Submitted by Dr C.M. Martin-Jones on Tue, 01/04/2025 - 13:30
The Sedgwick Museum and the Department of Earth Sciences hosted an Earth Sciences Fair on Saturday, 29th March, as part of the Cambridge Festival Family Weekend.
Visitors had the chance to meet Earth scientists and explore their research through fun, hands-on activities.
Highlights included an opportunity to hold Antarctic ice and hear its ancient air bubbles crackling, as well as a chance to see glow-in-the-dark rocks from Greenland and learn about the valuable metals they contain.
Other interactive activities involved investigating tectonics by creating earthquakes and mountain ranges, examining magnificent minerals under the microscope, and discovering the differences between a meteorite and an Earth rock.
Led by passionate researchers, students, and volunteers, the event provided an exciting journey through Earth's past, present, and future.
Photo credits: Amy Barker
Stands and activities on offer:
- Antarctic ice cores: unlocking the past, with Rachael Rhodes and Thomas Bauska
- Meteorites: understanding how our planet formed and evolved, with Elsa Amsellem
- Neanderthals and their environment, with Oscar Lozada
- Investigating the Cambrian Explosion, with Lara Uttinger
- What’s inside the Earth? with James Atkins
- Ancient ocean chemistry, with the CHaOS (Cambridge Hands on Science) student society
- Why Greenland matters: glow-in-the-dark rocks and critical metals, with Carrie Soderman
- Magnificent, magnified minerals, with Sara Crozier and Julian Pahl
- Microfossil wonderland: investigating past climates, with Jeannie Booth and Simon Crowhurst
Additional activities led by Museum Engagement volunteers and staff, and the CHaOS student society:
- Investigate tectonics: build a mountain ranges and jump to create earthquakes, with Nuala Tannahil, Tom Beevor, Elliott Cowie and CHaOS
- Discover the Watson Building Stones Collection, with Phil Ridley
- Ask a geologist: bring your rock and fossil finds for identification with Manar Alsaif (University of Cambridge Business and Enterprise team), Museum staff (Matt Riley, Nicola Skipper), Earth Sciences PhD students (Yingbo Li, Stella Wilkinson), and Museum Engagement Volunteers (Richard Dowsett, Elliott Cowie, Tom Beevor).
More information about Cambridge Festival events.