Entries from the photography competition at the Department of Engineering, sponsored by Carl Zeiss, provide a stunning visual insight into the ways in which engineering makes a beautiful and vital contribution to our lives.
The ideas of space and time seem obvious in our everyday life. But sometimes the simplest things are the most subtle! Once we start asking questions, we face many difficulties and realise we don't have obvious answers: What is space? What is time? Do they have the same properties? Could we imagine anything outside of them? Learn how physics and philosophy can shed light on these questions.
. The essence of cellular life is cell proliferation – making two cells from one – is and it is abnormal cell proliferation that gives rise to cancers.
Much is known of the damage that accumulates in DNA to drive cancer and great progress has been made in treating these diseases, particularly by drugs. Even so, the challenges remain immense but the prospects are incredibly exciting.
The sometimes-winding road to parenthood can be a source of great joy and much anguish. This third series of ‘Reproduction on Film’ charts changes in cinematic representations of pregnancy, childbirth and babies from the 1950s to the present day. It is put on by the Generation to Reproduction programme with funding from the Wellcome Trust.
Professor Alister McGrath will give a talk covering the rich and complex relationship between Christianity and the sciences, focusing especially on current debates raised by “New Atheists” such as Richard Dawkins.
Conservation costs money, but how do we put a price on the very existence of a species or ecosystem? By the services it provides humans? By the valuable genetic material it might contain? Is putting a price on nature a necessary response or should this be a case of values not value? Join a panel of experts to discuss these controversial and increasingly relevant questions.
You are invited to attend a "Ceilidh for the Science Festival" at the start of this year's Science Festival.
The band will be the Red Rock Ceilidh Band - an 8-person amalgam of university musicians from Cambridge and London - and the caller Mr Paul Martin.
Featured dances: The Very Large Hadron Collider; Mr Schrödinger's Maggot
Entries from the photography competition at the Department of Engineering, sponsored by Carl Zeiss, provide a stunning visual insight into the ways in which engineering makes a beautiful and vital contribution to our lives.
The Polar Museum is creating an exciting exhibition, Frozen Worlds, revealing how the Polar Regions are a portal for exploring space. It aims to showcase some extra-ordinary technology developed to explore the most inhospitable places in the universe.
The Pitoti exhibition celebrates ancient European prehistoric rock-art through the technology of digital, 3-D and interactive graphics. This multimedia and interactive exhibition shows the meeting of two graphic traditions, when the newest, the technology of digital, 3-D and interactive graphics, encounters the oldest, the prehistoric images made as rock-art in Valcamonica in Italy.
Pick up a free copy of our new ‘art meets science’ mind-map, commissioned especially for the Cambridge Science Festival. Artist Anne-Mie Melis has transformed our February half-term workshop, ‘Idea Hunters’ , into a family-friendly photomontage of facts, ideas and flights of fancy to encourage you to find your own links between art and science.
Come along and discover the brand new public hands-on science centre in the middle of Cambridge. This new venue on Jesus lane has amazing interactive exhibits, workshops and demos running throughout the Cambridge Science Festival for all the family.
Professor Francesca Happé is a specialist in autism and Asperger syndrome research from the Institute of Psychiatry. A mum of three, she has developed a set of children's books promoting female scientists and was a Royal Institution ‘Scientists for the New Century’ Lecturer. Sponsored by Schlumberger Cambridge Research
Talk by Mila Simões de Abreu from the Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro and Lucy Cavendish College.
In the Italian Alps, archeologists found more 300,000 rock engravings that show
how a small clan of hunter-gathers became part of the Roman Empire. Hear about their discovery and interpretation
The recent development of molecular techniques to diagnose infections in humans has revolutionised the ability to diagnose these infections rapidly and to begin treatment promptly. This has not only been of significant benefit to individuals but has also significantly impacted on how we detect and respond to epidemics of infectious diseases. Sponsored by CUP
How are the latest tools in genetics enabling scientists to discover the secrets held within the human genome? Find out how scientists at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and European Bioinformatics Institute are comparing thousands of human genomes and epigenomes to understand human variation and the genetics behind human disease.
2013 is the International Year of Statistics, and as data gets more open we can expect to be bombarded with bucket-loads of numbers, often being used to try to impress and influence us. But can we trust all these stats? Professor David
Spiegelhalter suggests some ways to help detect the naughty numbers in the news.
In this talk Dr Philip Ball will examine how our inquisitive impulse first became sanctioned – when it changed from a vice to a virtue, and it became permissible to ask any and every question about the world.
Entries from the photography competition at the Department of Engineering, sponsored by Carl Zeiss, provide a stunning visual insight into the ways in which engineering makes a beautiful and vital contribution to our lives.
The Polar Museum is creating an exciting exhibition, Frozen Worlds, revealing how the Polar Regions are a portal for exploring space. It aims to showcase some extra-ordinary technology developed to explore the most inhospitable places in the universe.
The Pitoti exhibition celebrates ancient European prehistoric rock-art through the technology of digital, 3-D and interactive graphics. This multimedia and interactive exhibition shows the meeting of two graphic traditions, when the newest, the technology of digital, 3-D and interactive graphics, encounters the oldest, the prehistoric images made as rock-art in Valcamonica in Italy.
Pick up a free copy of our new ‘art meets science’ mind-map, commissioned especially for the Cambridge Science Festival. Artist Anne-Mie Melis has transformed our February half-term workshop, ‘Idea Hunters’ , into a family-friendly photomontage of facts, ideas and flights of fancy to encourage you to find your own links between art and science.
Come along and discover the brand new public hands-on science centre in the middle of Cambridge. This new venue on Jesus lane has amazing interactive exhibits, workshops and demos running throughout the Cambridge Science Festival for all the family.
Take a magical journey with the Broomsquire. Discover his fossils and the stories he tells about them. Can you spot which of them are true, and which are tall tales? With Cambridge storyteller Marion Leeper. Children must be accompanied by a parent or carer.
A chance to view some of the earliest scientific incunabula, from Cambridge University Library's collections, including medical, astronomical, astrological and mathematical treatises illuminated by hand, decorated with woodcut illustrations and diagrams, or supplemented with engraved instruments.
Dr Siobhan Braybrook gives a talk about the history of plant architecture at the Stirling Award winning Sainsbury Laboratory. How and why do plants have the shapes they have, how has domestication influenced this and how can we use plants as inspiration for new materials and design principals?
Across the boundaries of academic disciplines, energy researchers are working toward a more sustainable future. But what does that future look like, and what possibilities exist for reaching that goal?
Entries from the photography competition at the Department of Engineering, sponsored by Carl Zeiss, provide a stunning visual insight into the ways in which engineering makes a beautiful and vital contribution to our lives.
The Polar Museum is creating an exciting exhibition, Frozen Worlds, revealing how the Polar Regions are a portal for exploring space. It aims to showcase some extra-ordinary technology developed to explore the most inhospitable places in the universe.
The Pitoti exhibition celebrates ancient European prehistoric rock-art through the technology of digital, 3-D and interactive graphics. This multimedia and interactive exhibition shows the meeting of two graphic traditions, when the newest, the technology of digital, 3-D and interactive graphics, encounters the oldest, the prehistoric images made as rock-art in Valcamonica in Italy.
