The Best of the 'Fest

One of Europe’s biggest science festival came to town in the same week that some bloke called the Pope decided to pay a visit. From Monday the 13th to Sunday the 19th of September Aston University and Birmingham hosted a huge number of events covering a massive variety of science. From particle physics to sexing the brain, how we can know what babies think to bone densities in Neolithic man, dancing on custard to Catholic astronomers; the festival celebrated the richness of scientific endeavour.

The festival started with a (big) bang as 40 of the grooviest geeks in town flashmobbed Birmingham Cathedral and put on one hell of a show! Not bad for only a couple of hours of practice that morning.

A few teething troubles and technical difficulties aside, feedback for the X-change events and the festival as a whole appears to be very positive. Early reports suggest around 88,000 attendees over the week and were literally hundreds of stories in the press covering the news and controversies surrounding the festival. The British Science Association, The Guardian and the BBC had the most comprehensive coverage. The BBC also hosted X-change presenter Sue Nelson’s Daily Reporter’s Log. I particularly enjoyed her sneaking in a mention of my humanism!

By virtue of the fact that I was working on the X-change team, this blog had the privilege of hosting the daily X-change programme of events, which was frantically uploaded each afternoon of the festival. The idea was to have daily blogs, but quite frankly there was so much happening that there just weren’t enough hours in the day! The reports are being collated, however, and will be put together as a yearbook, much the same as it was last year.  A few photos from the festival and the X-change can be found here.


There was too much going on to cover the whole festival in any detail, but there are some personal highlights that are sure to live long in my memory. My participation in a Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation experiment with friend and colleague, Dr Craig McAllister, went down very well at Tuesday’s X-change. Craig placed a TMS coil over my motor cortex and, much to the delight and alarm of the audience, used very high-field magnetic pulses that made my arm twitch!

I was also batted away by an amiable and PR-savvy Catholic astronomer who was one of the star guests at Friday’s X-change.  My question: ‘how do you square 4 billion year old meteorites with God and the Bible?’ Brother Guy Consolmagno’s answer: ‘Creatonism is a Protestant invention, not a Catholic one’. Case closed then! I also really enjoyed Brother Guy’s t-shirt.

In an irony that we can all enjoy, someone else has suggested that we’re still not sure that God would have said it that way. You can see more of Brother Guy and what exactly being an astronomer for God involves in this interesting BBC documentary about the Vatican  Skip to around 22:30 to hear Brother Guy’s astonishing twisting of logic as he explains that ‘my religion tells me that God made the Universe, but my science tells me how it’s done’. He obviously hasn’t read Stephen Hawking’s latest book.

Although it ran until the Sunday, Saturday was the last day of my festival and, despite recovering from some over-enthusiastic consumption of Desperados with the BSA team the previous night, it ended it on an absolute high. Baba Brinkman is a Canadian rapper and straight-up genius. His Rap Guide to Evolution is one of the best rap albums and coolest methods of science communication that I have ever heard.  When I heard he was performing at the science festival I jumped at the chance to invite him to the X-change. A busy schedule meant that this wasn’t possible, but he put on a frenetic, funny and informative show, which included this performance and a very surprising inclusion of me in his freestyle! His latest offering is the Rap Guide to Human Nature, which is also definitely worth a few hundred listens.

I finished the week exhausted, but also with lots of new friends, a million and one ideas buzzing in my head, and an ever more enthusiastic passion for science and science communication. I really must thank the whole of the X-change team, Sue Nelson, and all the lovely people from the Science Association that made it such a pleasure to attend and work at the festival.

Of course as a humanist, I was disappointed that I couldn’t take part in the Protest the Pope campaign and lend my support to the National Secular Society, but, on the whole, I was happier that I had contributed to pro-science ideals, rather than the anti-religious ones that dominated the week.

X-change speakers for Friday 17 September

The X-change events, presented by BBC journalist, Sue Nelson, are like a highlights package at the end of each day of the festival, featuring the most controversial, interesting or downright hilarious people.

