Learn all about the planets in one evening! Dr Carolin Crawford from the Institute of Astronomy and conductor Mark Austin will be in conversation during a free pre-concert talk. Followed by the Cambridge Graduate Orchestra performing Holst’s 'The Planets' accompanied by eye-opening planetary projections.
From hidden engineering on the nano scale to origami designs for engineering structures, explore an exhibition of astounding photographs taken by staff and students from the Department of Engineering.
A very small table-top display about the work of the Darwin Correspondence Project, which is publishing all the available letters to and from Charles Darwin.
To prepare competitors and spectators for London 2012, we cast a mathematical eye over a wide range of Olympic sporting events. A little elementary maths can help us appreciate more fully what is going on in a range of running, swimming, jumping, throwing, paddling, lifting, swinging and wheelchair racing events. We will also examine some of the strange scoring systems that sports employ.
Throughout the 20th century, films used the monstrous to explore concerns about intervention and normality. This second series of 'Reproduction on Film' presents works featuring various artificial and natural monsters, examining anxieties about science, sex, relationships, parenthood and social marginalisation.
In this lecture materials scientist Sir Colin Humphreys will talk about apparent inconsistencies in the Gospel accounts of the last week of Jesus' life that have puzzled Bible scholars for centuries.
Gert-Jan de Haas, neuropsychologist and musician, takes us on a journey through the musical brain via dancing parrots, snails, a cup of tea and the important principle of ‘not not’. He explains how what is known about general brain functions can be applied to learning and performing music and why it is that the musical brain really knows nothing!
From hidden engineering on the nano scale to origami designs for engineering structures, explore an exhibition of astounding photographs taken by staff and students from the Department of Engineering.
A very small table-top display about the work of the Darwin Correspondence Project, which is publishing all the available letters to and from Charles Darwin.
Exhibition of poster and images from the researchers in the life sciences. All exhibitors will be there to talk about their work on the afternoon of Tuesday 13 March.
Clive Oppenheimer explores geological, historical and archaeological records to ask how volcanic eruptions have shaped the trajectory of human society through prehistory and history. He looks at the evidence for volcanic cataclysm and considers how we can prepare ourselves for future catastrophes.
Knowing how long we have before we interact with a zombie could mean the difference between life, death and zombification. Join Thomas Woolley as he applies the same mathematical models to zombies that you would use to describe flu or measles. This model is used to develop strategies which allow the human race to survive.
This workshop will give you a free taste of the Carbon Conversations course, featured as one of 'The Guardian's' top 20 climate change solutions. Calculate your carbon footprint, and try some sample activities. Come along to find out more!
Why do some people always seem to get what they want? How do they influence, persuade and sometimes manipulate others? From the political genius of top world leaders to the malign influence of psychopaths and conmen, Kevin Dutton explores what psychology can teach us about of the techniques of persuasion.
From hidden engineering on the nano scale to origami designs for engineering structures, explore an exhibition of astounding photographs taken by staff and students from the Department of Engineering.
A very small table-top display about the work of the Darwin Correspondence Project, which is publishing all the available letters to and from Charles Darwin.
Exhibition of poster and images from the researchers in the life sciences. All exhibitors will be there to talk about their work on the afternoon of Tuesday 13 March.
Compulsive acts or habits which are hard to stop occur in people with OCD and other disorders such as autism or substance abuse disorder. Sometimes these habits are distressing and cause difficulties in daily life, but how do these get started? What is the neurobiological basis for them and how can they best be treated?
Throughout the 20th century, films used the monstrous to explore concerns about intervention and normality. This second series of 'Reproduction on Film' presents works featuring various artificial and natural monsters, examining anxieties about science, sex, relationships, parenthood and social marginalisation.
Find out how genome research is helping us to understand infectious diseases such as cholera and malaria. Discover how a contagious cancer is causing the decline of the Tasmanian devil and how sequencing genomes helps us to understand common human diseases.
Recent and forthcoming developments in the physical sciences, engineering and computing science are likely to impact health care powerfully over the next 10 – 20 years. Listen to our panel discuss how the experience, benefit and risk of health care is likely to change, as well as what role patients and the public play in shaping the future of health care.
From hidden engineering on the nano scale to origami designs for engineering structures, explore an exhibition of astounding photographs taken by staff and students from the Department of Engineering.
A very small table-top display about the work of the Darwin Correspondence Project, which is publishing all the available letters to and from Charles Darwin.
Exhibition of poster and images from the researchers in the life sciences. All exhibitors will be there to talk about their work on the afternoon of Tuesday 13 March.
The Northumberland Telescope, erected at Cambridge University Observatory during the 1830s, and still in use, was one of the great engineering triumphs of 19th century science. Professor Simon Schaffer explores why the instrument was built and how it came into use in those troubled times.
Talk by Dr Julie Adams, Research Fellow at the Museum, which considers the consequences of projects aimed at reconnecting museum collections with source communities in the Pacific. Includes a film shot in Vanuatu in 2007.
Join Christl Donnelly, Professor of Statistical Epidemiology, in a race against the clock to limit the spread of a newly identified infectious disease. Only a coordinated effort will keep the number of deaths down and stop our health services from becoming overwhelmed. Learn why some outbreaks never really take off whereas with others infections spread across the world.
