KEY POINTS:
At a science open day in Rotorua visitors who want a drink will have to ride a bike for long enough to generate the energy used to make the cup it comes in.
Research company Scion is holding an open day at Rotorua's Te Papa Tipu park this Saturday, where people will gets hands-on lessons in worm farming, burp gases and leaky homes.
Scion is a Crown research institute which focuses on sustainable consumer products, biomaterials and commercial forestry.
Its scientists will be selling lunches from a sausage and drink stand which is designed to teach people about sustainable products. As well as riding a biking for their drink, visitors can eat a sausage cooked over newly developed renewable wood pellets.
Other exhibits include a stall which explains how worm farms can reduce waste, and a stall where visitors can burp into a gadget called a mass spectrometer -- which will tell them what kind of gases are inside their stomach.
There will be a demonstration on leaky homes, and why houses can become leaky if the timber they are built from is not treated properly to withstand the weather.
Scion is also encouraging people to bring along any unusual insects they've found, for identification.
- NZPA