Pick up a free copy of our new ‘art meets science’ mind-map, commissioned especially for the Cambridge Science Festival. Artist Anne-Mie Melis has transformed our February half-term workshop, ‘Idea Hunters’ , into a family-friendly photomontage of facts, ideas and flights of fancy to encourage you to find your own links between art and science.
Come along and discover the brand new public hands-on science centre in the middle of Cambridge. This new venue on Jesus lane has amazing interactive exhibits, workshops and demos running throughout the Cambridge Science Festival for all the family.
Poor concentration, hyperactivity and impulsivity are common in people with ADHD. These symptoms may be distressing and cause difficulties in daily life, but what causes them? How can they best be treated? This Brain Awareness Week discussion panel includes Professor Trevor Robbins CBE FRS, Dr Sam Chamberlain and Dr Ulrich Muller.
Why does developing drugs cost so much? Why does it take so long? What is the difference between branded and generic drugs?
These questions are discussed by a panel including Professor Gerard Evan (HOD Biochemistry), Angela Williams (Director Health Outcomes and Pharmacoeconomics, MedImmune) and Iain Scott (Senior Analyst, Ernst & Young) whilst an understanding of drug development is established
Award-winning indie film Travelling Salesman is an intellectual thriller which imagines that four brilliant mathematicians discover a solution to a major unsolved mathematical problem, P vs NP, with profound implications for computer science and cryptography.
An informal and informative event showcasing the experiences of chemists in academia and industry. A networking session with the speakers will follow the talk and a free buffet is included.
Entries from the photography competition at the Department of Engineering, sponsored by Carl Zeiss, provide a stunning visual insight into the ways in which engineering makes a beautiful and vital contribution to our lives.
The Polar Museum is creating an exciting exhibition, Frozen Worlds, revealing how the Polar Regions are a portal for exploring space. It aims to showcase some extra-ordinary technology developed to explore the most inhospitable places in the universe.
The Pitoti exhibition celebrates ancient European prehistoric rock-art through the technology of digital, 3-D and interactive graphics. This multimedia and interactive exhibition shows the meeting of two graphic traditions, when the newest, the technology of digital, 3-D and interactive graphics, encounters the oldest, the prehistoric images made as rock-art in Valcamonica in Italy.
Pick up a free copy of our new ‘art meets science’ mind-map, commissioned especially for the Cambridge Science Festival. Artist Anne-Mie Melis has transformed our February half-term workshop, ‘Idea Hunters’ , into a family-friendly photomontage of facts, ideas and flights of fancy to encourage you to find your own links between art and science.
Come along and discover the brand new public hands-on science centre in the middle of Cambridge. This new venue on Jesus lane has amazing interactive exhibits, workshops and demos running throughout the Cambridge Science Festival for all the family.
Take a rare peek behind the scenes of the Fitzwilliam Museum with a conservator and find out about the methods used to tackle damaging effects of everyday life, from sunlight to pests.
Professor Frank Close takes you on a journey from when Rutherford and Bohr discovered the nuclear atom 100 years ago to the present day. This talk reviews the ideas and the history, and assesses how the credits should be shared.
Discover the extremes of the Universe! Join us as we find out what it's like on other planets and in outer space! See what happens to everyday things as they go from the burning hot to the freezing cold and up to extreme pressures. Get ready for some loud bangs and mess!
Death is in decline: average human lifespan continues to increase at the startling rate of five hours per day. Are we on the threshold of immortality or infinite ageing? What is ageing and can it be defeated? Is immortality desirable? These crucial issues will be discussed by biomedical gerontologist Aubrey de Grey, philosopher Stephen Cave and biochemist Guy Brown.
In this talk, Nobel Prize winner Professor John Gurdon will discuss recent developments in the field of nuclear reprogramming by which new embryonic cells can be derived from adult cells. The lecture will cover ethical and legal concerns in this field.
In this talk we'll explore 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.
CHaOS students 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!
Think dinosaurs were the most exciting animals ever to walk the Earth? Join PhD student Nick Crumpton as he fights in the mammal corner, dispelling myths about your earliest furry relatives, explaining why they became so successful and why dinosaurs just couldn't hack it in the Age of Mammals.
Solve a mystery in the library using your detective skills and real forensic science. Put on a lab coat and gloves to search for fingerprints, microscopic clues and invisible traces of the crime. Working with a team of researchers you will find out who dunnit, how, when and why.
The Department of Psychology offers a range of interactive exhibits and posters showcasing the latest cutting-edge research. You will learn about children’s understanding of other people, how the mind reasons, processes language and remembers facts, discover new ways to test personality, and how your mobile phone can recognise your emotions.
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
MPhil students from the TMAT course will demonstrate how new medicines are discovered and translated from the laboratory, as well as provide informative informal discussion stations.
Why do our noses make snot? It's part of our body's defence against viruses and other bugs. Make your own snot at the Department of Pathology and find out about our bodies’ amazing standing army.
Cambridge AWiSE offers the opportunity for women to talk about their careers, about the network and how it could help them, while their children can try some small experiments and hands on activities.
Visit the scientists from the Hutchison/MRC Research Centre to find out more about how cancer research is constantly progressing. See if you can beat the matrix maze, spot a cancer cell, or assemble a chromosome!
Explore how DNA makes us similar but also unique, why some bacteria make us sick and how computers help us to understand genomes. Join staff from the EMBL European Bioinformatics Institute and Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute for plenty of hands on activities, perfect for all ages.
Through the use of infrared technology you can explore the distributions of fat, tissue and water in the human body. Compare your own scores to those of athletes from a variety of sports.
Discover the amazing tricks your brain plays with the eyes by journeying through a gallery of optical illusions. Have a play with the latest computerised equipment used to see inside the eye in 3-D. Take a peek into the ear and learn how the ear & hearing aids work. Discover how good your 3-D vision and colour perception is.
Antibodies work as our own natural defences against infections and diseases. Learn how they can also be made into medicines that target different diseases. At the MedImmune stand you can work with our scientists to build your own model of a ‘flu virus and create your own therapeutic antibody to target and bind to it.
You can also dress up as a real scientist and have your picture taken!
The Polar Museum is creating an exciting exhibition, Frozen Worlds, revealing how the Polar Regions are a portal for exploring space. It aims to showcase some extra-ordinary technology developed to explore the most inhospitable places in the universe.
Papworth Hospital showcases the advancement of heart and lung treatments over the past century from the iron lung machine to the cutting edge total artificial heart. People of all ages are invited to interact with the medical equipment, check your pulse with a stethoscope and complete a quiz!
Come on board and make some health awareness measurements like BMI, percentage body fat and blood pressure and find out more about the research that Cambridge BioResource is supporting in the local area.
Everybody knows that we need to eat in order to get energy for all of our daily activities, but how does this work? A special compartment in human cells, the mitochondrion, converts sugars and fats into a biological fuel called ATP that is used to power human cells. We will use LEGO® models and movies to show how large protein machines in the mitochondrion perform key functions in this process.