The events take place from 18:15-19.30 in the Blue Room of the Aston Student's Guild. You don't need to book in advance, just come along, grab a drink and enjoy the talks and discussion.There are more speakers to come, depending who manages to wow us during today’s talks, but here are the people we’ve already got lined up for tonight:

19:00 to 19:15 Brother Guy Consolmagno, one of the Pope’s 12 astronomers. 

Brother Consolmagno’s research explores the connection between meteorites and asteroids, along with the origin and evolution of small bodies in the solar system. Here he is talking about science and religion. This is a real coup for the X-change team and is definitely an event for your diaries!

Matt Parker: Maths Comedian

Fresh from his show at the Edinburgh festival, co-author of the Manual of Mathematical Magic, Matt joins us to demonstrate how magic can be used to to put the thrill back into mathematics.

Colin Wright: 75 years of radar

Radar was invented 75 years ago and has made a vital difference to winning the war and continues to keep us safe in the air (as well as catching us if we are speeding). Colin will describe the history, current use and future possibilities of radar. And maybe even get his balls out.

Professor Jonathan Silvertown: Biodiversity
Professor Silvertown will be talking about the OPAL Biodiversity Survey and its importance in helping people understand the importance of urban and rural hedgerows. For the X-change, he will be talking specifically an urban hedgerow in the heart of Birmingham and discovering what lives there.

Professor Michael Coleman: Building brain ‘tissue’ in the laboratory

With our aging population, in incidences of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Motor Neurone diseases are increasing and without new human experimental models of brain function, it’s unlikely we will be able to understand and treat these afflictions. Aston Alumni, Professor Coleman will talk about creating models of brain tissue and the possible implications of this research.

Professor John Gibbins: Preventing Cardiovascular Disease in the Obese World

Professor Gibbins is Director of the Institute for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research, an organisation that looks at treating heart disease from a variety of angles including prevention and repairing damage. He will outline some of measures that are being using to tackle a problem growing almost as fast as our waistlines.

PLUS! Tell us your favourite science-related joke and the one that raises the biggest laugh will win a shiny new science book, courtesy of the Aston Student Guild Shop.

X-change speakers for Thursday 16th September

The X-change events, presented by BBC journalist, Sue Nelson, are like a highlights package at the end of each day of the festival, featuring the most controversial, interesting or downright hilarious people.

The events take place from 18:15-19.30 in the Blue Room of the Aston Student's Guild. You don't need to book in advance, just come along, grab a drink and enjoy the talks and discussion.

We're happy to announce the fantastic line-up for speakers for tonight's X-change event:

 

Professor Gina Rippon: Neurononsense and Psychobabble

After having to dash off to other events yesterday, Dr Rippon has kindly offered to come back to the X-change to talk about how brain sciences are being used in research into sex differences – follow the road to neuro-nonsense, learn how to spot brain bloopers and scoff at neuro-trash.

Professor Jim Al Khalili
British Science Festival Trustee and X-change regular, Jim Al-Khalili is Professor of Theoretical Physics, academic, author and broadcaster of a number of TV shows including Science in Islam, Bang Goes the Theory and Chemistry: A Volatile History. Coming along to hear him discuss topics as diverse as medival science, Stephen Hawkins and funding cuts.

Pete Reddy: The beautiful game: How can we all play football into our 50s and 60s?

Football is the national game and is endlessly adaptable. With an ageing population and sedentary lifestyles, participation in sport has never been more important. Pete will discuss how football can be made accessible for the over 50s and contribute to healthier lifestyles.

Matt Prichard aka Johnny Façade: Something about nothing: Magic, comedy and science

Johnny Façade specialises in close-up magic, mentalism and stand-up comedy. His comedy show will attempt to fill in the empty gaps and explain almost everything there is to know about nothing.

Dr Peter Naish: Susceptibility to Hypnosis

Dr Naish is currently working on using the latest neuroimaging techniques to try to determine the regions of the brain involved in time judgment, and looking to see how they are impacted by hypnosis. He will be talking about the different factors involved in susceptibility to hypnosis.

Dr Sarah Beck: Imagination in infants and young children.

