Although we are still analysing Festival feedback, what we have been through already has been overwhelmingly positive! Audiences have referred to the Festival as being “entertaining and inspirational” as well as talks being “dynamic and compelling”, which makes us immensely proud.

Our family events that took place on the 17th and 24th March were very popular. Despite the rather wet conditions on the 17th, we were pleased to see so many people turn out to take part in all of our activities. From Biology Zone in the Arts Schools to the Chemistry Open Day on Lensfield Road, we loved to see everyone get involved with the hands on activities and talks that were on offer. We were especially happy that the Extreme Sports Battle was able to take place regardless of conditions. The conditions at the West Cambridge Site, however, couldn’t have been better. To see so many people turn out and take part in the maths, physics, computer sciences and engineering events that were on offer was very gratifying and we think everyone had a splendid time!

Beyond the main weekends of the Festival, we were delighted so many of you turned up for our evening lecture series. Events like Understanding Excess, Flipnosis and Jim Al-Khalili’s talk: ‘On the Shoulders of Eastern Giants’ were packed full, and we have had feedback from speakers who were very pleased to see such attentive and engaged audiences!

Shelley Bolderson, the Science Festival Co-ordinator, had this to say when we asked her about how she felt now that the Festival is over:

“I’d just like to thank everyone involved with the Festival first of all, from the event co-ordinators who have been working on events for months, to the demonstrators within the University, to the members of the public who gave up their time to help out – you guys are awesome! It was great to see so many people getting involved with the Festival, despite the crummy weather! Working with Robin [Ince] was just such fun, and Show and Tell was one of my favourite events. It was great to see members of the public turn up and discuss things they felt were interesting – it was completely unexpected! Another particular favourite of mine was Gastronauts Live – it was such great fun for all involved! The challenge for us now is to make next year’s Festival even better – I can’t wait!”

So from us at the Cambridge Science Festival, thank you all once again for taking part – we hope to see you again next year!

In the 18^th century, the common belief was that all species were created by God and could not deviate from their original form. However, by the early 1800s, some people were beginning to counter this theory and the idea that species were gradually changing over time was becoming dominant.

Erasmus Darwin wrote in his scientific work Zoonomia: ‘imagine that all warm-blooded animals could have arisen from a single living filament…with the power of acquiring new parts’, foreshadowing the theory of evolution that his grandson, Charles Darwin, later established.

The significance of On the origin of species was the notion that evolution occurred through natural selection – the idea that there is a range of characteristics in living species and that these differences result in variations of survival and reproduction – rather than as a result of divine intervention. For those who accepted this theory, it significantly altered their perception of themselves as a separate species by promoting the concept that humans evolved from the rest of the natural world.

The significance of On the origin of species was the notion that evolution occurred through natural selection – the idea that there is a range of characteristics in living species and that these differences result in variations of survival and reproduction – rather than as a result of divine intervention. For those who accepted this theory, it significantly altered their perception of themselves as a separate species by promoting the concept that humans evolved from the rest of the natural world.

“When the theory first developed, it was the first time that people realised that they aren’t anything particularly special or unusual; we’re part of everything else,” Dr Turner said.

Since the early half of the 20th century, when scientists united Darwin’s theory of evolution and modern genetics, there have been many further advances such as the development of the theory of sexual selection, which explains why individuals of the same species differ in structure, colour or ornament.

Traits such as large antlers and sharp teeth have clearly developed to give males better access to females and to increase survival rate, but ornamental characteristics such as very long tails and elaborately coloured plumes can actually reduce an individual male’s survival.

It has long been thought that these distinguishing features are more appealing to females and so the increase in reproduction compensates for the decrease in survival. However, it was only fairly recently that biologists discovered that the attractiveness of these traits lies in their indication of genetic health – for example greater disease resilience.

It has also been found that competition between males continues after the initial intercourse.

“Scientists discovered that this competition between males doesn’t actually stop with mating – there are all kinds of other selection processes that follow, such as mate guarding or even the use of special plugs that stop a female being able to mate again. Sperm can even compete to access individual eggs, which is absolutely remarkable,” Dr Turner said.

A fruit fly’s sperm contains toxins which affect the behaviour of females – it reduces their desire to mate again. This is important because the last male to mate has the greatest chance of fathering the offspring because many females store the sperm.

Dr Turner added: “After intercourse, the key thing for the male is to prevent her from mating again.”

This idea that animals constantly try to maximise their survival and reproduction is challenged by social insects such as ants and termites. In these communities, the majority of individuals are sterile workers.

“There are different ways of passing on genes to the next generation,” Dr Turner said. “Relative costs and benefits are things we have to think about when discussing kin selection. You don’t actually have to reproduce to pass on your genes – you can just help related individuals to do so.”