The IET in Cambridge will have gadgets and gizmos, computer internals (from chips to disk drives) and other technology, and will explain how everything works together.
Visit Shepreth Wildlife Park for fun and educational talks on how animation has affected our relationship and feelings toward the natural world and how science and technology can improve our understanding of the inter-relationships of species. There will also be hands on animal handling sessions throughout the day
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.
Activities using eye tracking and galvanic skin response measurements. The activities will be based around how we see faces and we will also provide some ‘optical illusions’ based around faces.
Every time you swallow a sandwich or bite a banana, your body converts the food you've eaten into the energy you need to do everything - from moving to thinking to keeping warm to growing. Join scientists from the University of Cambridge Metabolic Research Laboratories in activities and games to help explain why we eat what we do and how we use the energy it provides.
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 fin to handle for all ages.
Find out how physical activity has changed over 100 years. See how researchers use the latest science and technology to find out about how much we move and how this affects our health. Help us predict the future of physical activity. Featuring maps, games and jumping up and down!
Travel with us from past to the future of nutrition. Explore how little you would have had to eat with World War II rationing, and how today the abundance of foods has turned into obesity. Then travel to the future to discover the latest advances to improve our health with nano-nutrition.
Discover the fascinating world of plants and their role in shaping our planet’s future: explore how research is helping to provide food, energy and material supplies for a growing population in a changing world. Have fun building a plant from scratch and dressing up as a bee to get tasty nectar!
Explore the world of stem cells with The Wellcome Trust Medical Research Council Trust Stem Cambridge Cell Institute. Look after your very own flask of stem cells in our 'Stem Cell Pet' experiment, and race to the finish line in our gigantic stem cell board game. For adults we will be screening short stem cell films and well as providing the opportunity to talk to researchers.
Come and explore with us how biostatistics has changed over the last century. Try our activities in which we will show you how biostatistics has met the challenges of the different health priorities and new technologies over the last 100 years
Prepare to be surprised! Computing is not just about spread sheets and presentation slides; it’s used to do many more amazing things that you might not expect. Come and see some exciting Microsoft Research projects, meet our researchers and get hands-on with computer science.
Your body contains around 75-100 trillion cells but have you ever seen one of them? Join scientists from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology to examine your cells under a microscope, compare them with plant and insect cells and take part in our stereoscope challenge!
Come along and discover the brand new public hands-on science centre in the middle of Cambridge. This new venue on Jesus lane has amazing interactive exhibits, workshops and demos running throughout the Cambridge Science Festival for all the family.
Back for 2013, ThinkCon is a day of talks aimed at adults and older teens covering 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.
Back for 2013, ThinkCon is a day of talks aimed at adults and older teens covering science and the arts. All the talks are free and open to anyone at the Cambridge Science Festival.
Back for 2013, ThinkCon is a day of talks aimed at adults and older teens covering science and the arts. All the talks are free and open to anyone at the Cambridge Science Festival.
Join Dr. Bronwen Rees (Buddhist name: Sinhagupta) for a talk on the radical findings in physics, molecular biology, and neuroscience to show how they have resonance with the practices and principles of different spiritual traditions, including Tibetan Buddhism, alchemy and Taoism.
Travel in time with Time Truck! Investigate rocks and minerals, discover dinosaurs and explore earthquake science with hands on activities and demonstrations.
If you thought archaeology was just a load of broken pots and old rubbish, think again! Come and discover bones, stones, and prehistoric plants. See how Archaeologists answer questions about our ancient world using science.
The Pitoti exhibition celebrates ancient European prehistoric rock-art through the technology of digital, 3-D and interactive graphics. This multimedia and interactive exhibition shows the meeting of two graphic traditions, when the newest, the technology of digital, 3-D and interactive graphics, encounters the oldest, the prehistoric images made as rock-art in Valcamonica in Italy.
CHaOS students 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!
Solve a mystery in the library using your detective skills and real forensic science. Put on a lab coat and gloves to search for fingerprints, microscopic clues and invisible traces of the crime. Working with a team of researchers you will find out who dunnit, how, when and why.
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 the human body works. The Lords and Ladies of the Flies will show you what these organs look like, and how we measure and control their function. You will discover what we can learn by watching flies mate or by collecting their droppings!
In this talk we'll explore 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.
Find out what it is like to study science, engineering or technology at the University of Cambridge. Admissions and teaching staff will be available to help prospective applicants, parents and teachers ‘GetSET’ for the future. www.cam.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate
Described as 'one of the sharpest and best sceptical commentators out there', Hayley Stevens has addressed international audiences about researching the paranormal as a non-believer.
In her talk 'I'm a ghost hunter, get me out of here!' Hayley will introduce you to the often confused & somewhat scary world of modern paranormal research where things regularly go bump in the night...
A collaboration between behavioural psychologist Nicky Clayton and fine artist and creative writer Clive Wilkins. We shall explore the nature of imagination, and how it forms the cornerstone of our identity, diversifying reality yet impeding and disorientating our memories.
How can a simple molecule like DNA carry the instructions which guide the growth and development of every plant and animal on the planet? Discover for yourself! The Biochemistry Department hosts a series of interactive exhibits and demonstrations which tells the story of DNA and Cambridge’s unique contribution to uncovering its secrets.
Come and explore the Museum's collections and find out about discoveries and inventions that have changed the world - from pantochronometers to potatoes - then get hands on with our siege machines.
The Museum of Zoology is home to a fabulous collection of wild things. From new fossil finds helping us to understand the evolution of land-living vertebrates, to live butterflies and their genetics, the Museum is alive with scientific discoveries. With live insects and hands on activities, join scientists and staff of the Museum to explore the science behind the collections.
From compasses to digital computers, a journey through the contributions members of St John's College have made to modern day science. Come and see where a science degree can take you!
Solve a mystery in the library using your detective skills and real forensic science. Put on a lab coat and gloves to search for fingerprints, microscopic clues and invisible traces of the crime. Working with a team of researchers you will find out who dunnit, how, when and why.
Pick up a free copy of our new ‘art meets science’ mind-map, commissioned especially for the Cambridge Science Festival. Artist Anne-Mie Melis has transformed our February half-term workshop, ‘Idea Hunters’ , into a family-friendly photomontage of facts, ideas and flights of fancy to encourage you to find your own links between art and science.
CHaOS students 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 demonstration lecture, coinciding with the centenary of X-ray diffraction, Professor Andrea Sella will explore how we know about its properties, how it compares with other ices, and the way in which ice may be the canary warning us that our futures may be much less certain than we imagine.
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 the human body works. The Lords and Ladies of the Flies will show you what these organs look like, and how we measure and control their function. You will discover what we can learn by watching flies mate or by collecting their droppings!
Solve a mystery in the library using your detective skills and real forensic science. Put on a lab coat and gloves to search for fingerprints, microscopic clues and invisible traces of the crime. Working with a team of researchers you will find out who dunnit, how, when and why.
