Blast off for the Glasgow Science Festival 2012

This year's Glasgow Science Festival is ready for launch, featuring a packed programme of events, aimed at adults, children and families, taking place throughout June. This year the festival promises to be bigger than ever with more than 80 events taking place in 30 venues around Glasgow. The festival will run for two weeks, culminating on 17 June, and will include live shows, talks and demonstrations in various locations across the city, including the Science Centre, the Riverside Museum and the Pearce Institute in Govan. The Glasgow Science Festival will showcase Glasgow's contribution to the world of science and technology throughout history and right up to the present day. The schedule of events will allow people of all ages to meet robots, reptiles and real life researchers; explore the cosmos, coral reefs and the brain; and question biologists, chemists and astronauts. The first event on the calendar is an all-night celebration of the Transit of Venus across the sun on 5 June. This is a rare event that happens only once every 243 years and holds tremendous historical significance, helping eighteenth century astronomers discover the true size of the universe.