Where the young things are

Alice Bell

Scene one: July 2011, London, the Royal Society’s summer exhibition. Stalls, hosted by scientists, present cutting-edge research via an occasionally odd mix of glossy university branding and demos rustled up at the back of the lab. The emphasis is on making science fun and understandable: a racing-track game, an activity with sticky-backed plastic, a bat cave.

Scene two: the following week, Google HQ, Mountain View, California. A room of scientists, engineers and science writers listen to young people present their scientific investigations as part of Google’s Science Fair. There was the odd Lego model used for exposition, an artefact of one of the sponsors, but these were very professionally put together presentations. One teenager had brought his patent certificate with him.