Summer Science Exhibition 2006

The Summer Science Exhibition is the Royal Society's showcase of cutting edge science.

Two Science Exhibitions were held in 2006, with one in London in July and another in Glasgow in September. Many of the exhibits from London travelled to Glasgow, but there were also exhibits that were exclusive to each. Use the links below to explore what was on offer.

London and Glasgow

• Astronomy at the end of the rainbow - the extreme Universe - Durham University
• Dancing with light - University of Southampton
• Forecasting the unpredictable - Geophysics Research Group, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Ulster, Seismology and Tectonophysics Department,, Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Rome, Tectonics Observatory, California Institute of Technology
• Heavens' kitchen: from primordial soup to cosmic pancakes - University of Oxford
• Invisibility at the flick of a switch - Imperial College London, University College London, ETH Zurich, Switzerland, University of Neuchatel, Switzerland
• Mind reading machines - MIT Media Lab, University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory
• Natural born tool-makers: the crafty crows from New Caledonia - University of Oxford
• Power to the people: the molecular revolution in sustainable energy - University of Bath
• Seeing is believing - closely observed atoms - University of Liverpool, University of Cambridge, University of Glasgow, University of Leeds
• Seeing through touch - University of Glasgow
• So you think you can design an Aeroengine? - University of Manchester, Museum of Science & Industry in Manchester
• Stardust: a comet’s tale - PSSRI, Open University, Natural History Museum, London, University of Kent at Canterbury
• Superhuman vision - seeing with terahertz - University of Glasgow
• The body's daily clock - MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University of Cambridge
• The language of cells - University of Liverpool, Royal Liverpool Children’s Hospital and University of Liverpool
• Why me? - Rothamsted Research, University of Aberdeen

Exclusive to London

• Controlling a bird flu pandemic - University of Oxford, Murrumbateman, Australia, Australian Science Communicator
• Go to the ant and be wise - Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects,University of Sheffield, Computational Systems Biology Group, Department of Computer Science, University of Sheffield, Department of Natural and Social Sciences, University of Gloucestershire
• Hydrogen - fuel of the future? - Cirencester Deer Park School, University of Manchester, Cranfield University
• Our planet - our future - University of the West of England, Bristo
• Puzzling plastics - University of Leeds, University of Sheffield, University of Bradford, Unilever, European Synchrotron Research Facility, Grenoble, France, CCLRC, Daresbury Laboratory, Daresbury, Warrington, UK
• Rough Guide to Mars - Open University, Professor Jan-Peter Muller and Alexander Zoutsos, University College London, Trinity College Dublin, Free University of Berlin, Imperial College London, Oxford Brookes University
• The breathing forest - University of York, University of Edinburgh, Forest Research, University of Sheffield
• The excitement of 'time' - Durham University, University of Cambridge

Exclusive to Glasgow

• Bats, buildings and robots: Biologically inspired mini robots for structural inspection - University of Strathclyde
• Fossils and flow, bringing extinct animals to life - University of Edinburgh, University of Exeter
• Handy Hygiene - Hutchesons’ Grammar School, Glasgow Caledonian University, Pupils of Hutchesons’ Grammar School
• Shedding light on the human body - University College London, University of Essex
• Stars 'r' us! The cosmic chemical connection - University of Strathclyde, Heriot Watt University, University College London, The Open University, The National Maritime Museum and Royal Observatory Greenwich, University of Nottingham
• What Ahab never saw: the secret life of diving mammals - Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) School of Biology, University of St Andrews