5 cool things we saw at New Scientist Live

Science has never been cooler than it is right now – so we popped along to the New Scientist Live event to see what cool stuff they had to show us.

If you get along to London’s ExCeL centre before the end of the weekend, here’s what you might see…

1. These naked mole rats

Scientists are fascinated by them, since they live 10 times as long as mice, are resistant to cancer and function as a co-operative, where only one queen will mate with a few males, while the rest of the colony contribute.

These rats are part of a collaborative project between artist Julie Freeman and naked mole rat expert Dr Chris Faulkes.

Together they collect data on the rats’ behaviour, which helps scientists learn more about the elusive underground dweller, and gives Julie data to turn into audio visual artwork.

2. This mobile signal-saving helikite

Well, it’s a temporary signal booster for mobiles, used for when permanent cell towers go down – or for big events such as Glastonbury where there’ll be a lot of demand for signal across a small rural area.

So now you know.

3. This Mars rover

She’s moving incredibly slowly here and is only expected to cover 100 metres of Martian ground a day.

Here she’s been navigated by an operator from Airbus, but soon the rover will be able to navigate itself, using its two front cameras mounted on a stalk to create a 3D image of the terrain ahead.

And although this rover won’t be launched from the UK, our space agency is preparing for the first British spaceport to appear by 2020.

4. A gaggle of tropical bugs

Perhaps coolest of all is a scorpion which glows under UV light.

5. A huge car that may well break the land speed record

But for this 13.5-metre long beast to get close to beating the current land speed record (763mph), it needs somewhere to store its three giant engines.

The Bloodhound will be driven for the first time in Cornwall next month.