Disclosure: we got free tickets to see this event.
Wow. I can tell the Royal Institution's Christmas Lectures made a lasting impression on my nearly eight-year-old daughter. They made a lasting impression on me. And my husband. Syringes armed with harmful histamines, seeds seeped with deadly nerve poisons: Who knew plants were so vicious?
The Christmas Lectures are special. Given nearly continuously since 1825, their aim is to share science's latest discoveries with young people. They are now televised each year and a Christmas tradition with many families. We were lucky enough to be invited this year to hear Professor Sue Hartley of Sussex University talk about "The 300 Million Years War" between plants and animals. My daughter's exact words after seeing the engaging Professor Hartley were "It was WAY better than I thought it was going to be" and when explaining it to her four-year-old sister: "You don't know how FUN it was." I thought it was fantastic having a woman role model in a male dominated discipline (Professor Hartley is only the fourth female lecturer in 184 years).
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