Sir David Attenborough celebrates Darwin with Nowgen

Leah Holmes and Kate Mathieson recently demonstrated their latest practical work to Sir David Attenborough. The renowned natural scientist visited the Wellcome Collection to launch a set of Darwin 200 initiatives, funded by The Wellcome Trust. The Survival Rivals project, which celebrates Darwin’s 200th birthday, will provide every secondary school student in the UK with the chance to take part in Darwin-inspired experiments. Nowgen has been commissioned by the Wellcome Trust to develop practical workshops for A-level students, which will be delivered from the Nowgen laboratory, along with two other national science centres.

Leah Holmes of Nowgen said, “It was so exciting even to be in the same room as Sir David; his energy and enthusiasm for inspiring young people truly shone through. With this practical we have really pushed the boundaries of A-level practical work, bringing it up-to-date with current research.”

Nowgen will be delivering 75 laboratory-based workshops exploring human evolution for post-16 students from September 2009 onwards. We will be recruiting enthusiastic postgraduate students to help us deliver this programme. For more information, please contact Leah Holmes.

For further information about the Wellcome Trust’s Darwin initiatives please see: www.survivalrivals.org