Bring your ukulele or just your singing voice to a fun family show that mixes singalong songs with science experiments. Join geek songstress Helen Arney and her trusty scientist side-kick, Michael Conterio, as they explain how hot you'd get by ‘Walking on Sunshine’, which genes make up a ‘Brown Eyed Girl’, when is the next ‘Blue Moon’ and why do we ‘Dream a Little Dream’ at night?
CHaOS students 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 the human body works. The Lords and Ladies of the Flies will show you what these organs look like, and how we measure and control their function. You will discover what we can learn by watching flies mate or by collecting their droppings!
Solve a mystery in the library using your detective skills and real forensic science. Put on a lab coat and gloves to search for fingerprints, microscopic clues and invisible traces of the crime. Working with a team of researchers you will find out who dunnit, how, when and why.
When scientists discovered that whales sing beautiful, complex songs it helped persuade the rest of the world to stop killing them.
Join broadcaster, writer and aptly named marine biologist Dr Helen Scales as she introduces some of other gifted members of the marine realm in a talk that should get you thinking differently about things that lurk unseen beneath the waves.
This talk demonstrates some of the weirdest polymer materials to be invented, featuring home-made silly putty, paint that changes colour when you pee on it, and beautiful liquid crystal patterns. We also talk about some of the amazing new uses for polymers that are driving medicine and technology.
BBC 1’s Britain’s Brightest saw unsuspecting members of the public confounded by Steve Mould's mindbending experiments. Discover other psychological tricks and hair-raising practical jokes with a scientific twist at his prank-filled show.
Sir John Gurdon was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his pioneering work on animal cloning. Come along to better understand what cloning is about and to discover and practice some techniques that the Gurdon Laboratory is using.
Solve a mystery in the library using your detective skills and real forensic science. Put on a lab coat and gloves to search for fingerprints, microscopic clues and invisible traces of the crime. Working with a team of researchers you will find out who dunnit, how, when and why.
CHaOS students 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!
Join zoologist Matt Wilkinson on an unusual tour of the living world, and find out why learning to move was one of the most important things that life ever did.
Think you know the Internet? Veteran web reporter Kate Russell looks back over the past decade of online developments to share some of the biggest Internet fails of all time. From monumental social media screw-ups (like the Facebook invitation that ended in a full-scale riot), to the truth behind how much information you're giving to 'The Man'. This revealing talk is not for the faint-hearted.
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 the human body works. The Lords and Ladies of the Flies will show you what these organs look like, and how we measure and control their function. You will discover what we can learn by watching flies mate or by collecting their droppings!
Normal healthy aging involves widespread brain changes thought to
impair everyday cognitive functions, including memory and attention.
However, this view is undergoing a radical revision. Professor
Lorraine K. Tyler, a cognitive neuroscientist, will discuss the
emerging positive view that ageing does not necessarily result in
inevitable declines in neural and cognitive fitness.
Now taken for granted, steel is probably the most important material ever discovered. It is used to build our machines, vehicles and buildings, it is worshipped in some cultures, and it was the heart of the industrial revolution. This talk explores why steel is such an incredible material and how it will
become even more vital to us in the future.
The Department of Psychology offers a range of interactive exhibits and posters showcasing the latest cutting-edge research. You will learn about children’s understanding of other people, how the mind reasons, processes language and remembers facts, discover new ways to test personality, and how your mobile phone can recognise your emotions.
Solve a mystery in the library using your detective skills and real forensic science. Put on a lab coat and gloves to search for fingerprints, microscopic clues and invisible traces of the crime. Working with a team of researchers you will find out who dunnit, how, when and why.
CHaOS students 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!
Why do animals’ and plants’ bodies have such remarkable properties, and what can we humans learn from them? We look under the microscope at some of the amazing structures produced in the natural world, from ants’ feet and spider
silk to carnivorous 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?
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 the human body works. The Lords and Ladies of the Flies will show you what these organs look like, and how we measure and control their function. You will discover what we can learn by watching flies mate or by collecting their droppings!
Solve a mystery in the library using your detective skills and real forensic science. Put on a lab coat and gloves to search for fingerprints, microscopic clues and invisible traces of the crime. Working with a team of researchers you will find out who dunnit, how, when and why.
An interactive adventure show designed by Anturus and Scintillate. Being caught out in the wind, the nutrition of bugs and outdoor clothing are just a few of the ideas we’ll look at in this exciting science show and perhaps you too will become a survival scientist!
Sex and the media is frequently an object of concern in the press and in policy debates. But how has the way we use the media to represent sex really changed and what is the relationship between sex and the media today?
Feona Attwood is a Professor in the Media Department at Middlesex University, UK.
It is often said that “seeing is believing”. This lecture will explore the limits to human vision, how they determine the information extracted by the visual system about the external world, and the illusions that arise when they are violated.
CHaOS students 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!
What happens when you cool materials to 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. This talk involves demonstrations of bizarre quantum phenomena like magnetic levitation when we cool superconductors to -196 °C in liquid nitrogen.
The structure of our waking hours is shaped almost entirely by science. But in many ways, we are more and more distant from the physical world around us. How much is it worth understanding what your tv does and why an explosive molecule is also a blood pressure drug?
Join us for a live recording of The Pod Delusion, the award-winning weekly news magazine radio programme and podcast about interesting things. From politics, to science to culture and philosophy, it's commentary from a secular, rationalist, skeptical, somewhat lefty-liberal, sort of perspective.
Squeaky Gate, in partnership with Cambridge Neuroscientists, presents Inside an Unquiet Mind III (IAUM3), a powerful musical theatre project taking people and their mental health experiences on tour in local community settings to explore perceptions and challenge stigma.
Prepare yourself for Space exploration at the Poles! During one evening you will ‘train’ for your space expedition at the Poles and go on to conquer space! Film screening of the 1950s classic space adventure ‘Conquest of Space’, hands on activities and an introductory talk.
The Spoken Nerds return to Cambridge Science Festival with a new night of comedy, science and special guests at the Union Society. If you enjoy comedy at the geeky end of the spectrum, join Spoken Nerd for an evening of laughter, wonder – and full frontal nerdity!
A series of film screenings and discussions co-presented by the Canadian High Commission and National Film Board of Canada in partnership with Arts Picturehouse, the Cambridge Film Trust and the Polar Museum.
Visit Shepreth Wildlife Park for fun and educational talks on how animation has affected our relationship and feelings toward the natural world and how science and technology can improve our understanding of the inter-relationships of species. There will also be hands on animal handling sessions throughout the day
Come along and discover the brand new public hands-on science centre in the middle of Cambridge. This new venue on Jesus lane has amazing interactive exhibits, workshops and demos running throughout the Cambridge Science Festival for all the family.
The Cambridge Science Centre goes all out science crazy, with a fun filled day of hands on non-stop workshops for all the family. Join us to make and take away some amazing bits of science and engineering.
Comedian and mathematician Matt Parker combines his two passions to bring the world of numbers alive. Matt's maths is enjoyed by everyone from hard-core nerds to those who remember once trying a sudoku.
Visit the scientists from the Hutchison/MRC Research Centre to find out more about how cancer research is constantly progressing. See if you can beat the matrix maze, spot a cancer cell, or assemble a chromosome!
