Team Whizz Pop Bang spent a wild weekend meeting hundreds of scientists-in-training at Just So Festival 2023. Thank you so much to Just So Festival for having us back again – we absolutely love being a part of this incredible event.
This year, we brought Jonathan Scott from the European Space Agency (ESA) along to share his amazing knowledge of staying fit and healthy in space. Jon works in the Space Medicine Team at ESA and he used his expert skills to run an Astronaut Training Camp.
Jon brought a replica space suit along for Whizz Pop Bang fans to try on!
We were overwhelmed with the turn out for Jon’s talk and it was fantastic to see so many budding astronauts! A HUGE thank you to Jon, and to all of you who came and joined in the fun. We hope you picked up a thing or two about how astronauts stay fit and healthy on board the International Space Station.
We also ran The Whizz Pop Bang Discovery Den, where young scientists could explore their five senses in some super-fun hands-on experiments.
Children were invited to visit us in ‘The Future’ area in the woodland at Just So Festival and try five different activities linked to the senses.
- FEEL IT: run your fingers through gloopy cornflour slime (find out how to try this at home here!)
- SEE IT: trick your brain with optical illusions
- HEAR IT: test how well sound travels through solids compared to through air using clanger hangers
- SMELL IT: put your sense of smell to the test
- TASTE IT: find out how holding your nose affects flavours
They learned some amazing facts, including:
- Dogs have 44 times more scent cells than humans
- Sound travels further and faster through solids than through the air
- Cornflour slime is a non-Newtonian fluid, meaning it acts like both a liquid and a solid
We hope to see lots of you at Just So Festival in future!
