Science is a process of questioning – and discussion plays a key role in each Orkney Science Festival.

We've had a lot of requests for a discussion forum on this site, to enable discussion started during the Festival to be followed up – and also to open up ideas in advance.

We're delighted to say that the new forum is now open, and that your contributions will be most welcome.

We tried out several systems and eventually decided on a new one, developed by a UK company. The new forum has a whole range of features, and Alex who has been working on this development has customised it for our own use.

You can go direct to it from here.

Our first discussion is by special request, on the role of physics in education. It seems that physics is becoming a minority subject, even within science curricula, yet it would also appear to be the key to so much of the future, and it is part of our human heritage. Do you agree? And if so, what do you think should be done about it?