MORE than 227,000 North-East people have learned a little something about life in the past 12 months.

That is several thousand more people than were expected to visit Newcastle's Centre for Life, a place where scientific research, science, ethics, education and entertainment meet.

It is a facility in which the very building blocks of life are examined like car parts in a factory, where businesses make money and where children learn what it means - what it really means - to be alive.

The centre has become one of those seemingly rare beasts - a major millennium project, costing millions of pounds, which is just about universally regarded as an unmitigated success.

Well, nearly. The £70m International Centre for Life near Newcastle Central Station, which has a research department, visitor centre, ethics discussion centre, two health clinics and transfer businesses who use the science, has its critics.

More than 60 protestors, worried about genetic engineering demonstrated at the grand opening day last year. They argued that the centre had failed to answer concerns about issues thrown up about advances in DNA research.

It is a charge strongly denied by director Linda Conlon. She said: "We are about questions. We are not pro or anti anything, and we don't have all the answers. All we say is that this research, which has enormous potential for the human race, needs to be examined properly."

So far it is the visitor attraction centre, largely frequented by families and school parties, which, with its thrilling motion simulator ride, called Life is a Roller Coaster, and 3D film of the embryo from conception to birth, which has attracted most attention. Although a nightclub, planned for this autumn and which will, predictably, be called DNA, may soon be its most famous feature.

But staff believe it will be the 150 research scientists and clinical staff, and the two ground-breaking health clinics which help those who have inherited diseases and couples who are experiencing problems conceiving, which will one day give the centre an even higher international profile.