Science brought to wider public

THE Minister of State for Science and Technology, Mr Pat Rabbitte," has praised an initiative which aims to make science more understandable to lay audiences.

The first of a series of lectures, entitled the Merville Lay Seminars was held yesterday at University College Dublin, organised by UCD's departments of biochemistry and pharmacology.

The seminars are an attempt to make the sometimes bizarre world of science understandable to a non scientific audience, Prof Paul Engel, head of the biochemistry department at UCD, explained.

"I have been aware for some years of the gulf between the public and ourselves in the appreciation of research," he said. This was changing, however, with an "increasingly questioning approach from the public".

Prof Michael Ryan of UCD's pharmacology department said the mission was to enhance the public's awareness of scientific research.

The Merville Seminars arose when the two professors asked some of their graduate students to make presentations of their doctoral research as if they were addressing a non technical audience.

An initial 16 participants were whittled down to eight and these finalists yesterday presented their work to an appreciative audience of about 200.

Mr Declan McCole, in an entertaining paper, told the audience how cattle rid themselves of liver fluke by allergy induced diarrhoea: Minute examination of cow pats in search of fluke eggs was, just part of the fun of research, he said, but that research had a very serious intent.

Mr McCole's findings could provide the foundation for a cattle vaccination against fluke infection, saving farmers millions of pounds annually.