Studying evolution is also now regarded as essential when working in areas such as conservation.

Dr Turner concluded: “To understand conservation or any area of biology, I think you must have an understanding of evolution. Realising how species have evolved to use different parts of the environment allows one to predict which groups won’t be able to cope with future changes. Scientists can then work to manipulate environments to preserve species that run the risk of becoming extinct.”

Evolution Revolution will take place at the Cambridge Science Festival on March 25, 10.00am-11.00am at Madingley Hall. It is free and suitable for ages 14+. For anyone who is unable to make the event, the Institute of Continuing Education will publish a video of the talk on their website afterwards.

For further details please visit www.cam.ac.uk/sciencefestival or www.ice.cam.ac.uk/sciencefestival.

Evolution sceptics and ufologists were debated – and ridiculed – as were writers whose work “suggests a complete misunderstanding” of concepts such as String Theory and evolution. Ince said: “They’re very authoritative, as long as you don’t know anything.”

Jim Al-Khalili focussed on The Field by Lynne McTaggart, perhaps because her novel on quantum physics was released at the same time as his own book Quantum: a guide for the perplexed – and, by his own admission, was rated much higher!

Josie Long touched upon the recent clash between Simon Singh and the British Chiropractic Association over the unfounded claims that chiropractic treatment can help cure many children’s problems.

An article in the New Statesman was humorously torn apart for publishing the findings of an experiment that asserted that left-handed people are “better in armed combat.”

The teachings of Don Juan – written by anthropologist and author Carlos Castaneda – was the subject of Alan Moore’s discourse. He mentioned passages that were contradicted in subsequent books and read aloud sections that described events in the desert that would have led to his death if true!

The group spoke of their frustration when factually inaccurate books gain a wide readership and the problems of having these people – who do not fully understand the topics they discuss – becoming “an authoritative spokesperson” on the subject.

• In this clip Dr Clive Oppenheimer discusses the potential types of future volcanic events that will threaten us:

• A discussion on the cyclical nature of volcanic activity, and whether we are overdue for a volcanic event at Yellowstone National Park:

• Is there a link between volcanic activity and ice age frequency? Does polar climate change affect the frequency of volanic activity?:

• Dr Oppenheimer discusses what Geologists measure to gather information on historical volcanic events:

• What should we look for as signs that the supervolcano at Yellowstone National Park may be about to erupt?:

The last sixty years has seen tremendous change in the structure of health systems across the world. Speakers at this evening’s event predicted that the next ten to twenty years will see even more advances that will significantly affect the very nature of healthcare.

Professor Jian Dai of King’s College London, a mechanical engineer who has been working in the field of robotics for over twenty years, argued that the use of robotics will be the defining feature of 21^st century healthcare. 

There are currently 1750 surgical robots that are in regular clinical use worldwide and medical robotic research is underway in over 100 universities. Professor Dai said: “This century, there will be a momentous input from robots. In 2035, robotics for healthcare will feature in hospitals everywhere, like we see now in automobile factories.”

Professor Dame Athene Donald, a physicist at the University of Cambridge, threw light on what the physical sciences can offer biomedicine. She discussed how the contribution from the physical science community to biomedicine was less obvious than that from other areas, but cited microfluidics and biologically-tuned synthetic structures and surfaces as integral to development, adding: “We need to understand all the physical processes as well as the biological…These are the types of things that will transform the quality of life for people.”

Dr Anders Sandberg of the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford examined the motivations fordevelopments in public healthcare, discussing the move from palliative to curative medicine in the 20^th century and predicting a shift from preventative to enhancive medicine in the 21^st century. The audience considered a future society benefiting from individual cognitive enhancement: “Perhaps cognitive enhancement is something you should pay for your neighbour, because the smarter we are, the better off we are together.”

Collective cognition re-emerged when Professor Martin Roland, GP and Chair of Health Services Research at the University of Cambridge said: “The doctors are going to become smarter, the patients are going to become smarter and they are going to need to develop new methods of communicating. We may be looking at a new generation that thinks very differently about how they communicate with professionals.”

The increased use of the internet by patients to research their condition could result in a generation of patients who know more about their condition than their doctor and a feedback system similar to the travel research website Trip Advisor. He suggested that these uses of the internet could lead to the development of specialist doctors and prompt them to improve their services. However, he cautioned that this could advantage articulate patients with the ability to interpret complex information on the web, with the ominous warning: “Quite a lot of what we have heard about this evening could lead to increased health inequalities.”

This fantastic scenario is the subject of Dr Clive Oppenheimer’s lecture Eruptions that shook the world on March 13 at this year’s Cambridge Science Festival. The Festival is the UK’s biggest free science festival and this year runs from March 12-25.

