The last 50 years represent the first time in history in which the developed world have had access to abundant calories, so it’s unsurprising that obesity is common. What’s more puzzling is that there are still lots of lean people. Professor Stephen O’Rahilly explains fundamental biological processes that regulate energy balance and how these interacted with evolutionary forces over many millennia.
The current dogma is that all cancers arise due to abnormalities in DNA, however, until very recently, our ability to look into the DNA of cancers has been very limited. In this talk Professor Mike Stratton (Director of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute) discusses how the revolutionary changes in DNA sequencing technology are beginning to illuminate the dark landscape of cancer genomes.
We still need fossil fuels, but recent studies of the geological record show that we cannot burn with impunity the remaining supplies of coal, gas and oil, releasing the CO2. Join geologist Dr Bryan Lovell to learn why you can’t argue with a rock, but you can ask the oil barons to become prospective environmental saviours rather than villains.
In the future will a walk in the countryside be a silent one? The last 20 years has seen a dramatic change in Britain’s wildlife, including Cambridgeshire. Discover what the future holds and how we can make a difference with Brian Eversham, writer of Silent Summer: The State of Wildlife in Britain and Ireland.
Dr Harry Witchel, who researches music, pleasure and the brain, explores, in a way never previously done, the human relationship with music and how music makes us who we are.