New website pinpoints how technology and science improve our world

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Impact! World is a new website created by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) -- a government agency providing funding for Physical Sciences and engineering research and training in the UK.

Impact! World is a new website created by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) - a government agency providing funding for Physical Sciences and engineering research and training in the UK.

To celebrate the launch of the website, EPSRC ran a poll to find out what the most important physical science discoveries of the last 50 years were. Ten influential scientists were asked to pick out the inventions or discoveries they thought had changed the world more than any other.

On December 2 the results were announced in association with New Scientist. The microprocessor was picked as the winning discovery. The World Wide Web was another hot favorite.

For more information about great science and technology discoveries, people can head to the Impact! World website where clear and concise stories, videos and illustrations explain the ways in which UK-based science discoveries are changing the world for the better.

"Engineering and physical sciences research is crucial to creating a healthy, prosperous and sustainable society. It has huge impact on the world around us. We hope this website and our IMPACT Campaign will help the public understand why research is so crucial to the UK's future," said Dave Delpy, EPSRC chief executive.

Visitors to the site can learn about science-based projects in a number of different ways - from reading case studies about how to reduce your energy consumption to watching videos about green racing.

The site's illustrator, Ben Jackson worked hard to make the site easy to navigate. "Accessibility was important so we ensured the entire site could be easily navigated by keyboard alone whilst also providing more standard text based versions of the content so it's available to all," he commented.

The site was originally launched in October as part of EPSRC's IMPACT! Campaign.

Site: www.impactworld.org.uk