From smashing freeze-dried flowers to extracting DNA from bananas, a crack team of miniature science sleuths from Exeter and Exmouth will leave no stone unturned to solve a molecular medical mystery.
With expert guidance from scientists from the University of Exeter Medical School, more than 150 pupils from ten schools will get hands-on with engaging and visual experiments as part of National Science and Engineering Week
Over two days 1, the children will play the role of Men in White environmental health experts tasked with averting a possible pandemic. The Year 9 youngsters will be challenged to discover if a diabetes epidemic is being caused by infectious algae carried in genetically modified bananas.
Their investigation will take place in a working laboratory, and will involve extracting DNA from bananas and searching for the foreign DNA, examining algae for the presence of mutants and learning to preserve the specimen by freezing objects in liquid nitrogen. Along the way they will learn about scientific processes, in areas including diabetes, genetics, body mass index, cell culture and DNA analysis.
The schools involved include: Honiton College; Exmouth College and Exeter College.
Dr Lorna Harries is one of the organisers of the Men in White event, which aims to make science more accessible to young people.
She said: "The beauty of this event is that children learn so much without even realising it. Science is very prevalent in popular culture at the moment, in part through people like Brian Cox and programmes like CSI. We need to harness that enthusiasm, and nurture the scientist of tomorrow to help lead Britain in a global field."
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