NET RESULTS:IF EVER an event could return the average jaded grown-up to a child's delight in learning, Science Week is the one, writes Karlin Lillington.

Only the dullest excuse for a human could not find an exhibit, lecture, tour or demonstration of interest during this annual science-athon aimed at every age group.

With activities in every county - easily searched on an interactive map on the Scienceweek.ie website - there's also plenty going on near you, even as the week winds down over the weekend.

The main lectures happening in Dublin always get most of the attention - and they have included everything from talks on robots that have emotions to space tourism to designing Hollywood special effects to becoming a teen tech millionaire.

But there's so much more - in total, 465 events on all aspects of science, technology and engineering.

Kids throughout the country have been trying some hands-on experiments all week, and learning about astronomy and insects, volcanoes and dinosaurs, Irish birds and electricity.

How about a "Chemistry in your Kitchen" class for 10-12-year-olds in Cork, to "explore some interesting chemical reactions in your kitchen"?

What an excellent rainy afternoon activity - and at that age, who wouldn't love to wreak havoc at the kitchen table?

But I suspect that, after bringing their kids to such an event, a lot of parents might be the first ones to go home and get the ingredients out of the cupboards to experiment.

With some tasty final events over this weekend wrapping up this year's celebration of science, be sure to check the website to see what might be of interest close to you. I like the sound of Éanna Ní Lamhna's afternoon talk tomorrow at Dublin's Botanic Gardens on Lab Coats and Lace - about pioneering Irish women in science.

Or the Nano Expo nanotechnology exhibit on through tomorrow at European Union House on Dawson Street, Dublin; or the Science Show physics demonstrations for secondary school students at the Central Library in Dublin's Ilac Centre tomorrow morning.

It may all sound like a lot of fun - and maybe a bit of silliness too - but does something like Science Week really matter?

The obvious, and cliched, answer is that it does, because we all know that interest in science among students is low and getting lower.

Not enough Irish students go on to third-level science, engineering and technology courses and, ultimately, advanced degrees and careers. Blah blah blah.

That's all true, and a major goal of the week is of course to engage and inspire students at every age, offering them some fun and exciting hands-on dabbling in all sorts of interesting areas of investigation; to spark those nascent minds so that technology means more than playing a game on the PC after school, science more than yawning through chemistry equations.

But I think it is adults who need the week most - to go back and submerge ourselves once again in that sense of wonder that came once upon a time from learning about pterodactyls and telescopes, mummies and skyscrapers, amoebas and sharks.

Too many of us lose that as we get older. Too easily we grow passive about wanting to know more. And most of us - the vast majority - will have a cultural IQ that includes the arts, but very little of the sciences.

This leads to a worrying level of ignorance and gullibility: about our environment and how it is changing; about our health; our food; and other day-to-day aspects of our lives.

But is also means that we set a sad example to the children we now worry won't embrace science.

If we ourselves have only a muddled view of science, engineering and technology, if we have lost that hunger to learn more, and show, by our lack of interest, that these subjects have little value to the average adult, who can blame the child for turning off, too?

Rather than expect the next generations to do as we say but not as we do, to gain a basic scientific literacy that we ourselves lack, we too should be jumping right in there and indulging ourselves in a lively and fun week of science.

Can't get away? You needn't miss out even if you can't get to any events - all this year's lectures will be available to view on the Science Week website. And there are archived lectures from years past.

Who knows, you may find yourself discoursing knowledgeably in the pub on the latest Bond film special effects. Or booking a bit of space travel. Or reigniting a desire to learn that will reap rewarding returns for years to come.

klillington@irish-times.ie

Blog: www.techno-culture.com