The Pint of Science festival is an international public engagement festival taking place from 22 May \u2013 24 May 2023. This worldwide science festival brings researchers to the local community to share their scientific discoveries in a relaxed and informal setting. Kent has run 18 events since 2017 (with a hiatus during the pandemic), reaching more than 1000 people.<\/p>\n
This year, staff from the University will be holding three events \u2013 each including three speakers \u2013 on three themes: Our Body, Our Society and Beautiful Mind. Our Body (22 May) and Our Society (23 May) will take place at the Foundry in Canterbury, while Beautiful Mind (24 May) will take place at the Man of Kent in Rochester.<\/p>\n
On 22 May, everyone is welcome to join Kent staff at The Foundry in Canterbury for a packed and interactive evening about different aspects of\u00a0how bodies work<\/a>. Firstly, Dr\u00a0Christopher Dunmore\u00a0<\/a>(Lecturer in Biological Anthropology) will discuss the differences between how apes and humans use their bodies to manipulate objects and even walk. Attendees will also get the chance to undertake some tasks \u2013 with some interesting props.<\/p>\n Julien Camard<\/a>\u00a0(PhD Student in Applied Optics Group), will explain how newly developed optical techniques will allow us to better spot developmental abnormalities in IVF embryos and be amazed how new scientific developments allow us to visualise the development of embryos in incredible detail.<\/p>\n Finally,\u00a0Professor John Dickinson<\/a>\u00a0(Head of the Exercise Respiratory Clinic) will investigate how to breathe most efficiently during illness or exercise. There will also be an interactive session using basic breathing exercises to understand what scientific research suggests is an optimal breathing pattern in various situations.<\/p>\n On 23 May, we take a look at a range of topics in the theme of \u2018Our Society<\/a>\u2019. Firstly, Gabrielle Emson explains her research which shows that learning some very simple sound exercises can make it easier to learn a second language and how this will hopefully inform how the UK teaches languages.<\/p>\n Tommy Pargeter-Grey<\/a>\u00a0will explore if Artificial Intelligence (AI) is funnier than your favourite comedian. We have all read about how AI is taking over the world. But how good is it at telling a joke? So why not join Tommy and help push AI limits to the extreme in this tantalising taste of comedy for the future.<\/p>\n Lastly, see how the beer that you drink is helping scientists find out how disease resistant genes work in crops and how they could fight diseases.\u00a0Dr Helen Cockerton<\/a>\u00a0will explain what a UK hop breeder and a plant geneticist have in common \u2013 and show you how to carry out a DNA extraction using everyday items from your kitchen cupboard\u2026from a strawberry!<\/p>\n Finally, join us in Medway (Man of Kent pub, Rochester) for a journey into the \u2018Beautiful Mind\u2019\u00a0<\/a>.\u00a0Dr Zara Bergstrom<\/a>\u00a0will look at incriminating memories and forensic memory detection \u2013 how do our brains stop the retrieval of unwanted memories or \u2018update\u2019 existing memories and how do brain activity electroencephalograms (EEG) and memory tests help investigate this? Dr Bergstrom will also look at how these tests can detect if a suspect has memories of a crime or make guilty suspects appear innocent \u2013 and how this can be applied to real life applications such as \u2018brain fingerprinting\u2019 in the \u201cMaking a Murderer\u201d TV series.<\/p>\n Next\u00a0Dr Amir-Homayoun Javadi<\/a>\u00a0will discuss how enhanced cognitive abilities could potentially allow you to decide faster or achieve increase performance in everyday tasks, and what restrictions there should be on these applications. will lead a discussion on these ideas before a game of \u2018Pin the brain\u2019 game to see how much you know.<\/p>\n Finally, we\u2019ll see why traumatic brain injuries can increase the risk of dementia. With 850,000 people live with dementia in the UK,\u00a0Dr Romina Vuono<\/a>\u00a0asks if lifestyle decisions are affecting the development of dementia, as well as our genes? We\u2019ll learn how brain injuries which occur in everyday life or during sports (e.g. boxing or heading a football) can increase predisposition to this devastating disease.<\/p>\n Tickets are \u00a35 and are\u00a0available online<\/a>\u00a0now.<\/p>\n To find out more about the Pint of Science festival and how to get involved, email the team at\u00a0pintofscience@kent.ac.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"