Yeah, we know the headline sounds like it’s ripped whole cloth from the tabloids. But it’s true. A pair of noted UK scientists plans to fire walk across a bed of hot coals Saturday, April 7 and Sunday, April 8 at the highly-respected Edinburgh International Science Festival. They’re out to determine whether such hotfooting boils down to mind over matter, or simple physics.
Edinburgh International Science Festival Director Dr. Simon Gage maintains, “Muttering a mantra might make you feel better, but it certainly isn’t the reason why you can walk over a bed of hot coals.” He says he will be “putting his money where his mouth is…to prove that physics is the science beyond the spin.”
There’s more to the festivities than fire walking. Lots more. This year’s get together focuses on the science of human motion and performance – specifically as they apply to sport, technology, and dance. Come inside the Dance Box, where Dr. Peter Lovatt (a.k.a. Dr. Dance) studies how folks communicate via dance.
There are daily Make a Move workshops for children seven year-old and up. They encourage kids to take a close look at human movement, the anatomy of the body and how it controls movement. They get to program Lego Mindstorm NXT robots. The idea is to render some insight into the complexities of artificial limbs.
Younger kids, those four to six, might immerse themselves in Move It – a dance workshop fashioned by Scottish Ballet.
Think Edinburgh is a bit far? It’s all relative. You can get there nonstop on United via Newark Liberty International Airport. No need to walk over hot coals to make the trip.
Story by Jerry Chandler
(Images: Edinburgh International Science Festival)
