University of Cambridge

Professor Clive Oppenheimer explains what has been learned about how volcanoes work from detailed observations of the southernmost active volcano in the world, Mount Erebus on Ross Island, Antarctica. The island was the base for several polar missions, notably those led by Shackleton and Scott. Their pioneering studies of the volcano paved the way for all subsequent investigations, and the physica...

Every day your immune system is busy protecting you from the thousands of germs around you that can make you sick. It does its job so efficiently that you don’t even notice that it is at work. Micro-organisms are present in your gut and interact with your body during periods of health and disease. When the immune system hits the wrong target, however, it can unleash a torrent of disorders, includi...

In the UK over 6,500 people are currently on the waiting list for an organ transplant. In 2015/16 more organ transplants were carried out than ever before, but there is still a gap between the number of patients waiting for a transplant and the number of organs available. Professor Mike Nicholson, Dr Sarah Hosgood and Dr Patrick Trotter discuss how their research may help increase the quality and...

Professor Monica Grady, Open University discusses how meteorites, fragments of asteroids, show us the processes and materials that shaped our solar system and planet. Presented with Cambridge University Press

Join Dr Suzy Lishman, President of the Royal College of Pathologists, as she performs a virtual autopsy on a live model to investigate the effects of modern living on the body. Discover what an autopsy involves, how post mortem examinations have transformed our understanding of disease and why future investigations may not require a scalpel. Although there will be no real blood or body parts this...

The starting point for this talk is the following obviously absurd question. Imagine that we are about to vote in a yes/no referendum, and we hope that the majority will get the answer 'right'. Unfortunately, each person is completely clueless about the answer. Professor Imre Leader, Department of Pure Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics, will consider what we should do. No mathematical knowle...

It has been a year and a half since Dr Joseph Tennant joined the Faraday team at The Faraday Institute for Science and Religion to work on the project “Mystical seizures and Salience in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.” In collaboration with lead investigator Prof. Alasdair Coles, Joe has been investigating the neurological underpinnings and psychological consequences of seizures that are accompanied by in...

Man vs Pathogen The next big infectious disease is in the tabloids but the real killers lurk amongst us every day. Dr. Colin Russell, Cambridge Infectious Diseases Interdisciplinary Research Centre, discusses what scientists are doing to predict the emergence of new diseases and combat existing threats. Every 2.25 seconds someone dies of an infectious disease. Ebola and Zika have captured the worl...

We are discovering the first planets with sizes, masses and temperatures similar to the Earth. Dr Amaury Triaud will describe how after much speculation and philosophical debate, the existence of life outside our solar system is close to becoming a testable scientific hypothesis. Dr Amaury Triaud is a senior researcher at the Institute of Astronomy. A regular visitor to the observatories of the At...

Carrying out fieldwork in high-security subterranean data centres, Alex Taylor explores fears of technological failure in our data-dependent society. Alex is a PhD student in the Division of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge.

People with multiple sclerosis will describe how they are affected by this disease of the brain and spinal cord. It starts in early adulthood and initially consists of attacks, which come and go, due to inflammation in the brain. Later in the illness, people develop progressive disability. In 1993, the first drug to suppress the inflammation in multiple sclerosis became available. Since then, seve...

Reporting From Extreme Environments Lyse Doucet (BBC) Darwin College Lecture Series 2017 – Extremes Lyse Doucet is the BBC ’s award winning Chief International Correspondent who spends much of her time covering stories in our news headlines including devastating wars in Syria and Iraq as well as Afghanistan. She often focuses on the human costs of conflict. Her work also involves asking questions...

‘Carriers of Culture’ is an exhibition at Cambridge’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology of 19th and 20th-century images from the Congo. The exhibition came about when the London-based Congo Great Lakes Initiative (CGLI) worked with the Museum to unlock new understanding of the photographs through the Congolese community’s unique indigenous insights. Among the images is a series showing women...

Extreme Ageing by University of Cambridge

Political extremism appears to be all around us. Populists, xenophobes and, some might argue, fascists seem to be on the rise. Many trace the current challenge to liberal representative democracy to the legacy of the post-2008 financial crisis and economic scarcity, recycling earlier interpretations of the rise of historic fascism. But what is really driving support for political extremism in the...

Extremes of the Universe Andy Fabian, University of Cambridge Darwin College Lecture Series 2017 – Extremes

Spending up to five months alone at sea, rowing for twelve hours a day, may appear extreme, but Roz Savage will suggest that, like many major achievements, an epic ocean voyage is simply the accumulation of a very large number of tiny actions applied consistently over time. This power of accumulation also applies to phenomena as diverse as environmental degradation (or restoration), living a life...

Talks - Wednesday 22 March by University of Cambridge

This is the audio transcription of the Cambridge Science Festival 2017 programme.

This is the audio transcription of the Cambridge Science Festival 2017 programme.

This is the audio transcription of the Cambridge Science Festival 2017 programme.

This is the audio transcription of the Cambridge Science Festival 2017 programme.

This is the audio transcription of the Cambridge Science Festival 2017 programme.

This is the audio transcription of the Cambridge Science Festival 2017 programme.

This is the audio transcription of the Cambridge Science Festival 2017 programme.