Getting up close to tarantulas, finding out how to make renewable plastics from microbes and an interactive brain funfair are just some of the activities on offer at Science in the Park at Wollaton Hall on Saturday 7 March.

The popular one-day event is being run by the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University as part of British Science Week and is a free, family friendly day packed full of activities to celebrate science, technology, engineering and maths.

Many of the activities give visitors the chance to get hands-on and the team from the University of Nottingham’s ‘Spiderlab’ will be showing their ‘Marvellous Minibeasts’. There will be tarantulas and scorpions on display, plus giant millipedes and hissing cockroaches for people who are brave enough to hold!

There will also be activities run by researchers from the Green Chemicals team showing how chemicals can be used in a more environmentally friendly way to create new products, with one activity where children can see how enzymes break down by using their spit to break down starch.

The wildlife of Wollaton Park will also be featured as part of the fair with Nottingham Trent University showing how ducks keep themselves dry on their Nature’s Raincoats exhibit.

The activity draws inspiration from nature, using a stuffed duck and dried lotus leaves as examples, to show how nature can keep itself dry. RSPB will also be guiding a nature walk spotting some of the birds and habitats on the park.

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