I forgot to pack my socks. Given that this is Cheltenham Science Festival, as I walked to the sock shop I envisioned a long queue of professors and graduate students who had also forgotten to pack their socks. Alas, I was the sole. The scientists at this festival are far too cool for that. Directed by UCL’s own Mark Lythgoe, who appears to be the height of cool, the aim of this festival is to get current science, and its associated issues, out into the public sphere.

An event worth highlighting for its excellent quality is ‘Energy – the smart way?’. In essence, it was an introduction to the need for, possible design of and social implications of ‘smart grids’ and ‘smart meters’ to monitor and control our energy use. Former UCL PhD student Tony Rooke, now working a short walk along Euston Road at Logica, was one of the three panelists.  All agreed that the ‘smart grid’, broadly meaning a grid in which there is multi-directional information and power flow, is absolutely essential if we are to meet our carbon targets, but it was pointed out that rolling out smart meters without knowing the architecture of the smart grid is possibly a mistake.

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