BS You're making a lot of sense. Well the next question then is, um do you think that kind of science that you've described is the type of science that Techniquest is involved with?
ER Yes. Because it's not about boundaries. Often science in school is about boundaries. You have a physics teacher you have a biology teacher you have a chemistry teacher and, never the twain shall meet. And you ask a question "ooh that's physics" or. That's giving a bad impression of teachers and I don't mean to do that at all. Teachers do a great job. But I think, here, we're all about enquiring and all about questions. "The Bernoulli Blower why does that stay up?" When the children walk in through the door they, the first thing they see is the Bernoulli Ball hanging in mid-air. Their eyes light up. They, they point and they go "Wow. Look" And they grab somebody else to come and have a look. As they get closer they see that, when they hear that the fan is blowing so they usually stand behind it and they can feel the air and they know that - that's what's keeping the ball up and they learn pretty quickly that if they put their hand in front of the fan the ball will fall down. And that's children of all ages and adults. That is almost always the, the same thing. They see it there. Initially they don't see or hear the fan but then they see the fan, put their hand there, and it falls down. "Why?" So they put it back and they, then they start looking more. I, I, I don't, I have never noticed somebody who walks in through Techniquest on their first visit, and just walks straight past the Bernoulli Blower. You can't do it because it's just there asking you to ask questions. It's, it's "Come on! Ask me!" And. And then if you read the label it says "does the air flow faster above or below the ball." Now, as an adult my first instinct was below the ball, it's keeping it up but when you feel it you can feel it above the ball rather than beneath it. So then you start asking more questions. And - it's all about encouraging people to ask the questions and giving them some answers and, but arming them with I "want to find out the answer." And that's what makes people into scientists.
Whether they actually continue with science or not. It's, it's the asking the questions and the same in the science theatre the same in the planetarium - in the workshop. They're all different aspects, they all have different qualities to them, they all have different types of interactions but they're all about questions and then, people, wanting to find out for themselves. And some people will follow it on, some people won't. Some people are just quite happy - having - "I don't know" as the answer. Number of times you'll hear kids asking "why does the ball stay up?" and the parent goes "magic". And, I almost feel that's a cop out because it's, it's not magic and actually magic is quite a dull boring answer - because - there isn't an answer to it. You know, if the answer is just magic - well it's an unsatisfactory answer to me. It's, the thing with all magic tricks you sit there, you watch them and the thing you want to know is how they are done because you know it's not magic. You know magic doesn't exist but you want to know the answer. So that's, that's the core of what Techniquest is about. Encouraging people and motivating people and getting people to want to ask the questions. Absolutely.