Explore how DNA makes us similar but also unique, why some bacteria make us sick and how computers help us to understand genomes. Join staff from the EMBL European Bioinformatics Institute and Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute for plenty of hands on activities, perfect for all ages.
Antibodies work as our own natural defences against infections and diseases. Learn how they can also be made into medicines that target different diseases. At the MedImmune stand you can work with our scientists to build your own model of a ‘flu virus and create your own therapeutic antibody to target and bind to it.
You can also dress up as a real scientist and have your picture taken!
Papworth Hospital showcases the advancement of heart and lung treatments over the past century from the iron lung machine to the cutting edge total artificial heart. People of all ages are invited to interact with the medical equipment, check your pulse with a stethoscope and complete a quiz!
Everybody knows that we need to eat in order to get energy for all of our daily activities, but how does this work? A special compartment in human cells, the mitochondrion, converts sugars and fats into a biological fuel called ATP that is used to power human cells. We will use LEGO® models and movies to show how large protein machines in the mitochondrion perform key functions in this process.
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.
Every time you swallow a sandwich or bite a banana, your body converts the food you've eaten into the energy you need to do everything - from moving to thinking to keeping warm to growing. Join scientists from the University of Cambridge Metabolic Research Laboratories in activities and games to help explain why we eat what we do and how we use the energy it provides.
Find out how physical activity has changed over 100 years. See how researchers use the latest science and technology to find out about how much we move and how this affects our health. Help us predict the future of physical activity. Featuring maps, games and jumping up and down!
Travel with us from past to the future of nutrition. Explore how little you would have had to eat with World War II rationing, and how today the abundance of foods has turned into obesity. Then travel to the future to discover the latest advances to improve our health with nano-nutrition.
Explore the world of stem cells with The Wellcome Trust Medical Research Council Trust Stem Cambridge Cell Institute. Look after your very own flask of stem cells in our 'Stem Cell Pet' experiment, and race to the finish line in our gigantic stem cell board game. For adults we will be screening short stem cell films and well as providing the opportunity to talk to researchers.
Come and explore with us how biostatistics has changed over the last century. Try our activities in which we will show you how biostatistics has met the challenges of the different health priorities and new technologies over the last 100 years
Your body contains around 75-100 trillion cells but have you ever seen one of them? Join scientists from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology to examine your cells under a microscope, compare them with plant and insect cells and take part in our stereoscope challenge!
Come on board and make some health awareness measurements like BMI, percentage body fat and blood pressure and find out more about the research that Cambridge BioResource is supporting in the local area.
Pick up a free copy of our new ‘art meets science’ mind-map, commissioned especially for the Cambridge Science Festival. Artist Anne-Mie Melis has transformed our February half-term workshop, ‘Idea Hunters’ , into a family-friendly photomontage of facts, ideas and flights of fancy to encourage you to find your own links between art and science.
Join the Naked Scientists as they strip down science and use everyday objects to reveal the secrets of the world. In this explosively fastpaced show, the Naked Scientists demonstrate the physics and chemistry of everyday life. Expect electrocuted vegetables, flash frozen flowers, a vacuum-cleaner powered bazooka
and much, much more!
From moon rocks to tarantulas, amethysts to ammonites, anything and everything is possible... A totally outrageous open afternoon of punchy
presentations from some of the best science presenters from Cambridge and beyond – as they show off their favourite things from the world of science.
What is the connection between James Clerk Maxwell’s vision for students of Physics, his Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism and our present day understanding of the structure of materials? In ICE’s 140th anniversary year, we will take a journey through 140 years of electromagnetism, from Maxwell’s laboratories to modern electron microscopes.
Join us for the ultimate ‘science off’ as Cambridge’s finest demonstration experts take on the rest of the UK! Familiar faces from the Naked Scientists and CHaOS will do battle with our favourite experts from across the UK including Steve Mould. Who will win the demo derby?
Stars, just like people, prefer to live in groups. In this talk we explore what happens when the biggest, heaviest stars encounter each other, and what consequences unfold for both the stars and their surroundings.
Film screening with introduction and Q&A by Inuit rights advocate, designer and performer, Aaju Peter*. In partnership with the Polar Museum
Followed by
Post-screening reception in the Arts Picturehouse bar
Learn how fossils, genetics and forensic science are now helping us to answer this question at a number of time levels, from the birth of humankind up to the present day. Only for this event, each participant will receive an optional order form with a special discount for DNA ancestry testing by Dr Peter Forster and colleagues.
A traditional choral service according the Book of Common Prayer to celebrate the Science Festival. With visiting Preacher The Rev Dr Rodney Holder, Course Director at the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion.
A series of film screenings and discussions co-presented by the Canadian High Commission and National Film Board of Canada in partnership with Arts Picturehouse, the Cambridge Film Trust and the Polar Museum.
Entries from the photography competition at the Department of Engineering, sponsored by Carl Zeiss, provide a stunning visual insight into the ways in which engineering makes a beautiful and vital contribution to our lives.
An opportunity to view and learn about "The Birds of America", one of the largest and most lavish plate books ever produced, and its author John James Audubon (1785-1851).
Would you take tablets to boost your brain function? An interactive session debating the controversial subject of cognitive enhancers, the science of them and their ethical and social implications with local school students and Professor Barbara Sahakian.
Project by the Naked Scientists, Graphic Science, BCNI and schools across East Anglia. Alok Jha will be chairing this event.
The sometimes-winding road to parenthood can be a source of great joy and much anguish. This third series of ‘Reproduction on Film’ charts changes in cinematic representations of pregnancy, childbirth and babies from the 1950s to the present day. It is put on by the Generation to Reproduction programme with funding from the Wellcome Trust.
Join us at the Polar Museum for the official launch of the 'Arctic Film Festival: Voices from the North' with special guests including; Inuit musician and filmmaker Elisapie Isaac, Inuit rights advocate Aaju Peter and filmmakers Stephen A. Smith and Julia Szucs.
A series of film screenings and discussions co-presented by the Canadian High Commission and National Film Board of Canada in partnership with Arts Picturehouse, the Cambridge Film Trust and the Polar Museum.
Entries from the photography competition at the Department of Engineering, sponsored by Carl Zeiss, provide a stunning visual insight into the ways in which engineering makes a beautiful and vital contribution to our lives.
The Polar Museum is creating an exciting exhibition, Frozen Worlds, revealing how the Polar Regions are a portal for exploring space. It aims to showcase some extra-ordinary technology developed to explore the most inhospitable places in the universe.
The Pitoti exhibition celebrates ancient European prehistoric rock-art through the technology of digital, 3-D and interactive graphics. This multimedia and interactive exhibition shows the meeting of two graphic traditions, when the newest, the technology of digital, 3-D and interactive graphics, encounters the oldest, the prehistoric images made as rock-art in Valcamonica in Italy.
Pick up a free copy of our new ‘art meets science’ mind-map, commissioned especially for the Cambridge Science Festival. Artist Anne-Mie Melis has transformed our February half-term workshop, ‘Idea Hunters’ , into a family-friendly photomontage of facts, ideas and flights of fancy to encourage you to find your own links between art and science.
