Researcher has the science lesson X factor

A Plymouth researcher has achieved fame in classrooms across the country after winning a nationwide competition dubbed as 'school science lessons meet the X Factor'. 'I'm a Scientist Get Me Out of Here' which is designed to enthuse school pupils about science, saw the University of Plymouth's Martin Coath and four other scientists subjected to the mercy of the inquisitive minds of teenage judges in a bid to be the last one standing. Secondary school pupils from all over the UK spent two weeks getting to know the scientists through live web chats and challenging them to answer hundreds of scientific questions. The pressure mounted in the last four days as the students got to vote for the scientist that impressed them the most and evicted one each day. Coath said; "All the scientists took the dialogue with the students very seriously, answering questions ranging from 'why do we sneeze'' to 'is it true that there are parallel universes'', though I did get some very imaginative questions which I had to be equally creative in answering! "Some of the discussions were amazingly deep and I was hugely impressed by the students' engagement, bearing in mind that many of them had never met a scientist and didn't realise that research was a career opportunity. It is of fundamental importance that scientific research is seen as an integral part of society, and even though the event was great fun, this was my main motivation for taking part." This is just one of the many science outreach activities that Coath is able to take part in thanks to the EU funding that he receives for his leading neuroscience research at the University of Plymouth.