A talk from Margaret Stanley OBE, Professor of Epithelial Biology, University of Cambridge about vaccines and immunotherapaies to combat cervical cancer.
Join Dr Stuart Clark to explore how from Kepler to Newton to Einstein, the greatest breakthroughs in our understanding of the Universe came by studying motion in the Universe. Once again, astronomers are seeing movements in the Universe they cannot explain. Is the next big breakthrough imminent?
Award-winning comedian & creator of BBC Radio 4's *It Is Rocket Science*, Helen
Keen returns to Cambridge with her esoteric mix of stand-up comedy, science &
shadow puppetry.
A very small table-top display about the work of the Darwin Correspondence Project, which is publishing all the available letters to and from Charles Darwin.
We learn at school that Isaac Newton is the father of modern optics and that Copernicus heralded the birth of astronomy. But what is the debt these men owe to the physicists and astronomers of the medieval Islamic Empire? Men such as Ibn al-Haytham, al-Tusi and Ibn al-Shatir. In this Andrew Chamblin memorial lecture; Jim Al-Khalili will tell the story of these fascinating characters.
Genoan navigator Christopher Columbus has a dream to find an alternative route to sail to the Indies, by traveling west instead of east, across the unchartered Ocean sea. He eventually gets the blessing from Queen Isabella and sets sail in three ships to travel into the unknown.
In space no-one can hear you scream... but it is still a noisy Universe . This lecture takes a new approach to appreciating the Universe, through the vehicle of sound.
Robin Ince, Alan Moore and guests read and talk about their favourite odd, arcane or frankly just bad pieces of science, pseudoscience or all out charlatan literature in a science specific resurrection of Robin Ince’s Bad Book Club.
From hidden engineering on the nano scale to origami designs for engineering structures, explore an exhibition of astounding photographs taken by staff and students from the Department of Engineering.
A very small table-top display about the work of the Darwin Correspondence Project, which is publishing all the available letters to and from Charles Darwin.
Join STEM Team East to spin and orbit into physics. Learn why yo-yos spin up and down, spinning tops precess, water vortex in a plug hole and what these have to do with MRI scans, black holes and satellite orbits around the Earth.
CHaOS student volunteers are running a series of talks filled with exciting demonstrations! You'll find more crashes, bangs, and squelches here if you find that our hands on events are full, or if you want even more CHaOS at the Science Festival!
In this talk we'll explore the ten scientific reasons why ice-cream is the world's coolest dessert. We will also make two gallons of delicious ice-cream for the audience to try, using the ultra-fast cooling power of liquid nitrogen!
This exciting new show by science junkies Huw James and Greg Foot uncovers the physiology and sports engineering that make an athelete a champion. Live on stage, we'll use sensors attached to exercise machines to see what happens as you start to sweat and struggle to get enough oxygen into your muscles.
Did you know your body hosts millions of microbes? Did you know that millions of proteins make your body function? Come to the Department of Pathology to see the miniature world that is your body.
Find out how new medicines are discovered and translated from the laboratory into the clinic through hands on interactive stations and demonstrations. We will be showing how medicines treat common illnesses such as diabetes.
Join Christopher Lloyd on a whistle-stop tour through the history of life on Earth using a coat of many pockets and a giant wallbook with more than 1,000 species on a four billion year timeline!
Join scientists from MRC Human Nutrition Research on a scientific journey that takes you from the identification of fats in a blood sample, through to how these fats are related to your diet and then on to how they impact on your health.
Measure your walk stride length or elbow joint range of motion by using a video camera and computer software. You can compare these to a horse or a dog with footage previously captured. Or, guess how fast different animals move with our interactive quiz!
Antibodies are our natural defences against infections and other diseases, but they can also be made into therapeutic medicines which bind target molecules on the cell surface. At the MedImmune stand you can build your own model of the cell surface and make a model therapeutic antibody that can bind to it. Also, dress up as a scientist and have your picture taken!
See how modern science is providing new understanding of flower colours and iridescence, see a bumblebee arena, laser remote sensing for conservation, computer game models of plant adaptation and innovative breeding methods.
The Cambridge Science Centre team has hidden some of our future hands on exhibits for you to discover and play with across the Cambridge Science Festival. Join us at the Information marquee to start your hands on science trail - will you find them all?
Join the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute, and put on a lab coat - come and run a DNA gel, compete in a pipetting challenge and examine some tissue down a microscope.
What makes us human? Just how similar are we to each other and other organisms? How may your genome affect your health ? How can computers help us to understand genomes? Join staff from the European Bioinformatics Institute and Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute to explore these questions and more…
Have you ever wondered what fat does? We all know that if we eat too much we get fat, but having too little fat is just as unhealthy as having too much. The University of Cambridge Metabolic Research Laboratories will provide hands on activities and games that show you some fabulous facts about fat and why it is so important for our health.
The Department of Engineering invites you to learn how to make a hovercraft move by making a working model. Will it go? Will it travel in a straight line? How fast can you make it go?
The mighty mitochondrion is a special part of every cell where food is converted into fuel for your muscles and nerves. The MRC Mitochondrial Unit invite you to use LEGO® to understand the processes going on in your body and find out how electricity runs through proteins.
