As a finalist I would like to say that NESTA and the Cheltenham Festival of Science did an amazing job with the Masterclass in London. They were able to have Rough Science, Simon Singh, Richard Wiseman, Malcolm Love and Bryson Gore there to nurture, support and encourage.
All I can say is support the Festival, and get up there on the 11th of June to see the final. It should be a lot of fun. You won't be disappointed as all the other contestants are top notch.
I'm interested, it makes a refreshing change from the usual mind-numbing reality tv programmes such as big brother. I mean, who can't say that science doesn't affect their life in some way, if you're not interested in science, you're not interested in life
We live in a Sci-tech world, of that there is no doubt. The beauty of the famelab premise is the fusion of sci-com types. At the final there were story-tellers, teachers and demonstrators all with the same levels of enthusiasm for their chosen field. The enquiring mind can't help but want to learn a little more about acoustics when you have just seen a clarinet made out of a Chinese radish; or the prisoners dilemma, when someone has held up the audience with a banana; or the physics of distortion when you have just heard Vivaldi fused with close encounters of a third kind.
I applaud Channel 4, Nesta, the daily telegraph and the Cheltenham Science Festival for their very unique vision, and I can only hope that they repeat famelab next year.
However I do think that in order to bring out the very best in people they have to provide better resources for the final, and take a leaf out of Kaplan's philosophy. To get the very best you must offer the sweetest reward, and as such even a prize about a tenth of that of Big Brother would achieve that.
Ahh yes. More money. Or fame. That would do it for most people. In fact, i think next year Big Brother should be filled with hand-picked scientists from across all disciplines, the kitchen converted to a lab, the loft to a study room and the pool to a beer garden! It'd be the best yet!