Dr Beck is interested in children’s imaginations and how they become able to speculate about events in the past and future and how they handle uncertainty. She will be explaining how imagination develops and the different techniques that are used to investigate this tricky area of child psychology.

Richard Allum: Galileo’s best friend

Come and meet Filipo as he tells the story of a stolen telescope, in full 16^th century costume.

The best way to keep up-to-date is to check out this blog, follow #BritSciFest, @tulpesh and @TheXchangeTeam on Twitter, and keep an eye out for posters and flyers during the week.

X-change speakers for Wednesday 15 September

The X-change events, presented by BBC journalist, Sue Nelson, are like a highlights package at the end of each day of the festival, featuring the most controversial, interesting or downright hilarious people.

The events take place from 18:15-20:00 in the Blue Room of the Aston Student's Guild.You don't need to book in advance, just come along, grab a drink and enjoy the talks and discussion.

We're happy to announce the fantastic line-up for speakers for tonight's X-change event:

Dr Anthony Hilton: Grime Scene Investigation

You might have seen Dr Hilton on the Grime Scene Investigation BBC 3 show. He will talk about the hidden world of organisms living all over our bodies in order to examine how they survive, what impact they have on us and what purpose, if any, they serve.

Dr Caroline Witton: Magnetoencephalography (MEG)

Dr Witton will talk about how MEG is being used at Aston to investigate how the brain works, and the exciting new scanner that is being built especially for research with children at the Aston Brain Centre.

Professor Gina Rippon: Neurononsense and Psychobabble

Fresh from speaking on Radio 4, Dr Rippon will talk about how brain sciences are being used in research into sex differences – follow the road to neuro-nonsense, learn how to spot brain bloopers and scoff at neuro-trash.

Dr Tara Shears: News from the Big Bang Machine

Dr Shears with talk about the headline-capturing Large Hadron Collider and whether this mind-boggling machine will help us uncover the secrets of dark matter or the elusive Higgs Boson – the so-called ‘God particle’.

Dr Jessica Grahm: Charles Darwin Lecture Award: Hit Me with Your Rhythm Schtick

Dr Grahm will be exploring the cultural influences on everyday musical abilities, touching on interesting theories about why we developed a musical culture at all. Come along to take part in a live audience-participation demo of the difference between Balkan and Western music!

Robin Lovell Badge: The Yuck Factor: Just how 'human' should laboratory animals become?

Stem Cell scientist Robin Lovell Badge will be discussing today's Ipsos MORI report on animals containing human materals (ACHMs) and the ethical implications of this for future research.

Lorelly Wilson: Chemistry of Cabbage

Lorelly will talk about experiments you can do at home using common household products, and maybe even give some live demonstrations. Highlights of the full talk includes a great lava lamp, toothpaste for your elephant, novel uses for constipation remedies and why your mum tells you to eat your greens.

X-change speakers for Tuesday 14 September

The X-change events, presented by BBC journalist, Sue Nelson, are like a highlights package at the end of each day of the festival, featuring the most controversial, interesting or downright hilarious people. The events take place from 18:15-20:00 in the Blue Room of the Aston Student's Guild, with around 5 or 6 speakers. You don't need to book in advance, just come along, grab a drink and enjoy the talks and discussion.

The team have been running around all day attending as many talks as possible and we're happy to announce a fantastic line-up for speakers for tonight's X-change event:

Professor Mike Hulme: Why we disagree about climate change 

Professor Hulme will be talking about a few themes from his book Why We Disagree About Climate Change, including how knowledge of climate change is constructed and the interactions between climate change, knowledge and policy.

Dr Elizabeth Moores and Emma Birkett: Discovering Dyslexia

Dr Moores and Emma Birkett will talk about task development in cognitive psychology using examples of spot the difference tasks and recognising impossible objects. Members of the audience will also be able to volunteer to take part in an interactive example of timing problems in dyslexia.

Dr Craig McAllister: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation 

Dr McAllister give a live demonstration on how powerful magnets can be used to manipulate brain activity and behaviour and help us investigate how the brain works.

Dr Nick Lee: Neuromarketing  

Dr Lee will provide a whistle-stop tour of recent findings in the brain sciences, and their link to consumer decisions, exploding myths about both advertising and the brain along the way.