Come along and discover the brand new public hands-on science centre in the middle of Cambridge. This new venue on Jesus lane has amazing interactive exhibits, workshops and demos running throughout the Cambridge Science Festival for all the family.
Stefan Gates (BBC1’s Food Factory and CBBC’s Incredible Edibles) and Professor Andrea Sella (Incredible Edibles’ brilliantly bonkers chemist) take you on a gut-busting gastronomic journey to reveal the amazing, explosive science hiding in your food AND shows how to save the planet...by eating the weirdest, creepiest and wriggliest foods on earth.
The moon is our nearest neighbour in space, and still the only body beyond Earth on which humans have set foot. In this talk, Ian Ridpath introduces the main features of the moon from its ancient plains of solidified lava to craters the size of cities blasted out by meteorite impacts. He will then trace the history of lunar exploration from the first space probes to the Apollo landings.
Please join us for an evening of inspiration and performance of writing from the Thresholds Poetry and Museums project. Guests Daljit Nagra, Ann Gray and Jo Shapcott will present highlights of their work with the University of Cambridge Museums and Collections. Supported by Arts Council England.
Vanishing Point
Directors: Stephen A. Smith and Julia Szucs / Producer: David Christensen – National Film Board of Canada. 2012 (Greenland, Nunavut). 82.26mins. Inuktun with English subtitles
In this groundbreaking adventure, renowned psychologist Kevin Dutton reveals a shocking truth: beneath the hype and the popular characterisation, psychopaths have something to teach us.
Join in the science mayhem as the Cambridge Science Centre and Festival teams come together to present an amazing night of science comedy, workshops, music and exhibits!
A series of film screenings and discussions co-presented by the Canadian High Commission and National Film Board of Canada in partnership with Arts Picturehouse, the Cambridge Film Trust and the Polar Museum.
Entries from the photography competition at the Department of Engineering, sponsored by Carl Zeiss, provide a stunning visual insight into the ways in which engineering makes a beautiful and vital contribution to our lives.
The Polar Museum is creating an exciting exhibition, Frozen Worlds, revealing how the Polar Regions are a portal for exploring space. It aims to showcase some extra-ordinary technology developed to explore the most inhospitable places in the universe.
The Pitoti exhibition celebrates ancient European prehistoric rock-art through the technology of digital, 3-D and interactive graphics. This multimedia and interactive exhibition shows the meeting of two graphic traditions, when the newest, the technology of digital, 3-D and interactive graphics, encounters the oldest, the prehistoric images made as rock-art in Valcamonica in Italy.
Pick up a free copy of our new ‘art meets science’ mind-map, commissioned especially for the Cambridge Science Festival. Artist Anne-Mie Melis has transformed our February half-term workshop, ‘Idea Hunters’ , into a family-friendly photomontage of facts, ideas and flights of fancy to encourage you to find your own links between art and science.
Come along and discover the brand new public hands-on science centre in the middle of Cambridge. This new venue on Jesus lane has amazing interactive exhibits, workshops and demos running throughout the Cambridge Science Festival for all the family.
Take a magical journey with the Broomsquire. Discover his fossils and the stories he tells about them. Can you spot which of them are true, and which are tall tales? With Cambridge storyteller Marion Leeper. Children must be accompanied by a parent or carer.
PRIVATE VIEW AND OPENING Deborah Robinson, Associate Professor (Reader) in Contemporary Art Practice, University of Plymouth regularly collaborates with scientists and technicians to make exciting experimental video and sound installations which go beyond science communication to become distilled works of art.
Antarctica is a remote and hostile place but a very active area for research by scientists from over 30 countries. Join Professor David Walton for a talk on the role of the ice covered continent in determining global sea levels and modelling the future impacts of climate change. Sponsored by CUP
Discover the Museum's collections through the eyes of the people who study and care for them. This unique event explores the human side of the Museum, with curators, staff and others sharing their experiences through the Museum specimens that have inspired them.
Experience a taste of our 6-session course Carbon Conversations, which the Guardian called one of the "best 20 climate solutions," developed right here in Cambridge.
This earth-shattering mystery combines military secrets, a massive global puzzle and a hunch that changed the way we see out planet. Join Professor Dan McKenzie in a story that begun with a 1963 Nature publication of magnetic anomalies and is now told by listening to acoustic waves bouncing around the Earth.
A series of film screenings and discussions co-presented by the Canadian High Commission and National Film Board of Canada in partnership with Arts Picturehouse, the Cambridge Film Trust and the Polar Museum.
Entries from the photography competition at the Department of Engineering, sponsored by Carl Zeiss, provide a stunning visual insight into the ways in which engineering makes a beautiful and vital contribution to our lives.
The Polar Museum is creating an exciting exhibition, Frozen Worlds, revealing how the Polar Regions are a portal for exploring space. It aims to showcase some extra-ordinary technology developed to explore the most inhospitable places in the universe.
PRIVATE VIEW AND OPENING Deborah Robinson, Associate Professor (Reader) in Contemporary Art Practice, University of Plymouth regularly collaborates with scientists and technicians to make exciting experimental video and sound installations which go beyond science communication to become distilled works of art.
The Pitoti exhibition celebrates ancient European prehistoric rock-art through the technology of digital, 3-D and interactive graphics. This multimedia and interactive exhibition shows the meeting of two graphic traditions, when the newest, the technology of digital, 3-D and interactive graphics, encounters the oldest, the prehistoric images made as rock-art in Valcamonica in Italy.
Pick up a free copy of our new ‘art meets science’ mind-map, commissioned especially for the Cambridge Science Festival. Artist Anne-Mie Melis has transformed our February half-term workshop, ‘Idea Hunters’ , into a family-friendly photomontage of facts, ideas and flights of fancy to encourage you to find your own links between art and science.
This talk describes the vision of the Cambridge physicist Paul Dirac, who articulated the idea that a particle is an excitation of an all-pervading field, laying the ground not only for modern physics, but also a new understanding of geometry.
Come along and discover the brand new public hands-on science centre in the middle of Cambridge. This new venue on Jesus lane has amazing interactive exhibits, workshops and demos running throughout the Cambridge Science Festival for all the family.
World-renowned palaeoartist Bob Nicholls will take you through the creative process of reconstructing anatomically accurate dinosaurs. Starting with fragments of fossilised bone, you will bring the dinosaur back to life by adding organs, muscles, covering it with skin, scales and feathers and finally deciding what colour it was. No previous experience required.
If the Weather Permits
Director: Elisapie Isaac / Producer: Yves Bisaillon – National Film Board of Canada. 2003 (Nunavik). 27.51mins.In the vastness of northern Quebec, on the edge of the Arctic Ocean, lies the village of Kangirsujuaq, Nunavik.
Science writer and broadcaster Vivienne Parry OBE presents a fascinating insight into science through the ages to celebrate 100 years of the Medical Research Council.
Stem cell research can provoke exaggerated claims of miracle cures on the one hand and moral outrage over use of human embryos on the other. So what makes a cell a stem cell, and can they really be used to treat disease?
