The sound of prehistoric musical instruments, how to actually measure happiness, the search for aliens and how to build a hot air balloon are part of the mix in this year's Science Week Ireland.
Taking place at venues throughout the country from next Sunday, November 12th to 19th, the week of talks, walks, experiments and entertainment is all about helping children and adults to understand the importance and appeal of science.
"Science week is about fun, it is about bringing science to as many people as possible, young and old," said the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin, at yesterday's Science Week Ireland 2006 launch in Dublin.
Now in its 10th year, Science Week Ireland is organised and co-ordinated by the Discover Science & Engineering (DSE) programme based in Mr Martin's department. More than 380 events are scheduled for the week, with up to 17,000 people expected to visit the annual science fair in Galway and another 7,000 attending Cork City Hall where there will be more than 50 exhibits and workshops.
"Science is our Future," was the theme chosen for 2006, the DSE chairman Leo Enright told the guests of honour - 30 pupils from Star of the Sea primary school, Sandymount, and Gardiner Street primary school. "This is about young people and their future," said Mr Enright.
The national event was "a new way, a fun way, a child-friendly way" to promote science, Mr Martin told The Irish Times.
"A key point of the week's agenda is to increase the number of kids going on to study science," he added.
Events take place at universities, institutes of technology, libraries and other venues throughout the week. A complete listing of events is available at www.scienceweek.ie
A record number of students has entered the 2007 BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition, with 1,278 projects submitted, involving more than 3,000 students. The competition takes place at the RDS, Dublin, from January 9th-13th, 2007. More details from www.btyoungscientist.ie