Dr Giovanna Tinetti: Planets Outside the Solar System

Dr Tinetti will be talking about how molecules like water, methane and carbon dioxide can be detected on plants outside our solar system, and how we can use this information to find other planets in the habitable zone of stars colder than the Sun.

Dr Kate Bellingham: Colliding Futures

Dr Bellingham, star of Museum of Life, The Big Bang and Tomorrow's World, will be be giving a unique insight into unique career paths in science and how young people are needed to take up the challanges of the future.

FLASH ahah!

We need you to help us organise a ‘flash mob’ to promote the start of the British Science Festival in Birmingham. It will provide photo opportunity for the papers, good footage for online media and a word of mouth talking point for anyone that comes into contact with the mob.

Ideally we want 100 people to descend on Birmingham Cathedral on Monday the 13th September at12.30pm to dress as Albert Einstein (Mask and Lab coat provided) and dance to Spaceman by Babylon Zoo, Girls Aloud’s Biology and other science-related choruses!

The whole event will take no more than 5 minutes to perform with a 3-hour rehearsal in the morning at Aston University in room G63 

The dance routine is available to practice on Youtube:

Britscifest flashmob 1
Britscifest flashmob 3

If you are a friend of a Festival assistant or volunteer, you will receive a £20 cash incentive upon completion of event and return of lab coat, mask and Festival t-shirt.

Pease contact Kate Sinclair from British Science Festival on DL: 02070194947 mobile: 07549708417 email kate.sinclair@britishscienceassociation.org to take part.

Provisional list of speakers for X-change events

It’s less than a week to the British Science Festival, and things are really shaping up! 

The X-change events, presented by BBC journalist, Sue Nelson, are like a highlights package at the end of each day of the festival, featuring the most controversial, interesting or downright hilarious people. The events take place from 18:15-20:00 in the Blue Room of the Aston Student's Guild, with around 5 or 6 speakers. You don't need to book in advance, just come along!

The British Science Association and X-change Team have been hard at work putting together a list of great speakers for 2010. You can watch some of the best bits from the 2009 festival here. To whet your appetite, here’s a list of some of the people we’ve get so far and the latest details of their talks. If you would like to attend the proper event for each speaker, there are also links to the ticket booking page. 

18:15 – 20:00 Tuesday 14 September 


Professor Mike Hulme: Why we disagree about climate change 

Professor Hulme will be talking about a few themes from his book Why We Disagree About Climate Change, including how knowledge of climate change is constructed and the interactions between climate change, knowledge and policy.

Dr Elizabeth Moores and Emma Birkett: Discovering Dyslexia

Dr Moores and Emma Birkett will talk about task development in cognitive psychology using examples of spot the difference tasks and recognising impossible objects. Members of the audience will also be able to volunteer to take part in an interactive example of timing problems in dyslexia.

Dr Tim Grant: Forensic Linguistics

Dr Grant will talk about how Aston's Centre for Forensic Linguistics has helped the police investigate crimes including murder and terrorism.

Dr Craig McAllister: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation 

Dr McAllister give a live demonstration on how powerful magnets can be used to manipulate brain activity and behaviour and help us investigate how the brain works.

18:15 – 20:00 Wednesday 15 September 

Dr Anthony Hilton: Grime Scene Investigation

You might have seen Dr Hilton on the Grime Scene Investigation BBC 3 show. He will talk about the hidden world of organisms living all over our bodies in order to examine how they survive, what impact they have on us and what purpose, if any, they serve.

18:15 – 20:00 Thursday 16 September

Dr Caroline Witton: Magnetoencephalography (MEG)

Dr Witton will talk about how MEG is being used at Aston to investigate how the brain works, and the exciting new scanner that is being built especially for research with children at the Aston Brain Centre.

18:15 – 20:00 Friday 17 September


19:00 to 19:15 Brother Guy Consolmagno, one of the Pope’s 12 astronomers. 

Brother Consolmagno’s research explores the connection between meteorites and asteroids, along with the origin and evolution of small bodies in the solar system. Here he is talking about science and religion. This is a real coup for the X-change team and is definitely an event for your diaries!