Did you know that if you could lay all your blood vessels end-to-end they would stretch over 60,000 miles? That's twice around the world! Find out more about what goes on inside your blood vessels and how you can keep them healthy, with scientists from the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine.
Join the Department of Pharmacology to fish for water fleas (Daphnia) and use a microscope to see their heart, guts, eye and eggs. Perform Daphnia heart-rate experiments with drugs such as caffeine (coffee and cola) alcohol, nicotine and cold medicines.
You can meet the Giant African Land Snails, Giant African Millipedes as well as the Madagascan Hissing Cockroaches! They're safe and fun to handle for ages.
Come and see where the amazing structures of proteins has lead the artist, Jenny Langley. Textiles and prints will be displayed along with sources of inspirations and sketchbooks.
Come and join technologists from Qualcomm and explore augmented reality applications on tablets and mobile devices. Augmented reality lets you see the world around you through a 'magic lens' that reveals surprising, fun and interesting content.
Ages: 9+
Use microscopes to see your own cells and to wonder at the hidden beauty of plants and insects with the help of scientists of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and the Microscopes4Schools project. Test your detective skills with our interactive stereoscope challenge!
Explore the world of stem cells with the MRC Centre for Stem Cell Biology. Along with many games and activities you'll get to put on a labcoat and goggles and use a pipette in a 'wet lab' experiment to see how to feed and care for stem cells on a daily basis.
Join Intel for an exciting array of demos to show what computing technologies can really do. Get involved with augmented reality, learn about eco computing and have loads of fun with some of the most advanced technology!
Dedicated to returning talented scientists and technologists to research positions after a career break taken for family, caring or health reasons. The Trust provides fellowships which are designed to significantly increase employability and remove the disadvantages associated with a career break.
Play your calcium cards right, balance the leaning tower of health, enjoy a ‘trolley dash’ through the EPIC supermarket AND tackle our frenetic fluency game, all whilst learning about the vital role that specific vitamins and minerals play in healthy development.
Come and join scientists from the Hutchison/MRC Research Centre to discover if you can solve the mysteries of how cancer cells first develop, and then grow and spread. Find out about DNA mutations, build a cancer chromosome, and see if you can take on the challenge of killing some cancerous cells.
Come and explore with us how biostatistics can be used to improve health. Try our four different activities in which your creativity and thinking abilities will help you to solve the challenges we'll give you!
How active are you? Find out how everyday activities compare to being an athlete. How many marathons could you do in a year? Find out how you can make your journeys more active with the MRC Epidemiology Unit.
Enthusiastic students from the CHaOS Science Roadshow help you get to grips with exciting, fascinating and just plain weird experiments that go 'crash', 'bang' and 'squelch'!
Dr Andrew Murray will explore the physiology behind the extraordinary feats of survival that took Scott to the South Pole, Hillary to the summit of Everest and Armstrong to the Moon, and he asks if you could achieve the same with your own remarkable body.
In a series of interactive demonstrations and posters, research groups from the Department will illustrate how their research crosses the boundaries between conventional disciplines. Topics include human memory, learning, addiction and awareness and development.
In this Olympic year come on a walk with the Science Guides and hear all about Cambridge's medal winning scientists, about titanic struggles with the Americans, the sprinting Lords who took on Great Court and the 100 year old mathematician who ran from Cambridge to Ely (and back) daily.
Was the skeleton in your cupboard a man or a woman? What did Neanderthals have for dinner? Science can help archaeologists answer these questions and many others. Learn how by enjoying displays and hands-on activities to discover the secrets revealed by pots, plants, soil, bones and even fossilized poo!
Travel in time with Time Truck! Investigate rocks and minerals, discover dinosaurs and explore earthquake science with hands on activities and demonstrations.
Prepared to get your hands dirty? Don your goggles and come along to the Royal Society of Chemistry stand to get involved in some weird and wonderful experiments and learn some chemistry whilst you are at it.
CHaOS student volunteers are running a series of talks filled with exciting demonstrations! You'll find more crashes, bangs, and squelches here if you find that our hands on events are full, or if you want even more CHaOS at the Science Festival!
Descend into the basement of the Department of Zoology to see how real scientists are using the brains, guts and kidneys of fruit flies to learn more about how our own body works...
Join Christopher Lloyd on a whistle-stop tour through the history of life on Earth using a coat of many pockets and a giant wallbook with more than 1,000 species on a four billion year timeline!
Join STEM Team East to spin and orbit into physics. Learn why yo-yos spin up and down, spinning tops precess, water vortex in a plug hole and what these have to do with MRI scans, black holes and satellite orbits around the Earth.
Kate Mummery (Rambert Dance Company Animateur) and Professor Nicky Clayton (Rambert Dance Company's Scientist in Residence) incorporate principles of biology into dance.
Go back in time to glimpse the start of life in the RNA world then move forward to discover the central role of RNA in life today. Learn how RNAs translate the digital information in genes into the unimaginable complexity of proteins and how other small RNAs regulate the process. This interactive event will include experiments, demonstrations, games and fun.
How fast do bats fly? What’s the fastest animal on earth? Discover answers to these and loads more amazing ‘animal athlete’ questions. Plus: see snake strike speed, slimy snail strategy, rodent recall and ‘itchy insects – to infinity and beyond’! Junior education team representatives will be on hand with more fun facts.