The move to open access publishing has the potential to transform researchers’ communications and access to information by the public on a global scale. Join Cameron Neylon, PLoS; David Carr, Wellcome Trust; Neil Hammond, Rupert Gatti at Open Book Publishers, CUP and Professor John Naughton for a panel discussion and Q&A.TBC
World renowned palaeoartist Bob Nicholls will talk about his life as a professional dinosaur fanatic. Like many children Bob developed an interest in drawing dinosaurs at a very young age. He never out-grew this, and now has over 13 years of experience as a professional palaeoartist.
Free talk on the new Ford 1.0 litre Ecoboost three-cylinder turbocharged engine, organised by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).
The Naked Scientists take you on an interactive journey through the workings of the nervous system. If you're brave enough, they'll read your brainwaves, reveal how your nerves send and receive information, activate your muscles electrically, fool your senses into seeing and feeling things that aren't really there and even spot when you are lying.
A series of film screenings and discussions co-presented by the Canadian High Commission and National Film Board of Canada in partnership with Arts Picturehouse, the Cambridge Film Trust and the Polar Museum.
Entries from the photography competition at the Department of Engineering, sponsored by Carl Zeiss, provide a stunning visual insight into the ways in which engineering makes a beautiful and vital contribution to our lives.
Presentation of animations by and about the Inuit with National Film Board of Canada Commissioner Tom Perlmutter* and special guests. In partnership with the Polar Museum
The Polar Museum is creating an exciting exhibition, Frozen Worlds, revealing how the Polar Regions are a portal for exploring space. It aims to showcase some extra-ordinary technology developed to explore the most inhospitable places in the universe.
PRIVATE VIEW AND OPENING Deborah Robinson, Associate Professor (Reader) in Contemporary Art Practice, University of Plymouth regularly collaborates with scientists and technicians to make exciting experimental video and sound installations which go beyond science communication to become distilled works of art.
Take a magical journey with the Broomsquire. Discover his fossils and the stories he tells about them. Can you spot which of them are true, and which are tall tales? With Cambridge storyteller Marion Leeper. Children must be accompanied by a parent or carer.
The Pitoti exhibition celebrates ancient European prehistoric rock-art through the technology of digital, 3-D and interactive graphics. This multimedia and interactive exhibition shows the meeting of two graphic traditions, when the newest, the technology of digital, 3-D and interactive graphics, encounters the oldest, the prehistoric images made as rock-art in Valcamonica in Italy.
Pick up a free copy of our new ‘art meets science’ mind-map, commissioned especially for the Cambridge Science Festival. Artist Anne-Mie Melis has transformed our February half-term workshop, ‘Idea Hunters’ , into a family-friendly photomontage of facts, ideas and flights of fancy to encourage you to find your own links between art and science.
Take a magical journey with the Broomsquire. Discover his fossils and the stories he tells about them. Can you spot which of them are true, and which are tall tales? With Cambridge storyteller Marion Leeper. Children must be accompanied by a parent or carer.
Come along and discover the brand new public hands-on science centre in the middle of Cambridge. This new venue on Jesus lane has amazing interactive exhibits, workshops and demos running throughout the Cambridge Science Festival for all the family.
In this year’s Alex Hopkins Lecture, Professor David Phillips discusses the science of photo-medicine from a chemist’s point of view. He will highlight the effects of light on the skin, the diagnostic uses of light and the therapeutic aspects of light treatment. The topic, though serious, is light-hearted [pun intended!] in delivery, and will be illustrated with many demonstrations.
As part of the Arctic Film Festival, the Polar Museum are hosting a panel discussion, presenting a series of personal viewpoints on Inuit life today. Panellists include Inuit filmmaker and musician Elisapie Isaac; Inuit rights advocate Aaju Peter; documentary filmmakers Julia Szucs and Stephen A. Smith; and Commissioner of the National Film Board of Canada Tom Perlmutter.
The recent discovery of a Higgs-like boson at the Large Hadron Collider opens a new chapter in particle physics. In this talk, Andy Parker and Val Gibson will discuss some of the open questions to be investigated in the next phase.
Opus Anglicanum use music and a sequence of texts chosen by John Allen, Emeritus Professor of Physics St Andrews University, to chart the changing perceptions of the nature of light through history.
Discover how artist Deborah Robinson is exploring the world of malaria research at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute to create a new piece of art. A fascinating line up of speakers from the arts, genetics research and medical history will discuss their experiences of the global killer, malaria.
A series of film screenings and discussions co-presented by the Canadian High Commission and National Film Board of Canada in partnership with Arts Picturehouse, the Cambridge Film Trust and the Polar Museum.
Entries from the photography competition at the Department of Engineering, sponsored by Carl Zeiss, provide a stunning visual insight into the ways in which engineering makes a beautiful and vital contribution to our lives.
The Polar Museum is creating an exciting exhibition, Frozen Worlds, revealing how the Polar Regions are a portal for exploring space. It aims to showcase some extra-ordinary technology developed to explore the most inhospitable places in the universe.
Visit Shepreth Wildlife Park for fun and educational talks on how animation has affected our relationship and feelings toward the natural world and how science and technology can improve our understanding of the inter-relationships of species. There will also be hands on animal handling sessions throughout the day
PRIVATE VIEW AND OPENING Deborah Robinson, Associate Professor (Reader) in Contemporary Art Practice, University of Plymouth regularly collaborates with scientists and technicians to make exciting experimental video and sound installations which go beyond science communication to become distilled works of art.
Come along and discover the brand new public hands-on science centre in the middle of Cambridge. This new venue on Jesus lane has amazing interactive exhibits, workshops and demos running throughout the Cambridge Science Festival for all the family.
The Pitoti exhibition celebrates ancient European prehistoric rock-art through the technology of digital, 3-D and interactive graphics. This multimedia and interactive exhibition shows the meeting of two graphic traditions, when the newest, the technology of digital, 3-D and interactive graphics, encounters the oldest, the prehistoric images made as rock-art in Valcamonica in Italy.
An exciting and adventurous collaboration between theatre and science, centred around a new play, The Altruists, by Craig Baxter. The Altruists is about the lives and ideas of evolutionary biologists, George Price, Bill Hamilton and John Maynard Smith. Presented by Menagerie Theatre and the Darwin Correspondence Project.
How many guests need to come to a party, to guarantee that at least five of them either all know each other or are mutual strangers? Join Dr Colva Roney-Dougal see some unexpected applications of the maths behind this still-unsolved problem, from modelling flu epidemics to galaxy formation.
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. Don’t miss these exciting demonstrations from the next generation of scientists, engineers and mathematicians as they bring interactive fun to the Festival.
This is your invitation to join archaeologists, re-enactors, and your neighbours in a celebration of the, previously unknown, Roman Landscape of North West Cambridge. Come to our Roman Street Party, held on the actual site of an archaeological excavation. Hands on activities for children and adults alike as well as intellectual challenges for the more discerning party goer!
Pick up a free copy of our new ‘art meets science’ mind-map, commissioned especially for the Cambridge Science Festival. Artist Anne-Mie Melis has transformed our February half-term workshop, ‘Idea Hunters’ , into a family-friendly photomontage of facts, ideas and flights of fancy to encourage you to find your own links between art and science.
