With roving scientists, live music and guided nature walks, the Beaker Street science and arts festival hoped to show visitors it wasn’t just about ‘people in labs with test tubes’
Scientists can miss ideas that could be generated by speaking to people from different backgrounds and disciplines, says festival director Margo Adler.Scientists can miss ideas that could be generated by speaking to people from different backgrounds and disciplines, says festival director Margo Adler.
Alastair, a stem cell explorer, and Nicholas, a gene hunter, two of the roving scientists at the Beaker Street science and arts festival.The point of Beaker Street, according to festival executive director, Margo Adler, is to share the fact that “science is not just people in labs with test tubes – there’s science in everything”.
By combining science with bars, live music and art, Adler says, “we’re really trying to invite in an audience who doesn’t maybe normally engage with science, or doesn’t think of themselves as science enthusiasts”. “I think it’s really important to put non-scientists together with scientists, and have people challenge their ideas and come at them with completely out-of-left-field suggestions,” she says. “Sometimes those are the best suggestions.”Zoe Kean, a science communicator and MC of the Road Trip, says engaging in scientific ideas gives people a greater understanding of the beauty and complexity of the universe, but also has a more immediate and pressing function.