Discover amazing animal adaptations for land, sea and air. Hands on activities and special displays show how natural selection works, including an 'animal arena' where you can help shape the evolution of our make-believe beasties.
This new exhibition charts the development of evolutionary thought through the 19th century. Discover the origins of Darwin’s big idea in earlier works, and explore the alternative theories that led to some of science’s most impassioned debates.
ThinkCon is back for 2012 a day of talks aim at adults and older teens covering the science and the arts, all the talks are free and open to anyone at the Cambridge Science Festival. Please feel free to pick and choose what interests you. If you do want to come for the day we offer a ticket for £6 which covers the cost of a light lunch and tea.
What happens when you make molecules really really long? They do crazy things and act in unexpected ways. The weird properties of polymers put them at the cutting edge of technology and make them a magician's best friend.
CHaOS student volunteers are running a series of talks filled with exciting demonstrations! You'll find more crashes, bangs, and squelches here if you find that our hands on events are full, or if you want even more CHaOS at the Science Festival!
Descend into the basement of the Department of Zoology to see how real scientists are using the brains, guts and kidneys of fruit flies to learn more about how our own body works...
Space plasma physicist and 'Kiss FM' DJ Martin Archer takes you on a journey into sound with his virtual DJ booth, covering waves, frequency and other principles.
Join philosopher, author, publisher and campaigner, Dr Ben Irvine, for a whistle-stop tour of some of the major objections to, and misreadings of, the theory of natural selection – and discover how understanding Darwinism better can help us all to achieve well-being.
In this talk we'll explore the ten scientific reasons why ice-cream is the world's coolest dessert. We will also make two gallons of delicious ice-cream for the audience to try, using the ultra-fast cooling power of liquid nitrogen!
In this totally unique and spectacular live show the Science Junkies - Greg Foot and Huw James - pit one of the world's best trials riders (Andrei Burton) against one of the UK's top freerunners.
CHaOS student volunteers are running a series of talks filled with exciting demonstrations! You'll find more crashes, bangs, and squelches here if you find that our hands on events are full, or if you want even more CHaOS at the Science Festival!
Descend into the basement of the Department of Zoology to see how real scientists are using the brains, guts and kidneys of fruit flies to learn more about how our own body works...
Join Christopher Lloyd on a whistle-stop tour through the history of life on Earth using a coat of many pockets and a giant wallbook with more than 1,000 species on a four billion year timeline!
No-one's ever seen dark matter. So why do astronomers insist that it's all around us? And why might LHC physicists be so excited about it? Tackle Dr Andrew Pontzen (astronomer) and Dr Tom Whyntie (particle physicist) as they attempt to convince you that they're not utterly bonkers.
Artist Elena Cologni and Scientist Lisa Saksida have had a year long collaboration for this awarded project which explores the ‘materiality’ and ‘spatiality’ of memory through psychological and artistic tools. This collaboration, starting from shared issues in similar context, aims at attempting an exchange between Art and Neuro-Psychology based on the status of objects, time and space embodiment.
Join STEM Team East to spin and orbit into physics. Learn why yo-yos spin up and down, spinning tops precess, water vortex in a plug hole and what these have to do with MRI scans, black holes and satellite orbits around the Earth.
With the electromagnetic dance and fame of 'watt costs what' (a new take on the 'Price is RIght'), Nij Lal explores the science of electricity and gets our brains ticking about the electrical future...
CHaOS student volunteers are running a series of talks filled with exciting demonstrations! You'll find more crashes, bangs, and squelches here if you find that our hands on events are full, or if you want even more CHaOS at the Science Festival!
Descend into the basement of the Department of Zoology to see how real scientists are using the brains, guts and kidneys of fruit flies to learn more about how our own body works...
In this totally unique and spectacular live show the Science Junkies - Greg Foot and Huw James - pit one of the world's best trials riders (Andrei Burton) against one of the UK's top freerunners.
Dr Elinor Shaffer, who has just finished co-editing the third of the three-volume 'The Reception of Charles Darwin in Europe', discusses how European responses to Darwin have shed new light on the works of Samuel Butler.
What happens when you cool materials too close to absolute zero? We explore the weird behaviour of superconductors, the ultra-cold materials which drive the Large Hadron Collider and could be the future of electricity transport.
Robin Ince questions a panel of the religious and non-religious, including Mohammed Ansar, the Reverend Richard Coles and more, on whether there really is a battle between religion and science as portrayed in the mass media or if the two can survive happily side by side.
In a series of interactive demonstrations and posters, research groups from the Department will illustrate how their research crosses the boundaries between conventional disciplines. Topics include human memory, learning, addiction and awareness and development.
Come and explore the exciting versatility of materials, from levitating trains to magnetic sand, lemon-powered light bulbs to shape-shifting materials. With tons of hands-on experiments you are sure to find something you'll enjoy.
Come and join SeeK to investigate a range of materials with unique properties, create your own kaleidoscopes and make your own badges, plus a host of other fun and engaging activities.
The Naked Scientists take you on a whistle-stop tour of the world of waves, gases and chemistry. They detonate bombs, electrocute vegetables, turn air into a liquid, reveal the secrets of sun cream, use chemicals to produce bright lights, and launch hydrogen-powered rockets. Definitely not for the faint of heart!
