Fun science in South Africa

For the past week, a historic university town in South Africa's Eastern Cape province has reverberated with some unlikely noises: the sound of rockets igniting, robots chirping and home-made cars racing. Most of all, though, it is the voices of thousands of pupils racing between venues to hear lectures, see films or peruse another installation which remind Grahamstown locals that 'Sasol SciFest' is underway. The annual science festival, the biggest in Africa, is primarily sponsored by Sasol, a South African oil, gas and chemical giant that specialises in converting coal to fuel.