Macaulay Land Use Research Institute » British Science Festival 09 http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk Tue, 29 Mar 2011 16:30:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Day 6 http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/2009/09/10/day-6/ http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/2009/09/10/day-6/#comments Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:46:41 +0000 Clara Macindoe http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/?p=1069 The end of the festival. [continue reading ... ]

]]> http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/2009/09/10/day-6/feed/ 0 Day 5 http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/2009/09/09/day-5/ http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/2009/09/09/day-5/#comments Wed, 09 Sep 2009 10:25:15 +0000 Clara Macindoe http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/?p=1067 [/caption]

One day left. [continue reading ... ]

]]> http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/2009/09/09/day-5/feed/ 1 Day 4 http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/2009/09/08/day-4-2/ http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/2009/09/08/day-4-2/#comments Tue, 08 Sep 2009 11:19:11 +0000 Clara Macindoe http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/?p=1079 So this is my last day at the festival! The first talk I attended was one that I had been looking forward to called `Vitamin D: The sunshine superstar’. All I knew on the subject was that sunlight was needed for vitamin D synthesis, and I wondered being from Scotland, if I might be deficient! Four speakers talked covering different areas of the subject, including a general introduction to vitamin D, its effect on the immune system and on osteoporosis. I learned that almost everyone in Britain spends most of their lifetime deficient in the vitamin, apart from the summer months where some of us manage to obtain sufficient levels! Deficiencies are worst in older adults, especially if they live in care homes. The speakers agreed that it would be beneficial for older adults and pregnant woman to take supplements. Ironically the sun was beating down when I left the talk, so I made sure I sat in it to eat my lunch! [continue reading ... ]

]]> http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/2009/09/08/day-4-2/feed/ 0 Day 4 http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/2009/09/08/day-4/ http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/2009/09/08/day-4/#comments Tue, 08 Sep 2009 09:27:53 +0000 Clara Macindoe http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/?p=1064 [/caption]

Another busy day! [continue reading ... ]

]]> http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/2009/09/08/day-4/feed/ 1 Day 3 http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/2009/09/07/day-3-2/ http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/2009/09/07/day-3-2/#comments Mon, 07 Sep 2009 11:16:22 +0000 Clara Macindoe http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/?p=1077 Emma Woodham at Science Festival day 3
Today started with a lecture on “What Computers Tell Us About the Mind”. One speaker from the University of Glasgow presented his research on face recognition. He made the interesting point that we experience no difficulty recognising faces we have seen before, but when it comes to unfamiliar faces we find it much harder. He demonstrated this in his lab by giving his subjects a number of different pictures of one person they didn’t know. He asked them to separate the pictures into sets that they thought were of the same person. Some people made as many as 8 plies! He made the point that if we can’t discriminate between pictures of the same person, photographic ID is useless in telling whether the person is who they say they are. [continue reading ... ]

]]> http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/2009/09/07/day-3-2/feed/ 1 Day 3 http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/2009/09/07/day-3/ http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/2009/09/07/day-3/#comments Mon, 07 Sep 2009 09:07:08 +0000 Clara Macindoe http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/?p=1056 [/caption]

Today was a tour day, with one in the morning and one in the afternoon! [continue reading ... ]

]]> http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/2009/09/07/day-3/feed/ 1 Day 2 http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/2009/09/06/day-2-2/ http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/2009/09/06/day-2-2/#comments Sun, 06 Sep 2009 11:15:00 +0000 Clara Macindoe http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/?p=1075 Day two began with a tour of the universe, again with Dr Maggie. I should mention that she has been awarded an MBE by the Queen but – I’m sure you will agree – the fact she has a Blue Peter badge is much more impressive! Her talk involved building a rocket from baking powder and vinegar, a great Blue Peter make! [continue reading ... ]

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Sundays are always good for a walk and that’s what I did. I joined a field trip to the RHS Wisley Gardens with the objective of finding out more about how climate change will affect the English gardens. Well, “will” does not seem to be the appropriate tense for the verb since, according to a gardening expert who was with us, it is already happening. He told us that he is currently experiencing a two week increase in the growing season. [continue reading ... ]

]]> http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/2009/09/06/day-2/feed/ 1 Day 1 http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/2009/09/05/day-1/ http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/2009/09/05/day-1/#comments Sat, 05 Sep 2009 10:56:17 +0000 Clara Macindoe http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/?p=1072 The British Science Festival 2009 begins! It promises everything from Darwin to dishonesty labs, microscopes to memory, covering everything from the microscopic virus to the entire milky way. The first event I attended was an informative lecture on ‘Transition Towns’. I have to admit I had never heard of the project before, but I soon learned that this was a community based initiative which aims to begin to make the necessary changes in our lifestyles to prepare for limited oil supplies and the effects of climate change. This made me realise more than ever that we need to act now to prevent irreversible damage to our planet, or suffer the consequences of our actions. [continue reading ... ]

]]> http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/2009/09/05/day-1/feed/ 0 Arrival and day 1 http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/2009/09/05/arrival-and-day-1/ http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/2009/09/05/arrival-and-day-1/#comments Sat, 05 Sep 2009 08:53:54 +0000 Clara Macindoe http://mediareleases.macaulay.ac.uk/?p=1050 After crossing a flooded Scotland, I finally arrived at my destination: The University of Surrey in Guildford, England. I was given the keys to my room, met Emma who I was going to share this experience with, and had a cup of tea while chosing the talks I wanted to attend the next day. [continue reading ... ]

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