SouthseaScene

As appeared in the Portsmouth View, October 2016 Looking at the programme of activities for the HG Wells Festival you can see how Portsmouth has given him much inspiration. The festival programme takes in everything from talks about Wells’ influence on popular culture and his passion for human rights to the latest scientific thinking on time travel and a creative writing and science fiction workshop. Science is so much a part of our lives that we do not often realise. When you make a cup of tea and the dry leaves turn into a comforting brew in the cup, it is science in action. All that you have in our mobile phone is science. Science is all around us. We do a lot at the university to encourage young people to study science. Sometimes it surprised me that we have to work so hard to do that. After all, science is really fascinating. Do we not wonder about how trees die down in the winter to come blooming in the spring? Or have we taken science for granted? This month I urg...

Summer is about enjoying the long, warm days and not stuck by the stove cooking labourious dinners. That's why the barbecue was invented! The simplest possible way to do the barbecue is to buy some sausages and burgers ready made in the supermarket. Foodie me, however, prefer to know what goes into my food. Making your own burger should not be difficult. Some prefer plain meat which they flavour later with tomatoes, lettuce, a slice of bacon, or a chunk of Stilton. I tend to mix lean steak mince with onions I have chopped up and caramelised in the pan with a spoonful of oil. Then to flavour it I raid the fridge for leftover chutney, chilli sauce or apricot conserve (my favourite!). You want to keep the mixture moist and to stick it all together, add an egg and mix well. This mixture is very good if you want to cut out gluten from your diet. Ready-made burgers often have rusk or breadcrumbs added for volume. What better to drink in the hot summer evenings than the very Brit...