Adult workshops

Life's Adult Workshops are an ideal way to find out more about topical and contemporary scientific issues, unravelling the science facts from the science fiction with interesting, informative and exciting experiments in a professional laboratory setting.

Our workshops are led by experienced Science Explainers who make even the most complex science accessible and communicate it in an entertaining and interesting way - so there's no 'ology' required. Explore a variety of subjects including the science behind your favourite tipple in the Botany of Gin and the Science of Cocktails workshops.

Available workshops include...

DNA and Species

DNA & Species

How do we know when a species is new to science? Modern taxonomy is based on analysis of DNA rather than examination of ...more

DNA Fingerprinting

DNA Fingerprinting

DNA is fundamental to people's identity and identification of DNA samples is a powerful tool for solving crime. Students...more

Forensic DNA

Forensic DNA

Students create DNA fingerprints using gel electrophoresis of pre-digested samples of DNA to solve a vicious crime. The ...more

Genes in a Bottle

Genes in a Bottle

Learn where DNA comes from and what it's for, sample your own cheek cells, extract the DNA and then precipitate and bott...more

Genetic Engineering

Genetic Engineering

Genetic engineering for beginners. Students learn about the techniques and applications of genetic engineering, insert f...more

How Old is the Universe?

How Old is the Universe?

Participants look at some of the spectacular deep field images recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope and use these to c...more

Introduction to Microbiology

Introduction to Microbiology

Sterile technique, plating, streaking, staining, microscopy... everything you need to know for the practical side of mic...more

Organic Food Investigation

Organic Food Investigation

Is there any difference between organic and processed food. In this workshop students undertake experiments with cake an...more

PCR: A Question of Taste

PCR: A Question of Taste

Our new PCR workshop, in which we explore the links between students' phenotypic ability to taste PTC and their TAS2R38 ...more

Psychology and Face Recognition

Psychology of Face Recognition

How good are we at recognizing faces? Can you recognize a genuine smile? How can we help people recognize faces when giv...more

Science of Cookery

Science of Cooking

What puts the bubbles into crunchy bars, meringues, sponges and bread? Discover the physical, biological and chemical sc...more

The Story of DNA

The Story of DNA

James Watson famously claimed to have discovered the secret of life when he discovered the structure of DNA in February ...more

Science of Cocktails

Science of Cocktails

This adult session takes a look at the science behind one of the nation's favourite pastimes... drinking. Are all vodk...more

Botany of Gin

Botany of Gin

Are all gins the same or do differences in flavour justify the differences in prices? In this workshop we explore the hi...more

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