Join STEM Team East to spin and orbit into physics. Learn why yo-yos spin up and down, spinning tops precess, water vortex in a plug hole and what these have to do with MRI scans, black holes and satellite orbits around the Earth.
Will we find signs of life in a sub-glacial lake, buried beneath 3km of ice and untouched for up to half a million years? A member of the Lake Ellsworth Mission team gives an insider's view of the project.
In this Olympic year come on a walk with the Science Guides and hear all about Cambridge's medal winning scientists, about titanic struggles with the Americans, the sprinting Lords who took on Great Court and the 100 year old mathematician who ran from Cambridge to Ely (and back) daily.
We all need to breathe constantly to stay alive - as little as three minutes without oxygen can kill a human. Yet some whales can hold their breath for over an hour whilst diving.
CHaOS student volunteers are running a series of talks filled with exciting demonstrations! You'll find more crashes, bangs, and squelches here if you find that our hands on events are full, or if you want even more CHaOS at the Science Festival!
Descend into the basement of the Department of Zoology to see how real scientists are using the brains, guts and kidneys of fruit flies to learn more about how our own body works...
Join Christopher Lloyd on a whistle-stop tour through the history of life on Earth using a coat of many pockets and a giant wallbook with more than 1,000 species on a four billion year timeline!
Artist Elena Cologni and Scientist Lisa Saksida have had a year long collaboration for this awarded project which explores the ‘materiality’ and ‘spatiality’ of memory through psychological and artistic tools. This collaboration, starting from shared issues in similar context, aims at attempting an exchange between Art and Neuro-Psychology based on the status of objects, time and space embodiment.
In this totally unique and spectacular live show the Science Junkies - Greg Foot and Huw James - pit one of the world's best trials riders (Andrei Burton) against one of the UK's top freerunners.
Alison Pearn, Associate Director of the Darwin Correspondence Project, looks at the letters exchanged by Charles Darwin and Samuel Butler, and charts the disintegration of their relationship from a shared spirit of intellectual enquiry to a state of personal and public conflict.
CHaOS student volunteers are running a series of talks filled with exciting demonstrations! You'll find more crashes, bangs, and squelches here if you find that our hands on events are full, or if you want even more CHaOS at the Science Festival!
Featuring authors Katherine Orr and Adam Marek and scientist, Dr Simon Stott. Chair: Ra Page (editor). Is research always fully aware of its consequences? Does science need to grow a conscience? Or are we in danger of being too distrustful of science? Of demonising it even?
Join Hannah Critchlow from the Naked Scientists on an exploration of the brain with mind-boggling live experiments and demonstrations. A not to be missed science theatrical stage show for all the family. Definately not for the faint of thought!
One of the UK’s finest and most imaginative writers, Alan Moore, discusses the meeting of science and fiction, his own inspirations from the world of scientific discovery and whether there is room for the mystical in a rational world. With Robin Ince. Of course, a man of so many ideas may well go off on quite a different tangent and none of the above may be applicable.
This talk looks under the microscope at some of the amazing structures produced in the natural world, from ants' feet and spider silk to carnivorous pitcher plants. Can we mimic them to make high-performance man-made materials? Nature has had a two-billion year head start, but can we catch up?
A film about the youth of Guglielmo Marconi, the discoverer of radio waves. This film documentary is a homage from the world of communication to the great scientist.
Matt Parker, Helen Arney and Steve Mould are back at the Science Festival with a completely new show. Join three of London’s best (and nerdiest) performers as they break down the boundaries between comedy and science with a mixture of stand-up maths, geeky songs, interactive experiments, special guests, and maybe some things that go bang...
Join Christopher Lloyd on a whistle-stop tour through the history of life on Earth using a coat of many pockets and a giant wallbook with more than 1,000 species on a four billion year timeline!
In this Olympic year come on a walk with the Science Guides and hear all about Cambridge's medal winning scientists, about titanic struggles with the Americans, the sprinting Lords who took on Great Court and the 100 year old mathematician who ran from Cambridge to Ely (and back) daily.
Join Christopher Lloyd on a whistle-stop tour through the history of life on Earth using a coat of many pockets and a giant wallbook with more than 1,000 species on a four billion year timeline!
Using simple demonstrations, Professor Chris Bishop from Microsoft Research explores the fascinating world of computer science and uncovers some of the great ideas behind the digital revolution.
Join scientists from MRC Human Nutrition Research on a scientific journey that takes you from the identification of fats in a blood sample, through to how these fats are related to your diet and then on to how they impact on your health.
Antibodies are our natural defences against infections and other diseases, but they can also be made into therapeutic medicines which bind target molecules on the cell surface. At the MedImmune stand you can build your own model of the cell surface and make a model therapeutic antibody that can bind to it. Also, dress up as a scientist and have your picture taken!
Join the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute, and put on a lab coat - come and run a DNA gel, compete in a pipetting challenge and examine some tissue down a microscope.
What makes us human? Just how similar are we to each other and other organisms? How may your genome affect your health ? How can computers help us to understand genomes? Join staff from the European Bioinformatics Institute and Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute to explore these questions and more…
Have you ever wondered what fat does? We all know that if we eat too much we get fat, but having too little fat is just as unhealthy as having too much. The University of Cambridge Metabolic Research Laboratories will provide hands on activities and games that show you some fabulous facts about fat and why it is so important for our health.
