SCIENCE is too often confined to the laboratory or the computer suite.

That is why the York Festival of Discovery is such a good idea. It brings the achievements out of the sterile confines of the Science Park and into the wider world.

As visitors to the various events will find, our chemists, biologists and physicists are adventurers, whose pioneering spirit is as developed as any Arctic explorer's. They are uncovering our future and unlocking our past.

For parents who remain baffled by exhibits about thinking plants and the science of sweets, here's our tip. Ask your children to explain it to you later.

Updated: 10:30 Thursday, March 06, 2003