During the National Science and Engineering Week, students and staff from the School of Chemistry helped out in a community event held at the North Edinburgh Arts Centre which highlighted the chemical reactions which transform cake ingredients into sponge. Through a series of ???hands-on??? work stations attendees were able to learn about acids and bases, the miscibility of fluids, protein denaturation and non-newtonian fluids. At the end, participants were given the opportunity to decorate their own cupcake.

The Solar Spark saw a record-breaking 75,000 visitors attend the Big Bang Fair Birmingham on 15-16^th March. More than 100 children and parents had a go on the bike generator to see how much pedal power is required to run various domestic appliances, illustrating just how much energy we all use each day. During the two day drop-in session, everyone had a chance to play with fruit batteries and all kinds of solar toys, as well as find out more about the science behind making solar cells (light absorption, energy conversion and electricity) from the friendly volunteers.

To celebrate the International Year of Crystallography the School of Chemistry, at The University of Edinburgh, is launching a crystal growing competition for S3 and S4 pupils from schools in Edinburgh, the Lothians and the Borders.

To enter the competition please register by the 28^th March 2014 by emailing monica.hoyos-flight@ed.ac.uk

For 50 minutes Room T250 in The School of Chemistry was transformed into Rosalind Franklin???s small and dark laboratory at King???s College London 1951. In a mesmerising performance, Kathryn Godfrey, portrayed the brilliance and drive of a reluctant participant in the race to solve the structure of DNA.

Since the early 20th century, X-ray diffraction has been used to study how atoms are arranged in matter.

Professor Polly Arnold has recently been made a member of the board of directors for the Edinburgh International Science Festival. The festival is one of the oldest and largest science festivals in the world.

This year's festival will run from the 5-20 April.

Professor Colin Pulham explored how chemistry is key to developments such as green energy and better healthcare. His talk was entitled ???Chemistry: Our life, Our Future.???

He managed to bring chemistry to the Museum Lates crowd by linking the history of alchemy and chemistry with present day research and current challenges. Lots of excellent demonstrations, bangs and explosions kept everyone on the edge of their seat and he even made beer appear magically before our eyes.

Georg will be giving a Chemistry Christmas Lecture at the George Square Theatre on the 10th of December. All welcome.

Here are a few photos from the night:

During May and June we have been celebrating research within the College of Science and Engineering that is linked to light as part of our International Year of Light 2015 events.

We were lucky to have a fantastic programme of talks, covering topics such as the future of solar power in Scotland to the mathematics of black holes! Each Wednesday evening at 6.30pm in the Red Lecture Theatre at Summerhall our specialists enlightened us with their topic of research.

To celebrate 2014 being the International Year of Crystallography, we invited researchers from a range of disciplines to talk about crystallography in their subjects and in their current research. Summerhall hosted us every Tuesday night between 13^th May and the 24^th June as we embarked on a remarkable journey in which we learned all about the fascinating world of crystals, from historical discoveries to today???s cutting-edge research.