It’s the penultimate day of I’m a Scientist: November 2013. So far we’ve said “so long” to eight scientists, and this afternoon, another four will gracefully^* bow out leaving just two finalists in each zone to battle it out for the title!

In the meantime, we’ve decided to try out something new on our contestants: We’re opening the floodgates.

Tomorrow afternoon (Friday 22nd) we’ll be opening up the live chats in all the zones to any students who want to chat with the scientists. We’ve never had students chatting with scientists outside of their teachers’ classrooms before; keen students will be able to log in in their own time to chat with the scientists, get in some last minute questions, and give the finalists a chance to pick up some eleventh-hour votes, before the winners are announced at 3 pm.

The live chats will be open from 12 pm to 2 pm, and any registered students are invited to drop in and talk with the scientists, who will be popping in and out of the chat during the two hours.

We’ve been really impressed by the number of evicted scientists still taking part in chats; and of course, all scientists — evicted or not — are welcome to join in this pilot open live chat.

We’d like to thank Science Foundation Ireland for providing funding for the event; as well as the Institute of Physics in Ireland for funding the Nanotechnology Zone, and ESERO Ireland for funding the Space Zone.

^{* We make no guarantees on grace.↩}