British Science Festival 2012
Date: 4 – 9 September
Venue: Aberdeen
The theme of this year’s festival is ‘Energising minds’.
Forgotten knowledge: The discovery and loss of a cure for scurvy, Saturday 8, 11:00
Nine out of ten members of a ship’s crew used to succumb to scurvy. The results of James Lind’s work on the HMS Salisbury in 1747, which led to a cure, without doubt saved innumerable lives. There was little scurvy in Nelson’s days; but the reason is not clear, since, according to modern research, lime-juice only helps to prevent it. So why did Lind’s results get forgotten?
Who do you think you are? The 500 million year-old edition, Sunday 9, 13:00
While studying insulin signalling in humans, we made an unexpected discovery that transported us back 500 million years, to a time when our ancestors were spineless creatures living on the ocean floor. Learn what happened so long ago, which still affects the life and diseases of modern humans.
Self-managing chronic pain, Friday 7, 16:30
Explore the process taken by a group of older people and academics in identifying grey literature (literature available to the general public). The older people will discuss their experiences of self-managing chronic pain.
All of our talks are taking place at the University of Aberdeen’s Fraser Noble, Lecture theatre 3.
For more information visit: www.britishscienceassociation.org/web/BritishScienceFestival/index.htm