In constructing this Hollywood-like disaster Dr Oppenheimer, of the University of Cambridge’s Geography Department, theorizes that Man’s progress can be aided when faced with catastrophe.

Three case-studies of severe volcanic activity are closely examined. The 1815 Mount Tambora eruption in Indonesia, the Laki eruption on Iceland in 1783, and the Toba catastrophe that occurred over 73,000 years ago are all events that caused significant fallout throughout the globe, impacting people’s lives for years after the eruption. The Toba catastrophe in particular, and the climate change it caused, may have had a devastating effect on early man.

In analysing these three events, Dr Oppenheimer hopes to uncover clues to the impact of future eruptions. Tokyo, Naples, and the Super Volcano that resides under Yellowstone National Park in America are three potentially deadly sites that Dr Oppenheimer examines. The impact of their eruptions promises to be severe. Ash and sulphur emitted from these eruptions would cause a global crisis. Extreme weather in the summer and winter months would have catastrophic results. Global food security and high energy prices would cripple the delicate global economy and threaten to plunge us into very challenging times.

Dr Oppenheimer said: “Are these catastrophes opportunities? We often assume that Man’s biggest leaps are in times of calm, but perhaps man has made the biggest cognitive leaps in times of crisis and catastrophe.”

The Tambora eruption occurred in the spring of 1815. Forests and crops on the Island were destroyed. Debris washed into the ocean and collected into ‘rafts’ that were as a big as 5km across and travelled as far as Calcutta, India. A moderate sized tsunami struck the shores of the Indonesian archipelago causing a death-toll of over 4000. The column of ash reached 43km into the sky, launching ash and sulphur into the stratosphere.

The result ensured Tambora would have a dramatic global reach. ‘The year without a summer’ followed in 1816. Countries in the Northern Hemisphere suffered winter-like conditions in the summer months causing extreme agricultural problems. Frost and snow was reported in June of that year in New England and Quebec.

A post-Napoleonic Europe suffered a perfect storm of typhus outbreaks, poor harvests and high grain prices culminating in civil unrest, mass migrations and even anti-Semitism.

Added Oppenheimer: “If we could rerun history from 1815 without the Tambora eruption happening, the world could look very different today.”

The Laki eruption on Iceland in 1783, like Tambora some 20 years later, devastated the immediate area and influenced global weather patterns.  An estimated 20 per cent of the Icelandic population died due to the consequences of vast emissions of acidic gases. Iceland’s livestock suffered a worse fate as 80 per cent of the sheep, and 50 per cent of the horse and cattle population died as a result of the eight million tonnes of hydrogen fluoride that was released.

The global impact from Laki matched Tambora’s in its reach but differed in its effect. Instead of the cold summer experienced in 1815, the summer of 1784 was one of the hottest in Europe on record.

Conversely, North America and Europe suffered a particularly bitter winter in 1784. Oppenheimer examines the differences, and suggests that sulphur gases and particles emitted in the troposphere, rather than the stratosphere, might account for the opposite effect. Again, the extreme weather, and possibly the fumigation of the ground by sulphurous clouds significantly impacted society.

Church records for the period suggest even more people may have died in England than in Iceland as a result of the eruption. The infamous Icelandic eruptions of 2010 and 2011 remind us that even in the UK we live not so far downwind from active volcanoes.

Added Oppenheimer: “We should consider a future “Laki”-style eruption as a particular threat to Europe, and draw up plans to reduce its potential impacts.”

The third and most compelling case study in Oppenheimer’s talk is the Toba Event. Erupting approximately 73,000 years ago, Toba is a super volcano in Indonesia that is recognized as one the world’s largest ever. The eruption occurred around the time when our ancestors began migrating across the globe, and its impacts are hotly debated by climatologists and archaeologists, as well as volcano specialists. Oppenheimer outlines competing arguments for the consequences of this massive eruption, and reveals where the evidence concerning Toba’s true role in our destiny might be found.

Dr Oppenheimer also outlines the science behind the various eruptions and the reasons behind the environmental impact of his three case studies. Scientific data, coupled with historic anecdotal testimony paint a gripping picture of death and destruction. But as Dr Oppenheimer describes the disaster, he leaves us with a positive alternative that a volcanic event creates the opportunity for us to make the next cognitive leap as a society and a species.

“It’s not all doom and gloom” he says, “The very fact we are still here shows how resilient and creative the human species is in confronting disaster.”

Eruptions that shook the world is scheduled for 13 March at Mill Lane lecture Rooms, Mill Lane at 6pm.

Further information on the Science Festival is available at http://www.cam.ac.uk/sciencefestival/

Alan Moore will be appearing at the Cambridge Science Festival with Guest Director Robin Ince on Saturday 17th March. More details can be found here.