The mighty mitochondrion is a special part of every cell where food is converted into fuel for your muscles and nerves. The MRC Mitochondrial Unit invite you to use LEGO® to understand the processes going on in your body and find out how electricity runs through proteins.
Did you know that if you could lay all your blood vessels end-to-end they would stretch over 60,000 miles? That's twice around the world! Find out more about what goes on inside your blood vessels and how you can keep them healthy, with scientists from the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine.
Come and see where the amazing structures of proteins has lead the artist, Jenny Langley. Textiles and prints will be displayed along with sources of inspirations and sketchbooks.
Use microscopes to see your own cells and to wonder at the hidden beauty of plants and insects with the help of scientists of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and the Microscopes4Schools project. Test your detective skills with our interactive stereoscope challenge!
Play your calcium cards right, balance the leaning tower of health, enjoy a ‘trolley dash’ through the EPIC supermarket AND tackle our frenetic fluency game, all whilst learning about the vital role that specific vitamins and minerals play in healthy development.
Come and join scientists from the Hutchison/MRC Research Centre to discover if you can solve the mysteries of how cancer cells first develop, and then grow and spread. Find out about DNA mutations, build a cancer chromosome, and see if you can take on the challenge of killing some cancerous cells.
Come and explore with us how biostatistics can be used to improve health. Try our four different activities in which your creativity and thinking abilities will help you to solve the challenges we'll give you!
How fast do bats fly? What’s the fastest animal on earth? Discover answers to these and loads more amazing ‘animal athlete’ questions. Plus: see snake strike speed, slimy snail strategy, rodent recall and ‘itchy insects – to infinity and beyond’! Junior education team representatives will be on hand with more fun facts.
A very small table-top display about the work of the Darwin Correspondence Project, which is publishing all the available letters to and from Charles Darwin.
Join Mark Brake as he gives a fun, quirky, and playful guide to alien life which answers questions like: What is life? Where is life> When was life?! How would we talk to aliens? And have aliens ever visited planet Earth?
Join Christopher Lloyd on a whistle-stop tour through the history of life on Earth using a coat of many pockets and a giant wallbook with more than 1,000 species on a four billion year timeline!
In this Olympic year come on a walk with the Science Guides and hear all about Cambridge's medal winning scientists, about titanic struggles with the Americans, the sprinting Lords who took on Great Court and the 100 year old mathematician who ran from Cambridge to Ely (and back) daily.
Robin asks can you be happy and rational at the same time? Join him in a world of Schrödinger cats, multiverses and evolutionary conundrums. Spend an entertaining evening in Robin’s company as he orienteers through the craggy landscape of evolution whilst plumbing the depths of his own murky consciousness, all without the aid of a safety net.
From hidden engineering on the nano scale to origami designs for engineering structures, explore an exhibition of astounding photographs taken by staff and students from the Department of Engineering.
A very small table-top display about the work of the Darwin Correspondence Project, which is publishing all the available letters to and from Charles Darwin.
In this Olympic year come on a walk with the Science Guides and hear all about Cambridge's medal winning scientists, about titanic struggles with the Americans, the sprinting Lords who took on Great Court and the 100 year old mathematician who ran from Cambridge to Ely (and back) daily.
The Rare Books Department at Cambridge University Library presents the opportunity to see and hear about some of the world's most lavish and elegant illustrated books on birds, produced in the nineteenth century by the pioneering ornithologist, John Gould.
Throughout the 20th century, films used the monstrous to explore concerns about intervention and normality. This second series of 'Reproduction on Film' presents works featuring various artificial and natural monsters, examining anxieties about science, sex, relationships, parenthood and social marginalisation.
Come to the new Sainsbury Laboratory for a talk on the future of plant research by Associate Director Professor Ottoline Leyser. We depend on plants for our food and increasingly for many other products as we look to replace fossil fuels. How can we most effectively and sustainably harness the power of plants?
Join Aled Jones to explore: how do limits in the availability of certain resources impact on governments and business and what does this potentiall mean for society, our pensions and our savings?
From hidden engineering on the nano scale to origami designs for engineering structures, explore an exhibition of astounding photographs taken by staff and students from the Department of Engineering.
A very small table-top display about the work of the Darwin Correspondence Project, which is publishing all the available letters to and from Charles Darwin.
The ideas of space and time are pretty obvious in our everyday life, but once we start asking questions about the nature of space and time, we find ourselves facing difficulties and realise we don't have obvious answers.
Imagine machines that can 'talk' to humans, 'understand' what we mean, and 'comprehend' the visual world around all of us. David Barber will discuss biological inspirations for the reverse engineering of intelligence and the fundamental challenges that lie ahead.
Professor Russell Foster looks at how new research into photoreceptive cells in the retina that regulate a broad range of behaviour and physiology has redefined our understanding of vision and the nature of blindness.
Join Dr Ken McNamara, Director of the Sedgwick Museum, for a roller-coaster ride through the whole history of life on Earth and find out how recent fossil discoveries have changed our understanding of the evolution of living things.