Professor Frank Close and Stephen Brown: Lasers 

Lasers are used in many different areas form medicine to communication and there are a number of laser-  related events during the festival. Professor Close and Stephen Brown will talk the relevance of lasers in topics as diverse as fusion energy, quantum computing and disease diagnosis.

Matt Prichard aka Johnny Façade: Something about nothing: Magic, comedy and science

Johnny Façade specialises in close-up magic, mentalism and stand-up comedy. His comedy show will attempt to fill in the empty gaps and explain almost everything there is to know about nothing.

Here are some more speakers (in no particular order) that have kindly volunteered their time for the event, but we’re still working on confirming the dates.

Lucy Moorcraft Solar Sparks: The future of solar technology.

This will be an exclusive talk for the Xchange event as it’s not actually part of the Science Festival program.

Professor Gina Rippon: Neurononsense and Psychobabble

Dr Rippon will talk about how brain sciences are being used in research into sex differences – follow the road to neuro-nonsense, learn how to spot brain bloopers and scoff at neuro-trash.

Lorelly Wilson: Chemistry of Cabbage

Lorelly will talk about experiments you can do at home using common household products, and maybe even give some live demonstrations. Highlights of the full talk includes a great lava lamp, toothpaste for your elephant, novel uses for constipation remedies and why your mum tells you to eat your greens.

Chemistry of Cocktails with the Jekyll & Hyde

The manager of The Jekyll & Hyde (which apparently does 50 different types of gin!) will be talking about the art of pousse-café – spirit and liqueur layering that requires knowledge of gravity and liquid density.

Professor Nadrian C. Seeman – Kavli Prize winner

The Kavli Prize is presented every two years to scientists in the fields of Astrophysics, Nanoscience and Neuroscience. The 2010 prize winner in Nanoscience Professor Nadrian C. Seeman will talk about his work in the field of DNA nanotechnology.

Dr Nick Lee: Neuromarketing  

Dr Lee will provide a whistle-stop tour of recent findings in the brain sciences, and their link to consumer decisions, exploding myths about both advertising and the brain along the way.

Professor Kevin Kendall: Fuel cells in Birmingham

Professor Kendall will talk about fuel cell science and technology, especially for domestic houses.

Please note, that the times and dates are subject to change. The best way to keep up-to-date is to check out this blog, follow #BritSciFest, @tulpesh and @TheXchangeTeam on Twitter, and keep an eye out for posters and flyers during the week.

Why I love Sense About Science by Tulpesh Patel

Sense About Science is a charity organisation started as a reaction to the way  the media was being swamped by bad science stories. It was set up to actively work towards improving the public perception and understanding of science and campaign against bad science coverage. Rather than give a rambling introduction to all the stuff they do and how amazing they are, you can read for yourself here, and watch Alice Tuff,  Voice of Young Science Coordinator, talking to the British Pharmacological Society here.

I first came across Sense About Science a couple of years back when I got an email about one of their Voice of Young Science workshops, which are aimed at early career researchers who are interested in getting involved with science communication. Whilst I haven’t been directly involved with the organisation, I’ve followed their work closely and can honestly say that the workshop I attended really impacted how I consider science in the media and how I could become actively involved to improve media coverage of science. In fact, it was one of the motivations behind my starting the Aston Humanist Society.

Although it was a while ago, I remember the panel discussion at the workshop really well because the speakers were so engaging. Dr Dominic Williams from the University of Liverpool demonstrated his personal experience of how a peer-reviewed, published piece of research into the toxicity of food additives to murine neuroblastoma cells in culture snowballed into ‘Combination of additives, food colourings toxic to brain cells’ in the online paper the Crime Times, a publication which aims to ‘link brain dysfunction to disordered/criminal/psychopathic behaviour’. Professor Raymond Tallis (one of my humanist heroes) had a very positive message: don’t be afraid of ‘putting yourself out there’, promote the work you do and speak up for what you believe (this was the kick up the backside I needed to finally get moving with starting the Aston Humanist Society). Dr Trevor Cox from the University of Salford explained the other side of the science-media relationship: how scientists can take advantage of television, radio and newspapers to engage with the public and make science accessible, interesting and fun. Incidentally, Dr Cox will also be at the British Science Festival as part of the judging panel for the Radio 4 competition amateur scientist competition, So You Want To  Be A Scientist?, which will be well worth checking out.

