Inspiring young minds...

A new programme of events organised by the National Trust and The Institute of Physics has begun in North Wales. Children in Bangor attended a day of science experiments inspired by the historical setting of Penrhyn Castle. Our reporter Nan Pickering went along for Science Cafe.

Life from Venus...?

Our nearest planetary neighbour Venus, with its hot gaseous atmosphere, is not the most obvious place to look for forms of life, but one scientist based in Wales has suggested that not only could the clouds above Venus contain microbial life, but that it could be blown to Earth by solar winds. Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe of Cardiff University's Centre For Astrobiology explains his theory to Adam in this week's programme.

Try these at home...

Adam is joined by two of the "naked scientists", a Cambridge based group of physicians and researchers on a mission to "strip down" science to its basics to make it more digestible to the public. Dave Ansell and Chris Smith have brought out a new book "Crisp Packet Fireworks" with dozens of experiments designed to be tried at home, from extracting DNA from a kiwifruit, measuring the speed of light with margarine, and making invisible ink.

The meaning of life...?

A new line in research in psychology is being developed at Bangor University. The field of Neurosemantics will be researched at Bangor's School of Psychology and will be investigating how we relate pieces of information to one another. The project will aim to understand how meaning is computed in the human brain. Leading the research is Professor Guillaume Thierry.

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