Cambridge Science Festival

Sunday 18 March, 10:30AM - 12:30PM 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.

Sunday 18 March, 11:00AM - 11:45AM 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!

Sunday 18 March, 11:00AM - 12:00PM 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.

Sunday 18 March, 11:00AM - 12:45PM Join science-songstress-turned-mermaid Helen Arney and aquatic rabble-rouser and protest singer Olly the Octopus in an ocean adventure!

Sunday 18 March, 11:00AM - 3:00PM 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.

Sunday 18 March, 11:00AM - 3:00PM 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!

Sunday 18 March, 11:00AM - 3:00PM 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.

Sunday 18 March, 11:00AM - 3:00PM 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…

Sunday 18 March, 11:00AM - 3:00PM 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.

Sunday 18 March, 11:00AM - 3:00PM Discover what makes your heart tick from scientists at the Babraham Institute.

Sunday 18 March, 11:00AM - 3:00PM 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.

Sunday 18 March, 11:00AM - 3:00PM 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.

Sunday 18 March, 11:00AM - 3:00PM 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.

Sunday 18 March, 11:00AM - 3:00PM 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!

Sunday 18 March, 11:00AM - 3:00PM Join the Society of Biology and come try our biology quiz, dissect owl pellets, have a go at mirror tracing, learn about primroses and much more.

Sunday 18 March, 11:00AM - 3:00PM 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.

Sunday 18 March, 11:00AM - 3:00PM 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.

Sunday 18 March, 11:00AM - 3:00PM 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!

Sunday 18 March, 11:00AM - 4:00PM 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.

Sunday 18 March, 11:00AM - 5:00PM 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.

Sunday 18 March, 12:30PM - 1:30PM 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?

Sunday 18 March, 1:00PM - 1:45PM 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!

Sunday 18 March, 1:00PM - 2:45PM Join science-songstress-turned-mermaid Helen Arney and aquatic rabble-rouser and protest singer Olly the Octopus in an ocean adventure!

Sunday 18 March, 2:00PM - 3:00PM Action-packed demonstation lecture featuring flashes and bangs made only from the chemicals that can be found in nature.

Sunday 18 March, 2:00PM - 5:00PM Join Guest Director Robin Ince as he introduces a science Show and Tell from a selection of scientists and comedians from across the UK. From moon rocks to tarantulas, amethyst to ammonites, anything and everything is possible....

Sunday 18 March, 2:30PM - 4:30PM A film festival of screenings and talks on compulsion organised by the Cambridgeshire branch of the British Science Association and PsyFi.

Sunday 18 March, 2:30PM - 4:30PM 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.

Sunday 18 March, 3:00PM - 3:45PM 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!

Sunday 18 March, 3:00PM - 4:00PM Soda screams and bottle burps from the long haired one from the naked scientists.

Sunday 18 March, 3:00PM - 4:45PM Join science-songstress-turned-mermaid Helen Arney and aquatic rabble-rouser and protest singer Olly the Octopus in an ocean adventure!

Sunday 18 March, 6:00PM - 7:00PM Chance to give thanks for and to celebrate the world of science.

Sunday 18 March, 7:30PM - 10:00PM 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.