I have wanted to write about just how important Sense About Science is, especially in the current climate, where unreason seems to be increasing exponentially and in surprise correlation with the number of people actively getting involved to combat it. Sense About Science have a whole series of articles on their website  covering the MMR vaccines, food additives and climate change, which collate the views of experts and those working in the area to help explain the science and combat the misconceptions propagated in the media. The malaria campaign  got a lot of coverage as it formed part of the huge (and ongoing) Ten23 campaign to raise awareness about the absurdity, and danger, of homeopathic remedies.

Their latest campaign is ‘You too could have a Diploma in Old Wives’ Traditional Medicine’ (#oldwivesmed), which highlights the Department of Health’s  ludicrous scheme to register and regulate practitioners of traditional medicines. If you’re in and around Whitehall on Wednesday 8 September at 11:30, give them your support at the flashmob! As well as the event at Whitehall on Wendesday, Sense About Science are holding a Standing up for Science event as part at the British Science Festival. I urge everyone to attend, especially if you are involved in science research; if it’s anything like their workshops it will be fascinating and very inspiring.

For scientists, especially young career scientists like myself who are interested in wider science communication, the goal is to perform sound research, report findings and share opinions with due care, accuracy and diligence; when trying to get the work further than publication in a specialist journal, it is up to us to do our level best to maximize the understanding of the science and minimize the opportunity for the research and ideas to be misconstrued. This is where Sense About Science’s excellent Voice of Young Science guides come into their own. These clear and concise handbooks are full of full of practical tips on how young scientists can confidently engage with the media to their advantage, and also challenge bad science reporting.

Standing up for Science and Standing up for Science II– nuts and bolts contains great hints and tips on things like contacting the media, companies or MPs, or putting together blogs and podcasts, and the best bit is that they’re all written by other researchers and science communicators. There Goes the Science Bit… is a series of reports on what happens when I bunch of young scientists took on companies who made ludicrous health claims about their products.  The results are by turns both a scary and (not necessarily intentionally) funny account of the state scientific understanding of some companies (or at least their marketing departments). It’s an excellent example of what people with a little science knowledge and the ability to ask the right questions can achieve. My favourite might just be the Making Sense of Statistics guide, which should be made required reading for all undergraduates. I might even go as far as to say a copy should be posted (or emailed – better for the environment of course) to every household.

I’m only just getting round to embracing blogs, Twitter and Facebook, which offer limitless opportunity to voice your opinion and join the debate. Part of the reason it’s taken me so long is that I haven’t always been confident about sharing my ideas and opinions for fear of being shot down or coming across as an ill-informed moron. I unhappily admit that I used to find it far too easy not to bother reading yet another crazy science story, or give a sad shake of the head when I saw something in the media that was blatantly ridiculous, put the newspaper down or click to Football365 and do nothing more.

The more media-savvy young scientists become, the broader the range of voices that are available to speak up. I am slowly learning to be to be more assertive with my love for science and the defense of the good science that is being done. Reading blogs written by peers and others that I admire, and being armed with guides like the ones produced by Voice of Young Science, has made me more confident about following up stories that rub my brain the wrong way and sharing my opinions on them. We definitely need more Sense About Science, and they deserve all the support they can get.

You can donate to Sense About Science here and @voiceofyoungsci on Twitter. 

The British Science Festival's coming to Birmingham! by Tulpesh Patel

The British Science Festival, organised by the British Science Association travels to cities across the UK showcasing the latest developments in science, technology and engineering, and from Monday 13 to to Sunday 18 September it’s coming to Birmingham, and even more excitingly, Aston University! 

Here's a montage (painstakingly put together using my awesome Paint skills!) of the posters for just a small selection of the amazing events taking place over the week.