Find out what a palaeontological research team collected during an expedition to Greenland during August 2012. Meet some of the scientists and discover why their training for the expedition included survival skills and shooting.
Discover the excitement and range of modern mathematics and theoretical physics through hands on activities, demonstrations and displays (featuring everything from chocolate eggs to computer simulations!) by students and staff from the Faculty of Mathematics.
An exciting and adventurous collaboration between theatre and science, centred around a new play, The Altruists, by Craig Baxter. The Altruists is about the lives and ideas of evolutionary biologists, George Price, Bill Hamilton and John Maynard Smith. Presented by Menagerie Theatre and the Darwin Correspondence Project.
The Cambridge Science Centre is back at the Institute for Manufacturing with its mighty wind tunnel. Discover more about the how seeds fly and send up your own creation to see how it catches the wind.
Experience physics in action by making your own physics related toy. Past Festival favourites return including giant bubbles, cars and hovercraft. To avoid overcrowding tickets for specific times will be allocated, if necessary, on arrival.
Enjoy a host of activities from our photonics experts, including creating your very own laser etched metal id card. You will also see a thermal imaging camera in action: use your finger to write on the wall with just your own heat or see your hot spots!
Our in-house inkjet experts will show you how they can 'slow down the world' with their ultra high speed technology, and how their liquid jet research reveals some monstrous findings!
Get a glimpse of the latest laser technologies and find out how they are used in industry. Watch a focused ion beam etch the smallest ever Union Jack. Witness lasers cutting through metals upto 30mm thick. Have your name laser engraved onto the head of a live match and try to use a laser to ignite Gun cotton... it goes off with a BANG!
Sponsored by the East Anglia Branch of the Institute of Physics
Explore the beauty of the night sky. Learn about space, stars and the Solar System through these interactive and lively shows.
Ever wondered what really goes on behind the Universities doors? The city is bursting with exciting research and scientific history. Come join this walking tour led by a Cambridge academic for an insiders view. You will learn where Cambridge’s most famous alumni liked to spend their down time as well as up to date information about the state of the art research currently being investigated.
Discover how flowers send out secret signals to attract animal pollinators like bees and butterflies and create science inspired artworks. You’ll never look at flowers in the same way after this fun afternoon workshop at the Botanic Garden.
Sponsored by the East Anglia Branch of the Institute of Physics
Explore the beauty of the night sky. Learn about space, stars and the Solar System through these interactive and lively shows.
One of the earliest applications of mathematics to medicine was Bernoulli's study 250 years ago of the efficacy of vaccinating against smallpox. Professor Tom Körner explores Bernoulli's work and how the ideas involved remain relevant and interesting today.
Engineers take the Pecha Kucha challenge. Graduate students enrolled for a PhD in Engineering will take on the challenge of sharing their research with you in just 6min 40 sec, using the Pecha Kucha presentation method of 20 slides each lasting 20 sec. Will they succeed?
Sponsored by the East Anglia Branch of the Institute of Physics
Explore the beauty of the night sky. Learn about space, stars and the Solar System through these interactive and lively shows.
An exciting and adventurous collaboration between theatre and science, centred around a new play, The Altruists, by Craig Baxter. The Altruists is about the lives and ideas of evolutionary biologists, George Price, Bill Hamilton and John Maynard Smith. Presented by Menagerie Theatre and the Darwin Correspondence Project.
Find out what a palaeontological research team collected during an expedition to Greenland during August 2012. Meet some of the scientists and discover why their training for the expedition included survival skills and shooting.
The Institute of Astronomy opens its doors for the annual open afternoon. We will have talks, displays, demonstrations and hands-on activities for everyone to learn more about Astronomy, and the kind of research we do.
For the 90s anniversary of the award the Nobel Prize for Physics, the American network WGBH produced this lengthy document that sheds light on the personality of a man of genius, a pioneer of his time.
Sponsored by the East Anglia Branch of the Institute of Physics
Explore the beauty of the night sky. Learn about space, stars and the Solar System through these interactive and lively shows.
Sponsored by the East Anglia Branch of the Institute of Physics
Explore the beauty of the night sky. Learn about space, stars and the Solar System through these interactive and lively shows.
An exciting and adventurous collaboration between theatre and science, centred around a new play, The Altruists, by Craig Baxter. The Altruists is about the lives and ideas of evolutionary biologists, George Price, Bill Hamilton and John Maynard Smith. Presented by Menagerie Theatre and the Darwin Correspondence Project.
Sponsored by the East Anglia Branch of the Institute of Physics
Explore the beauty of the night sky. Learn about space, stars and the Solar System through these interactive and lively shows.
All are welcome to the finale event of a collaboration or ‘hackathon’, involving enterprising students and professionals presenting innovative approaches to real challenges faced by people living in poverty overseas. Awards will be presented to the team of innovators chosen by an expert panel - and by the crowd! With the Humanitarian Centre and Cambridge University Technology and Enterprise Club.
Computers always follow rules, and people sometimes do. Can following rules be creative? This live performance will experiment with technical and compositional rules, including live coding of music (Sam Aaron) and generative dance (Jane Turner). The event includes a 20 minute performance, technical demonstrations of new digital arts technologies and audience discussion with the performers.
A series of film screenings and discussions co-presented by the Canadian High Commission and National Film Board of Canada in partnership with Arts Picturehouse, the Cambridge Film Trust and the Polar Museum.
Visit Shepreth Wildlife Park for fun and educational talks on how animation has affected our relationship and feelings toward the natural world and how science and technology can improve our understanding of the inter-relationships of species. There will also be hands on animal handling sessions throughout the day
Come along and discover the brand new public hands-on science centre in the middle of Cambridge. This new venue on Jesus lane has amazing interactive exhibits, workshops and demos running throughout the Cambridge Science Festival for all the family.
Pick up a free copy of our new ‘art meets science’ mind-map, commissioned especially for the Cambridge Science Festival. Artist Anne-Mie Melis has transformed our February half-term workshop, ‘Idea Hunters’ , into a family-friendly photomontage of facts, ideas and flights of fancy to encourage you to find your own links between art and science.
Ever wondered what really goes on behind the Universities doors? The city is bursting with exciting research and scientific history. Come join this walking tour led by a Cambridge academic for an insiders view. You will learn where Cambridge’s most famous alumni liked to spend their down time as well as up to date information about the state of the art research currently being investigated.
Residents facing noise from wind turbines, environmental organisations interested in 'green chemistry', and charities in Cambridge are among those who have teamed up with researchers and students to co-create knowledge through science shops. Join us to learn more with Dr Henk Mulder, University of Groningen and Dr Emma McKenna, Queen’s University Belfast.
Residents facing noise from wind turbines, environmental organisations interested in 'green chemistry', and charities in Cambridge are among those who have teamed up with researchers and students to co-create knowledge through science shops. Join us to learn more with Dr Henk Mulder, University of Groningen and Dr Emma McKenna, Queen’s University Belfast.