What happens when a sinister group of men from a rival institution plot to steal Harvard's star star observer? Travel back in time to meet squabbling scientists and malfunctioning instruments in this reworking of a classic operetta. www.obervatorypinafore.co.uk
A little wine, a little cheese, and a whole lot of science. Exclusively for adults, this event offers a chance to rediscover the joy of hands-on exploration in the sciences. This event is made possible through the generosity of our sponsors and a partnership between the Cambridge Science Centre, CHaOS Science Roadshow and the University of Cambridge Office of External Affairs and Communications.
The Physiological Society invites you to discuss the controversial question and the science behind it with Steve Ingham, English Institute of Sport; Steve Haake, Sheffield Hallam University; and other panellists from the world of sports. Tell us what shape you think our future sporting champions should be in.
From hidden engineering on the nano scale to origami designs for engineering structures, explore an exhibition of astounding photographs taken by staff and students from the Department of Engineering.
A very small table-top display about the work of the Darwin Correspondence Project, which is publishing all the available letters to and from Charles Darwin.
In this Olympic year come on a walk with the Science Guides and hear all about Cambridge's medal winning scientists, about titanic struggles with the Americans, the sprinting Lords who took on Great Court and the 100 year old mathematician who ran from Cambridge to Ely (and back) daily.
Join Helen and William Bynum as they explore the great discoveries which have helped and healed. Each is a powerful story. From dissection to DNA, understanding health and disease in diverse cultures, devising the tools of the trade, developing drugs, vaccines and successful surgery all make up medicine's past and comment on its present.
Throughout the 20th century, films used the monstrous to explore concerns about intervention and normality. This second series of 'Reproduction on Film' presents works featuring various artificial and natural monsters, examining anxieties about science, sex, relationships, parenthood and social marginalisation.
What happens when a sinister group of men from a rival institution plot to steal Harvard's star star observer? Travel back in time to meet squabbling scientists and malfunctioning instruments in this reworking of a classic operetta. www.obervatorypinafore.co.uk
This lecture will explore the preparation strategies that are employed by athletes in the final few months leading up to an Olympic and Para-Olympic Games in order to optimise performance. We will consider physiological and psychological athlete preparation and the role of the so called 'Secret Squirrels'.
Musical comedian Ashley Frieze presents his grand unified theory of song. Taking ideas from neuroscience, evolutionary psychology and Elton John, this comic presentation claims there are only seven songs.
From hidden engineering on the nano scale to origami designs for engineering structures, explore an exhibition of astounding photographs taken by staff and students from the Department of Engineering.
A very small table-top display about the work of the Darwin Correspondence Project, which is publishing all the available letters to and from Charles Darwin.
The 2012 speaker is Professor Carol Robinson FRS, a distinguished British chemist whose research looks at the development of mass spectrometry as a tool used for investigating the structure and dynamics of protein complexes. She is also a mentor for women pursuing careers in science.
The Open University was a production partner on the hit series Frozen Planet. Here, Dr Mark Brandon of The Open University will talk about his work over the last four years getting the science behind the ice, penguins and bears into the front line of nature programming and science outreach.
Some of the most thrilling new discoveries have not come from excavations. Instead, they have just 'surfaced', appearing in museums, auction houses, or antique dealers' stock without any account of where in the world they were found. Explore what has been happening and why it matters to Dr Christopher Chippindale and Christos Tsirogiannis.
Despite the ever-growing demands of the public, policy-makers and the media, many scientists still find it difficult to successfully explain and publicise their activities or to understand and respond to people's hopes and concerns about their work. Dr David Bennett gives an insight into the key ingredients in successful science communication.
What happens when a sinister group of men from a rival institution plot to steal Harvard's star star observer? Travel back in time to meet squabbling scientists and malfunctioning instruments in this reworking of a classic operetta. www.obervatorypinafore.co.uk
In the centenary year of Alan Turing's birth, Simon Singh discusses the German
Enigma cipher machine and how it was cracked by Alan Turing and the other
codebreakers at Bletchley Park during the Second World War.
A very small table-top display about the work of the Darwin Correspondence Project, which is publishing all the available letters to and from Charles Darwin.
In this Olympic year come on a walk with the Science Guides and hear all about Cambridge's medal winning scientists, about titanic struggles with the Americans, the sprinting Lords who took on Great Court and the 100 year old mathematician who ran from Cambridge to Ely (and back) daily.
Join collection staff for a unique behind the scenes insight into how the museum undertakes the day to day care of its valuable collection, discovering how the museum tackles such problems as pest attacks.
In this lecture, in memory of Alex Hopkins, Professor Carol V Robinson will chart the history of this mass spectrometry from the earliest mass spectrometers designed in Cambridge to measure rare gases through to their modern day counterparts used in this lab.
The Museum archive holds over 800 boxes of materials relating to the history of earth science dating back to the 17th century. View this new exhibition of documents and images and talk to Sandra Marsh, the archivist responsible for this fascinating collection.
In this highly-illustrated lecture, Alastair Fothergill, Honoary President of South Georgia Heritage Trust and Executive Producer at the BBC, will tell the epic story behind the making of the series Frozen Planet. Proceeds will support the Trust's conservation work in South Georgia.
