SCIENCE FESTIVAL

' own distillery and museum near 108 Great Junction Street, 4—11 Apr 2pm, Pencaitland with an opportunity to sample £1 (50p), A guided tour of John Crabbie &

, the produce before touring the distillery Co, with a chance to find out how its .1 ’3 e. 1 and museum famous Green Ginger Wine is made , and "I - ' . . I '5'!“ Ginvor' 70033011“ Crabbic & C0. learn more about the Port of Leith. it?“ ' '5 V 1“ O v . ,_. \ é i/N/l ' T o A N ADVERT

Earth than you would have experienced.‘

The other way is to place yourseil in a region oi strong gravity such as one oi

INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE FESTIVAL

Apri12-16, 1990

' O \__JO

Home in on Scotland’s Festival City this Easter to be entertained and enlightened!

,_/ I

TIME Foii SHARP EXIT

The ultimate in alternative package holidays is possible. In ‘Two Ways to Build ATlme Machine’, John Gribbln, astrophysiclst and science writer reveals the perlect solution lor those who are sick ol the present- travel in the iourth dimension.

This is the subject oi Gribbin’s latest book, ‘The Cartoon History oi Time’, co-written and Illustrated by Kate Charlesworth, in which the Amazing Boliin Junior Chicken, and Alexis, the Quantum Cat explore iiie, the universe and (almost) everything, demonstrating that the laws oi physics allow us to travel through time both ways.

‘One way to travel to the luture,’ says Gribbln, ‘is to go on a long journey at a very high speed. When you return, many more years will have passed on

the most blzzare objects in the universe - a black hole. Black holes are thought to be ionned irom stars that become so big that their own weight overwhelms the normal lorces that atoms experience, so that they collapse and shrink to a point oi incredible density and a tiny volume. Such an object has a gravitational ileid that is so strong that it behaves like ‘cosmic quicksand’, sucking in everything that ventures too close, including light (which is why it is black). it also appears that close to a black hole, time slows down.

Black holes may also oiter the possibility oi time travel, both iorwards and back in time. Gribbin describes how regions ol past and luture can be created using two black holes. it has even been speculated that whenever you time travel you arrive in an alternate reality. There may be no unique history oi time.

Gribbin will also discuss the so-called ‘granny paradox’, the trick oi swapping time lor space, alternative realities and more. And he swears ‘on Einstein’s socks’ that every word is true. (Hazel Muir)

John Gribbon is at the Royal Scottish Museum 4 Apr, 4pm. Tickets £1 (50p) are available irom the Science Festival box oilice.

Edinburgh’s unique event DAiLY PAPERS ' containsoversso (AN-r no 11 WELCOMETOTHE PLEASURE DOME

exhibitions, films, walks, talks and conferences on \ topics as diverse as:

/

The greenhouse effect, space exploration, food irradiation, embryo

t, ' " , [Ry "

I They say that young children make the (usually while the kids run about

' ' 1 best sclentitlc researchers. il setting uncontrollany irom exhibit to exhibit). sexmg’ compmer Viruses = tire to the living room carpet with a it is interesting to note the clash oi lasers - - « [/- home-made patent ‘Match Box Bomb’ objectives. While dad is trying to when you’re three years old, is a explain how the skeleton on a x \A sclentitlc experiment than I suppose monocycie is linked to Junior on a \ 8‘ that i always had the spark oi a scientist bicycle so that their bones move in the 5‘ x in me. Actually, I did make a sclentitlc same way, Junior is wondering it the v \ discovery on that day which was that ii skeleton‘s knees might come apart ii 0} 5 you want to avoid a hiding within an he goes iast enough. Children do love inch oi your lile, always play with to test things to extremes, which is not . . . food allergies and matches down at the bottom at the a bad sclentitlc maxim when you think o - , garden. about it, and so the exhibits are robust addlf‘ves ' and. the .3” and The discovery dome is eliectlveiy a enough to withstand the most bizarrely SCience of distilling and hI-tec reproduction ol the way kids destructive imagination. ble n ding mess about with things in order to The discovery dome provides an ° make sense oi the world. There are exhilarating opportunity to cast oil the over 30 separate ‘hands-on’ exhibits mantle oi adulthood and revisit times Deans/Programmes from: including a mini-planetarium, a gone by, and should certainly be Science Festival Box Office iiiteen-ioot perlscope, a laser, an placed at the top oi any lestivai (c/o Fringe Dulce) ultraviolet table and a plane wing itinerary. (Maxton Walker) 130 High Street aeroioii. The main object ol the dome me mscovew Dome [3 In princes Edinburgh EH1 lQS “"0 PWVMOM and. aiihesamei'me. Street Gardens 29 Mar-13 May, Tel. 031 226 5138 to give adults a try at explaining some 9.3mm”, £1.50 (£1); gamma; or basic phenomena to their children I "we, £4.

80 The List 23 March - 5 April 1990