The science of discovery

SCIENTIFIC ATTRACTIONS:As Dublin's Science Gallery prepares to welcome its one millionth visitor and the city hosts the European City of Science 2012 Festival, JOHN HOLDENtakes a look at some of the best places for science novices and boffins to get their kicks

LE LABORATOIRE

4, rue du Bouloi, Paris, France

Tel: 0033-1-78094950, lelaboratoire.org

Similar to the Science Gallery, Le Laboratoire is a meeting place for artistic and scientific creativity. Its current exhibition, Le Whaf, is a gastro-scientific marvel where culinary designer Marc Bretillot and scientist David Edwards have teamed up to create flavour clouds. The food lab on site offers leftfield culinary delights and you may end up eating a bottle or breathing chocolate for your lunch. In the main exhibition space, shows created by artists and scientists working together are exhibited regularly, and look at everything from the science of the pumpkin, to what makes weather, and the architecture of moods.

MEDIA LABS

Prado Plaza de las Letras, Madrid, Spain Tel: 0034-913-896644, medialab-prado.es

Located near the famous Prado Museum, Media Labs breaks down the barriers between the digital and real worlds. It brings together artists, engineers, programmers, designers and hackers and holds open workshops and talks, where the public can look in, get involved and learn how these “techies” work. Monthly AVLAB meetings bring experimental musicians, DJs and VJs into Media Lab to showcase their work to the public and then explain afterwards exactly how they do their thing. It currently has a giant interactive video game, which players can control by the light of their mobile phones.

SCIENCE MUSEUM LONDON

Exhibition Road, Sth Kensington, London Tel: 0044-751 5563260, lottolab.org

LottoLab, located in the London Science Museum, looks at the whole world of human perception and the difference between reality and our perception of it. Installations, musical performances and educational programmes at LottoLab all try to understand how we see ourselves and our world. One current study into “charity motivation” compared the amount that people were willing to donate publicly versus privately in return for a cocktail. Their musical projects explore sensory connections where visitors can see sound and hear colours.

ARS ELECTRONICA LINZ

Ars Electronica Strasse, Linz, Austria Tel: 0043-73272720, new.aec.at/news/en

Since 1979, this centre has curated exhibitions, which showcase how art, technology and society are connected. It also organises the world’s biggest annual festival of arts, science and technology. This year’s Ars Electronica Media Arts Festival takes place from August 30th to September 3rd (so it’s either this or Electric Picnic) and its programme includes symposia, exhibitions, performances and concerts.

In addition, the Prix Ars Electronica is an annual competition which showcases the most radical, progressive and useful digital media innovations of the year. Previous winners include Pixar in 1987, Wikipedia in 1995 and Wikileaks in 2009.

CERN

Geneva, Switzerland

Tel: 0041-22-7676111, public.web.cern.ch

Founded in 1954, the Cern Laboratory uses some of the world’s most complex scientific instruments to study the fundamentals of physics. Particle accelerators and detectors are used to collide, detect and observe various actions and reactions of matter to try and better understand the laws of nature.

Unfortunately, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) – famous for testing for the existence of the hypothesised Higgs Boson, or “God particle” – is no longer open to the public. But free guided visits in English take place all week at the facility. There are also two state-of-the-art interactive museums on site, Microcosm and Globe.

EUROPEAN SPACE TOURISM

Steuernummer, Bonn, Germany european-space-tourist.com

The European Space Tourist Company offers a trip to the moon for €70 million per person. If you book your trip today you could be on your way in less than a year. After 10 months of astronaut training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Star City, Russia, your lunar adventure would start at a spaceport in Baikanur, Kazakhstan, where you would fly to the moon in the Russian spaceship Soyuz.

A more affordable option is open to those who want to get the feel for space travel but can’t afford the real thing. The same company offer a five-day all-inclusive Zero Gravity flight package based in Moscow for €9,000, where you can experience astronaut training followed by entering a zero-G facility.

ANDOYA ROCKET RANGE

Andenes, Norway

Tel: 0047-76144400, rocketrange.no

This “sounding” rocket range (they are unmanned research projectiles) is located on the small island of Andoya, two degrees north of the Arctic Circle. The ARR conducts sounding rocket and balloon operations from two locations – Andoya and Svalbard (which is also the location of the Global Seed or “Doomsday” Vault). It also has a large range of scientific instruments and the Alomar observatory is nearby. It regularly work with groups such as the European Space Agency and Nasa. This is a big must for any science nuts out there, particularly physicists, and is open to school groups, students and adults who want to get very close to the cutting edge of European scientific research.

LEONARDO DA VINCI MACHINES

Palazzo della Cancelleria, Rome, Italy Tel: 0039-0669887616, pmostradileonardo.com

In the Leonardo da Vinci Machines Exhibition experts have created 50 life-size machines from the blueprints and drawings of inventions and scientific concepts (including flying machines, a bicycle and a hydraulic saw) that were found in da Vinci’s notes. These are not just models but are fully operational and were made according to accurate plans made by the man himself in the 15th century. Despite the “inventions” being made out of simple materials, such as wood, their manufacture required sophisticated modern technology and expertise to realise.

BIRR CASTLE DEMESNE AND SCIENCE CENTRE

Birr, Co Offaly

Tel: 057-9120336, birrcastle.com

Not everyone is aware that the largest telescope in the world was located in Ireland for more than 70 years, on the site of Birr Castle in Co Offaly.

In the 1840s, the third earl of Rosse took it upon himself to design and build the biggest optical telescope in the world and used it to discover, among other things, the spiral nature of some galaxies. People came in their droves from all across Europe to marvel at “The Leviathan” telescope.

Birr Castle also has an historical science centre, which houses astronomical instruments, cameras, photographs and photographic equipment used in the mid- to late-1800s. It also explains how the telescope, which has been fully restored to its original condition, was built and operated.

MEDICAL MUSEUM COPENHAGAN

62 Bredgade, Denmark

Tel: 0045-35-323800, museion.ku.dk

This museum looks specifically at how medical science has influenced our lives and how culture has influenced medical development. Various exhibitions and projects showcased at the museum examine the relationship between medicine and ethics, politics, religion, literature, art, and mentality. Those particularly interested in medicine will really enjoy this museum as it has a vast range of information, projects, artefacts and workshops looking at medical history as well as asking questions about current practice and the future of healthcare.