Draper and others from BRLSI in 2000, and it ran for 20 years before taking a Covid break in 2020. The 2024 event will be the first since the pandemic and is part-funded by a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund that BRLSI received to support its Bicentenary activities.

Professor Budd said: “It’s wonderful that Bath Taps Into Science is returning on the 200th anniversary of the BRLSI. The festival will be an amazing combination of exciting hands-on science exhibitions and will be accessible to all ages. Do come along and find out more about the science of the future in a fun and engaging way!”

Event details

• Where: Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution (BRLS), 16-18 Queen Square, Bath, BA1 2HN
• When: October 18-19, 10am-4pm 
• Who: People of all ages, no need to book
• Find out more at: https://www.brlsi.org/bathtaps/ 

Bath Taps into Science is sponsored by the Bath Institute for Mathematical Innovation, Maths4Deep Learning, the EPSRC and the National Lottery Fund.