See (and smell) our rotting fish in Cheltenham

It’s the Cheltenham Science Festival this week, and staff from our Department of Geology are on their way with their famous Rotten Fish and Fossils exhibit.

A big hit at last year’s Royal Society Summer Exhibition and the Big Bang Fair in Birmingham earlier this year, the exhibit is based around an experiment to study how primitive fish decay from which can be gleaned an idea of how similar fossilised life-forms may have looked. You can read all about it on the Rotten Fish and Fossils microsite.

The Leicester exhibit, which will be accompanied by some of the academics involved, is part of the Area 42 ‘Discover Zone for over 16s’ (“Why should children have all the fun?”) in Imperial Gardens, next to the Experitent. Area 42 is free to explore and is open between midday and 8pm on Friday 15, Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 June.