Each September, a couple of weeks before the political class decamps to the seaside for the annual round of party conferences, Britain’s scientists host a gathering of their own. The British Association Festival of Science has a distinguished history. It was here, in 1842, that the word “dinosaur” was coined. And in 1860 that Bishop Wilberforce and Thomas Huxley held their famous debate on evolution, when the former asked the latter whether he would prefer to be descended from an ape on his grandfather’s or grandmother’s side.

The 2005 BA Festival, which takes place this week in Dublin, will be attended by around 400 scientists and remains an important showcase for new ideas. But its primary role is now as a forum for communication and dialogue between scientists and the wider public, especially in areas of social or ethical concern, such as stem cell research or nanotechnology. This makes it a useful barometer of the scientific state we are in, and the degree of to which public confidence in science. is increasing or on the wane.