What happens when a sinister group of men from a rival institution plot to steal Harvard's star star observer? Travel back in time to meet squabbling scientists and malfunctioning instruments in this reworking of a classic operetta. www.obervatorypinafore.co.uk
Luke Webster will lead a scientific wine tasting, describing the science behind prize-winning wines using experience he gained judging at International Wine Challenge (IWC) events.
From hidden engineering on the nano scale to origami designs for engineering structures, explore an exhibition of astounding photographs taken by staff and students from the Department of Engineering.
A very small table-top display about the work of the Darwin Correspondence Project, which is publishing all the available letters to and from Charles Darwin.
In this Olympic year come on a walk with the Science Guides and hear all about Cambridge's medal winning scientists, about titanic struggles with the Americans, the sprinting Lords who took on Great Court and the 100 year old mathematician who ran from Cambridge to Ely (and back) daily.
Teams of students from secondary schools and sixth form colleges are the experts, showing what is happening in schools either as part of their curriculum or in after-school clubs.
How fast do bats fly? What’s the fastest animal on earth? Discover answers to these and loads more amazing ‘animal athlete’ questions. Plus: see snake strike speed, slimy snail strategy, rodent recall and ‘itchy insects – to infinity and beyond’! Junior education team representatives will be on hand with more fun facts.
How could Usain Bolt improve his world 100 metres sprint record significantly without improving his speed? How fast should he be able to run? Professor John Barrow FRS answers these and other questons in this talk, which also looks at the mechanics of sprinting and the effects of wind assistance, timing accuary and altitude on sprint times.
We all recognize goo when we see it. It turns up in many places and guises from food to playthings, from glues to medical ointments. But what makes a good 'goo' and can we control the 'gooeyness'?
Enjoy a host of activities including creating your very own laser etched metal id card. See your hot spots with a thermal imaging camera. Our Inkjet experts will be showing you how they 'freeze' water at room temperature, and 'slow down the world' with their ultra high-speed technology.
Get a glimpse of the latest laser technologies and find out how they are used in industry. Watch high speed lasers etch the smallest ever olympic logo. Witness lasers cutting through metals upto 30mm thick.
Learn how expressive programming interfaces can unleash your capacity for musical performance over a range of musical styles from piano sonatas to dubstep. Press buttons, make music, have fun!
Charles is a realistic robotic head that we are using to research the expression of emotions through facial expressions. See Charles imitate your expressions!
Learn how to use a 1960s era mechanical calculator and compete for prizes by using the machine to calculate the correct answers to some simple mathematical puzzles.
Come and try out a variety of real products from Cambridge start-ups and learn about the technologies that make them work. The most original ideas for what to use them for will win a prize!
Arguably the home of computing, the Computer Laboratory will feature demonstrations and hands-on activities that illustrate the cutting edge of computer science
Prepare to be surprised! Computing is not just about spreadsheets and presentation slides; it's used to do many more amazing things that you might not expect.
In this Olympic year come on a walk with the Science Guides and hear all about Cambridge's medal winning scientists, about titanic struggles with the Americans, the sprinting Lords who took on Great Court and the 100 year old mathematician who ran from Cambridge to Ely (and back) daily.
This workshop will give you a free taste of the Carbon Conversations course, recently featured as one of the Guardian's top 20 Climate Change Solutions. We'll calculate your Carbon Footprint, and take you through some sample activities. Come along to find out more!
Who was Leonardo da Vinci? An artist? Engineer? Scientist? Mathematician? Anatomist? Mr Francis Wells takes his audience on a whirlwind tour of Leonardo's work describing his incredible talent in all these disciplines. Hosted by The Prince's Teaching Institute.
What happens when a sinister group of men from a rival institution plot to steal Harvard's star star observer? Travel back in time to meet squabbling scientists and malfunctioning instruments in this reworking of a classic operetta. www.obervatorypinafore.co.uk
Learn how natural selection explains the origin of adaptation in living organisms and discover the roles that sexual and kin selection play in the evolutionary process. Dr Ed Turner will explore the recent revolution in thinking about evolutionary biology.
Walk the nature trail, run an orienteering string course, meet our amphibians, look at aquatic life under the microscope, find out what owls eat and plant seeds.
How fast do bats fly? What’s the fastest animal on earth? Discover answers to these and loads more amazing ‘animal athlete’ questions. Plus: see snake strike speed, slimy snail strategy, rodent recall and ‘itchy insects – to infinity and beyond’! Junior education team representatives will be on hand with more fun facts.
A very small table-top display about the work of the Darwin Correspondence Project, which is publishing all the available letters to and from Charles Darwin.
Can a cat hidden in a box be simultaneously alive and dead? Emily Caddick suggests a new account of how to understand Schrödinger's infamous thought-experiment, used to illustrate the paradoxes of quantum mechanics.
From steel and concrete to silicon chips and liquid crystals, materials science has given us the building blocks of technology. We will take a look at the extraordinary microscopic structures inside some everyday materials, and see how these influence the uses to which they can be put.
Portland Folk Club presents a talk and concert exploring the acoustic properties of stringed instruments. Professor Jim Woodhouse will discuss how instrument makers control the tone and loudness of their products. Cellist Anna Bull and guitarist/banjoist/fiddler and singer Robin Gillan will play stirring re-interpretations of traditional English and American tunes and songs.
