The School of Chemistry hosted the event “Nature’s Architecture” at the Edinburgh Science Festival on the 14th of April 2025. The event was organized by Prof. Fabio Nudelman, Dr Jenny Gracie (both School of Chemistry) and Dr Fraser Laidlaw (School of Physics and Astronomy). We were delighted to welcome 16 members of the public to discover how the microstructure of shells and bones determines the strength and resilience of skeletons, and ultimately enable animals to survive. The event included lectures on electron microscopy and biomineralization, and a hands-on activity using light and scanning electron microscopy. Many thanks to Kamila Melicherikova and Rana Abdullah (PhD students in the Nudelman group) for the lab demonstration! We are grateful to the Royal Microscopical Society for kindly lending their light microscopy activity kit. Feedback from the event has been great, with participants particular enjoying getting 'hands on' with the electron microscope, getting to see the experiments in action, and understanding how they apply to science and industry through the combination of our talk and practical experiments. Publication date 21 Apr, 2025