The festival's Online Programme Page  lets you search for specific events or topics, browse day by day and has all the information on prices and booking tickets. The alternative Aston booking page lets you search events that are specifically held on the university campus. Videos giving a taste of some of the talks can be viewed here. 

Most of the events are free, the paid events are £3 or £5 (and probably the most popular, so it’s a good idea to book in advance), which isn’t bad for some of the amazing things you’re getting to see and take part in! For the super-keen science geek with a bulging wallet, a weekly pass for £120 (£60 for students or the unemployed) will get you into everything.

I was lucky enough to be picked for the X-change team for the festival, and one of my jobs is to pick the best speakers and help organise discussions at the end of each day. On the first go through the program, I picked only the events that got me really excited ended up with a diary that looked like this:

Realising that unless I find some way to clone myself I won’t be able to be in three places at once, I’ve tried whittling it down, but it’s proving nearly impossible. To that end though, here’s a list of just some of the events that I think would be most worth checking out if you’re pushed for time 

They are of a brain/evolution theme, as that’s what I’m most interested in, but there are practical workshops, magic and hip-hop thrown in there too!

Monday 13 September

Nature of Birmingham: Trail around the City Centre

Tuesday 14 September

All creatures great and small: How where you live influences your biology and behaviour 

Where can studying science lead?

The future of the brain, the brain of the future

Wednesday 15 September

The psychology science observatory

African archaeology and human evolution: Growth of a brain

Brain wave imaging: new views of the human brain 

This event is particularly close to my heart and one that I’m very excited about as it’s hosted by the department and research group I work in and showcases some of the exciting Neuroscience research that Aston is involved in. If you're so inclined, you can read about some the work I do using Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy here (excuse the shameless plug!).

X-change

Open mic: there’s science in my fiction (and poetry)

Thursday 16 September

Standing Up For Science

Standing Up For Science are an excellent charitable organisation that  promote evidence and scientific reasoning in public discussion and do a great job tackling misrepresentation of science and scientific evidence in the public sphere.  The excellent Voice of Young Science does some sterling work helping early career researchers get to grips with dealing with the media and giving them advice on how to stand up for science themselves. You can support the charity by donating here. 

Do we need more scientists?

Something about nothing: Magic, comedy and science

Friday 17 September

Making science news

How risky is it, and how ignorant are we?

Human guinea pigs – dispelling the myths of human research

Bad medicine

Powers of ten – a musical journey from quark to cosmos

X-change

Saturday 18 September

Blood, guts and gore: The journey through life

Skeptics roadshow

I’m a huge fan of the Skeptics in the Pub (SITP)  movement and am a part of the Birmingham SITP  and occasionally write for their great blog. Those who’ve read the few post so far on here will recognise the Princess and Starting the Aston Humanist Society articles, but there’s a bit I wrote on Science in the media  after a talk from David Gregory (BBC Midlands science and environment correspondent), who is incidentally part of the Making Science News event  with one of my heroes, Ben Goldacre.

The Skeptics Roadshow will feature bunch of short talks and discussions on topics as diverse as homeopathy, ESP, UFOs, and libel law.  If they’re anything like the monthly meetings they’re guaranteed to be informative and cracking fun!

Baba Brinkman 

This deserves a particular plug because I absolutely love this guy’s work and he deserves to be huge. You can listen and download The Rap Guide to Evolution here (it’s free, although you should, of course, make a voluntary donation to prove you’re not a Creationist!). Darwin’s Acid has to be one of the best hip-hop songs ever, nevermind best Darwinsim-related hip-hip songs.

The heresy of nature

Sunday 19 September

Emergence

It’s a geek’s world

In the beginning ... A history of the Universe from pure energy to the human brain

It promises to be a spectacular week celebrating the best of the fascinating research being done in and around Birmingham, and it’s guaranteed to have something for everyone.

Keep an eye out on the British Science Festival and Aston University websites for all the latest news. There will also be regular blogposts during the festival and you can follow all the goings-on on Twitter: @BritishSciFest, @TheXchangeTeam  and #BritSciFest as well as me (@Tulpesh) and @astonhumanists!