Cambridge Science Festival 2016 programme

Mon 7 Mar – Sun 20 Mar 2016

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To pre-book, visit: www.sciencefestival.cam.ac.uk or call: 01223 766766 There is no need to pre-book events unless specifically stated in the programme Bookings open: Mon 8 Feb 2016 Lines open: 10.30AM – 4PM Mon – Fri

The University of Cambridge and all our sponsors and partners are proud to present the Cambridge Science Festival.

Useful Information Please contact us if you would like all or part of this publication in large font or Braille. An audio programme is available for download at the Festival website. ≥

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Children under the age of 16 must be accompanied by adults at all times.

You may be refused entry if you arrive after an event has started even if you have booked.

Limited tickets available on the day for all pre-book events.

Your attendance at the Festival signifies your agreement to comply with the Guidance for Attending Cambridge Science Festival: www.sciencefestival.cam.ac.uk/attending

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Welcome to the 2016 Cambridge Science Festival

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Explore this year’s theme of data and knowledge cambridgesciencefestival camscience | #csf2016

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Tell us what you think

www.sciencefestival. cam.ac.uk/feedback

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Contents

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With events from astronomy to zoology, the 2016 Cambridge Science Festival welcomes everyone to explore and discuss science through talks, hands-on activities, performances, exhibitions, tours and films. This year, we focus on how we manage the vast amounts of data we collect and generate to increase our understanding of the world.

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Exhibitions 06 – 09

Talks 10 – 34 Films 36 – 37

Performance 38 – 40 Hands on 42 – 66 Features 12 / 16 / 26 / 35 / 41 / 46 / 67 / 68 All Events 70 – 77 Map & Accessibility 78 – 79

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Exhibitions Feature Image Engraving from Edward Whymper's The ascent of the Matterhorn (London, 1880) Christ’s College, Cambridge

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Immersive installations, exhibitions and events that celebrate centuries of science

Beyond Images exhibition Devoid of traditional photography, this exhibition showcases the pictorial beauty within cutting-edge conservation technologies. Visions from 3D LiDAR-scanning, GIS, electron-microscopy, aerial drones and GPS tracking are curated by the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute and Artist in Residence photographer Toby Smith.

Regular centre opening hours ≥ MON 7 Mar to Sat 19 Mar

The Michaelhouse Centre, Trinity Street, CB2 1SU

The orchid hunters The job of a Victorian orchid hunter was to scour the world’s jungles, forests and mountain tops in the hunt for one of the most highly prized plant specimens of the time: orchids. Visit the Botanic Garden’s glasshouses to see these amazing plants and find out about the orchid hunters, their daring expeditions and the effect of orchid collection on wild populations.

Regular GARDEN opening hours ≥ MON 7 Mar to Sun 13 Mar

Botanic Garden, 1 Brookside, CB2 1JE

Behind the scenes and beyond the images An informal opportunity to meet the scientists and conservationists employing the technologies in the Beyond Images exhibition and learn more about the global importance of their work. Hosted by the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute and Toby Smith, Artist in Residence.

6pm – 9pm Pre-book ≥ MON 7 Mar

The Michaelhouse Centre, Trinity Street, CB2 1SU Parasite Visit the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute after hours to discover artist Deborah Robinson’s immersive video and sound installation, Parasite, which explores the tropical disease malaria and scientists’ attempts to combat the parasite that causes it.

7pm – 9pm Pre-book ≥ MON 7 Mar + Tue 8 Mar + MON 14 Mar + Wed 16 Mar

Cultural Zone, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, CB10 1SA

Standard garden entry charge applies

To pre-book, visit: www.sciencefestival.cam.ac.uk or call: 01223 766766 There is no need to Pre-book events unless specifically stated

08 Crawling with life: flower drawings from the Henry Rogers Broughton bequest Enjoy highlights from the Fitzwilliam Museum’s botanical paintings and drawings. From superb watercolours by the intrepid 17th-century German naturalist and illustrator, Maria Sibylla Merian, to botanical studies of carnivorous plants and those designed to attract insects through mimicry or putrid smells.

Regular museum opening hours ≥ Tue 8 Mar to Sun 20 Mar

Fitzwilliam Museum, Trumpington Street, CB2 1RB Death on the Nile: uncovering the afterlife in Ancient Egypt The first major exhibition for the Fitzwilliam Museum’s 2016 bicentenary celebrations explores the beliefs and working practices behind Egyptian coffins and reveals fascinating new information on how they were made, including a live conservation area.

Hide & Seek: Looking for Children in the Past How do we find children in the past?

What can we learn by taking a child’s perspective? Find out in Hide & Seek: Looking for Children in the Past, a joint project between the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology and Cambridgeshire County Council.

Regular museum opening hours ≥ Tue 8 Mar to Sun 20 Mar

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Downing Street, CB2 3DZ

“Amazing access to modern developments not covered at school” 2015 Festival attendee

Regular museum opening hours ≥ Tue 8 Mar to Sun 20 Mar

Fitzwilliam Museum, Trumpington Street, CB2 1RB

Exhibitions

ISOLATION ISOLATION, curated by Pete Jackson for Changing Spaces, explores the relationship between the lived experience of illness, and our social and scientific responses to the ill person. It focuses in particular on the isolation frequently experienced by the ill.

11am – 5pm ≥ Tue 8 Mar to Sun 20 Mar

Changing Spaces, 9 Norfolk Street, CB1 2LD

All events are free unless otherwise stated

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Exhibitions Conflicted Seeds + Spirit International artists Ackroyd & Harvey present the premiere of a new transdisciplinary artwork as part of a series of commissioned works awarded by the University of Cambridge. The exhibition explores ideas relating to conservation, biodiversity and human ecologies, and draws inspiration from the Museum of Zoology’s collection and research from the Cambridge Conservation Initiative.

Adventure and survival: St John’s and the heroic age of exploration Find out about the members of St John’s College who endured perilous journeys to the ends of the earth in their quest for the data and knowledge that continues to be vital to modern investigations into our changing environment. The exhibition is displayed in the historic setting of the College’s 17th-century library.

10am – 5pm ≥ Wed 9 Mar to Sun 17 Apr CLOSED ≥ MON & Tue

David Attenborough Building, New Museums Site, CB2 3QZ

10am – 4pm ≥ Sat 12 Mar

Old Library, St John’s College, St John’s Street, CB2 1TP

Under the Skin Under the Skin is a solo exhibition by Catherine Baker: the culmination of a residency at the cutting-edge Clinical Research Imaging Centre Bristol. The exhibition explores what it means to be able to use modern technologies to look under the skin and the implications of doing so.

10am – 4.30pm ≥ Thu 10 Mar to Fri 8 Apr CLOSED ≥ Sun

Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, CB1 1PT Off the beaten track: documenting discovery in the long 19th century Wander off the beaten track to explore 150 years of geographic, historic and scientific discovery from the turn of the 19th century to the time of the Second World War. This exhibition showcases treasures recently unearthed at Christ’s College Library.

10am – 4pm ≥ Sat 12 Mar

Old Library, Christ’s College, St Andrew’s Street, CB2 3BU

Shifting sands A large-scale projection and sound-scape installation by photographer Toby Smith, Artist in Residence at the University of Cambridge Conservation Institute.

Smith has been visually exploring the erosion of the East Coast of England in collaboration with the Cambridge Coastal Research Unit.

11am – 4pm ≥ Sat 12 Mar

Department of Geography, Downing Place, CB2 3EN

Back to the future: computing history An engaging display of vintage machines, magazines and manuals from the dawn of personal computing. See how cutting-edge technology of the 1970s and 1980s compares with the laptops and tablets of today. The exhibition is presented by Cambridge University Library in association with the Centre for Computing History.

3pm – 6.30pm ≥ MON 14 Mar

Catalogue Hall,

Cambridge University Library, West Road, CB3 9DR

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Talks Week 1

Feature Image Tiny nervous system Trevor Wardill and Paloma Gonzales-Bellido

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For adults, teenagers and families: Festival talks that discuss the big questions in science today

Pre-Festival Science Festival Choral Evensong A traditional choral service of Evensong from The Book of Common Prayer (1662) to celebrate the Science Festival.

5.30pm – 6.30pm ≥ Sun 6 Mar

University Church, Great St Mary’s, Senate House Hill, CB2 3PQ Retiring collection

Mon 7 Mar CHOCOLATOLOGY! The spectacular science of chocolate.

The BBC’s Gastronaut Stefan Gates and UCL’s Professor Andrea Sella present the most delicious show on earth, full of meltingly edible multidisciplinary science. There’ll be sensory perception, crystallisation and rheology aplenty, and quite possibly an Eiffel Tower made from chocolate.

5pm – 6pm Pre-book ≥ Mon 7 Mar

Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick Avenue, CB3 9DA Great for families

To pre-book, visit: www.sciencefestival.cam.ac.uk or call: 01223 766766 There is no need to Pre-book events unless specifically stated

Happier and healthier with smartphone data Smartphones are increasingly powerful sensor-rich personal devices.

Could they also help us to become happier and healthier? Dr Neal Lathia discusses how we use smartphone sensors to track how people behave, and design systems that use these to help us all become healthier.

6pm – 7pm Pre-book ≥ Mon 7 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW A distraction or an essential discussion: confronting extreme environmental risks Climate change, biodiversity loss and threats to food security may have catastrophic effects.

Assessments must include plausible but extreme risks, even if they seem remote. But do these scenarios invite sensationalism or fear fatigue?

A panel explores perspectives on risk in the face of uncertainty.

7.30pm – 8.30pm Pre-book ≥ Mon 7 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW

Curiosity, chloroform and cobra poison: what Darwin did next When Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, he was only 50 and most of his publications lay ahead. The rest of his life was one long research programme exploring his evolutionary ideas – that all living things are related. Dr Alison Pearn delves into Darwin’s notebooks and private letters, which is where the fun really happens.

Presented with Cambridge University Press

Will artificial intelligence be superior to the human brain?

Artificial intelligence could be of great benefit to society, producing innovative discoveries and providing humans with more leisure time. Dr Hermann Hauser, Dr Mateja Jamnik, Professor Trevor Robbins and Professor Alan Winfield discuss the implications of supercomputers and machine learning to promote artificial intelligence.

Moderated by Tom Feilden, Today Programme, BBC Radio 4.

6pm – 7pm Pre-book ≥ Mon 7 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW

7.30pm – 9pm Pre-book ≥ Mon 7 MaR

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW

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See Clare’s Event: Our digital future: which data should we keep and how will we access it?

7pm – 8pm Mon 14 Mar Page 24

Dr Clare Dyer-Smith Cambridge Big Data Strategic Research Initiative University of Cambridge Data has always been fundamental to science. Scientists collect data from observations, experiments and measurements, and use that data to derive knowledge and theories about the world around us. So why is data, particularly ‘big data’, such a hot topic at this year’s Festival?

Data has never been easier, or cheaper, to collect and store. The power of computers to analyse and understand large, complex and messy data sources is also increasing daily. This raises the possibility of not only mining new data sources (including text, images or video), but of drawing new insight from linking or combining datasets. Such big data analysis can help us to identify the genetic markers for disease, understand the way in which people move around cities, or use sophisticated imaging technologies to map the sky.

Although data has always been a part of science, researchers are increasingly interested in the science of data itself: how do we manage and analyse it? How do we preserve it for future generations? How can we link and share data to increase our knowledge, while keeping it secure?

Increasingly, this requires the development of new algorithms, sets of instructions or ‘recipes’ that computers can understand, to make sense of the data, as well as computer technologies that can translate these recipes into the finished product: scientific knowledge. At this year’s Science Festival, you will have the opportunity to see how data, and data science, are helping to fundamentally transform our understanding of the world we live in. www.bigdata.cam.ac.uk

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TALKS

Tue 8 Mar Solar energy: past, present and future Solar photovoltaics have spread widely as costs have plummeted.

They make up less than 1% of the electricity market today but could be the world’s cheapest energy source by 2030. Dr Paul Coxon explores this solar revolution, how solar cells work and how scientists are harnessing natural materials to make them more efficient.

6pm – 7pm Pre-book ≥ Tue 8 MaR

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW Organ transplantation: medical, ethical and legal dilemmas A multidisciplinary panel of experts consider the complex medical, ethical and legal challenges and dilemmas that have to be met in order to make life-saving transplantation available to more patients.

6pm – 7.30pm Pre-book ≥ Tue 8 MaR

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW Discovery through data: understanding the polar regions Join scientists from the British Antarctic Survey for short talks on the importance of data in polar research.

With topics ranging from improving weather forecasts to tracking penguin populations through satellite data.

7pm – 9pm Pre-book ≥ Tue 8 Mar

Wolfson Lecture Theatre,

Department of Chemistry, Lensfield Road, CB2 1EW

SciBar Cambridge Join the British Science Association Cambridgeshire Branch for relaxed and informal science talks in the pub – a great opportunity to discover some new science while enjoying a pint.

7pm – 9pm ≥ Tue 8 Mar

Salisbury Arms, Tenison Road, CB1 2DW Clever solutions find inconvenient truths: a history of the ARM Architecture, and the lessons learned while building it Richard Grisenthwaite, Lead Architect and Fellow at ARM, discusses how the ARM architecture and the computing ecosystem it enables has changed in the 25-year history of ARM Ltd. Aimed at a technical audience, this talk looks at how the computer architecture has been influenced, sometimes in unexpected ways, by the changing environment, and the fashions, of the computing industry.

Presented with ARM Ltd 7.30pm – 8.30pm Pre-book ≥ Tue 8 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW

Wed 9 Mar Examining the Mourning Women coffin: understanding the science Jennifer Marchant, Conservator of Antiquities at the Fitzwilliam Museum, shares the scientific processes that went into examining the Mourning Women coffin, a highlight of the current Death on the Nile exhibition.

1.15pm – 2pm ≥ Wed 9 Mar Fitzwilliam Museum, Trumpington Street, CB2 1RB

Admission by token available at the Courtyard Entrance from 12.45pm #ILookLikeAScientist Following the worldwide social media campaign in 2015 highlighting gender issues in technology, #ILookLikeAnEngineer, join us to celebrate diversity with inspirational women from across the STEMM disciplines in Cambridge.

4pm – 5.30pm Pre-book ≥ Wed 9 Mar

Department of Zoology, Downing Street, CB2 3EJ

FameLab Cambridge final FameLab returns to Cambridge. Join our finalists as they talk about their research in just three minutes, with no presentations and limited props.

Expect short snippets of fascinating science with perhaps a few puns thrown in.

Presented with TTP Group

The rise of the humans: at the intersection of society and technology Technological developments have fundamentally changed the way we live, play and work, and many of us have seen huge benefits as a result. But are we letting machines take over our lives?

A discussion including Dave Coplin, of Microsoft UK, on how we should move our focus from the technology itself to the outcome it enables.

Presented with Microsoft Research

7.30pm – 10pm Pre-book ≥ Tue 8 Mar

Cambridge Junction, Clifton Way, CB1 7GX

4.30pm – 5.30pm Pre-book ≥ Wed 9 Mar

Microsoft Research Cambridge, Station Road, CB1 2FB

14 Designing the future: digital twins The year is 2020, the age of the digital twin. Supersonic cars, space ships and even the robot systems that produce them have been cloned in a virtual world. Explore how digital twins help us to create, improve, manufacture and simulate their real-world counterparts.

Presented with Siemens Industry Software Limited 5pm – 6pm ≥ Wed 9 Mar

Judge Business School,

Trumpington Street, CB2 1AG Ideal for teenagers The private life of museums Grab a mocktail and chat with conservators about what we do behind the scenes at the University of Cambridge Museums. You’ll have a chance to see some of our amazing projects up close and get a private view of the Polar Museum, too.

6pm – 7.30pm Pre-book ≥ Wed 9 Mar

The Polar Museum, Lensfield Road, CB2 1ER For teenagers aged 15–18 Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult

Pregnancy as a compromise: the coexistence of the mother and her baby Survival of mother and baby during pregnancy depends on keeping birth weight between two extremes so that the baby is adequately nourished but does not become too large for delivery through the pelvis. Professor Ashley Moffett describes how immune system genes orchestrate this compromise, and how the study of these genes is leading to a new understanding of the causes of maternal mortality.

6.30pm – 7.30pm Pre-book ≥ Wed 9 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW Look what chemistry has done for me Talks and networking organised by the Royal Society of Chemistry offering an excellent opportunity to learn more from real chemists about possible career options in chemistry.

6.30pm – 8.30pm Pre-book ≥ Wed 9 Mar

UTC Cambridge, Robinson Way, CB2 0SZ For teenagers aged 15+ Biomimetic materials: rethinking how we build stuff Looking at the city skyline, it’s easy to identify the two materials best loved by civil engineers: steel and concrete, energy intensive and heavy. In comparison, natural building blocks are light with a low energy input.

Dr Michelle Oyen explores natural building blocks and asks can we rethink how we build our future cities?

Talks

8pm – 9pm Pre-book ≥ Wed 9 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW

There is no need to pre-book events unless specifically stated To pre-book visit: www.sciencefestival.cam.ac.uk or call: 01223 766766

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TALKS Eating less meat for planetary and population health: government policy or your choice?

Shifts in global tastes coupled with population growth are predicted to double meat production by 2050.

These changes will influence people’s health and affect the environment.

A panel explores the role that policy could and should play in changing what people eat.

8pm – 9pm Pre-book ≥ Wed 9 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW

Thu 10 Mar Hide & Seek: Looking for Children in the Past Special lunchtime talk in Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology’s new exhibition. See page 08.

1pm – 1.45pm ≥ Thu 10 Mar

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Downing Street, CB2 3DZ

This true book of ours, man himself: anatomising from the Greeks to the French Revolution Dr Andrew Cunningham explores the fascinating history of anatomising human and animal bodies in three illustrated talks featuring anatomy in the theatre, in the laboratory and in the graveyard.

1pm – 2pm Pre-book ≥ Thu 10 Mar + Tue 15 Mar + Thu 17 Mar

Whipple Museum of the History of Science, Free School Lane, CB2 3RH

Turing’s imitation game Turing’s Imitation Game involves trying to tell the difference, in conversation, between a human and a machine.

Professor Kevin Warwick challenges you to try the test for yourself and discover the latest in machine performance. Attendance warning: machines that think are preferred to humans with closed minds.

Presented with Cambridge University Press 6pm – 7pm Pre-book ≥ Thu 10 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW Twists and turns: how proteins fold, and how I came to my research career Jane Clarke, Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Senior Wellcome Trust Research Fellow in the Department of Chemistry explores the impact of misfolding proteins on diseases such as Alzheimer’s and cancer, and how she came, almost by accident, to her research career.

6pm – 7pm Pre-book ≥ Thu 10 Mar

Lucy Cavendish College, Lady Margaret Road, CB3 0BU A story of ups and downs for a Cambridge drug for multiple sclerosis Scientists, doctors and patients describe the bumpy journey of a drug developed in Cambridge in the 1980s as Campath-1H (Cambridge Pathology antibody number 1) which was finally approved by the National Centre for Clinical Excellence in 2014 as a treatment for multiple sclerosis.

6pm – 7.30pm Pre-book ≥ Thu 10 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW

Everything you always wanted to know about climate science (but were too afraid to ask) Ever wondered about the difference between weather and climate or wanted to know what globally averaged surface temperature really means? The Cambridge Centre for Climate Science invites you to spend an evening with some of Cambridge’s own climate scientists.

6pm – 7.30pm Pre-book ≥ Thu 10 Mar

Wolfson Lecture Theatre,

Department of Chemistry, Lensfield Road, CB2 1EW Stem cells: big data and personalised medicine A panel of biomedical research experts will respond to public questions about the complexities of personalised medicine and stem cell research. How are we currently using big data? How can stem cells contribute to diagnostics and drug development?

6.30pm – 8pm Pre-book ≥ Thu 10 Mar

Buckingham House, Murray Edwards College, Buckingham Road, CB3 0DF The Naked Scientists on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire Our live audience with the Naked Scientists returns to the Cambridge Science Festival. Join us at Cambridge Science Centre for another chance to expand your mind and boost your brain power on a ride around science with BBC Radio Cambridgeshire.

6.30pm – 8.30pm ≥ Thu 10 Mar

Pre-book

Cambridge Science Centre Jesus Lane, CB5 8BQ

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Meet the Science Presenter Steve Mould Science communicator

For me, science at its best is when it is surprising and confounds our expectations. That's why you might have seen me at the Cambridge Science Festival in previous years doing experiments that have unexpected results. Isaac Asimov once said, “The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka’ but ‘That’s funny...’” and I agree. It's not just what drives science but it's what makes it pleasurable to do.

This surprising aspect of science was the basis of my show at the Festival three years ago. Science Pranks was a collection of ideas and demonstrations that were so strange you could use them to trick your friends and family. Since then, I've found a load more so I'm back with More Science Pranks.

My hope is that the audience will be inspired to recreate the pranks for themselves and continue some conversations about the science behind them.

Some of my favourite pranks are based on experiments that play with our senses because they tell us something profound about the workings of the mind. It turns out that the picture of the world we confidently build for ourselves is often completely wrong. And that's a truly fun thing to demonstrate!

See Steve’s Event: More science pranks 5pm – 6pm Mon 14 Mar Page 23

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TALKS Nature versus nurture: what population genetics can teach us Advances in genetics and large-scale population studies have enabled us to begin addressing the nature versus nurture question.

Dr John Perry examines the role of genetics in health and disease, focusing on human growth and reproduction.

8pm – 9pm ≥ Thu 10 Mar

Pre-book

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW

Fri 11 Mar

Cod liver oil: old habits die hard Dietary supplements are used more and more despite studies observing no benefit or only in suboptimally or malnourished populations. Yet cod liver oil remains commonly used in the UK. Marleen Lentjes looks at what reasons there might be for using supplements in this day and age.

6pm – 7pm ≥ FRI 11 Mar

Pre-book

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW

Your irrational brain: how we really make decisions Do you think you make rational decisions? Think again... Ginny Smith turns your understanding of your brain upside down – and may even improve your decision making! Please bring along an Internet-enabled device so you can play along with the show.

6pm – 7pm Pre-book ≥ FRI 11 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW

Stargazing: the role of visualisation in Greek astronomy Professor of Ancient Philosophy Gábor Betegh explores how the Greeks made sense of data gathered from the heavens.

6.30pm – 7.30pm Pre-book ≥ FRI 11 Mar

Museum of Classical

Archaeology, Sidgwick Avenue, CB3 9DA Starch, milk and alcohol Three key genetic adaptations eventually allowed early farmers to flourish during the transition away from ‘hunting and gathering’.

Geneticist Dr Giles Yeo explores the genetic and cultural history of our dietary relationship with starch, milk and alcohol.

Presented with Illumina 7.30pm – 8.30pm Pre-book ≥ FRI 11 Mar

Judge Business School,

Trumpington Street, CB2 1AG What does your musical taste say about your personality?

Our playlists reveal more about us than you might think. The music we choose to listen to is not random; our musical taste and abilities are tied to our personality and the way we think.

Dr David Greenberg shows how our musical preferences map onto five different personality traits and three thinking styles.

8pm – 9pm ≥ FRI 11 Mar

Pre-book

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW

Sat 12 Mar

CHaOS talks: from the makers of Crash, Bang, Squelch!

Find more crashes, bangs and squelches here, and learn about all sorts of weird and wonderful science!

9.45am – 10.15am Crystals and how we use them in biology, with Richard Misfud and Morgan Lowther 10.45am – 11.15am What’s inside a cell, with Raghd Rostom 11.45am – 12.15pm Parasites: nasty visitors of your body, with Koi Wangwiwatsin 1pm – 1.30pm Feathered dinosaurs: fluff, flirting and flight, with Roxanne Armfield 2pm – 2.30pm Light waves: seeing is believing, with Andrei Ruskuc 3pm – 3.30pm Pollination! How plants exploit anything that moves, with Sonja Dunbar and Sarah Wiseman 4pm – 4.30pm Geologise! A journey to the centre of the Earth, with Matthew Kemp.

9.45am – 4.30pm ≥ Sat 12 Mar

Pre-book

Department of Zoology, Downing Site, CB2 3EJ

Great for families Timed tickets available in advance with some drop-in tickets on the day

18 Attack of the alien arthropods!

The Earth is under attack from aliens and only you can defend it! Join Dr Paul Elliott for an interactive 3D lecture: track the alien threat, study their DNA, search for weaknesses in their anatomy and use bioinformatics to decrypt their communication.

From the team behind The Quest for the Curator’s Code.

How to train your robot We live in a world surrounded by computers, and increasingly also robotics. But how do we get these machines to do what we want? Find out with Philip Garsed and Rachel Garsed in this fun and interactive demonstration, as they try to program their (suspiciously life-like...) robot to carry out a simple task.

10am – 11am Pre-book NOON – 1pm 2pm – 3pm 4pm – 5pm ≥ Sat 12 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW

11am – 11.45am ≥ Sat 12 Mar

Great for families Alan Turing and the Enigma Machine Can we build a machine that can solve any problem? How can we break a code others believe unbreakable? Why do leopards have spots and zebras stripes?

These questions were all answered

by Alan Turing. Mathematician James Grime explores Turing’s childhood fascination with maths and how it led to the breaking of the infamous Enigma cipher.

Including a demonstration of an original Second World War Enigma machine.

10.30am – 11.30am Pre-book ≥ Sat 12 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW Ideal for teenagers

Pre-book

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW

Great for families Building babies: the key to lifelong health What is developmental programming of adult health?

Professor Graham Burton explores how new insights into the placenta offer a fresh approach to addressing chronic disease in adult life.

11am – NOON ≥ Sat 12 Mar

Anatomy Building, Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, Downing Site, CB2 3DY

Just add water Water is all around us: most of the planet’s surface is covered with it and it is the main ingredient in you. In this exciting demonstration lecture, Dr Pete Wothers explores some of the surprising properties and reactions of this substance you thought you knew so well.

11am – NOON 1.30Pm – 2.30Pm 4pm – 5pm ≥ Sat 12 Mar 2pm – 3pm ≥ SUn 13 Mar 7pm – 8pm ≥ Tue 15 Mar

Pre-book

BMS Lecture Theatre, Department of Chemistry, Lensfield Road, CB2 1EW

Great for families

“An excellent afternoon of thought provoking discussion” 2015 Festival attendee Mind the gap: round-table discussion Join researchers and medics for a round-table discussion on how we translate scientific findings to clinical practice and our daily life.

11am – NOON ≥ Sat 12 Mar

Department of Psychology, Downing Street, CB2 3EB

Talks

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TALKS The physics and physiology of running: better training Have you been training incorrectly?

How can you optimise your running performance using a scientific approach? A physiologist and a physicist discuss what they have learnt whilst attempting to become faster runners and dispel common myths about training.

Maths’ greatest unsolved puzzles While mathematicians are undoubtedly brilliant, there are still questions they can’t answer. Every mathematical question is a puzzle and there’ll be plenty of puzzles for you to chew on while mathematician Katie Steckles introduces questions that still leave mathematicians stumped, from simple-sounding number and shape problems, to mind-bending fundamental questions.

12.15pm – 1.15pm Pre-book ≥ Sat 12 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW Ideal for teenagers Meet the family: your primate relatives Primates are a large group of mammals containing around 450 species of lemur, monkey and ape, and, of course, humans. Join Dr Phil Cox as he introduces some of your closest mammalian relatives and some of your fossil ancestors, and explains why primates (and humans) look so different to other mammals.

12.30pm – 1.15pm Pre-book ≥ Sat 12 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW Great for families

12.30pm – 1.30pm ≥ Sat 12 Mar

Physiology Lecture Theatre, Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, Downing Site, CB2 3DY What do You think you prefer in life: the secret of decision making How do we choose or perceive value? Dr Benedetto De Martino from the Department of Psychology takes us around the world of optimal decisions in difficult situations. In this talk, we have the pleasure of a ride by the rivers of uncertainty and the bridges of decision.

1pm – 2pm Drop in ≥ Sat 12 Mar

Department of Psychology, Downing Street, CB2 3EB Amazing properties from simple materials... and glue!

Combining different materials allows us to make the very strong but light materials we need for aircraft, boats and F1 cars. Ewen Kellar and Paul Burling from TWI get sticky to show how the power of adhesion can be used to make these amazing composite materials.

2pm – 3pm Pre-book ≥ Sat 12 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW

Sci Cam: the science magazine show Join the team behind the online science magazine show Sci Cam for a mix of beginners’ guides to topics and up-to-date research translated into plain English!

2pm – 3pm Pre-book ≥ Sat 12 Mar

Cambridge Union Society, Bridge Street, CB2 1UA Great for families Big data: the missing link As Big Data Chief Architect at Deloitte in the City and Chartered Engineer in France, MIT and Stanford Ignite, Adrien Arculeo shares some of the insights he has gleaned from the big data projects he has led over the past seven years.

Presented by Alliance Française de Cambridge 2pm – 3.30pm ≥ Sat 12 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW Conservation now Join us for an afternoon of discussions on current conservation and the state of nature. Hear from Cambridge Conservation Initiative partners about the latest research and practice on the ground.

2pm – 4pm ≥ Sat 12 Mar

David Attenborough Building, New Museums Site, CB2 3QZ

20 The physics and physiology of running: faster racing How can you train scientifically for a marathon? What are the most common racing mistakes?

A physiologist and a physicist discuss what they have learnt whilst attempting to become faster runners and will dispel common myths about training.

2.30pm – 3.30pm ≥ Sat 12 Mar

Physiology Lecture Theatre, Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, Downing Site, CB2 3DY Music and movies: how does it change your mind?

Just how important is the music to our interpretation of a film? Find out in this interactive experiment with Dr David Greenberg from the Department of Psychology and City University of New York.

2.30pm – 3.30pm ≥ Sat 12 Mar

Department of Psychology, Downing Street, CB2 3EB

Dambusters, Colditz and climate change: the Blitz spirit Colditz Castle and the Dambusters raid are two of the most iconic events of World War II. Based on his experience, Dr Hugh Hunt looks at the engineering challenges faced

by Barnes Wallis in his design of the bouncing bomb and by the prisoners of war who never flew the glider they built in the roof of Colditz. Can this ‘Blitz Spirit’ help us tackle climate change? What would a modern-day Barnes Wallis dream up?

3.30pm – 4.30pm ≥ Sat 12 Mar

Pre-book

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW

Ideal for teenagers What can a tiny nervous system do?

How small can a nervous system be and still be able to perform basic actions? What about complex ones that require human years’ worth of training? Paloma Gonzalez-Bellido shows that studying how small predatory flies catch their prey can help us understand the performance limits of relatively simple neural networks, with special emphasis on sensory detection and motor control.

3.30pm – 4.30pm ≥ Sat 12 Mar

Anatomy Building, Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, Downing Site, CB2 3DY

All events are free unless otherwise stated

Talks

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TALKS How to measure who we are: big data, phones and you in the new tech society A great trip around the world of us, with Dr Jason Rentfrow. A talk about who we are, how we use technology to measure this and why this is important in our search to understand people.

Would I lie to you?

Stories of science Is the sky really tied up with string?

Are mountains made from dragon bone? Marion Leeper shares myths and legends about how the world became, and reveals the scientific truth behind them. You get to vote on what is true and what couldn't possibly have happened.

4pm – 5pm ≥ Sat 12 Mar

Department of Psychology, Downing Street, CB2 3EB

1.30pm – 2.15pm Pre-book 2.45pm – 3.30pm ≥ SUN 13 Mar

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ

Sun 13 Mar

Shark tales Sharks have roamed the oceans for millions of years and they’ve evolved into masses of awesome species.

Prepare to be amazed by everything from sharks with beards to tiny glowing sharks you could hold in your hand.

Join avid shark spotter Dr Helen Scales to explore these ocean wonders and find out why we shouldn’t be scared of shark-infested waters.

11am – 11.45am Pre-book ≥ SUN 13 Mar

Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick Avenue, CB3 9DA

Great for families I’m just big boned... in search of the world’s largest bones Join evolutionary biologist and broadcaster Ben Garrod as he explores the animal kingdom from the inside out, from the smallest skeleton on Earth to the biggest. In his talk on super-strong deer bones and elephants on tiptoes, Ben also discusses how he ended up on the other side of the planet, looking for the largest dinosaur ever.

2.30pm – 3.30pm Pre-book ≥ SUN 13 Mar

Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick Avenue, CB3 9DA

Great for families Great for families Restless creatures Join Dr Matt Wilkinson on a roller-coaster ride through the four-billion-year-long evolutionary history of moving from place to place – the most important thing that life ever learned how to do, and the skill that made human beings what we are.

12.45pm – 1.30pm Pre-book ≥ SUN 13 Mar

Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick Avenue, CB3 9DA Great for families

“Setting off a rocket engine on stage… what could possibly go wrong?”

A history of rocketry Setting off a rocket engine on stage… what could possibly go wrong?

A special hour of history, science, explosions and mayhem with Jon London from Cambridge Science Centre. Discover the history of rocketry over the last two-and-a-half thousand years, from Ancient Greece through China, to the space race and the modern day.

4pm – 5pm Pre-book ≥ SUN 13 Mar

Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick Avenue, CB3 9DA Great for families

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Talks Week 2

Feature Image Enigma Machine, James Grime

23

Mon 14 Mar More science pranks 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 this prank-filled show.

5pm – 6pm Pre-book ≥ Mon 14 Mar

Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick Avenue, CB3 9DA

The future is Airlander: a new and exciting form of air travel Dr Barry Robertson introduces us to Airlander, the world’s largest and most innovative hybrid aircraft. Using helium gas to provide 60% of its lift, the aircraft is able to fly for thousands of kilometres using much less fuel than a conventional aeroplane.

6pm – 7pm Pre-book ≥ Mon 14 Mar

UTC Cambridge, Robinson Way, CB2 0SZ Ideal for teenagers

Great for families How do teams work?

How do teams work? How do people from different backgrounds, with different skills, work together?

Join Lezlie Wallace to see the hidden dynamics at play in every workplace team brought to light.

6pm – 7pm Pre-book ≥ Mon 14 Mar

Faculty of Architecture, 1 Scroope Terrace, Trumpington Street, CB2 1PX Killing cancer Each year, 14 million people are diagnosed with cancer and eight million people die of the disease.

These numbers are increasing and will reach 22 million annual worldwide cancer diagnoses by 2030. Professor Richard J Gilbertson discusses this enormous challenge and how patients, healthcare professionals and the research community work together every day to kill cancer.

To pre-book, visit: www.sciencefestival.cam.ac.uk or call: 01223 766766 There is no need to Pre-book events unless specifically stated

6pm – 7pm ≥ Mon 14 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW

The ratchet of science or curiosity killed the cat Once science is published there is no delete button. Using correspondence held in the Churchill College Archives, Professor Roy Calne outlines the many gifts that science has bestowed upon our quality of life but also raises concerns about the sometimes awful accidental, unanticipated or deliberate consequences.

6pm – 7pm Pre-book ≥ Mon 14 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW What is conservation?

It sounds like a question to which we all know the answer, but what is conservation? We know it is the protection of biodiversity, but at what cost? Is it for the benefit of humans or for the intrinsic beauty of nature?

Even conservationists disagree. Join our panel as they explore this very under-defined term for a very broad area of work.

Presented with Cambridge University Press 6pm – 7.30pm Pre-book ≥ Mon 14 Mar

David Attenborough Building, New Museums Site, CB2 3QZ

24 Our digital future: which data should we keep and how will we access it?

Our lives are increasingly recorded in digital form. As data volumes grow and electronic storage deteriorates, our ability to recover data will depend on the storage medium used and what we decide to keep. What are the implications for human culture of this shift from paper, and how can we ensure that our descendants are able to learn about their past?

7pm – 8pm Pre-book ≥ Mon 14 Mar

Buckingham House, Murray Edwards College,

Buckingham Road, CB3 0DF Churchill’s bomb: a hidden story of science, politics and war Winston Churchill was a nuclear visionary, repeatedly warning before World War II that the nuclear age was imminent. He was also the first British leader to have nuclear weapons. The Cambridge Society for the Application of Research invites Graham Farmelo to reveal a little-known side of Britain’s great war leader.

7.30pm – 8.30pm ≥ Mon 14 Mar

Wolfson Lecture Theatre, Churchill College, Storey’s Way, CB3 0DS

The science of fiction: medicine We bring together script writers from Holby City and Casualty with medics and researchers to ask is there any truth in it? Our panel includes Mark Cately, who has written over 30 episodes of Casualty and Professor Richard Gilbertson, Director of the Cambridge Cancer Centre.

7.30pm – 10pm ≥ Mon 14 Mar

The Portland Arms, 129 Chesterton Road, CB4 3BA The God of small things: nanotechnology, creation and God Professor Russell Cowburn FRS, a nanotechnologist and a Christian, gives an overview of the science and applications of nanotechnology, and discusses the ethics and theology of this new technology.

7.45pm – 9.15pm ≥ Mon 14 Mar

Wesley Methodist Church, Christ’s Pieces, CB1 1LG Retiring collection How old are you really?

You may have been told your heart age or your lung age, but what does this mean? Professor David Spiegelhalter shows how we can use statistical analysis to assess your real age, and how to work out how much younger (or older) your good (or bad) habits can make you.

Talks

8pm – 9pm Pre-book ≥ Mon 14 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW

Swimming in a sea of data: how can cities become smarter?

Technology and big data will radically change the way people live, work and move around cities in the future, and their effect on the environment. A panel of experts discuss the potential of these new data sets, how the information can be applied, and explore questions related to privacy and open data.

8pm – 9pm ≥ Mon 14 Mar

Pre-book

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, 8 Mill Lane, CB2 1RW

Tue 15 Mar Now you see it, now you don’t: the hidden messages in manuscripts Cambridge University Library contains many rare items – but there is often more to them than meets the eye! Join us to discover how specialist techniques can shed new light on ancient manuscripts, and see what the treasures of the Library are hiding.

5.30pm – 6.30pm ≥ TUE 15 Mar

Milstein Seminar Room, Cambridge University Library, West Road, CB3 9DR

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TALKS Dark matter Unlike the stars and galaxies, dark matter does not give off any radiation: we detect it through its gravitational pull. It accounts for a quarter of the Universe, yet we don’t understand what it is made of. Professor Carolin Crawford discusses the search for dark matter in space and deep underground, where astrophysics meets particle physics. Cambridge Physics Centre Lecture.

6pm – 7pm ≥ TUE 15 Mar

Cavendish Laboratory, JJ Thomson Avenue, CB3 0HE Ideal for teenagers How big data analysis is changing how we understand the living world Ewan Birney FRS, Director of the EMBL European Bioinformatics Institute, explores the opportunities and challenges of genomics and big data in healthcare, from molecular data to high-resolution imaging.

6pm – 7pm Pre-book ≥ TUE 15 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW Intelligence and learning in brains and machines What is intelligence? What is learning? Can we build computers and robots that learn? How much information does the brain store? How does mathematics help us answer these questions? Professor Zoubin Ghahramani takes us on a journey exploring these questions and leading us to the field of machine learning: the invisible algorithms underlying many of the tools we now use everyday.

6pm – 7pm Pre-book ≥ TUE 15 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW

Mapping rocks: sheets of many colours part 1 How is it possible to map rocks?

Dr Douglas Palmer from the Sedgwick Museum shows how William Smith and his contemporaries turned geological data into new knowledge about Earth’s history.

7pm – 8pm Pre-book ≥ TUE 15 Mar

Tilley Lecture Theatre,

Department of Earth Sciences, Downing Site, CB1 2DZ Can iPods grow on trees?

Technology doesn’t grow on trees… does it? In fact, biology makes its own versions of batteries, displays and processors, using very tiny nanoscale components. Could mimicking biology improve our own technology and eliminate pollution at the same time?

Join nano-biophysicist Chris Forman and find out.

Wed 16 Mar Manuscripts under the microscope Dr Paola Ricciardi, Research Associate at the Fitzwilliam Museum’s Department of Manuscripts, Drawings and Printed Books, shares what can be discovered when the Museum’s amazing manuscripts are examined using the latest technologies.

1.15pm – 2pm ≥ WED 16 Mar

Seminar Room, Fitzwilliam Museum, Trumpington Street, CB2 1RB Admission by token available at the Courtyard Entrance from 12.45pm

7.30pm – 8.30pm Pre-book ≥ TUE 15 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW From bean to bar: the future of chocolate Everyone loves chocolate but what does the future hold? Angus Thirlwell, co-founder of Hotel Chocolat, joins a plant scientist and a chemical engineer to explore how the supply and demand for chocolate may change in the future, from where and how it is grown to how products are made and who will eat them.

7.30pm – 9pm Pre-book ≥ TUE 15 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW

Andrew Chamblin Memorial Lecture: harnessing the quantum world What are the properties of nature that will be tamed in the 21st century? Professor Raymond Laflamme describes how the quantum world behaves, and shares the latest breakthroughs and biggest challenges in the quest to build technologies based on quantum properties that will change the ways we work, communicate and live.

5pm – 6pm Pre-book ≥ WED 16 Mar

Lady Mitchell Hall, Sidgwick Avenue, CB3 9DA

T P co h la e b h r ig al d le at n a g e

Feature

≥

26

Alex Tate Head of the Polar Data Centre

The Polar Regions are characterised by their extreme environments A distraction or an essential discussion: confronting extreme environmental risks 7.30pm – 8.30pm Mon 7 Mar Page 11 Everything you always wanted to know about climate science 6pm – 7.30pm Thu 10 Mar Page 15 Polar science family day 11am – 3.30pm Sat 12 Mar Page 53 Icehack 6pm – 10pm Mon 14 Mar Page 56 A tale of two icebergs 6pm – 7pm Fri 18 Mar Page 30

Collecting research data in these regions is incredibly exciting but it is also hugely challenging, whether it’s drilling an ice core, tagging a fur seal or measuring plasma flow high in the atmosphere.

During the last 15 years working as a data manager in the UK’s Polar Data Centre, hosted at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, I’ve been fortunate enough to have visited both the Arctic and Antarctic on research ships and seen first-hand the beauty of these regions whilst also enduring my fair share of monstrous waves. I’ve mapped undersea volcanoes, measured ocean currents, peered into hydrothermal vents and collected an awful lot of mud, and while the work can be hard, it is exhilarating and rewarding in equal measure.

The challenges don’t just stop at the point of collection. Data have to be transferred from remote locations, they have to be secured, processed and analysed, and because most of the observations cannot be reproduced they also have to be stored with adequate documentation for the long-term, which might mean forever. The data also have to be made open and accessible to other researchers to verify scientific findings and for reuse by others for completely new science. I’m supported by a team, including data managers, archivists, librarians, web developers and mapping experts.

Most of the polar datasets that we manage are not ‘big data’ in the traditional disk storage based sense. What they lack in petabytes (or exa, zetta, yotta…), they more than make up for in complexity, diversity and sheer numbers. They all have something to say about regions of the Earth that are undergoing considerable environmental change, and this is being used to answer some of our biggest global environmental questions.

27

TALKS Organ transplantation Organ transplantation is the treatment of choice for patients in end-stage kidney disease and the only option available to patients suffering from heart, liver or lung failure. Professor J Andrew Bradley takes on a journey from the beginnings of transplant surgery to the cutting-edge procedures in use today.

6pm – 7pm Pre-book ≥ WED 16 Mar

UTC Cambridge, Robinson Way, CB2 0SZ Ideal for teenagers Does a pill on a string hold the answer for earlier diagnosis of oesophageal cancer?

Late diagnosis is a problem for many cancers such as cancer of the oesophagus. Professor Rebecca Fitzgerald describes the ten-year journey to develop the Cytosponge test and what it takes to get such a simple idea into the clinic.

6.30pm – 7.30pm Pre-book ≥ WED 16 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW Mapping rocks: sheets of many colours part 2 In the second talk on geological maps and mapping, Dr Nigel Woodcock, Department of Earth Sciences uses his field-mapping experience to discuss the modern development of geological mapping.

7pm – 8pm Pre-book ≥ WED 16 Mar

Tilley Lecture Theatre, Department of Earth Sciences, Downing Site, CB1 2DZ

Brain, body and mind: new directions in the neuroscience and philosophy of consciousness How conscious is my dog?

Can robots become conscious?

Are people in a vegetative state conscious? Philosopher Professor Tim Crane and neuroscientist Dr Srivas Chennu look into our minds and wrestle with the meaning of what it is to be conscious.

Annual WiSETI Lecture: do you have to be a genius to be an astrophysicist?

Professor Meg Urry is Director of the Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics and current President of the American Astronomical Society. Meg shares insights on her advocacy for women in science in the US, alongside her research on supermassive black holes and galaxies.

Research Horizons Public Lecture

Presented with Schlumberger

8pm – 9pm Pre-book ≥ WED 16 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW

5pm – 6pm Pre-book ≥ THU 17 Mar

Wolfson Lecture Theatre, Churchill College, Storey’s Way, CB3 0DS

Rediscovering Neptune The discovery of the planet Neptune in 1846 became a cause célèbre because of competing French and British claims to priority. Then in 1965, the Greenwich records about Neptune disappeared from a castle in Sussex. This is the story.

Thu 17 Mar Tuniit: Arctic giants, ivory miniatures — curator talk Curator Jonathan King talks about the temporary display Tuniit: Arctic giants, ivory miniatures – ancient art of Nunavut.

1pm – 1.45pm ≥ THU 17 Mar

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Downing Street, CB2 3DZ Egyptian blue: science and symbolism Discover the science and symbolism of Egyptian blue, one of the earliest artificial pigments ever produced, with Death on the Nile Curator Helen Strudwick and Dr Tom Emmett.

1.15pm – 2pm ≥ THU 17 Mar

Fitzwilliam Museum, Trumpington Street, CB2 1RB Admission by token available at the Courtyard Entrance from 12.45pm

5.30pm – 6.30pm ≥ THU 17 Mar

Milstein Seminar Room, Cambridge University Library, West Road, CB3 9DR

The treatment of dementia: new directions Professor Giovanna Mallucci is a practising neurologist, specialising in dementia and neurodegenerative diseases. Her research interests are in understanding how brain cells die in diseases like Alzheimer’s for development of new therapies.

Cambridge Neuroscience Public Lecture 5.30pm – 6.30pm ≥ THU 17 Mar

Physiological Laboratory, Downing Site, CB2 3DY

28 Biologic therapeutics: what are they and how do we make them?

MedImmune is the worldwide biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca.

Dr John Elvin explains what biologic medicines are, why they are revolutionising healthcare and shows how a new biological medicine is taken from conception through to clinic.

Dr Woodward’s Cabinet of Dangerous Dreams: geological data and knowledge in the Age of Enlightenment Dr Ken McNamara, Director of the Sedgwick Museum, discusses the pioneering ideas of the 18th-century scholar Dr John Woodward, whose collection forms the core of the Museum’s palaeontological holdings.

6pm – 7pm Pre-book ≥ THU 17 Mar

UTC Cambridge, Robinson Way, CB2 0SZ

7pm – 8pm Pre-book ≥ THU 17 Mar

Tilley Lecture Theatre, Department of Earth Sciences, Downing Site, CB2 3EQ

Ideal for teenagers Organ transplantation: past, present and future Experts in transplantation review the history of transplantation, current state-of-the-art achievements and anticipated future developments including the use of machines, stem cells and organs grown in the laboratory.

6pm – 7pm Pre-book ≥ THU 17 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW The future of genome editing Genome editing allows sections of DNA to be precisely removed or replaced. A panel of experts from four Cambridge research institutes will respond to public questions about the current and future applications of this technique.

Talks

6.30pm – 8pm Pre-book ≥ THU 17 Mar

Buckingham House, Murray Edwards College,

Buckingham Road, CB3 0DF

Plants to drugs Plants have been used for medicinal purposes throughout history and many modern-day drugs have their origin in plants.

This talk looks at some of the success stories but also some of the challenges faced when developing a drug from a plant.

7pm – 8pm ≥ THU 17 Mar

Pfizer Lecture Theatre, Department of Chemistry, Lensfield Road, CB2 1EW Other worlds Learn about the thousands of planets found orbiting other stars and how we find them with Professor Didier Queloz, who identified the first exoplanet, and consider what life might be like under the light of other suns with Dr William Bains.

7pm – 8.30pm Pre-book ≥ THU 17 Mar

Cambridge Science Centre, 18 Jesus Lane, CB5 8BQ

Knowledge for nature Is collective knowledge the key to effective conservation?

Dr Mike Rands, Professor Bill Adams, Dr Juliet Vickery and Dr Matt Walpole discuss whether combining knowledge enables us to deliver transformational approaches to the understanding of biodiversity and the wealth of natural capital it represents.

Presented with Science AAAS 7.30pm – 9pm Pre-book ≥ THU 17 Mar

Howard Lecture Theatre, Downing College, Regent Street, CB2 1DQ

Fri 18 Mar Salt marshes and coastal defence Coastal salt marshes protect our coastlines by dispersing wave energy and reducing erosion.

Dr Ruth Reef gives an overview of a Cambridge Coastal Research Unit project at the Botanic Garden which investigates the role salt marshes play in natural coastal defence and how this might change under future climate scenarios.

12.15pm – 1pm Pre-book ≥ FRI 18 Mar

Botanic Garden, 1 Brookside, CB2 1JE

Entrance via Botanic Garden cycle park on Bateman Street; entry to Botanic Garden not included

29

TALKS Alex Hopkins Lecture: Oceans, the engine of our planet We live on a blue planet and yet most of us rarely touch that blue. The oceans are remote but as this gigantic and dynamic reservoir flows around our planet, it has a huge effect on our everyday life. Dr Helen Czerski looks at how this engine works and what the future holds for it.

5pm – 6pm ≥ FRI 18 Mar

Cambridge Science Festival dinner: fooling your senses

“Savour the juxtaposition of sweet and savoury.

No previous food science experience required!”

Join us for our first Cambridge Science Festival dinner, and dine within the historic setting of Corpus Christi College. The evening starts with a pre-dinner drink followed by a delicious three-course meal and coffee. We’ll be playing a little with your senses, so come prepared to savour the juxtaposition of sweet and savoury. No previous food science experience required!

Jelly and ice cream Chicken chasseur, pomme purée, broccoli and charred leeks Or: lentil and blue-cheese croquette, pomme purée, broccoli and charred leeks

Pre-book

BMS Lecture Theatre, Department of Chemistry, Lensfield Road, CB2 1EW

Calendars in India and a problem with eclipses in Orissa Raymond Mercier explains something of the variety of calendars used in medieval India. Each calendar counts years from a certain epoch and, although most epoch years have been established, one remains to be fixed: the Ganga Era of Orissa.

5.30pm – 6.30pm Pre-book ≥ FRI 18 Mar

Ancient India and Iran Trust, 23 Brooklands Avenue, CB2 8BG The science and the séance: investigations into the paranormal In 1882, a group of eminent scientists with a shared interest in proving the existence of ghosts, spirits and psychic phenomena convened to form the Society for Psychical Research. This talk uses archives from the Cambridge University Library to provide an insight into the history of psychical research from the mid-19th century onwards.

Goats cheese, asparagus and black olive 5.30pm – 6.30pm ≥ FRI 18 Mar 7PM pre-dinner drinks 7.30pm – 10pm dinner ≥ FRI 18 Mar

Corpus Christi College, Trumpington Street, CB2 1RH

Adults only, Pre-book, dress to impress, £39

Cambridge University Library, West Road, CB3 9DR

Adults only

30 A tale of two icebergs Follow the story of two icebergs, including the famous iceberg that collided with the Titanic in April 1912 and an iceberg the size of Singapore that calved from the Pine Island Glacier of West Antarctica in November 2013. Professor Grant Bigg, University of Sheffield, discusses the changing state of polar ice in the Northern and Southern hemispheres.

Presented with Cambridge University Press 6pm – 7pm Pre-book ≥ FRI 18 Mar

The Polar Museum, Lensfield Road, CB2 1ER Animal, vegetable, mineral From Aristotle to the present day, we have grappled with big questions about life. How do we define it? How is life created? Do animals have souls? Susannah Gibson introduces early experiments used to solve the mysteries of life and the fantastical creatures behind them, somersaulting polyps, suspicious sea sponges and frogs in trousers!

6pm – 7pm Pre-book ≥ FRI 18 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW British Cycling’s Secret Squirrel Club The story of British Cycling and Team Sky’s rise to dominate cycling is one of the most fascinating and intriguing sporting successes to be told. But what principles underpin this success? Phil Burt, Head Physiotherapist and Tony Purnell, Head of Research and Innovation at British Cycling reveal what it takes to win.

Talks

6pm – 7pm Pre-book ≥ FRI 18 Mar

Mill Lane Lecture Rooms, Mill Lane, CB2 1RW

All events are free unless otherwise stated Circadian rhythms: everything you always wanted to know about jet lag (but were too tired to ask) Most biological organisms contain an innate ‘clock’ that controls daily behavioural and physiological patterns, the circadian rhythm.

When this is disrupted by jet lag or shift work, it can seriously affect health. Dr John O’Neill from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology talks about this fascinating field and its importance.

6pm – 7pm Pre-book ≥ FRI 18 Mar

UTC Cambridge, Robinson Way, CB2 0SZ Ideal for teenagers

Sat 19 Mar From a wooden toe to eLEGS: materials for medical implants Which materials are used in medical implants? How have prosthetic body parts and implants evolved?

Join the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy for a talk that takes you through the history of materials in medical applications and explores how we could modify the human body in the future.

10.30am – 11.30am ≥ SAT 19 Mar

Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, Charles Babbage Road, CB3 0FS

Ideal for teenagers

31

TALKS The science of ice cream Did you know that ice cream is a fascinating material with amazing properties? Join the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy to explore the ancient history of ice cream, the science behind why ice cream tastes so good, and watch us make gallons of ice cream using liquid nitrogen at -168°C! 10.30am – 11.30am Pre-book 12.30pm – 1.30pm ≥ SAT 19 Mar

Sports Hall, University Sports Centre, Phillipa Fawcett Drive, CB3 0AS

Great for families Practicalities of orbital space travel Charles Simonyi, the Hungarian-born former Microsoft software developer, is a high-tech pioneer and philanthropist as well as a space traveller. He discusses how his passion for science and space led him to become the fifth space tourist and the first one to fly twice.

11am – NOON ≥ SAT 19 Mar

Pre-book

Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences, 20 Clarkson Road, CB3 0EH

Electron microscopy: see small, see more Electrons have a smaller wavelength than light, so using electrons to image structures under the microscope, we can relate a material’s physical properties to its atomic structure. This talk gives a brief history of electron microscopy, from JJ Thompson discovering the electron in 1897, through to modern-day experiments developing new materials.

NOON – 1pm ≥ SAT 19 Mar

Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, Charles Babbage Road, CB3 0FS

Puzzling with paper: maths and paper folding Explore mathematical modelling of a different type with Fran Watson in this interactive paper-folding talk and workshop. Develop your strategic reasoning, perseverance and mathematical creativity!

12.30pm – 1.30pm Pre-book ≥ SAT 19 Mar

Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Wilberforce Road, CB3 0WA

For children aged 9+ The birth and death of a solar system Professor John Richer presents breath-taking images from the new ALMA observatory in Chile, which is revealing to us the birth and death of stars and planets, the nature of black holes and the origins of the oldest galaxies.

1pm – 1.45pm Pre-book ≥ SAT 19 Mar

Cavendish Laboratory,

Department of Physics, JJ Thomson Avenue, CB3 0HE

Out of the blue: how gallium nitride improves your life Gallium nitride is a crystal that emits vibrant blue light and is the basis of a multibillion-dollar LED, transistor and laser industry. The 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for research into gallium nitride. The Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy shows the many ways this material is used for environmentally friendly lighting, water purification and medical research.

2pm – 3pm Pre-book ≥ SAT 19 Mar

Sports Hall, University Sports Centre, Phillipa Fawcett Drive, CB3 0AS Ideal for teenagers The science of out-of-body experiences Why do out-of-body experiences occur? Dr Jane Aspell, from the Department of Psychology at Anglia Ruskin University, discusses the neuroscientific explanations of out-of-body experiences, and what they tell us about how the brain creates the experience of one’s self inhabiting a body.

The power of carbon: graphite, graphene and diamond The graphite inside a pencil can be converted into more exciting forms of carbon: graphene and diamond.

Graphene is the lightest and strongest material ever discovered, and diamond is the hardest material, so making these two carbon allotropes artificially is a huge industry. Find out with the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy how we make graphene and diamond, and use them.

2pm – 3pm Pre-book ≥ SAT 19 Mar

Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, CB1 1PT

1.30pm – 2.30pm ≥ SAT 19 Mar

Department of Materials Science, Charles Babbage Road, CB3 0FS

Ideal for teenagers

2pm – 3pm Pre-book ≥ SAT 19 Mar

Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, CB1 1PT

The scientific secrets of Doctor Who Using clips from the TV series, Dr Marek Kukula and Simon Guerrier show how Doctor Who uses science to inform its unique style of storytelling – and just how close it has come to predicting future scientific discoveries.

Great for children

32 INNOVATION IN FASHION: NEW MATERIALS AND APPLICATIONS Exploring new materials and how they can be applied to fashion, a panel discussion led by Scott Henshall, the fashion designer famous for creating a diamond encrusted dress.

2pm – 3pm Pre-book ≥ SAT 19 Mar

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ Meaningful data How can large scientific data sets be transformed so that they become meaningful as knowledge? Artist Annie Cattrell and cultural historian and curator Dr Marius Kwint explore how big data informs knowledge through artistic practice and ’embodiment’. Followed by a demonstration of perceptual tests

by Anglia Ruskin University Psychology researchers.

2pm – 3.30pm Pre-book ≥ SAT 19 Mar

Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, CB1 1PT Pecha Kucha challenge Graduate engineering students take on the challenge of sharing their research with you in just six minutes forty seconds. Will they succeed? Join us for just one talk or stay for as many as you like – they can be addictive!

2pm – 4pm Pre-book ≥ SAT 19 Mar

Institute for Manufacturing, Charles Babbage Road, CB3 0FS

Water and light: Technology from nature Water and light are two of the most important components of our planet. We explore their properties and the technological innovations that utilise them, from light-powered water purifiers to solar energy production.

3pm – 4pm ≥ SAT 19 Mar

Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, Charles Babbage Road, CB3 0FS Ideal for teenagers ThinkCon Talks from some of the best science speakers across the UK. This year’s guests include Kat Arney discussing her new book Herding Hemingway’s Cat on how genes actually work, and Kathryn Harkup, author of A is for Arsenic which looks at the poisons of Agatha Christie.

3pm – 10pm Pre-book ≥ SAT 19 Mar

Cambridge Union Society, Bridge Street, CB2 1UA Approaching absolute zero When cooled in liquid nitrogen, superconductors can carry electric current with no loss of energy, can repel magnetic fields and could be the future of energy transmission, medical imaging and transport. Explore these materials with the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy.

Talks

3.30pm – 4.30pm ≥ SAT 19 Mar

Sports Hall, University Sports Centre, Phillipa Fawcett Drive, CB3 0AS

Tracking an alien ladybird invasion Ladybirds are among the most popular and charismatic of insects. Dr Peter Brown, Anglia Ruskin University, shows how data from the public has greatly added to our knowledge of these fascinating beetles, and has been used to track an alien species!

3.30pm – 4.30pm Pre-book ≥ SAT 19 Mar

Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, CB1 1PT Freezing for the future Against the reality of the extinction crisis that global warming and ocean acidification present, Paul Pearce-Kelly discusses the Frozen Ark imperative to preserve the genetic heritage of our planet’s biodiversity before it is lost for ever.

4.30pm – 6pm Pre-book ≥ SAT 19 Mar

Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, CB1 1PT Attraction explained: the science of how we form relationships Can science explain how we form relationships? This talk looks at how factors such as geography, appearance, personality and similarity affect who we fall for and why. Presented by Professor Viren Swami, Department of Psychology, Anglia Ruskin University.

5pm – 6pm Pre-book ≥ SAT 19 Mar

Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, CB1 1PT

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TALKS

Sun 20 Mar Can we improve crop pollination by breeding better flowers?

As part of the Science on Sunday talk series, Dr Beverley Glover, Director of Cambridge University Botanic Garden, discusses whether we can improve crop pollination by breeding better flowers.

11am – 11.30am 2pm – 2.30pm ≥ SUN 20 Mar Classroom, Botanic Garden, 1 Brookside, CB2 1JE

Standard garden entry charge applies Putting neurosurgery under the 3D microscope Dr Rikin Trivedi shows how this technology helps us to operate in ways surgeons could only once dream of, 3D glasses provided.

11am – 11.45am Pre-book ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Lecture Theatre Two, Clinical School, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SP Meet your brain What do you know about the workings of your brain? By creating a giant 'neuron’ live on stage, Naked Scientist Ginny Smith explores how nerve cells communicate and how we can hijack their signals so one human can control the movements of another.

11am – NOON Pre-book ≥ SUN 20 Mar

UTC Cambridge, Robinson Way, CB2 0SZ Great for families

Biomedical research at Cambridge University Hospitals Professor John Bradley looks at the history of research on the Cambridge University Hospitals campus and how this has influenced patient care and been informed by public involvement.

11.15am – 12.15pm Pre-book ≥ SUN 20 Mar

William Harvey Lecture Theatre, Clinical School, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SP A tour around your ear and hearing brain Dr David Baguley takes us on the journey of sound from ear to brain (and back again) and discusses many of the issues that can arise when things go wrong.

NOON – 12.45pm Pre-book ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Lecture Theatre Two, Clinical School, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SP Battling cancer with data science Dr Shamith Samarajiwa, from the Medical Research Council Cancer Unit, explains how analysing biomedical big data can help us understand different cancers and identify new targets for treatments.

12.15pm – 1pm Pre-book ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, Robinson Way, CB2 0RE

Sex, food and smell The links between smell and attraction are well documented, and it’s not just humans that find certain smells irresistible. Pheromones are an integral part of the life cycles – from elephants to insects. Dr Greg Jefferis, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, explores how pheromones regulate courtship and how behaviours are encoded in brain wiring.

12.45pm – 1.45pm Pre-book ≥ SUN 20 Mar

UTC Cambridge, Robinson Way, CB2 0SZ The physics of MRI and how it detects disease Join Dr Martin Graves and Dr Ferdia Gallagher, scientists at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, to learn about magnetic resonance imaging. Discover how molecular and quantum mechanical principles are used to create images and how these images are used to identify diseases.

12.45pm – 1.45pm Pre-book ≥ SUN 20 Mar

William Harvey Lecture Theatre, Clinical School, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SP Big data from small sources: computing demands in molecular and cell biology Revolutions in genomics, proteomics and imaging techniques mean biological data is being collected faster than ever. Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute scientists produce terabytes of data each week, more than their predecessors generated in a decade. Dr Peter Maccallum, discusses the challenges of storing and processing these novel kinds of information.

1pm – 1.45pm Pre-book ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, Robinson Way, CB2 0RE

34 Brain injury and new technology How can technology address the problems of brain injuries, from prevention to rehabilitation? The NIHR Brain Injury Healthcare Technology Co-operative introduces a set of new technological solutions.

1pm – 2.15pm Pre-book ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Lecture Theatre Two, Clinical School, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SP Making new medicines for old diseases Age-old human diseases like cancer remain largely incurable despite explosive growth in our knowledge of how they develop.

Professor Ashok Venkitaraman, from the Medical Research Council Cancer Unit, discusses recent scientific advances that promise to transform our ability to translate biological knowledge into new medicines.

1.45pm – 2.30pm Pre-book ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, Robinson Way, CB2 0RE Cambridge University Hospital Chair’s Lecture: I didn’t know that! The inside story of Addenbrooke’s Celebrating the 250th anniversary of Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Keith Day casts light on the events and the people behind the history.

Talks

2pm – 3pm Pre-book ≥ SUN 20 Mar

William Harvey Lecture Theatre, Clinical School, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SP

Of mice and men: diagnosing early Alzheimer’s disease There is a need for simple and accurate diagnostic tests to help diagnose early Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr Dennis Chan discusses work testing brain regions which are involved in spatial navigation and memory, and current research designing novel diagnostic tools.

2.30pm – 3.15pm ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Pre-book

Lecture Theatre Two, Clinical School, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SP

Harnessing our immune system to combat cancer Cytotoxic T cells are white blood cells with remarkable properties.

Upon recognition of cancer cells, these immune cells can develop into specialised serial killers.

Dr Maike de la Roche, Cancer Research UK, studies what controls these cells to develop strategies to enhance our bodies’ very own anti-cancer defence mechanism.

2.30pm – 3.15pm Pre-book ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, Robinson Way, CB2 0RE

Pre-book

Institute of Continuing Education, Madingley Hall, Madingley, CB23 8AQ

3.30pm – 4.30pm Pre-book ≥ SUN 20 Mar

William Harvey Lecture Theatre, Clinical School, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SP The unbelievable scientific truth Based on the popular radio show, this event takes a lighthearted look at science. A panel of Cambridge scientists are challenged to smuggle as many scientific truths past their colleagues as possible by cunningly hiding them among lies.

It’s the job of the panel to spot these truths!

3.45pm – 4.45pm Pre-book ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Resolving astronomical mysteries: the devil’s in the detail Intricate images from modern telescopes reveal the beauty and complexity of our Universe.

Dr Judith Croston explores how astronomers combine detailed telescopic measurements to create images that are both beautiful and scientifically useful.

2.30pm – 3.30pm ≥ SUN 20 Mar

John Gurdon: Journey of a lifetime Join Sir John Gurdon, Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine 2012 and Distinguished Group Leader at the Gurdon Institute, as he takes us on the journey of his lifetime. From researching cell reprogramming, creating the first clones through to the potential applications of his research in therapies using cell renewal.

Institute of Continuing Education, Madingley Hall, Madingley, CB23 8AQ

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Meet the Professor Professor David Spiegelhalter Statistical Laboratory, Centre for Mathematical Sciences University of Cambridge

I love being involved with the Cambridge Science Festival.

Since I started my job as the Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk, I’ve presented a series of talks, and have even started to recognise some of the same faces in the audience who loyally turn up each time.

Statistics is often thought of as a rather dry area of study. Even dull. But this is a sad misunderstanding – statistics can be a riveting subject, and there’s never any problem coming up with a good topic for a talk, whether it’s coincidences, lethal danger, or the statistics of sex.

See David’s Event: How old are you really?

8pm – 9pm Mon 14 Mar Page 24

Statistical evidence can be ‘framed’ as part of a story, often with the intention of manipulating our views or behaviour. And there are a lot of stories about the harms we do to ourselves by our lifestyles, whether it’s how much we drink, how little we exercise, or what we eat (watch out for the bacon sandwiches!). A popular current metaphor for these harms is to tell us, say, our ‘heart age’, with the idea of persuading us to do things that will make our heart ‘younger’. This, perhaps remarkably, can be given a rigorous mathematical justification. And we can test, through proper experiments, the effect these stories have on people.

Cambridge audiences are not to be taken lightly – there will always be someone there who knows more than I do about any topic, as well as the sharp teenagers ready to ask the most difficult questions. But I’m ready to take my chances.

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Film

Feature Image A Druidic sacrifice of prisoners of war in a wicker man (1903) Wellcome Library, London

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Cult classics, science fiction, documentaries and silent shorts on screen

Seksmisja Reproduction on Film presents the classic Polish science fiction and political satire Seksmisja (1984) about men who wake from experimental hibernation to find themselves in an all-female dystopia. Introduced by Dr Sanley Bill.

7pm – 10pm Adults only ≥ Wed 9 Mar

St John’s College Old Divinity School, All Saints’ Passage, CB2 1TP Leonardo Da Vinci: the genius and his age La Dante in Cambridge screens a biographical film about Leonardo Da Vinci, one of the greatest painters and most versatile geniuses in history.

In Italian with English subtitles.

NOON – 1.30pm Pre-book ≥ Sat 12 Mar

The Lodge, Hawthorn Way, CB4 1BT Einstein: the life and the science La Dante in Cambridge is proud to show a film about Einstein, one of the most famous scientists of all time.

In Italian, with English subtitles.

2.30pm – 3.45pm ≥ Sat 12 Mar

Pre-book

The Lodge, Hawthorn Way, CB4 1BT

Prudence and the Pill Reproduction on Film presents Prudence and the Pill (1968), an astonishing upstairs/downstairs comedy entirely structured around the birth control pill. Introduced by Jessica Borge, Birkbeck, University of London.

To pre-book, visit: www.sciencefestival.cam.ac.uk or call: 01223 766766 There is no need to Pre-book events unless specifically stated

7pm – 9pm Adults only ≥ MON 14 Mar

St John’s College Old Divinity School, All Saints’ Passage, CB2 1TP

Science in the Cinema: Contagion The recent Ebola outbreak showed how suddenly a deadly disease outbreak can spread. The 2011 film Contagion anticipates the global spread of a fictitious infectious disease, following medics, public health officials and the public. Watch the film and find out about the reality and risks with our panel of experts.

6pm – 8.30pm Pre-book ≥ Wed 16 Mar

Arts Picturehouse, St Andrew’s Street, CB2 3AR Film certificate 12A Normal ticket price payable The Wicker Man Reproduction on Film presents The Wicker Man (1973), the cult classic as you've never seen it before: as part of the history of science, religion, sex and reproduction. Introduced by Professor Justin Smith, University of Portsmouth.

7pm – 9pm Adults only ≥ Wed 16 Mar

St John’s College Old Divinity School, All Saints’ Passage, CB2 1TP An evening of silent shorts and live music Reproduction on Film presents a special evening of rarely screened silent science, medical and experimental films about human reproduction with live musical accompaniment (1929–1967). Funded by the Wellcome Trust and introduced

by Dr Jesse Olszynko-Gryn 7pm – 9pm Adults only ≥ Sun 20 Mar St John's College Old Divinity School, All Saints’ Passage, CB2 1TP

£5

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Performance

Feature Image A Piece of Time by Nick Steur Mirjana Vrbaski

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Laughs and serious science through comedy, music and theatre

Asher Jay: creative conservation Creative conservationist and National Geographic Emerging Explorer Asher Jay uses groundbreaking design and multimedia arts in her performance to inspire global action to combat illegal wildlife trafficking, advance environmental issues and promote humanitarian causes.

Bright Club: where brains and comedy collide The thinking person's variety night: two professional comedians alongside researchers giving stand-up comedy a go. A night of facts and laughs for anyone to enjoy.

7.30pm – 10.30pm Pre-book ≥ Thu 10 Mar

The Portland Arms, Chesterton Road, CB4 3BA

Adults only £8 Ada.Ada.Ada A spellbinding one-woman show performed by Zoe Philpott about Ada Lovelace, the world’s first computer programmer. She wrote her algorithm in 1843 and was then written out of history. Become part of her story with a handful of postage labels, a kilometre of string and a programmable dress that would make Ada proud.

5pm – 6pm Pre-book ≥ SAT 12 Mar

Cambridge Union Society, Bridge Street, CB2 1UA For everyone aged 12+ £7, £5 children and concessions

5pm – 6pm Pre-book ≥ SAT 12 Mar

David Attenborough Building, New Museums Site, CB2 3QZ Robin Ince asks: why can't I be less wrong?

Robin Ince tries to work out how he can be less wrong more often. Why don't we teach critical thinking in primary school? A fool's guide to trying to be less foolish.

8pm – 10pm ≥ SAT 12 Mar

Pre-book

Cambridge Union Society, Bridge Street, CB2 1UA

Great for everyone aged 15+ £9, £7 concessions On The Axis Of This World Cambridge City Opera and the Polar Museum, presents On The Axis Of This World by Matt Rogers, an operatic meditation on the vast perspectives of Antarctica, inspired

by British explorers. Their haunting writings reach out through a shifting musical landscape born of weather systems and ice flow.

6.15pm – 8pm Pre-book ≥ TUE 15 Mar

The Polar Museum, Lensfield Road, CB2 1ER Adults only £8.50, £5.75 concessions

40 A PIECE OF TIME: moving pendulums & synchronising metronomes With 32 metronomes and pendulum set in a steel pyramid based upon Giza's giant pyramid, Nick Steur takes us on a journey into a poetic, visual and mystical world dictated by the laws of physics that recaptures a reality which, in our complex high-tech existence, we have nearly forgotten.

Presented by Cambridge Junction 7.30pm – 9pm ≥ TUE 15 Mar 5pm – 6.30pm 8.30pm – 10pm ≥ WED 16 Mar

Pre-book

Cambridge Junction, Clifton Way, CB1 7GX

£12, £8 concessions How is the Universe like a light bulb? ... and what does that tell us?

Michael Conterio links the everyday to the wondrous. You may know more physics than you thought!

7.30pm – 9.30pm ≥ WED 16 Mar

Pre-book

CB2 Café, Norfolk Street, CB1 2LD

£3.30 The Gigglebytes Five brainy comedians have the perfect comedy show formula.

Get your numbers crunched, data dissected and sides split by statistically significant stand-up.

Performance

8pm – 9pm Pre-book ≥ THU 17 Mar

CB2 Café, Norfolk Street, CB1 2LD Adults only £5

Pictures of You Psychiatrist Martina Di Simplicio, MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, playwright Craig Baxter and Menagerie Theatre Company present Pictures of You – a play and talks on mental imagery, cognition, emotions and mental health.

5pm – 7.30pm Pre-book ≥ FRI 18 Mar

MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, CB2 7EF Thinking without Words: the cognition of beauty Cambridge Graduate Orchestra presents ornithological themes in classical music, coupled with a guest talk by Professor Nicola Clayton and Clive Wilkins.

7.30pm – 10pm Pre-book ≥ FRI 18 Mar

West Road Concert Hall, West Road, CB3 9DP £12, £8 concessions, £6 students The element in the room: a radioactive musical comedy about the death and life of Marie Curie by Tangram Theatre Company Marie Curie lived an extraordinary life, and made incredible scientific discoveries in the face of unbelievable odds.

This is her story, replete with breathtaking breakthroughs and seriously silly songs.

Presented by Cambridge Junction

2.30pm – 3.30pm Pre-book 7.30pm – 8.30pm ≥ SAT 19 Mar

Cambridge Junction, Clifton Way, CB1 7GX

£12 adults, £8 concessions

Shh...BANG! by Peut-Être Theatre A delicate dance-theatre performance for children, playfully exploring sound and silence.

Two characters set out on a journey through a world filled with boings, whooshes, tick-tocks and cacophony. Developed in collaboration with Great Ormond Street Hospital and the Institute of Acoustics and Vibrations, Southampton University.

Presented by Cambridge Junction 11.30am – 12.30pm Pre-book 2.30pm – 3.30pm ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Cambridge Junction, Clifton Way, CB1 7GX

Great for families, children aged 3+ £10 adults, £6 children Amazing sounds and unexpected music: THe science behind Shh… BANG! Join us for an interactive workshop with scientists from the University of Southampton at which children can investigate the science of sound and vibration with acoustic toys and unusual musical instruments.

12.45pm – 1.45pm Pre-book 3.45pm – 4.45pm ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Cambridge Junction, Clifton Way, CB1 7GX

Great for families, children aged 3+ £3 children

g n i s i n re oa i t ca u h l t t o l a v a d e R he th i w Dr Lydia Drumright

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Department of Medicine University of Cambridge The ‘digital age’ is revolutionising health care.

Related Events Happier and healthier with smartphone data 6pm – 7pm Mon 7 Mar Page 11 Stem cells and personalised medicine 6.30pm – 8pm Thur 10 Mar Page 15 How big data analysis is changing how we understand the living world 6pm – 7pm Tue 15 Mar Page 25 Speed data-ing 11am – 4pm Sun 20 Mar Page 66

Thanks to new medical record systems, advances in computing, and huge innovation in biomedical sciences, statistics, data science and epidemiology, a simple visit to your doctors could lead to better health care outcomes for you and everyone.

Creative and intelligent uses of electronic medical records from systems, such as the one adopted by Addenbrooke’s Hospital, are already enabling doctors and researchers to use electronic health records of hundreds of thousands of patients to find new effective uses for medications; for example, repurposing a common diabetes medication for treatment of cancer. Similarly, electronic medical data being generated in the operating theatre can be incorporated into an analytic algorithm to inform doctors of the best care plan for that patient, dramatically reducing infections following surgery. This type of innovation is being combined with individuals’ genetics with the hope that we will soon be able to have treatment plans, medications and methods tailored to each individual.

We are entering an exciting new era of personalised medicine enabled by the digital age. However, with this comes technology and tools that increase the ability to uncover an individual’s identity from anonymous records, or indeed their genetic sequence. We are faced with guiding the use of this knowledge and new technology for the betterment of society and health while also preventing misuse. The next era holds the promise of momentous changes in medicine influenced by research in healthcare big data. With this, though, comes a great responsibility and the need for ethical perspectives.

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Hands-on

Feature Image Skeleton of a frog Alice Boagey

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Events for all ages, from hands-on activities to tours and interactive workshops

Pre-Festival Science CafÉ Take a break with scientists at Caffé Mobile! Spin the Wheel of Science and chat about our research. Hot drinks and homemade cakes available for purchase.

NOON – 3pm ≥ SAT 5 Mar

Market Square, Market Hill, CB2 3NU Science buskers: light up your knowledge Learn what’s inside your own cells and use household items to make a model of a cell that you can take home with you. With the British Science Association Cambridgeshire Branch.

NOON – 4pm Drop in ≥ SAT 5 Mar

Grafton Centre, CB1 1DB Great for families

Mon 7 Mar Plant hunter challenge Have you got what it takes to become a plant hunter, finding and collecting the world’s most unusual plant specimens? Test your powers of deduction, map reading and daring on this new family trail at the Botanic Garden.

Regular garden Drop in opening hours ≥ Mon 7 Mar to Sun 20 Mar

Botanic Garden, 1 Brookside, CB2 1JE To pre-book, visit: www.sciencefestival.cam.ac.uk or call: 01223 766766 There is no need to Pre-book events unless specifically stated

Standard garden entry charge applies for accompanying adults Great for families

How do we see, or actually we don’t: visual illusions and the limits of seeing Dr Will Harrison takes us on a tour of visual illusions, and how we see, or actually don’t. Book a session and take part in a series of tests and visual illusions that show how little we see and much we invent what we see.

2pm – 6pm Pre-book ≥ Mon 7 Mar to Fri 11 Mar

Department of Psychology, Downing Street, CB2 3EB

Adults only Robogals workshop Learn to programme Lego Mindstorms robots with Robogals Cambridge. Robogals is a student organisation aiming to increase female participation in engineering.

The workshop is aimed at girls, although everyone is welcome.

5.30pm – 6.30pm Pre-book ≥ Mon 7 Mar + Wed 9 Mar

Department of Engineering, Trumpington Street, CB2 1PZ Ideal for teenagers Bitesize polar science evening Cleanse your palate for an evening of bitesize science at the Polar Museum.

Try out experiments yourself and be entertained by our buskers from the British Science Association!

6pm – 8pm Drop in ≥ Mon 7 Mar

The Polar Museum, Lensfield Road, CB2 1ER Adults only

44 Science Festival ceilidh The Science Festival ceilidh staged by the Red Rock Ceilidh Band and with special science-themed dances: Newton’s Cradle, Wave–Particle Duality in 6/8 Time and Very Large Hadron Collider.

8pm – 10pm ≥ Mon 7 Mar

Fuel your interest in science Join scientists at Cambridge Regional College for a chance to get experimental! Explore fuels and the engineering of eco-cars, collect data on the chemistry of milk and round off your evening with a biology-based talk.

Pre-book

Emmanuel United Reformed Church, Trumpington Street, CB2 1RR

£7, £4 concessions, children under 12 free

5pm – 8pm ≥ Tue 8 Mar

Pre-book

Meet in Reception at 5pm, Cambridge Regional College, King’s Hedges Road, CB4 2QT

Great for families

Tue 8 Mar COSMIC COSMIC at Cambridge Science Centre invites you to step out of this world into a space adventure.

Explore our solar system, the stars, and the extraordinary machines we travel in and send out to discover new frontiers. Our hands-on exhibits put you firmly at the controls.

Regular centre Drop in opening hours ≥ Tue 8 Mar to Sun 20 Mar

Cambridge Science Centre, 18 Jesus Lane, CB5 8BQ

Hands-on

Standard admission prices apply Great for families

The original text message: historical letterpress printing Visit the Cambridge University Library’s Historical Printing Room to discover how type is made and pages are composed. View a demonstration of a historical hand-press and print a commemorative keepsake.

5.30pm – 6.30pm Pre-book ≥ Tue 8 Mar + WED 9 Mar

Historical Printing Room, Cambridge University Library, West Road, CB3 9DR

To pre-book visit: www.sciencefestival.cam.ac.uk or call: 01223 766766

Bookings open Mon 8 Feb Lines open 10.30am – 4pm Mon – Fri

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HANDS-ON A sustainable future: finding your way Are you concerned about climate change but not sure what to do?

Cambridge Carbon Footprint invites you to explore what motivates you, what might get in the way and find a way forward which is right for you.

Wed 9 Mar Big questions: science and religion – how do we know what we know?

Explore what science and religious faith say about the world and how they interact, with a science magician, an expert panel and hands-on experiments.

7pm – 9.30pm ≥ Thu 10 Mar

Presented by the Faraday Institute and the God and the Big Bang Project

1pm – 3.30pm ≥ WED 9 Mar

Pre-book

How to build an Egyptian coffin This half-day course begins with a short introduction to the amazing technology behind Ancient Egyptian coffins. This is followed by a demonstration of techniques used by specialists involved in examining the woodwork and recreating the painted surface of Egyptian coffins.

Open to school groups aged 14–18 STEAM at the museum A practical workshop for primary and secondary school teachers interested in exploring how the Fitzwilliam Museum’s collections and research can support inspiring learning in science, technology, engineering, arts and maths (STEAM).

Thu 10 Mar

Speed mentoring Join us for a fast and furious career development session; speak to four mentors in just a one-hour slot! Open to women at all stages of study or work. Cambridge mentors are women from all fields, from poets to professors, and from mums to managers.

Pre-book

Department of Engineering, Trumpington Street, CB2 1PZ

Adults only

1.30pm – 4.30pm ≥ Fri 11 Mar

Pre-book

Pre-book

Meet at Courtyard Entrance, Fitzwilliam Museum, Trumpington Street, CB2 1RB

5.30pm – 6.30pm ≥ Thu 10 Mar

St Paul’s Cambridge, Hills Road, CB2 1JP

Fri 11 Mar

Little Hall, Sidgwick Site, CB3 9DA

2pm – 5pm ≥ WED 9 Mar

Pre-book

Zeroes and ones What does 01001000 01100101 01101100 01101100 01101111 mean? In computer-speak or binary, it’s hello. In this Centre for Computing History workshop, use a BBC Micro to explore binary numbers and discover how a computer works.

4.30pm – 6.30pm Pre-book ≥ Thu 10 Mar

Centre for Computing History, Rene Court, Coldhams Road, CB1 3EW Ideal for teenagers Standard admission charges apply

Meet at Courtyard Entrance, Fitzwilliam Museum, Trumpington Street, CB2 1RB

Adults only £10 Visualising medicine: an evening of art, anatomy and science Look through the Whipple Museum’s collection of historical anatomical models and books, chat with our guest anatomical illustrators and take part in practical demonstrations that explore modern techniques of medical illustration.

5.30pm – 8pm ≥ Fri 11 Mar

Drop in

Whipple Museum of the History of Science, Free School Lane, CB2 3RH

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Meet the Science-Theatre Writer-Performer John Hinton Tangram Theatre Company

This is the third year I've been honoured with an invite to perform at Cambridge Science Festival. Either they're genuinely glad to have me back, or the extreme changes in my facial hair have confused them into thinking I'm actually three different people.

Beards go in and out of fashion, and the University of New South Wales thinks it knows why. Its researchers published a study in 2014 showing that the perceived attractiveness of beards follows what is known as ‘negative frequency-dependent selection’, an extension of Darwinian theory basically saying that the fewer beards there are in a population, the more attractive beards will seem, thus encouraging more beard growth, thus reducing the attractiveness of beards, thus encouraging more shaving, and so on back and forth.

In an attempt to stay as attractive as possible (in the attractiveto-science-festivals-seeking-musical-comedies sense; I am a happily married man), I am currently varying my facial hairiness with alarming regularity. One day, my top lip will sport the elegant sproutings of an Einstein tash, as I wrangle with (and rap about) relativity. The following day, my face will flow with a full Darwin beard, as I monkey about with my barnacles. Then suddenly, as I'll be demonstrating in Cambridge this year, there I'll be with a face so cleanly shaven you may just conceivably mistake me for Marie Curie.

Theatre about science is a booming at present, and for very good reasons – theatre allows for lateral leaps and metaphorical insights that bring otherwise dry scientific topics to life. Here’s hoping negative frequency-dependent selection doesn't apply to the marriage of theatre and science, for I feel we’re merely beginning to explore the possibilities.

See John’s Event: The element in the room: a radioactive comedy about the death and life of Marie Curie

by Tangram Theatre Company 2.30pm – 3.30pm 7.30pm – 8.30pm Sat 19 Mar Page 40

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HANDS-ON

Sat 12 Mar Cluescape: the Hunden games Introducing the Library’s interactive escape game. The year is 1416 and you have 50 minutes to travel back in time. With the help of the Library’s collections, can you solve the puzzles, crack the codes and find the hidden documents?

9.15am – 10.15am Pre-book 10.30am – 11.30am 11.45am – 12.45pm 1pm – 2pm 2.15pm – 3.15pm 3.30pm – 4.30pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Milstein Exhibition Centre, Cambridge University Library, West Road, CB3 9DR For teams of 2 – 8 people Ideal for families with teenagers £10 per team To Code or Not to Code Join STEM Team East to get hands-on and to grips with the new BBC Micro:bit computer. Learn to code, guided by Code Club and TechFuture computer scientists.

Download your program to a device and see your ideas in action. Each session includes a talk on data and global communications for all ages, and interactive coding stations.

I don’t do maths: understanding school children’s anxiety about maths Maths anxiety is a debilitating emotional reaction to mathematics.

This workshop draws on research on the triggers and experience of maths anxiety to help teachers, parents and others support youngsters to cope.

Translational medicine: bench to bedside and back Have you ever wondered how scientists develop drugs? Join the MPhil in Clinical Science students as they journey from the lab to the clinic.

Learn about the drug development process, and try out some commonly used medical equipment.

10am – NOON ≥ SAt 12 Mar

10am – 3pm Drop in ≥ SAt 12 Mar

The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, CB2 1RP

Pre-book

Faculty of Education, 184 Hills Road, CB2 8PQ

Adults only

Ideal for teenagers

Be a computer How does a computer like the BBC micro:bit work? Find out by becoming part of the processor for an afternoon! In this giant experiment, all attendees will be able to be part of a giant BBC micro:bit – teams will race against each other to run different programs, each person being a part of the machine

Engineering with Lego bricks Explore ways to design and engineer innovative buildings using Lego bricks in this hands-on workshop from Skills4Stem Ltd in collaboration with The Institution of Engineering and Technology and the Knowledge Transfer Network.

10am – 1pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar

The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, CB2 1RP

Great for families

9.30am – 10.45am Pre-book 11am – 12.15pm 1pm – 2.15pm 2.30pm – 3.45pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Great for families, children aged 8+

Drop in

Ideal for teenagers Encoding music Explore the evolution of music notation through an interactive trail at the Cambridge University Library.

Does notation (data) need specific knowledge to (re)create sound?

You’ll hear music clips, then try to create some notes of your own!

St Columbas Hall, Downing Street, CB2 3EL

10am – 3.30pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar

10Am – NOON Pre-book ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Makespace Cambridge, 16 Mill Lane, CB2 1RX

10am – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Great for families

Drop in

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ

Drop in

Cambridge University Library, West Road, CB3 9DR

Great for families

Bottle your genes Students from Long Road Sixth Form College help you isolate your own DNA for you to see and take home.

48 Babraham Institute Molecular Explorers Scientists at the Babraham Institute are trying to answer some tough questions about how our bodies work and how they change as we age. They need your help! Step into our pop-up lab and use light-based technologies such as microscopy and flow cytometry to become a molecular explorer. Will your research help us to understand even more?

10am – 4pm Drop in ≥ SAt 12 Mar NOON – 4pm

≥ Sun 13 Mar

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ Great for families Biology quizzes and challenges Identify a range of biological specimens, test how good you are at recognising cells, have a go at arthropod naming and try your patience with our mirror-tracing challenge! Quizzes and challenges from Cambridge Biologists and Hills Road Sixth Form College.

10am – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar NOON – 4pm ≥ Sun 13 Mar

Drop in

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ

Hands-on

Great for families

Build your DNA and then eat it!

Find out how the Rare Diseases Translational Research Collaboration is supporting research into rare diseases. And for a bit of fun, build a sweet model of your own DNA – but no eating before you’ve finished!

10am – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Drop in

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ

Great for families Cells in the know Join researchers from the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research to discover how different cells, from killer immune cells to neurons, are equipped for specialised jobs in our bodies and how this goes wrong in disease.

10am – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar NOON – 4pm ≥ Sun 13 Mar

Drop in

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ

Great for families Chocolate trial!

Everyone loves chocolate so why not take part in a trial from the Cambridge Clinical Research Facility.

And while you’re enjoying your chocolate, find out about what it is like to take part in a real clinical trial.

10am – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Drop in

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ

Great for families

All events are free unless otherwise stated

49

HANDS-ON Combined medicines: more than 1+1!

In the fight against cancer, combining medicines is more powerful than administering just one. MedImmune scientists have several candidates, but can you help us find the right combination?

10am – 4pm Drop in ≥ SAt 12 Mar

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ Great for families

10am – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar NOON – 4pm ≥ Sun 13 Mar

In.D.N.A Jones and the big genetic data hunt What can genetic data tell us about a person? Explore how DNA analysis sheds light on our past, present and future through hands-on activities with scientists from the Wellcome Genome Campus.

10am – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar NOON – 4pm ≥ Sun 13 Mar

Interactive Transplantation A glimpse into the fascinating world of transplantation with the Department of Surgery. Find out where organs come from, how they are kept alive outside the body and how doctors prevent rejection after transplantation.

Drop in

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ

Drop in

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ

Safe and sound drive See our demonstration of the Safe and Sound drive game, take a test drive and compete with your friends, and give us feedback on our new gaming development. Facilitated

by CoDE, Cultures of the Digital Economy Research Institute.

10am – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar NOON – 4pm ≥ Sun 13 Mar

Drop in

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ

Great for families Great for families Living and breathing with Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Find out about how we save lives at Papworth Hospital, one of the busiest heart and lung hospitals in Europe, and how to keep your own heart and lungs fit and healthy. Have a go at CPR, test your knowledge, and much more.

Science and cereal packets Where do our eyes glance when choosing drinks and food? Wear eye-tracking glasses and make a selection from a mock-up supermarket shelf. Anglia Ruskin University researchers show you where you look and how this relates to the products you choose.

10am – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar NOON – 4pm ≥ Sun 13 Mar

10am – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar NOON – 4pm ≥ Sun 13 Mar

Drop in

Drop in

Great for families Institution of Engineering and Technology Do you want to become an engineer? The Institution of Engineering and Technology has electronics and engineering kits to build, and lots of information and advice about engineering as a career.

10am – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar NOON – 4pm ≥ Sun 13 Mar

Drop in

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ

Great for families

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ

Great for families

Great for families

Metabolism, fat and fitness Visit our stand and sample some food, then let the NIHR/Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility track your metabolism. Find out more about the links between fat and fitness.

Statistics: making data fun Are you statistically intuitive? Can you see the genetics in family trees? Are you easily distracted? Join our trial and see how the MRC Biostatistics Unit turns data into knowledge.

10am – 4pm Drop in ≥ SAt 12 Mar

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ

10am – 4pm Drop in ≥ SAt 12 Mar

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ

Great for families

Great for families

50 Stem cells: how to make a human and turn back time Stem cells are small and amazing; they can make all of the cells in the human body. Stem Cell Institute scientists are trying to understand how they do this and are also trying to make our own stem cells by convincing mature cells to rewind.

Learn about the mysteries of stem cells, and conduct your own experiments.

10am – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar NOON – 4pm ≥ Sun 13 Mar

The wonderful world of blood vessels Join scientists from Cardiovascular Medicine to find out how fascinating our blood vessels are, discover what goes wrong with them in disease and what we can do to fix them.

10am – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar NOON – 4pm ≥ Sun 13 Mar

To pre-book visit: www.sciencefestival.cam.ac.uk or call: 01223 766766

Bookings open Mon 8 Feb Lines open 10.30am – 4pm Mon – Fri

Drop in

Drop in

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ

Great for families

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ

Great for families The science of eating Join scientists from the Metabolic Research Laboratories and MRC Metabolic Diseases Unit in activities and games that help explain why we eat what we do and how we use the energy our food provides.

10am – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar NOON – 4pm ≥ Sun 13 Mar

Drop in

Great for families The sound of Cambridge Visit our recording booth and listen to your own voice combined with the acoustics of different sites around Cambridge. With CoDE, Cultures of the Digital Economy Research Institute and Parkside School.

Hands-on

10am – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar NOON – 4pm ≥ Sun 13 Mar

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ

10am – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar NOON – 4pm ≥ Sun 13 Mar

Worms, flies and frogs: What can they teach us about human disease?

Discover some of the model animals used in the Gurdon Institute: the worm, the fly and the frog. Learn abou their life cycles and how they help us understand human biology.

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ

Great for families Conservation hub Visit the new David Attenborough Building, home to nine charities and six University departments all with the shared vision of protecting biodiversity and providing a sustainable future for all life on Earth.

Join us for hands-on activities and talks that get you up close to the cutting edge of conservation. It’s going to be wild!

Drop in

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ

10am – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Drop in

David Attenborough Building, New Museums Site, CB2 3QZ Great for families

Great for families

Drop in

51

HANDS-ON Alien invasion See a range of invasive freshwater species, such as crayfish, and learn just how many different types of UK fauna and flora originated overseas.

A chance to meet researchers from the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute.

10am – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Fixed-wing aircraft Make a model aircraft that uses the energy stored in a rubber strip to drive it through the air. Optimise your design to manage this limited energy source and achieve a stable flight. Join engineers from the University of Cambridge Department of Engineering for an exploration of how wings work and how aircraft and birds control their flight.

Drop in

David Attenborough Building, New Museums Site, CB2 3QZ

Great for families Here’s looking at zoo Join us at the Museum of Zoology for a sneak preview of the new galleries. See plans for the British wildlife displays, get your hands on real specimens, find out more about the Ackroyd & Harvey Killer Seeds exhibition and make crafts to take away with you.

10am – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar

10am – 4pm Drop in ≥ SAt 12 Mar

University Centre, Granta Place, Mill Lane, CB2 1RU

10am – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Here be dragons Discover the fascinating history of the Biological Tea Club, an early 20th-century student science society obsessed with dragons. The society provided an opportunity for members to discuss research, whilst partaking of cream buns ‘without fork, spoon or any other apparatus’!

Meet real-life bearded dragons from Shepreth Wildlife Park, and create your own dragon to take home.

Plant and Life Sciences Marquee Researchers from the Department of Plant Sciences, Sainsbury Laboratory and National Institute of Agricultural Botany and across the biological disciplines demonstrate how modern, data-driven technologies are used to understand plants from molecular to ecosystem level.

Featuring synthetic biology, genetic inheritance and food security.

10am – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Presented with AstraZeneca

David Attenborough Building, New Museums Site, CB2 3QZ

Great for families

University Centre, Granta Place, Mill Lane, CB2 1RU

10am – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar 11am – 3pm ≥ Sun 13 Mar

Seeing is believing: zebrafish as a seethrough model for biomedical research Zebrafish are being used more and more in medical research. They are small and transparent in the early embryo stages. See how studying these transparent fish can teach us about how we are built and how we can treat disease with the Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience.

Drop in

Drop in

Great for families

Our nuclear world Nuclear energy has had some bad press but for a low-carbon future it will prove indispensable. From natural radioactivity to fusion, explore the capabilities of nuclear technologies and discover whether nuclear power is the future for our planet.

Great for families

10am – 4pm Drop in ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Department of Genetics,

Downing Site, CB2 3EH

Great for families

Drop in

David Attenborough Building, New Museums Site, CB2 3QZ

Genes and heredity Join us at the Department of Genetics to discover how we use fruit flies to find out more about genes, and take part in simple experiments to understand more about heredity.

Hands-on cognition café: five user-friendly test-your-brain stations Join the Department of Psychology and see how you perform on a range of cognitive tests, against yourself, against others and against the world.

An opportunity for you to learn more about you, through science.

Drop in

Marquee on the lawn, Downing Site, CB2 3EA

10am – 4pm Drop in ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, Downing Site, CB2 3DY

10am – 4pm Drop in ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Department of Psychology, Downing Site, CB2 3EB

52 Maths and memory: how, when, where and what?

How does having a strong visual short-term memory make people better at maths? This is one of the questions being explored in the Department of Psychology.

Solve visual puzzles, learn cool speed-maths tricks and find out how good your visual memory is.

10am – 4pm Drop in ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Department of Psychology, Downing Site, CB2 3EB Great for families Memory in the mountains The memory mountain test is designed to catch if your memory is getting frail. Take a quick test with David Howett to raise awareness of neurodegenerative diseases and Alzheimer’s disease.

10am – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Drop in

Department of Psychology, Downing Site, CB2 3EB

For adults Smells in the brain, and it is bliss...

How do you think you smell?

What does it matter? Do you smell when you are asleep? Take part in smell experiments with Anat Arzi, from the Department of Psychology, and find out more about the cognition of olfaction.

10am – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Drop in

Department of Psychology, Downing Site, CB2 3EB

Hands-on

Great for families

Chemistry in action Get inside a world of science and look beyond the ordinary.

Magnetic levitation – get excited by materials that start floating when you cool them down. She loves me, she loves me not – play with materials that absorb 800 times their weight in water, and others where water bounces right off!

See how Cambridge scientists are designing materials of the future.

10am – 4.30pm Drop in ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Department of Chemistry, Lensfield Road, CB2 1EW Great for families Crash, Bang, Squelch!

CHaOS at the Science Festival Get to grips with exciting, fascinating and just plain weird science that shows you how the world works. Enthusiastic students from CHaOS show what goes on in our experiments, looking at lots of science that goes crash, bang and squelch!

10am – 5pm Pre-book ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Department of Zoology, New Museums Site, Downing Street, CB2 3EJ Great for families Timed tickets available in advance with drop-in tickets on the day

CHaOS and Robogals: robots at Crash, Bang, Squelch!

Join CHaOS and Robogals Cambridge for robotics workshops. Zero experience is required, as we’ll teach you all the basics so you can start making your own robots do amazing things in no time at all.

10.15am – 11am Pre-book 11.15am – NOON 1pm – 1.45pm 2pm – 2.45pm 3pm – 3.45pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Department of Zoology, New Museums Site, Downing Street, CB2 3EJ Great for families Timed tickets available in advance with drop-in tickets on the day Heroes and heroines of science Cambridge Science Guides invite you on a walking tour around some of the places where scientists past and present gathered information, crunched numbers, created equations and passed on their wisdom.

10.30am – 12.30pm Pre-book 2.30pm – 4.30pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Meet by the Whipple Museum, Free School Lane, CB2 3RH Time truck Travel in time with Time Truck!

Investigate rocks and minerals, discover dinosaurs and explore earthquakes with students from the Department of Earth Sciences.

10.30am – 3.30pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Drop in

Department of Earth Sciences, Downing Site, CB2 3EQ

Great for families

53

HANDS-ON Beat the Bronze Age: the microgold challenge Archaeologists think young children were used in the Bronze Age to attach tiny pieces of gold decoration to objects. The Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology wants to put this idea to the test with this hands-on activity: adults versus children!

10.30am – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Drop in

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Downing Street, CB2 3DZ

Structural data and molecular design Data from three-dimensional structures of macromolecules at atomic resolution helps us to understand how living systems work at the molecular level. We demonstrate how we study proteins and how we use this information to identify new functions, design new molecules and develop new and better drugs.

11am – 3pm Drop in ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Hopkins Building, Department of Biochemistry, Downing Site, CB2 1QW

Medicines under the microscope Join the Department of Pharmacology to fish for daphnia and use a microscope to see their heart, guts, eye and eggs. Perform experiments with caffeine, alcohol, nicotine and cold medicines and see the effect of these common drugs on daphnia heart-rate.

11am – 4pm Drop in ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Department of Pharmacology, Tennis Court Road, CB2 1PD Great for families

Buddhism and science Join us at the Cambridge Buddhist Centre to explore how Buddhism meets the modern world, learn meditation and tour the historic Festival Theatre and Georgian House. There is a talk on science and Buddhism at 11.30am with a question and answer session at 12.30pm.

Polar science family day A day full of polar science activities and experiments brought to you by the British Antarctic Survey and the Polar Museum. Learn polar survival skills and find out about the latest discoveries in Antarctic science.

Moving muds Join the Department of Geography’s Coastal Research Unit and Environmental Systems and Processes Group to find out how tides and waves shape our muddy coasts. Generate a mini storm-surge, try out a wave sensor and find out how to prepare for floods. See, hear and feel how sand, water, mud and plants help us live by the sea.

10.30am – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Cambridge Buddhist Centre, 38 Newmarket Road, CB5 8DT

11am – 3.30pm Drop in ≥ SAt 12 Mar

The Polar Museum, Lensfield Road, CB2 1ER

11am – 4pm Drop in ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Department of Geography, Downing Place, CB2 3EN

Cyber security is you The human factor is one of the weakest links in the cyber security chain, because attacking people is more affordable than attacking machines. So cyber security awareness is the best solution.

Join Sinco Labs and the Cambridge Spanish Centre for talks and demonstrations to improve your relationship with technology and the Internet.

Great for families

Great for families

From small bugs to big baboons Are we that different from bugs and baboons? Enter the basement of the Department of Zoology and discover what we learn by looking at insects in the laboratory and baboons in the wild.

Water, water, everywhere!

Tour our laboratory and watch how water flows on and around the sea bed and onto our shores, wonder at the energy it has, and find out how we can use our knowledge of nature itself to protect ourselves against the risk of flooding and coastal erosion.

11am – 4pm Drop in ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Department of Zoology, New Museums Site, Downing Street, CB2 3EJ

11.30am – NOON Pre-book 12.15pm – 12.45pm 1pm – 1.30pm 2pm – 2.30pm 2.45pm – 3.15pm 3.30pm – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Department of Geography, Downing Place, CB2 3EN

Great for families

11am – 1pm Drop in ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Jesus Lane Friends’ Meeting House, 12 Jesus Lane, CB5 8BA Great for families with teenagers

Great for families

Great for families

54 Whipple anatomy arcade Want to know more about how the human body works? Drop into the Whipple Museum to see some of our anatomical teaching models and take part in anatomical games and puzzles.

11am – 4pm Drop in ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Whipple Museum Free School Lane, CB2 3RH Zoology CafÉ Take a break with zoologists at Caffé Mobile! Spin the Wheel of Science to find out why animals are so diverse in what they do, and chat about our research. Hot drinks and homemade cakes available for purchase.

NOON – 3pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar

On the lawn, Main Entrance, Downing Site, CB2 3DZ Family science makers Make scientific instruments with 3D printing, Arduinos, Raspberry Pis, and more. Measure electrical spikes from muscles, image plant cells, mix fluids in microfluidic chips and start designing your own experiments.

NOON – 5pm Pre-book ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Makespace Cambridge, 16 Mill Lane, CB2 1RX

Hands-on

Great for families

How to build an Egyptian coffin This half-day course begins with a short introduction to the amazing technology behind Ancient Egyptian coffins. This is followed by a demonstration of techniques used by specialists involved in examining the woodwork and recreating the painted surface of Egyptian coffins.

Hands-on at The Guildhall: adults only!

Our adults only hands-on session returns to Cambridge Science Festival again this year. Join us at the Guildhall to discover some of the wonderful science happening in Cambridge today (and all without a child in sight!).

1.30pm – 4.30pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar

6pm – 8pm Pre-book ≥ SAt 12 Mar

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ

Pre-book

Meet at Courtyard entrance, Fitzwilliam Museum, Trumpington Street, CB2 1RB

Presented with MedImmune

Adults only For teenagers aged 15+ £5 How to improve your brain Six Dragon’s Den-style five-minute pitches by cognitive scientists each making the case for a lifestyle change – go vegetarian, stop smoking, meditate, give up alcohol, do brain training, take up running. Bring your questions!

2pm – 4pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar Department of Psychology, Downing Site, CB2 3EB

For adults The world on the back of an envelope Sometimes it’s more important to be quick than to be exact. Learn how you can estimate nearly anything, and then give it a try to win some of our prizes! Envelopes and refreshments will be provided, but you’ll need a pen!

Drug safety: we can’t afford to miss a beat!

The heart is essential for life. Many promising medicines have failed due to side effects that inhibit the heart beat. Can you help scientists at AstraZeneca select the safe molecule to develop?

6pm – 8pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar NOON – 4pm ≥ SUN 13 Mar

Drop in

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ

Great for families Science and beer Where do our eyes glance when choosing beer? Wear a pair of eye-tracking glasses and make a beer selection from a mock-up of a supermarket shelf. Timothy Frogett, Anglia Ruskin University, will track your eye movements during the choice process, record this and play it back to you.

3pm – 4.30pm Pre-book ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Corpus Christi College,

Trumpington Street, CB2 1RH

6pm – 8pm ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Ideal for teenagers

Adults only

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ

55

HANDS-ON Family retro gaming evening An evening of video gaming that you won’t forget! Beat dad at Space Invaders or mum at Pac-Man. A great chance for kids and parents to share experiences, compete against each other and talk about how technology and gaming have changed over the years.

6pm – 10pm Drop in ≥ SAt 12 Mar

Centre for Computing History, Rene Court, Coldhams Road, CB1 3EW Great for families Standard admission charges apply

Sun 13 Mar Playing with programming Find out how code is the engine that makes machines go in this HackLab coding workshop combining programming, problem solving and physical computing.

Hands-on at the Guildhall: autism-friendly hour For one hour, our Guildhall hands-on space will be open just to adults and children who have an autism spectrum condition and their families.

Join us for an opportunity to explore and discuss Cambridge science in a quieter and less-crowded space.

11am – NOON Pre-book ≥ SUN 13 Mar

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ Great for adults and families Hands-on at the Guildhall Join Cambridge Science Festival at the Guildhall for another fun-packed day of hands-on activities. See Saturday’s entry for all the events taking place.

NOON – 4pm Drop in ≥ SUN 13 Mar

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ Great for families

10am – 11.30am Pre-book NOON – 1.30pm 2pm – 3.30pm ≥ SUN 13 Mar

Makespace Cambridge, 16 Mill Lane, CB2 1RX Great for families Sunday Science Cambridge Science Centre goes all out science crazy for the Cambridge Science Festival. Join us for a funfilled day of shows and hands-on workshops for all the family.

10am – 5pm Drop in ≥ SUN 13 Mar

Cambridge Science Centre, 18 Jesus Lane, CB5 8BQ Standard admission prices apply Great for families

Rising Stars Join our stars of the future as they introduce you to their research.

Be the first to try out some brand new interactive activities from our Rising Stars.

NOON – 4pm Drop in ≥ SUN 13 Mar

The Guildhall, Market Square, CB2 3QJ Great for families

Mon 14 Mar

Primary rocket launch pad School groups from years 5 and 6 are invited to the Department of Engineering to explore 3D geometry by making a rocket launch pad structure. The event finale is launching paper rockets with compressed air. Well-made rockets will land on our roof!

10am – NOON Pre-book 1pm – 2.45pm ≥ Mon 14 Mar to FRI 18 Mar

Department of Engineering, Trumpington Street, CB2 1PZ Open to school groups for pupils aged 9–11 Baby mum brain interaction: hands-on brains-on experience How much do you think you are in sync with your baby? Interested in looking at behaviour and brain waves then book a session and find out how we think together, how our brains dance. Stanimira Georgieva and Dr Vicky Leoung open the Baby Lab for a baby – mum brain connection experience.

10am – 4pm Pre-book ≥ Mon 14 Mar to FRI 18 Mar

Department of Psychology, Downing Street, CB2 3EB

56 Heroes and heroines of science Cambridge Science Guides invite you on a walking tour around some of the places where scientists past and present gathered information, crunched numbers, created equations and passed on their wisdom.

10.30am – 12.30pm Pre-book ≥ Mon 14 Mar + WED 16 Mar + FRI 18 Mar

Meet outside the Whipple Museum, Free School Lane, CB2 3RH

What do we think when we think of nothing?

Visit the Consciousness and Cognition Lab in the Department of Psychology for a chat about what we think when we try not to think or when we are just resting.

Book a session, get your brain scanned by an EEG machine and see your brain waves.

2pm – 6pm Pre-book ≥ Mon 14 Mar to FRI 18 Mar

Department of Psychology, Downing Street, CB2 3EB Icehack: exploring polar data Test your coding skills on data collected from some of the most inhospitable regions on Earth.

Launching the Icehack challenge, staff from the British Antarctic Survey will be on hand to supply the data sets and provide tips and ideas on data discovery.

Hands-on

6pm – 10pm Pre-book ≥ Mon 14 Mar

Makespace Cambridge, 16 Mill Lane, CB2 1SB

Tue 15 Mar

Stem cells: PhD experience PhD students at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute offer a hands-on behind the scenes tour of their laboratories for young people. They will then explain their research in just five minutes before answering questions from their guests.

4.30pm – 6pm Pre-book ≥ Tue 15 Mar

Cambridge Stem Cell Institute Full address details will be sent on registration For young people aged 14–25 Curious computing: what’s in your loft?

Cambridge is full of people who have contributed to, or followed, the development of the digital revolution. What forgotten prototypes or gaming curiosities can we find hiding in lofts? This is a chance to see, share and show off the bits of tech that people (you!) have worked on, collected or saved from skips. Attend as a visitor or exhibitor.

5.30pm – 7pm Pre-book ≥ Tue 15 Mar

ARM, 110 Fulbourn Road, CB1 9NJ Exhibitor set up from 4pm

Wed 16 Mar Little explorers: science session Join us on an adventure to explore the Poles through story and play. This time we explore melting and freezing with stories and experiments!

10am – 11am ≥ Wed 16 Mar

Pre-book

The Polar Museum, Lensfield Road, CB2 1ER

For pre-school children under 5 and their carers Amazing algorithms Discover what an algorithm is and why it is important to write correct algorithms to make a computer do a particular task. Join us at the Centre for Computing History and teach a 30-year-old BBC Micro computer to count!

4.30pm – 6.30pm Pre-book ≥ Wed 16 Mar

Centre for Computing History, Rene Court, Coldhams Road, CB1 3EW Great for families, children aged 8+ Standard admission charges apply

57

HANDS-ON 3D printing in disaster zones: help or hindrance?

In humanitarian disasters, supplies are flown in, stockpiled and distributed.

Bottlenecks abound, costs rise, delays increase. Could these challenges be reduced by making supplies locally using 3D printing? If so, what are the opportunities and the dangers? With the Centre for Global Equality, Makespace and Field Ready.

6pm – 8pm Pre-book ≥ Wed 16 Mar + Thu 17 Mar

Makespace Cambridge, 16 Mill Lane, CB2 1RX Exploring the mind and brain An evening at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit exploring our research in psychology and neuroscience through practical hands-on activities and experiments followed by three short talks.

6pm – 8.30pm Pre-book ≥ Wed 16 Mar

MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, CB2 7EF

Thu 17 Mar

Science of sport for schools Test your strength, fitness and agility with our interactive challenges. Are your reaction times quicker than your teacher? With a Batak Wall, bike simulator and speed test.

9.30am – 10.45am Pre-book 11am – 12.15pm 1.15pm – 2.30pm ≥ Thu 17 Mar

University of Cambridge Sports Centre, Philippa Fawcett Drive, CB3 0AS Open to school groups; for pupils aged 8–12

Data race: researching online How quickly can you find the information you need? Are all online resources useful or are some a waste of time? Drop in to test your searching skills against the clock with us at the Office of Scholarly Communication.

10am – 6pm Drop in ≥ Thu 17 Mar

Cambridge University Library, West Road, CB3 9DR The mind behind the music Do animals make music? Can we see what we hear? How might music affect us? We explore these questions, and more, in an afternoon of music and science activities.

4pm – 5.30pm Pre-book ≥ Thu 17 Mar

West Road Concert Hall, 11 West Road, CB3 9DP For families and school groups with children aged 12+

“Caution: may involve broccoli”

Scientific discovery trail Ever wanted to be a scientist in a cutting-edge research lab? Join us for a hands-on workshop at the Sainsbury Lab. We’ll take you on a journey through the stages of scientific discovery into the amazing ways organisms evolve and develop.

Expect to be surprised, challenged and fascinated. Caution: may involve broccoli. No previous scientific expertise needed.

5.30pm – 7pm Pre-book 6pm – 7.30pm 6.30pm – 8pm 7pm – 8.30pm 7.30pm – 9pm ≥ Thu 17 Mar

Sainsbury Laboratory, 47 Bateman Steet, CB2 1LR For everyone aged 15+

The survival game Ever wondered how you would survive when tested to the limits? Try out our survival game where, with just natural resources and your own skills, you can challenge your friends to see who has what it takes to survive in our interactive tasks. Brought to you by the Botanic Garden and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology as part of the Green Museums project.

5.30pm – 6.30pm Pre-book ≥ Thu 17 Mar

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Downing Street, CB2 3DZ Ideal for teenagers aged 14–18

Three years of Makespace: a showcase Celebrating our third birthday, Makespace will be full of the projects, products and people who have used the space to build something during the past three years. See how people have used our equipment, including 3D printers, laser cutters, sewing machines, glass kiln and workshop.

7pm – 9pm Drop in ≥ Thu 17 Mar

Makespace Cambridge, 16 Mill Lane, CB2 1RX

58

Fri 18 Mar

Sat 19 Mar

Science of sport for schools Test your strength, fitness and agility with our interactive challenges. Are your reaction times quicker than your teacher? With a Batak Wall, bike simulator and speed test.

Embodied Science: a gentle exploration of the breath Join Embodied Science founder Elaine Westwick for a body-based enquiry into the breath. Deepen self-knowledge and enhance wellbeing by exploring the simple pleasure of breathing.

9.30am – 10.45am Pre-book 11am – 12.15pm ≥ FRI 18 Mar

University of Cambridge Sports C entre, Philippa Fawcett Drive, CB3 0AS

9.30am – 11am Pre-book 11.30am – 1pm ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Jesus Lane Friends’ Meeting House, 12 Jesus Lane, CB5 8BA Adults only

Open to school groups; for pupils aged 12–16 Physics problem solving: students’ event Understanding what happens using physics is much more than just plugging numbers into an equation.

Join tutors from isaacphysics.org and learn how to attack physics problems that go beyond A-level – but with no further knowledge required!

7.15pm – 8.15pm Pre-book ≥ FRI 18 Mar

Churchill College, Storey’s Way, CB3 0DS For young people aged 15+ years Why physics: how can I help my child?

Parents’ event Not sure what a physics degree might lead to for your child? Want to help them get to university but not sure how? Join the team from Isaac Physics, an online physics resource aimed at the transition from A-level physics to university level, to find answers to these questions.

Hands-on

7.15pm – 8.15pm Pre-book ≥ FRI 18 Mar

Churchill College, Storeys Way, CB3 0DS

Playing with programming Find out how code is the engine that makes machines go in this HackLab coding workshop combining programming, problem solving and physical computing.

10am – 11.30am NOON – 1.30pm 2pm – 3.30pm ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Pre-book

Makespace Cambridge, 16 Mill Lane, CB2 1RX

Great for families, children aged 8+ Veterinary Medicine Open Day Discover how the Department of Veterinary Medicine tackles infectious diseases. Book a place for talks and activities and explore how pathogens spread and how to prevent them.

10am – 10.40am Pre-book 11am – 11.40am NOON – 12.40pm 1pm – 1.40pm 2pm – 2.40pm ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Department of Veterinary Medicine, Madingley Road, CB3 0ES Great for families

To pre-book visit: www.sciencefestival.cam.ac.uk or call: 01223 766766

Bookings open Mon 8 Feb Lines open 10.30am – 4pm Mon – Fri

59

HANDS-ON Totally trees Trees have played an important part in our lives throughout history; they have provided us with food, medicines and a wide range of different materials.

This guided walk will look at some trees in the Cambridge University Botanic Garden’s renowned collection and consider their contribution to our lives both historically and in the present day.

Heroes and heroines of science Cambridge Science Guides invite you on a walking tour around some of the places where scientists past and present gathered information, crunched numbers, created equations and passed on their wisdom.

10.30am – 12.30pm Pre-book 2.30pm – 4.30pm ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Meet outside the Whipple Museum, Free School Lane, CB2 3RH

10.30am – 11.45am Pre-book 1pm – 2.15pm 3pm – 4.15pm ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Starts from Brookside Gate, Botanic Garden, 1 Brookside, CB2 1JE

Free entry to the Botanic Garden for booked participants The balance of health: enter the world of medieval medicine What was it like to be ill in the Middle Ages? This session offers a playful and interactive introduction to the world of medieval medicine according to the manuscript fragments found in the Cairo Genizah and preserved in the Cambridge University Library.

10.30am – NOON ≥ Sat 19 Mar

10.30am – 1pm 2pm – 4pm ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Pre-book

Milstein Seminar Room,

Cambridge University Library, West Road, CB3 9DR

Meet the frontline scientists Frontline: meet the new generation of scientists engaged in the big issues of earth science and hear about their work on volcanoes, earthquakes and the early evolution of life.

Drop in

McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Downing Street, CB2 3ER

Great for families

Drop in

Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, Charles Babbage Road, CB3 0FS

Great for families Schools Zone Teams of students from schools and sixth-form colleges are the experts today, showing what is happening in schools either as part of their curriculum or afterschool clubs. Don’t miss these exciting demonstrations from the next generation of scientists, mathematicians and engineers.

Presented with BlueBridge Education

The science of archaeology Were Neanderthals fussy eaters?

Was the skeleton in your cupboard a man or a woman, and did it look after its teeth? Science can help archaeologists answer these questions, and many others.

Discover the secrets revealed by pots, plants, soil, bones and maybe even fossilised poo!

10.30am – 3.30pm ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Drop in

Department of Earth Science, Downing Street, CB2 3EQ

10.30am – 4pm ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Materials Science Workshops A series of materials workshops, ideal for children to gain hands-on experience of everyday scientific phenomena.

11am – 3pm Pre-book ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Hauser Forum, Charles Babbage Road, CB3 0GT Great for families Turbo-power: see how jet engines and turbomachines work See some of the exciting jet engine and gas turbine experiments we do at the Whittle Laboratory. Join us for tours of laboratories (including the chance to see one of the first ever steam-turbine engines) and take part in hands-on activities that show you how turbo-machines work.

11am – 4pm ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Drop in

Whittle Laboratory, Madingley Road, CB3 0DY

Ideal for families with teenagers

60 Hands-on maths fair “A mathematician, like a poet or a painter, is a maker of patterns”, G H Hardy famously wrote, and mathematics is a creative art. Explore what patterns you can discover, unleash your creative thinking and develop your problem-solving skills with hands-on mathematical activities and games for all ages. From the anti-Rubik’s Cube to origami, it’s maths, but not as you know it!

Cavendish Laboratory Open Day Physics experiments, demonstrations, talks and CHaOS! Join us at the Cavendish Laboratory for lots of our Festival favourites and a host of new activities and talks.

1pm – 5pm ≥ Sat 19 Mar

11.30am – 4pm Drop in ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Wilberforce Road, CB3 0WA

The James Dyson Foundation Engineering Challenge Join engineers from Dyson to reconstruct a Dyson machine head and take part in other short engineering challenges.

Presented with the James Dyson Foundation

Great for families

Hands-on

“The Science Festival has made my children love science” 2015 Festival attendee

Drop in

University of Cambridge Sports Centre, Philippa Fawcett Drive, CB3 0AS

Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, JJ Thomson Avenue, CB3 0HE

Visit the website for information on talks and to book your places Great for families

Great for all ages

NOON – 4pm ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Drop in

Bergs and bytes: polar data in action What’s it like to work at -20°C? How do you collect data from the ocean depths? Can you really spot penguin poo from space?

Join scientists from the British Antarctic Survey to find out more about extreme data collection, with equipment demonstrations and hands-on experiments.

1pm – 5pm ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, JJ Thomson Avenue, CB3 0HE

Great for families

Drop in

Making light of knowledge Our modern data-driven society is enabled by knowledge of key optical technologies. The Optical Society demonstrates how light is used to move and store the huge amounts of data that is ubiquitous in modern life, from optical fibres to optical storage.

1pm – 5pm ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Drop in

Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, JJ Thomson Avenue, CB3 0HE

Great for families Physics problem solving with Isaac Physics Trying to understand what happens using physics is much more than just plugging numbers into an equation – you often have to think much more carefully about the situation. Join tutors from isaacphysics.org and learn how to attack physics problems that go beyond A-level, but with no further knowledge required!

1pm – 5pm ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Pre-book

Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, JJ Thomson Avenue, CB3 0HE

Ideal for teenagers aged 15+

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HANDS-ON FantasTech Enjoy a host of activities from our inkjet and photonics experts: create your very own laser-etched metal ID card, see water droplets frozen in mid-air and use a laser to power your rocket along the wire to see who has the best aim.

1pm – 5pm Drop in ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Institute for Manufacturing, Charles Babbage Road, CB3 0FS

What would you use THAT for?

Try out some of the latest sciencebased products from local companies and win a prize for thinking of the best ways to use them.

1pm – 5pm Drop in ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Institute for Manufacturing, Charles Babbage Road, CB3 0FS

Great for families

1pm – 5pm ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Drop in

Institute for Manufacturing, Charles Babbage Road, CB3 0FS

Using isaacphysics.org in your A-Level teaching: teachers’ event Isaac Physics is a free online tool featuring a mixture of physics skills practice and problem-solving questions and is aimed to improve the problem solving skills of physics A-level students. It can also help you save time marking! Find out how at this professional development session.

2pm – 3pm ≥ Sat 19 Mar

2pm – 6pm ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Great for families

Laser lab tours Get a glimpse of the latest laser technologies and find out how they are used in industry. Watch our experts show you the amazing things that can be done with this technical kit.

Open afternoon at the Institute of Astronomy The Institute of Astronomy opens its doors for an afternoon of hands-on activities, demonstrations, talks and displays all around our lovely wooded site. Meet the scientists and our telescope, and learn more about both astronomy and the research we do.

Drop in

Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Rise, Madingley Road, CB3 0HA

Great for all ages Infection control Test how good your hand-washing technique is using UV hand gel.

The Department of Biomedical and Forensic Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, show how bacteria spread infection onto items that we touch regularly, despite us thinking we have washed our hands well.

Pre-book

Great for families

Sustainability games Fun and interactive lessons from our experts in industrial sustainability.

For teachers of A-level physics

Great for families

Ciphers and spy maps Dr James Grime explores the history of cryptography, including the demonstration of a genuine Enigma machine. Following the talk, have a go at uncovering secret spy maps from the Cambridge University Library and take part in a code-breaking workshop.

Light Lab Join the e-Luminate Foundation on an exciting exploration of light and light-related technologies. Be dazzled and entertained by taking part in interactive light activities and learn new ways of appreciating the magic of light.

1pm – 5pm Drop in ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Institute for Manufacturing, Charles Babbage Road, CB3 0FS Great for families

Cavendish Laboratory, Department of Physics, JJ Thomson Avenue, CB3 0HE

2pm – 6pm Drop in ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, CB1 1PT

2pm – 4.30pm ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Pre-book

Milstein Seminar Room, Cambridge University Library, West Road, CB3 9DR

Ideal for teenagers

2pm – 6pm Drop in ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, CB1 1PT

62 The genetics of the black squirrel Black squirrels have been in Britain for about 100 years. Learn about the genetics of the black squirrel with the Department of Life Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, and investigate how the gene involved is inherited.

2pm – 6pm ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Drop in

Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Rise Madingley Road, CB3 0HA

What’s for supper?

An interactive, hands-on drop in stall for children and adults with a selection of games and quizzes on the theme of food, showing that our everyday food choices have a global, environmental and ethical impact.

With Cambridge Sustainable Foods.

2pm – 6pm Drop in ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, CB1 1PT Great for families

Great for all ages The multiple faces of the brain How are illusions perceived by the brain? Explore what happens when you touch, see and hear illusions. Find out how our body reacts when the brain recognises different stimuli such as smiling and seeing attractive faces compared with fearful or angry faces.

With the Department of Psychology, Anglia Ruskin University.

2pm – 6pm Drop in ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, CB1 1PT Great for families The sound of Cambridge Visit our recording booth and listen to your own voice combined with the acoustics of different sites around Cambridge. Facilitated by CoDE, Cultures of the Digital Economy Research Institute and Parkside Federation Schools.

Hands-on

2pm – 6pm Drop in ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, CB1 1PT

Safe and sound drive Come to our demonstration of the Safe and Sound drive game, take a test drive, compete with your friends and give us feedback on our new gaming development. Facilitated

by CoDE, Cultures of the Digital Economy Research Institute.

2pm – 6pm Drop in ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, CB1 1PT Great for families Thinking mathematically Join Charlie Gilderdale to work on some of his favourite mathematical problems from NRICH (nrich.maths. org) and discover that everyone can think mathematically. Come prepared to explore, discuss, conjecture, question, explain and generalise!

2.30pm – 3.30pm Pre-book ≥ Sat 19 Mar

Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Wilberforce Road, CB3 0WA Ideal for teenagers aged 11–13

To pre-book visit: www.sciencefestival.cam.ac.uk or call: 01223 766766

Bookings open Mon 8 Feb Lines open 10.30am – 4pm Mon – Fri

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Sun 20 Mar

Sunday Science Cambridge Science Centre goes all out science crazy for the Cambridge Science Festival. Join us for a fun-filled day of non-stop shows and hands-on workshops for all the family.

Addenbrooke’s 1766 – 2016: celebrating our past and caring for your future This year, Addenbrooke’s 250th Anniversary Open Day shares the last day of the Cambridge Science Festival.

On 13 October 1766, Addenbrooke’s Hospital opened its doors on Trumpington Street thanks to Dr John Addenbrooke who left £4,500 in his legacy ‘to hire and fit up, purchase or erect a small, physical hospital in the town of Cambridge for poor people.’ Originally housing just 20 beds, today’s hospital has 1,000 beds and more than 8,000 staff. The Hospital is now a leading national centre for specialist treatment, the teaching hospital for the University of Cambridge and part of the biggest biomedical research centre in the UK. Join us in this special year to meet the people behind your local hospital and discover the inside story of Addenbrooke’s. Look back on 250 years of achievement and look forward to what the next 250 years holds. Share in the celebrations with our staff and explore the science behind the medicine.

Addenbrooke’s 250th Anniversary Celebrations and Open Day are kindly supported by the Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust.

For more information, visit: www.cuh.org.uk/250openday or call: 01223 274470 11Am – 4pm ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Drop in, Great for all ages

Addenbrooke’s Treatment Centre, Cambridge

Biomedical Campus,

CB2 0SL

10Am – 5pm Drop in ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Cambridge Science Centre, 18 Jesus Lane, CB5 8BQ Great for families Standard admission prices apply Hands-on science at UTC Open Day UTC Cambridge is a recently opened state-of-the-art Academy School in Cambridge dedicated to delivering future scientists. See the College’s world-leading facilities, find out about the innovative curriculum and role up your sleeves to experience the excitement of science in the UTC challenge labs.

10Am – 2pm Drop in ≥ SUN 20 Mar

UTC Cambridge, Robinson Way, CB2 0SZ Great for families A real operating room An opportunity for children (and adults) to visit a real operating room.

Scrub up like a surgeon and learn about the team and equipment that make safe operations possible.

11am – 11.45am 12pm – 12.45pm 1pm – 1.45pm 2pm – 2.45pm 3pm – 3.45pm ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Pre-book

Theatre 12, Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SP

64 21st-Century brain The human brain is the most complex structure known to man.

Your brain contains almost 100 billion nerve cells that work together to control your behaviour, movement and personality. Alzheimer’s Research UK uses computer games, as well as hands-on challenges, to help you explore this mind-blowing organ, how it works and how it’s affected by dementia.

11Am – 3pm Drop in ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Deakin Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0QQ Great for families Can we design healthier supermarkets?

Join the Behaviour and Health Research Unit team to explore how seemingly small features of shop design may help people make healthier food choices.

11Am – 3pm ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Drop in

Deakin Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0QQ

Great for families Cells in the know Join researchers from the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research to discover how different cells – from killer immune cells to neurons – are equipped for specialised jobs in our bodies and what goes wrong in disease.

11Am – 3pm ≥ SUN 20 Mar Hands-on

11Am – 3pm ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Drop in

Pregnancy, diabetes and research Find out about the research going on in Cambridge in relation to pregnancy and diabetes. Take part in interactive activities and talk to medical staff about pre-pregnancy preparation and gestational diabetes.

11Am – 4pm Drop in ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Deakin Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0QQ

Addenbrooke’s Treatment Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SL

ADDENBROOKE’S OPEN DAY Join us to celebrate our 250th Anniversary. See how robots, computers, dance and charitable support help us care for patients.

Meet our staff, discuss their research, and explore and experience the science behind the medicine.

Medical detection dogs: how dogs can help sniff out disease Dogs can be trained to assist people with chronic medical conditions and healthcare professionals. Meet Magic, a medical alert assistance dog for diabetes and learn how he, and his canine colleagues, can sniff out disease!

11Am – 4pm ≥ SUN 20 Mar

11Am – 4pm ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Great for families

Drop in

Addenbrooke’s Treatment Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SL

Hypos: get the low down on low blood glucose Almost everyone who has diabetes and is treated with insulin or similar blood glucose-lowering treatment will experience hypoglycaemia (a hypo) at some time. Why do you have them, what is happening in your body, how do you treat and prevent them?

11Am – 4pm ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Drop in

Addenbrooke’s Treatment Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SL

11Am – 4pm ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Drop in

Addenbrooke’s Treatment Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SL

The bitter sweet truth about diabetes Ever wondered what diabetes really is? Can it be prevented or how is it treated? Find out the facts, learn about the research taking place here in Cambridge and take part in hands-on activities to explore healthy lifestyle choices.

Drop in

Deakin Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0QQ

Great for families

How your body works Napp Pharmaceuticals and Mundipharma science ambassadors take you through a journey of how our bodies work.

Take part in hands-on activities including finding out what different parts of our brains do and making your very own brain hat to wear with pride!

Drop in

Addenbrooke’s Treatment Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SL

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HANDS-ON Discover the world of cancer research Take a journey along our cancer image trail, and join scientists to discover how cancer develops, grows and spreads. Get hands on with games to build your own cell, identify mutations in DNA, and learn about the early detection and treatment of cancer. Put on a lab coat, isolate DNA or stain tissue samples and look at them under a microscope.

11Am – 4pm Drop in ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, Robinson Way, CB2 0RE Great for families All data great and small Even the biggest data starts with a single person. Join researchers from the MRC Epidemiology Unit to discover how different kinds of data – big, small and deep – can improve our health.

11Am – 4pm ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Drug safety: we can’t afford to miss a beat!

The heart is essential for life. Many promising medicines have failed due to side effects that inhibit the heart beat. Can you help AstraZeneca scientists select the safe molecule to develop?

11Am – 4pm ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Clinical School, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SP

Engineering for medicine Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses strong magnetic fields and radio waves to help us look inside our bodies. Find out what an MRI sounds like, how it works and see inside the amazing imaging equipment we use in our hospital.

11Am – 4pm ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Drop in

Clinical School, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SP

Great for families

Clinical School, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SP

Fnidnig teh msitkaes ni DNA taht casue mitochondrial diseases Learn all about mitochondrial diseases with us at the MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit. Have a go at solving our fiendish genetic diagnosis puzzles, grow protein crystals and analyse a mitochondrial protein using the latest scientific software.

Combined medicines: more than 1+1!

In the fight against cancer, combining medicines is more powerful than administering just one. MedImmune scientists have several candidates, but can you help us find the right combination?

11Am – 4pm ≥ SUN 20 Mar

11Am – 4pm ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Drop in

Clinical School, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SP

Great for families

11Am – 4pm ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Great for families

Drop in

Great for families

Drop in

Drop in

Clinical School, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SP

Great for families

Our marvellous metabolism 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 Metabolic Research Laboratories for hands-on activities and games to help explain why we eat what we do and how we use the energy it provides.

Drop in

Clinical School, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SP

Great for families Papworth Hospital presents: surgical simulation techniques Ever wanted to try your hand at major surgery or find out what goes on behind the scenes when Papworth Hospital saves lives?

Well now is your chance! Papworth Hospital returns this year with its incredibly popular surgical simulation event. Try your hand at surgical techniques and maybe even save a life while you’re there!

11Am – 4pm ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Drop in

Clinical School, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SP

Great for families

66 Speed Data-ing See how fast you can get to know your medical / clinical data and learn about data processing through the ages. Come and find out how scientists married different data sets in the past, how we can use the eHospital system to do this more efficiently and what the future may hold!

Technology revolution: it’s in our DNA How can we decode our entire personal genetic make-up in one day? See how Illumina combines engineering, chemistry, genetics, and informatics to revolutionise the way we look at our DNA, and how we are working with the NHS to change the way we diagnose disease.

11Am – 4pm ≥ SUN 20 Mar

11Am – 4pm ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Drop in

Clinical School, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SP

Drop in

Clinical School, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SP

Great for families

Ideal for teenagers

Statistics: making data fun Are you statistically intuitive? Can you see the genetics in family trees? Are you easily distracted? Join our trial and see how the MRC Biostatistics Unit turns data into knowledge.

Slippery, slimy science Enter the world of the slippery and slimy! Snails, slugs and worms are amazing when you get to know them.

Study them close up and then track them down around the park on our scavenger hunt.

11Am – 4pm ≥ SUN 20 Mar

11Am – 4pm ≥ SUN 20 Mar

Drop in

Clinical School, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SP

Stable Rooms, Wandlebury Country Park, Wandlebury Ring Gog Magog Hills, CB22 3AE

Great for families Stem cells: how to make a human and turn back time!

Stem cells are small, rare and amazing – they can make all of the cells in the human body! Scientists at the Stem Cell Institute are trying to understand how they do this. Some of us are also trying to make our own stem cells by convincing mature cells to ‘rewind’. Learn more about the mysteries of stem cells, and have a go at your own experiments.

11Am – 4pm ≥ SUN 20 Mar Hands-on

Drop in

Clinical School, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, CB2 0SP

Great for families

Drop in

Great for families Car park fee £3

To pre-book visit: www.sciencefestival.cam.ac.uk or call: 01223 766766

Bookings open Mon 8 Feb Lines open 10.30am – 4pm Mon – Fri

Feature

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67

Meet the Researcher Dr Giles Yeo Metabolic Research Laboratories, University of Cambridge

I am a geneticist studying the mechanisms underlying obesity.

I am also interested in the evolution of our modern diet.

For most of the 200,000 years of our existence, all humans were hunter-gatherers. Then between 11,000 – 4,500 years ago, food production based on the domestication of a few animal and plant species arose and spread throughout the world. This agricultural revolution meant far higher food yields and the ability to support higher population densities. The increase in productivity also allowed for the accumulation of stored food, leading to non-food-producing specialists and the development of complex technology and social stratification, thus here we are today. Hurrah.

The shift from hunter-gatherer to farmer occurred in 5% of our time on Earth; an evolutionary blink of an eye. The problem with this rapid change is that the varied and unpredictable diet of the hunter-gatherer, which we have spent 95% of our existence genetically evolving and adapting to is very different to our diet now. Today, five grasses (wheat, rice, oats, corn and barley), four large mammals (the cow, pig, sheep and goat) and one bird (the chicken) provide the vast majority of our calories and sustain human existence. The transition from hunter-gathering to farming was initially associated with a heavy disease-burden, because early farmers had not yet adapted to their new diet, causing harmful digestive disorders.

Three key adaptations eventually allowed us to take advantage of these new food supplies: our ability to digest starch, consume milk as adults and to drink and metabolise alcohol. The latter two abilities alter dramatically across different ethnicities; yet, all three, have been critical for our survival.

See Giles’ Event: Starch, milk and alcohol 7.30pM – 8.30pm Fri 11 Mar Page 17

Feature

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68

Meet the Professor Professor Meg Urry Director of the Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Department of Physics, Yale Univesity

WOW Fringe 1 – 4 Mar ONline WOW Saturday 11am – 8pm Sat 5 Mar ONLINE #Looklikeascientist 4pm – 5.30pm Wed 9 Mar Page 13 Speed mentoring 5.30pm – 6.30pm Thu 10 Mar Page 45 Annual WiSETI Lecture 5pm – 6pm Thu 17 Mar Page 27

I’m a professor at Yale University, teaching physics and doing research on supermassive black holes with dozens of graduate and undergraduate students. Over the years, I’ve also published many papers on active galaxies (ie. galaxies that have actively accreting supermassive black holes in their centres). This has made me a very happy camper—it’s what I was meant to do.

But I’ve had to work hard with some good luck thrown in too.

My undergraduate advisor responded with surprise when I said I wanted to become an astrophysicist. “You have to be a genius to do astrophysics,” he warned. Maybe I thought I was a genius back then—schoolwork had always been easy and I hadn’t encountered many obstacles at university.

Yet, I really couldn’t see the path forward in science. I knew almost no women in physics or astronomy—the scientists in textbooks were always men, most of my science teachers were men, every physicist I knew was a man—and I foolishly thought I was one of the first women who wanted to do astrophysics (you can stop laughing now!).

If my 20-year-old self could see me now, invited to speak at the annual Cambridge Science Festival, she might not be surprised.

But my 30-year-old self was a bit wiser. I saw women being underestimated and overlooked in science. My 40-year-old self was pretty much a warrior. And I’m not dropping the warrior stance until science and technology is open to all the talent that is out there, regardless of gender or any other characteristic unrelated to merit. This world needs all the help it can get.

Future Festivals

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69

The Public Engagement team at the University of Cambridge organises the Cambridge Science Festival alongside other annual events including: Open Cambridge 9 – 11 September 2016 www.opencambridge.cam.ac.uk Cambridge Festival of Ideas 17 – 30 October 2016 www.festivalofideas.cam.ac.uk

For more information on other public events at the University of Cambridge visit: www.cam.ac.uk/whatson

Many Colleges and Museums across the City welcome visitors throughout the year.

For further information visit: www.cam.ac.uk/visitors

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All Events Throughout Cambridge Science Festival

Behind the scenes and beyond the images

P.07

Beyond Images exhibition

CHOCOLATOLOGY!

P.11

Curiosity, chloroform and cobra poison

P.11

P.07

Happier and healthier with smartphone data

P.11

Conflicted Seeds + Spirit

P.09

How do we see, or actually we don’t

P.43

COSMIC

P.44

Robogals workshop

P.43

Crawling with life

P.08

Science Festival ceilidh

P.44

Death on the Nile

P.08

Will artificial intelligence be superior to the human brain?

P.11

Hide & Seek

P.08

ISOLATION

P.08

≥ Tue 8 Mar

Parasite

P.07

Clever solutions find inconvenient truths

P.13

Plant hunter challenge

P.43 Discovery through data

P.13

Under the Skin

P.09 FameLab Cambridge final

P.13

The orchid hunters

P.07 Fuel your interest in science

P.44

How do we see, or actually we don’t

P.43

≥ sat 5 Mar Science buskers

P.43

Organ transplantation

P.13

Science Café

P.43

SciBar Cambridge

P.13

Solar energy

P.13

The original text message

P.44

≥ Sun 6 Mar Science Festival Choral Evensong

P.11 ≥ Wed 9 Mar

≥ Mon 7 Mar All Events

A distraction or an essential discussion?

Bitesize polar science evening

#ILookLikeAScientist

P.13

P.11

Big questions: science and religion

P.45

P.43

Biomimetic materials

P.14

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Exhibitions

Talks

Films

Designing the future: digital twins

P.14

Eating less meat for planetary and population health

P.15

Examining the Mourning Women coffin

P.13

How do we see, or actually we don’t

P.43

Performance

Hands on

Stem cells: big data and personalised medicine

P.15

The Naked Scientists live

P.15

This true book of ours, man himself

P.15

Turing’s imitation game

P.15

Twists and turns

P.15

Look what chemistry has done for me

P.14

Zeroes and ones

P.45

Pregnancy as a compromise

P.14

≥ FRI 11 Mar

Cod liver oil: old habits die hard

P.17

How to build an Egyptian coffin

P.45

How do we see, or actually we don’t

P.43

Starch, milk and alcohol

P.17

Star-gazing

P.17

Visualising medicine

P.45

What does your musical taste say about your personality?

P.17

Robogals workshop

P.43

Seksmisja

P.37

STEAM at the museum

P.45

The original text message

P.44

The private life of museums

P.14

The rise of the humans

P.13

≥ THU 10 Mar A story of ups and downs for a Cambridge drug for multiple sclerosis

P.15

Your irrational brain

P.17

A sustainable future

P.45

Bright Club

P.39

≥ Sat 12 Mar

Ada.Ada.Ada

P.39

Everything you always wanted to know about climate science

P.15

Adventure and survival

P.09

Hide & Seek: lunchtime talk

P.15

Alan Turing and the Enigma Machine

P.18

How do we see, or actually we don’t

P.43

Alien invasion

P.51

Nature versus nurture

P.17

Amazing properties from simple materials

P.19

Speed mentoring

P.45

Asher Jay: creative conservation

P.39

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All Events

Attack of the alien arthropods!

P.18

Fixed wing aircraft

P.51

Babraham Institute Molecular Explorers

P.48

From small bugs to big baboons

P.53

Be a computer

P.47

Genes and heredity

P.51

Beat the Bronze Age

P.53

Hands-on at the Guildhall: Adults only

P.54

Big data: the missing link

P.19 Hands-on cognition café

P.51

Biology quizzes and challenges

P.48 Here be dragons

P.51

Bottle your genes

P.47 Here’s looking at zoo

P.51

Buddhism and science

P.53 Heroes and heroines of science

P.52

Build your DNA – and then eat it!

P.48 How to build an Egyptian coffin

P.54

Building babies

P.18 How to improve your brain

P.54

Cells in the know

P.48 How to measure who we are

P.21

CHaOS and Robogals

P.52 How to train your robot

P.18

CHaOS talks

P.17 I don’t do maths

P.47

Chemistry in action

P.52 IN.D.N.A Jones

P.49

Chocolate trial!

P.48

Cluescape: the Hunden games

P.47

Institution of Engineering and Technology

P.49

Combined medicines: more than 1+1!

P.49

Interactive Transplantation

P.49

Conservation hub

P.50

Just add water

P.18

Conservation now

P.19

Leonardo Da Vinci

P.37

Crash, Bang, Squelch!

P.52

Living and breathing

P.49

Cyber security is you

P.53

Maths and memory

P.52

Dambusters, Colditz and climate change

P.20

Maths’ greatest unsolved puzzles

P.19

Drug safety: we can’t afford to miss a beat

Medicines under the microscope

P.53

P.54

Einstein: the life and the science

P.37

Meet the family: your primate relatives

P.19

Encoding music

P.47

Memory in the mountains

P.52

Engineering with Lego bricks

P.47

Metabolism, fat and fitness

P.49

Family retro gaming evening

P.55

Mind the gap

P.18

Family science makers

P.54

Moving muds

P.53

73 Music and movies

P.20

What can a tiny nervous system do?

P.20

Off the beaten track

P.09

What do you think you prefer in life

P.19

Our nuclear world

P.51

Whipple anatomy arcade

P.54

Plant and Life Sciences Marquee

P.51

Worms, flies and frogs

P.50

Polar science family day

P.53

Zoology Café

P.54

Robin Ince asks, why can’t I be less wrong?

P.39

Safe and sound drive

P.49

≥ Sun 13 Mar

A history of rocketry

P.21

Sci Cam

P.19

Hands-on at the Guildhall

P.55

Science and beer

P.54

Hands-on at the Guildhall: Autism friendly hour

P.55

Science and cereal packets

P.49 I’m just big-boned…

P.21

Seeing is believing

P.51 Just add water

P.18

Shifting sands

P.09 Plant and Life Sciences Marquee

P.51

Smells in the brain, and it is bliss...

P.52 Playing with programming

P.55

Statistics: making data fun

P.49 Restless creatures

P.21

Stem cells: how to make a human and turn back time

P.50

Rising Stars

P.55

Structural data and molecular design

P.53

Shark tales

P.21

The physics and physiology of running: better training

Sunday Science

P.55

P.19 Would I lie to you?

P.21

≥ Mon 14 Mar

Baby-mum brain interaction

P.55

Back to the future

P.09

The physics and physiology of running: faster racing

P.20

The science of eating

P.50

The sound of Cambridge

P.50

The wonderful world of blood vessels

P.50

Churchill’s bomb

P.24

The world on the back of an envelope

P.54

Heroes and heroines of science

P.56

Timetruck

P.52

How do teams work?

P.23

To Code or Not to Code

P.47

How old are you really?

P.24

Translational medicine

P.47

Icehack: exploring polar data

P.56

Water, water, everywhere!

P.53

Killing cancer

P.23

74 More science pranks

P.23

This true book of ours, man himself

P.15

Our digital future

P.24

What do we think of when we think of nothing?

P.56

Primary rocket launchpad

P.55

Prudence and the Pill

P.37

Swimming in a sea of data

P.24

≥ Wed 16 Mar

3D printing in disaster zones

P.57

The future is Airlander

P.23

A Piece of Time

P.40

The God of small things

P.24

Amazing algorithms

P.56

The ratchet of science

P.23

Andrew Chamblin Memorial Lecture

P.25

The science of fiction: medicine

P.24

Baby-mum brain interaction

P.55

What do we think of when we think of nothing?

Brain, body and mind

P.27

P.56

What is conservation?

P.23

Does a pill on a string hold the answer

P.27

Exploring the mind and brain

P.57

Heroes and heroines of science

P.56

How is the Universe like a lightbulb?

P.40

Little explorers: science session

P.56

Manuscripts under the microscope

P.25

Mapping rocks: part 2

P.27

Organ transplantation

P.27

Primary rocket launchpad

P.55

Science in the Cinema: Contagion

P.37

The Wicker Man

P.37

What do we think of when we think of nothing?

P.56

P.57

≥ tue 15 Mar

A Piece of Time

P.40

Baby-mum brain interaction

P.55

Can iPods grow on trees?

P.25

Curious computing: what’s in your loft?

P.56

Dark matter

P.25

From bean to bar: the future of chocolate

P.25

How big data analysis is changing how we understand the living world

P.25

All Events

Intelligence and learning in brains and machines

P.25

Just add water

P.18

Mapping rocks: part 1

P.25

Now you see it, now you don’t

P.24

≥ Thu 17 Mar

3D printing in disaster zones

On The Axis Of This World

P.39

Annual WiSETI lecture

P.27

Primary rocket launchpad

P.55

Baby-mum brain interaction

P.55

Stem cells: PhD experience

P.56

Biologic therapeutics

P.28

75 Data race

P.57

Circadian rhythms

P.30

Dr Woodward’s Cabinet of Dangerous Dreams

P.28

Fooling your senses

P.29

Egyptian blue

P.27

Heroes and heroines of science

P.56

Knowledge for nature

P.28

Physics problem solving: students’ event

P.58

Organ transplantation

P.28

Pictures of You

P.40

Other worlds

P.28

Primary rocket launchpad

P.55

Plants to drugs

P.28

Salt marshes and coastal defence

P.28

Primary rocket launchpad

P.55

Science of sport for schools

P.58

Rediscovering Neptune

P.27

The science and the séance

P.29

Science of sport for schools

P.57

Thinking without Words

P.40

Scientific discovery trail

P.57

What do we think of when we think of nothing?

P.56

The future of genome editing

P.28 Why physics: parents’ event

P.58

The Gigglebytes

P.40

The mind behind the music

P.57

The survival game

P.57

≥ Sat 19 Mar

Approaching absolute zero

P.32

The treatment of dementia

P.27

Attraction explained

P.32

This true book of ours, man himself

P.15

Bergs and bytes

P.60

Three years of Makespace

P.57

Cavendish Laboratory Open Day

P.60

Tuniit: curator talk

P.27

Ciphers and spy maps

P.61

What do we think of when we think of nothing?

Electron microscopy

P.31

P.56 Embodied Science

P.58

FantasTech

P.61

≥ Fri 18 Mar

A tale of two icebergs

P.30

Freezing for the future

P.32

Alex Hopkins lecture

P.29

From a wooden toe to eLEGS

P.30

Animal, vegetable, mineral

P.30

Hands-on maths fair

P.60

Baby-mum brain interaction

P.55

Heroes and heroines of science

P.59

British Cycling’s secret squirrel club

P.30

Infection control

P.61

Calendars in India

P.29

Laser lab tours

P.61

76 Light Lab

P.61

ThinkCon

P.32

Making light of knowledge

P.60

Thinking mathematically

P.62

Materials Science Workshops

P.59

Totally trees

P.59

Meaningful data

P.32

Tracking an alien ladybird invasion

P.32

Meet the frontline scientists

P.59

Turbo-power

P.59

Open afternoon at the Institute of Astronomy

P.61

Using isaacphysics.org in your A-Level teaching

P.61

Out of the blue

P.31

Veterinary medicine open day

P.58

Pecha Kucha challenge

P.32

Veterinary medicine open day talks

P.58

Physics problem solving with Isaac Physics

Water and light

P.32

P.60 What would you use THAT for?

P.61

Playing with programming

P.58 What’s for supper?

P.62

≥ Sun 20 Mar

21st Century brain

P.64

A real operating room

P.63

All Events

Practicalities of orbital space travel

P.31

Puzzling with paper

P.31

Safe and sound drive

P.62

Schools Zone

P.59

Sustainability games

P.61

A tour around your ear and hearing brain

P.33

The balance of health

P.59

Addenbrooke’s Open Day

P.63

The birth and death of a solar system

P.31

All data great and small

P.65

The Element in the Room

P.40

Amazing Sounds and Unexpected Music

P.40

The genetics of the black squirrel

P.62 An evening of silent shorts and live music

P.37

The Dyson Challenge

P.60 Battling cancer with data science

P.33

The multiple faces of the brain

P.62 Big data from small sources

P.33

The power of carbon

P.31

The science of archaeology

P.59

Biomedical research at Cambridge University Hospitals

P.33

The science of ice cream

P.31

Brain injury and new technology

P.34

The science of out-of-body experiences

P.31

Can we design healthier supermarkets?

P.64

The scientific secrets of Doctor Who

P.31

Can we improve crop pollination

P.33

The sound of Cambridge

P.62

Cells in the know

P.64

77 Combined medicines: more than 1+1!

P.65

Stem cells: how to make a human & turn back time!

P.66

Cambridge University Hospitals Chair’s lecture

P.34

Sunday science

P.63

Discover the world of cancer research

P.65

Technology revolution: it’s in our DNA

P.66

Drug safety

P.65

The bitter sweet truth about diabetes

P.64

Engineering for medicine

P.65

The physics of MRI and how it detects disease

P.33

Fnidnig teh msitkaes ni DNA

P.65

The unbelievable scientific truth

P.34

Hands-on science at UTC Open Day

P.63

Harnessing our immune system to combat cancer

P.34

How your body works with Napp Pharmaceuticals

P.64

Hypos: get the low-down on low blood glucose

P.64

John Gurdon: journey of a lifetime

P.34

Making new medicines for old diseases

P.34

Medical detection dogs

P.64

Meet your brain

P.33

Of mice and men

P.34

Our marvellous metabolism

P.65

Papworth Hospital: surgical simulation techniques

P.65

Pregnancy, diabetes and research

P.64

Putting neurosurgery under the 3D microscope

P.33

Resolving astronomical mysteries

P.34

Sex, food and smell

P.33

Shh...BANG!

P.40

Slippery, slimy science

P.66

Speed Data-ing

P.66

Statistics: making data fun

P.66

The Festival takes place across dozens of locations, each with their own architectural style and level of accessibility. Everyone is welcome to the Festival and this includes children in push chairs, wheelchair users and people with additional access needs. Please see the summary of accessibility at our venues below. For more detailed information or to make additional arrangements for access requirements please call: 01223 766766 or email: csf@admin.cam.ac.uk

Map & accessibility

70 C3 56 61 69 44 36 59 65 53 27 17 07 C2

60 68 03 62 38 02 C5 20 23 C4 34 49 40 32 42 47 W1

35 46 W6 45

41 W4 28 48 21 31 66 25

Addenbrooke’s Hospital T | S | Li Addenbrooke’s Treatment Centre T | S | Li Ancient India and Iran Trust PA Anglia Ruskin University T | S | Li | I ARM T | S | Li Arts Picturehouse T | S | Li | I Botanic Garden T|S Cambridge Buddhist Centre T | PA Cambridge Junction T|S|I Cambridge Regional College T | S | Li Cambridge Science Centre T|S Cambridge Union Society T | PA Cambridge University Library T | S | PA | I Cancer Research UK T | S | Li Cambridge Institute CB2 Café T | PA Centre for Computing History T|S Centre for Mathematical Sciences T | S | Li | I Changing Spaces PA Christ's College T | S | PA Churchill College T | S | PA Clinical School T | S | Li Corpus Christi College PA David Attenborough Building T | S | Li Deakin Centre T | S | Li Department of Biochemistry T|S Department of Chemistry T | PA Department of Earth Sciences T | PA Department of Engineering T | S | Li Department of Genetics T | S | Li Department of Geography T|S Department of Materials T | S | Li | I Science and Metallurgy Department of Pharmacology T | S | Li | I Department of Psychology T | S | Li | I Department of Physics T | S | Li | I Department of Physiology, T | S | Li Development and Neuroscience Department of Plant Sciences marquee S Department of Veterinary Medicine PA Department of Zoology T|S Downing College T | S | Li | I Emmanuel United Reformed Church T|S Faculty of Architecture PA Faculty of Education T | S | Li Fitzwilliam Museum T|S|I

The Cambridge University Disability Access Guide, including maps, is available at: www.cam.ac.uk/disability T S Li PA

I

Toilet, wheelchair accessible Step free Lift to all floors Partial access: phone or email to discuss your requirements Induction loop

58 W5 W3 W8 01 04

22 30 57 09 10 06 13 43

64 14 26

05 29

11 51 63 39 16 55 22 18 15 50 52 12 19 W2 C1 67 37 54 08 24

W7 33

Grafton Centre T|S Hauser Forum T | S | Li Institute for Manufacturing T | S | Li | I Institute of Astronomy T | PA Institute of Continuing Education T|S Isaac Newton Institute T | S | Li | I for Mathematical Sciences Jesus Lane Friends’ Meeting House PA Judge Business School T | S | Li La Dante in Cambridge T|S Lady Mitchell Hall T | S | Li | I Little Hall S|I Lucy Cavendish College T|S Makespace T|S McDonald Institute T | S | PA | I for Archaeological Research Microsoft Research Cambridge T | S | Li Mill Lane Lecture Rooms T | S | Li MRC Cognition T | S | Li | I and Brain Sciences Unit Murray Edwards College T | S | Li | I Museum of Archaeology T | S | Li | I and Anthropology Museum of Classical Archaeology T | S | Li Sainsbury Laboratory T | S | Li | I Salisbury Arms PA St Columbas Hall T | S | Li | I St John’s College PA St Paul’s Cambridge PA The Guildhall and Market Square T | S | Li The Michaelhouse Centre T | S | Li The Pitt Building T|S|I The Polar Museum T | S | Li The Portland Arms PA University Centre T | S | Li University Church, Great St Mary’s T|S|I University Sports Centre T | S | Li UTC Cambridge T | S | Li Wandlebury Country Park T | S | PA Wellcome Genome Campus T | S | Li Wesley Methodist Church T|S|I West Road Concert Hall T|S|I Whipple Museum T | S | I of the History of Science Whittle Laboratory T|S Zoology Café

01

Accessibility

≥

78

M a d in

g le y R

oad

57

53

79 52 05

02

06 03

68

04 17

22 27

59 54

16

58

18

38

60

19 22

07

23 20

39

28

24

29 08

62

61

13 15 12 14 21

40

41 43 33

44

42 34

09 10 11

47 48

30

25

45 46

35 63

31

49

32

50

55

51

64

36

26

56

69

65

See fold-out section for detailed maps of the West Cambridge Site (W) and Cambridge Biomedical Campus (C).

For information on transport and tips for attending visit: www.sciencefestival.cam.ac.uk/attending

66

37

67

70

For enquiries or to pre-book: www.sciencefestival.cam.ac.uk or call: 01223 766766 Bookings open: Mon 8 Feb

Lines open: 10.30AM – 4PM Mon – Fri

cambridgesciencefestival camscience | #csf2016

Cover image: Circuit City, John Krzesinski