Ray, the Rose and a week of science

RAY and the Rose are preparing for a week of science, spiders and school kids when they host what organisers have described as a “mind-boggling” renewal of the BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition next month.

The event at the RDS in Dublin runs from January 10 to 14, and Today FM’s Ray D’Arcy and Rose of Tralee Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin will be in charge for the opening and closing ceremonies.

While Ray may not be too well up on his scientific knowledge, Aoibhinn is a theoretical physicist and could be well equipped to judge some of the entries.

This year’s event is open to the public from January 12 and features an array of attractions set to lure an expected 35,000 visitors.

The organisers are promising a mind-blowing, eye-popping show, including the Theatre of Science. Described as the world’s greatest optical illusion, it generates six-foot bolts of electricity between two coils.

More than 500 projects from students on both sides of the border will be competing for various prizes throughout the week.

While the celebrities will be taking to the stage, schools will be participating in Bush Tucker Trials, made famous in recent televised jungle escapades.

Children will be pitted against each other to find the ultimate daredevils, with challenges including giant insects crawling over contestants’ heads and faces, and having to taste the delights of the insect world.

This event will be hosted by Dale Treadwell of Naturally Wild, who is running an EcoZone featuring giant stick insects, tarantulas, bogong moths and great diving beetles.

Other attractions to encourage visitors to the RDS include Titan, an eight-foot robot which will be scanning the audience looking for a new victim.

Visitors should also keep an eye out for the ALIENS exhibit, which questions who or what else is out there in the cosmos, and what might they look like.

Additional displays of interest will include the cross-border Sharing Science Across Ireland project, on which groups of schools worked together on agreed science topics.

The World of Robots is also back in the 700-seater Big Top for 2006, with a promise of the biggest and baddest battle robots fighting it out.