A historic British institution returned to its birthplace yesterday to mark 176 years of celebrating science.

The British Association for the Advancement of Science, known as the BA, was founded in York in 1831.

This week, the annual BA Festival of Science will be held in the city, bringing together more than 350 of Britain's leading scientists and engineers to present their work to the public.

Originally established as a forum allowing scientists from different disciplines to meet outside London, the BA's main aim is to foster a wider understanding and appreciation of science.

This week, presentations and debates will be held at the University of York with a host of scientific events for families taking place throughout the city.

Highlighted topics include whether climate change might bring monkeys back to England, future geological hazards, the development of factory farm non-food crops, the health benefits of chocolate, prehistoric diets, and the mystery of consciousness.

Early meetings of the BA saw some scientific landmarks - including the first use of the word "scientist", physicist James Joule's experiments on the nature of heat, the discovery of the first inert gas, argon, and the first demonstration of wireless transmission by Sir Oliver Lodge in 1894.

In 1860, the BA festival hosted a debate on Darwinism between the agnostic biologist Thomas Henry Huxley and Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford.