The Skeptic Guide to the University of Aberdeen May Festival

Friday the 10th of May

Bioethics Rights & Wrongs: Who Decides? 

12 -1 Old Senate Room, University of Aberdeen

Join students as they present on highly provocative ideas surrounding bioethics that impact on all our lives.

How do we make decisions about scientific interventions in biology and medicine that could impact on humans, the environment and animals? Students from the University of Aberdeen will present a variety of highly provocative ideas that will tackle some  prevalent ethical questions in areas such as biotechnology and the environment.

FREE Booking: http://www.boxofficeaberdeen.com/events/bioethics-rights-wrongs

Centenary Boyd Orr Lecture

3-4pm, Auditorium, Kings Conference Centre, University of Aberdeen

Join Dr Francesco Branca, Director of Nutrition at the World Health Organisation, as he presents “A food supply to meet all human needs:how close is the world to achieving the dream of Lord Boyd Orr?”

Online Booking - http://www.boxofficeaberdeen.com/events/centenary-boyd-orr-lecture (FREE)

Bright Club 

8pm (doors) 8.30 start, Cafe Drummond, 1 Belmont Street, Aberdeen AB10 1JR

What would happen if we got a bunch of interesting comedians, and combined them with some of the fascinating people who work for Scotland's top universities? Bright Club is where comedy and brains collide to bring you an entertaining night of laughs, music and new ideas (Will feature some familiar faces from Aberdeen Skeptics in the Pub, so make sure you support them!)

Booking - 01224 641122 (Aberdeen Box Office) £6/4

Facebook Event page

Saturday the 11th of May

The Aberdeen Gene Machine

Cancer cures, plants, bees, wolves and sharks...find out more about leading genetics research with the launch of the new 'Gene Machine'!

New King's 1, University of Aberdeen 12-1

To celebrate the launch of the University of Aberdeen Centre for Genome-Enabled Biology and Medicine, this interactive lecture will describe how the new ‘Aberdeen Gene Machine’ is taking our genetics research into a new era. A tale not only of cancer cures and heart disease, but also of plants, bees, wolves and sharks.

FREE – Booking - http://www.boxofficeaberdeen.com/events/the-aberdeen-gene-machine

Pathology – Not just CSI

A myth-busting talk on the reality behind pathology!

2-3  New King's 1, University of Aberdeen

Come along to a fast-paced, interactive, myth-busting talk on what pathologists really do! How do blood tests help doctors make diagnoses and could they be routinely done on the high street? We’ll look at how pathology hits the headlines and persuade you there’s much more to this fascinating field than just dead bodies!

FREE – BOOKING - http://www.boxofficeaberdeen.com/events/pathology-not-just-csi

Corroboration & Sex Crimes: Are two proofs better than one? 

Explore the topical issue of corroboration in Scot's law and the controversy surrounding proposed changes.

Speaker: Alison Di Rollo, National Sexual Crimes Unit

2.30-3.30  Auditorium, King's Conference Centre, University of Aberdeen

To convict a criminal in Scotland, two independent sources of evidence are needed (corroboration). But is this rule allowing too many criminals including rapists and sex abusers to walk free? The Scottish Government thinks so, and wants to abolish the need for corroboration, allowing a conviction to be based on a single source of evidence. Will this lead to the conviction of innocent people?

Alison Di Rollo, Senior Advocate Depute, National Sexual Crimes Unit, in conversation with Professor Peter Duff.

FREE – Booking - http://www.boxofficeaberdeen.com/events/corroboration-sex-crimes

Why We Die

A British Science Festival favourite, Simon Watt returns to satisfy your morbid curiosity! 

4pm-5pm Auditorium, King's Conference Centre, University of Aberdeen

Though taxes probably are certain, death might not be. In this lecture, featuring immortal jelly fish, the world’s slowest bacteria and the trip Darwin took to a séance, biologist Simon Watt (C4’s Inside Nature’s Giants) delves into the surprising science behind why we die, and what the alternatives might be. Come satisfy your morbid curiosity.

£6/4 - http://www.boxofficeaberdeen.com/events/why-we-die

An Evening With Belle De Jour

7.30pm – 8.30 pm Auditorium, King's Conference Centre, University of Aberdeen

Dr Brooke Magnanti is a scientist and writer perhaps better known under her pen-name Belle de Jour. She has written six books, the first of which, Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl, was adapted as the series Secret Diary of a Call Girl for ITV. Join Brooke for a full discussion on her pseudonym’s escapades and topical issues surrounding her career.

£8/6 - http://www.boxofficeaberdeen.com/events/an-evening-with-belle-de-jour

SUNDAY 12TH MAY

Hack 'n' Make Faire

The very first Hack 'n' Make Faire - come along for an exciting display of inventions and hands-on projects! Fun for all the family

Elphinstone Hall, University of Aberdeen

An Aberdeen first! Hack ‘n’ Make is a showcase for all kinds of incredible projects where you’ll find arts and crafts, science and engineering, music, fire and water. From giant interactive ‘Simon Shouts’, to underwater ROVs and 16ft Video Walls, come along and see if you can be inspired to become a ‘Maker’!

www.hacknmake.com

10 am – 4 pm

Drop-In (No Booking Required) 

Biting Back at the Bloodsuckers

3.30 -4.30 Venue: Auditorium, King's Conference Centre, University of Aberdeen

7.30-8.30 Venue: Woodend Barn, Banchory AB31 5QA

Dr James Logan, TV presenter and creepy crawly expert from Channel 4’s Embarrassing Bodies, will reveal all there is to know about the things that’ll really make your skin crawl!

At this event the Aberdeen University zoology graduate will uncover the cutting edge science behind why some people get bitten more than others by biting critters like the notorious Scottish midge. You could even take part in a live experiment on stage with real mosquitoes, to find out how attractive you are!

£6/4 Kings Conference Booking  - http://www.boxofficeaberdeen.com/events/biting-back-at-the-bloodsuckers-king-s-conference-centre

£6/4 Banchory Booking - http://www.boxofficeaberdeen.com/events/biting-back-at-the-bloodsuckers-woodend-barn

Hot topics – The Big Debate

6pm-7.45 Auditorium, King's Conference Centre, University of Aberdeen

A lively discussion on the University of Aberdeen's four Research Themes: Energy, Pathways to a Healthy Life. The North, Environment and Food Security. 

Hosted by: Ken MacDonald. BBC

What’s the low-down on climate change? How will we keep the lights on? What has diet to do with disease? Why is Aberdeenshire’s archaeology so important? These are just some of the diverse topics being tackled by the University’s four research themes. Come along for a lively discussion of topical issues that can impact on all our lives.

FREE – Booking - http://www.boxofficeaberdeen.com/events/hot-topics-the-big-debate

We demand more and more power especially on the go. Phones, laptops and cars need energy and lots of it but fossil fuels are bad. We’re told must stop using them. OK, so what are the alternatives? Hydrogen power is clean and cheap, but is it safe? Wind power is safe and clean, but it is cheap?

Jamie Gallagher is an energy materials scientist at the University of Glasgow.  Join him as we look at the crazy ideas and forgotten phenomena that science is desperately investigating to find the renewable energy champion. Will any of the any of sciences promises become reality?

This event is part of the May Festival programme of events. To find out what else is happening during the May Festival click here.

For most people, the Catholic Church’s hierarchy seems opposed to a wide range of modern activities: same-sex marriage; IVF; contraception.  What is less well-known is how strongly the Church also rejects things like divorce, premarital sex, and most kinds of sexual activities even when practiced within marriage between husband and wife.  This talk will attempt to explain how the Church’s basic and fundamental understanding of ‘what sex is for’ informs all these positions and how anyone wishing to disagree with the Church’s views on one of these issues must combat this underlying presupposition about sexual activity.

Professor Naphy received his doctorate (in Reformation History) from the University of St Andrews in 1993.  He was appointed a lecturer at the University of Manchester in 1993 and, in 1996, at Aberdeen where he was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 1999.  He was awarded a personal chair in 2007.  He is the author of six books with translations into six languages (including an up-coming translation into Bosnian for an NGO raising awareness of homosexuality in Bosnia) as well as numerous edited volumes and articles in scholarly journals.

He has made frequent appearances in the media (Channel 4; Grampian TV; BBC-Scotland; BBC-Radio 4: Start the Week) as a specialist on the history of witchcraft, plague, and sexuality.  He contributed extensively to the media in the discussions surrounding the Kirk's position on gay ministers.  Most recently he was the historical consultant for Out in the World, a four-part series on the history of sexuality.

He is a leading authority on Calvin's Geneva during the sixteenth century as well as the history of crime and punishment in the early modern period.  He also is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
 

Award-winning comedian and star of BBC Radio 4's hit space comedy It Is Rocket Science, Helen Keen returns to Aberdeen with fusion of stand-up, science fiction & science fact that will transport you into the exciting, inventive and tinfoil-y world of The Future (by at least 45 minutes).

ADMISSION IS FREE BUT BOOKING IS REQUIRED FOR THIS EVENT - http://helenkeenaberdeen.eventbrite.co.uk

This event is part of National Science and Engineering week to check out other events happening see = (http://www.abdn.ac.uk/engage/nsew) and was sponsored by the British Science Association 

Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/events/160970100721958/

Antidepressant prescribing has more than quadrupled over the last decade. What does this mean? Will everyone be addicted to them soon? Are we medicalising everyday distress? Why don't we get to the root of the problem with talking treatments anyway? Do antidepressant drugs work? How do they work?
 
Prof Ian Reid, Division of Applied Medicine will debate these questions and more. Bring your preconceptions, but be prepared to lose them...

Electromagnetic radiation, it surrounds us and penetrates us. With more mobile phone masts and Wi-fi access points being put up than ever before, some claim it’s making a small number of sensitive individuals ill. Some even claim it’s killing us. But what is electromagnetic radiation, and how do we know if it's hurting us?

Lee will take us through some of the stories of people with health concerns they believe are due to electromagnetic radiation, and how we can use provocation trials, and an understanding of physics, chemistry and biology to find out more about this often misunderstood subject. He will also look at how giving these concerns more merit than they deserve could risk our information infrastructure.

Lee Christie is a PhD Student at the Robert Gordon University, blogger at The 21st Floor, and founder and president of the RGU Freethought Society. He enjoys coding and has a keen interest in science, skepticism and atheism.
 

Where do babies come from? The amazing story of egg and sperm.

This talk covers 40,000 years of human thinking about where life comes from, focusing on a few years of astonishing discovery in the 17th century when both egg and sperm were discovered, but their roles 
remained completely obscure. Along the way we will meet some weird and wonderful thinkers including the founder of geology who is now on his way to becoming a saint, his insect-obsessed friend who dissected a delirious virgin who had killed herself, and an uncouth Dutch draper who was the executor of Vermeer's will.

Includes handy do-it-yourself experiments, such as 'what happens if a man ejaculates into a glass of 
wine?'

The Moon orbits the Earth. Scotland shares a border with England. The most recent Olympics took place in London. Barack Obama hopes to win the 2012 U.S. election.

We all think we know these things. But in contemporary philosophy, there are some surprisingly powerful arguments according to which we know none of these things. If these arguments are correct, then we grossly overestimate how much we know.

Are these sceptical arguments correct? Must we respond to them in order to take ourselves to know what we think we know? Is scepticism—the view that we know much less than we think we do—the right view to hold?

Federico Luzzi is Outreach & Knowledge Transfer Officer at the University of Aberdeen. His interests lie in the theory of knowledge, philosophy with children and, more generally, in making philosophy accessible to wider audiences.

Neanderthals did it? We have all done it  a lot as children but most of us stop doing it  during development into adulthood. What is it, why would we stop doing it and can it tell us anything about brain function and dysfunction? It is making visual art, such as drawing and painting. Most people stop producing visual art because areas of the brain which suppress the motivation for art production become more dominant. But what happens if these brain areas become damaged by disease or injury? In this talk I shall look at work by Van Gogh, de Kooning, Horn, Sarkin, McHugh, Dubuffet, Wolfi and Corbaz and discuss issues raised by tertiary syphilis, Alzheimer’s disease, mental health, disinhibition and the anterior region of the temporal lobe of the brain.
 

Roderick Scott is an artist printmaker during his leisure time, at work he is an electrophysiologist. He mainly works on the actions of naturally occurring compounds including cannabis-like chemicals and marine sponge toxins on the electrical excitability of cells. As an artist his work includes graphic witness type, black and white lino cut prints in which he tries to capture world events of our time, usually bad ones.
 

How do we weigh up risks reported in the media? When does a danger merit real concern? How should we interpret reported risks? How should we use these to inform or influence our daily decisions?

No single scientific study can provide a complete answer or prove that one thing causes another. The scientific process of moving gradually from many hypotheses to a consensus view based on evidence does not lend itself to producing sound bites. In contrast, the media can most easily present clear, concise messages illustrated by the potential short term consequences for a typical person.

Different ways of presenting information about risks can create different impressions of the practical importance of scientific findings to an individual. There is always a balance between potential risks and potential benefits of any action, whether that is the decision to prescribe a treatment or to change a government policy. Examples from health research will be used to examine issues related to the presentation and interpretation of statistics in the media.

Gordon Prescott is a senior lecturer in medical statistics at the University of Aberdeen. His work involves application of statistical methods to medical research questions, the development of statistical methodology and the training of health care professionals

Join Dr Charles Paxton from the University of St Andrews in talks and demonstrations to explore what the possibilities are of unknown animals being discovered in the world's rivers, lakes and seas.

What does psychology, ecology and statistics tell us about the reality of people reporting monsters?

Part of the British Science Festival in Aberdeen

Location: Fraser Noble Building, Lecture Theatre 2, University of Aberdeen

A free event, but you can book it on the British Science Festival website here

Facebook event page

As part of the British Science Festival happening right here in Aberdeen we present to you our very own Skeptics in the Pub Pub Quiz.

Join us and Alok Jha (The Guardian) as we test your general knowledge with a slice of science - you don't need to be Stephen Hawking to win.

*Note this event is happening at The Illicit Still*