Sixth Formers from Solihull School are heading to Boston, USA this month to learn about the latest developments in the world of science.

They will be taking part in seminars from leading practitioners on subjects such as the biology and evolution of human language, global fisheries and food supply, and the brain’s plasticity at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

It will be the fifth year in succession that students at the independent school for boys and girls in Warwick Road have attended the science, engineering and education event whose 2013 theme is ‘The Beauty and Benefits of Science’.

More than 150 symposia will highlight the rich and complicated connections between basic and applied research and how they bring about both practical benefits and the beauty of pure understanding.

The wide variety of lectures will include ‘The Beauty of the Accelerating Universe’ by Robert Kirshner of Harvard University; ‘Modernist Cuisine’ by Nathan Myhrvold, Founder of Intellectual Ventures; and ‘Technology for Educating Everyone’ by Peter Norvig, Director of Research for Google.

The week-long exercise, led by Head of Science Andrew Jones, follows the success of Solihull School’s visit to the AAAS conference in Vancouver last year.

Andrew said: “Our students are looking forward to attending this now well-established extra-curricular event which they find not only enjoyable and enriching but also enhances their future education prospects.”