Christmas offers easy chances to explore science without lab coats or specialist equipment.
Simple experiments can turn festive moments into discoveries for friends and family.
Professor Matthew Cobb from the University of Manchester suggests testing taste and smell.
Hold your nose while eating a sweet and notice how flavour disappears.
Release your nose and the flavour suddenly becomes clear.
Neuroscientist Sophie Scott from University College London recommends testing laughter.
Read cracker jokes alone, then read them to a group.
People laugh far more often when others are present.
Festive meals also offer lessons in anatomy.
Palaeontologist Steve Brusatte from the University of Edinburgh advises examining turkey bones.
The wishbone shows how birds store energy for flight.
Chemistry can appear in dessert preparation.
Andrea Sella from UCL explains how salt lowers ice temperature to make ice-cream quickly.
The melting ice absorbs heat, freezing custard into a soft solid.
Mathematician Kit Yates from the University of Bath suggests using pine needles to estimate pi.
Scatter them on lined paper and count how many cross a line.
These small activities show science is everywhere, even during the holidays.
