FROM EXPLODING custard to learning how to break out of prison, there was plenty to put the "Wow!" back into science at yesterday's Festival of Science Engineering and Technology held at the University of Limerick.
Hundreds of people gathered for the fun-packed day of free events, which marked the beginning of Science Week.
The Limerick festival featured an exciting range of interactive experiments and demonstrations along with dozens of exhibitions where simple questions such as "how does suntan lotion really work?" were answered.
The demonstration by the Army Ordnance Corps of how robots are used to detect and dismantle explosive devices attracted huge interest, while there was a steady flow of aspiring young astronauts happy to join long queues for the flight simulator.
Dr Peter Douglas's chemistry and light show demonstrated how light can be generated electrically, thermally and chemically, and how it might be used to solve two of the most important problems facing mankind, the production of clean water and clean energy.
Dr Christine Campbell's science is power demonstration also attracted a lot of interest, especially when audiences were shown how to escape from jail.
Meanwhile Dr Andy Newsam was happy to take audiences on a trip through space with some star-gazing and planet-watching.
One of the most popular events of the day, however, was the live demonstration of exploding custard by Dr Ian Russell. He assured his young audience that science doesn't belong to grown-ups - "it belongs to children as well".
"Children are better at noticing things, children are more curious. They are better at experimenting and, best of all, children are less boring," he told his delighted audience.
"This show is all about showing children they can do these experiments at home. They are all easy to do but of course I don't recommend the exploding custard experiment!"
Gráinne Rowsome from Limerick was at the event with her two sons Andy (8) and Gavin (5).
"I'm an engineer myself and I'm always interested in events that help raise interest in engineering," she said. "I would have been involved in promoting engineering in girls' secondary schools when I was working in the area of marketing engineering.
"There is no difference between boys and girls, so there is no reason why there shouldn't be more women pursuing careers in engineering."