This year’s Cambridge Science Festival (13-26 March) is getting personal and putting our brains, psychology and behaviours under the microscope during a series of events that explore us; who we are and what makes us tick.
Brain scans are one of the most common technologies used by neuroscientists to understand us and what is happening in our brains. However, as our ability to ‘read thoughts’ through functional MRI (fMRI) scans improves, what are the ethical issues? On the first evening of the Festival, an eminent panel of neuroscientists, including Professors Barbara Sahakian, John Pickard and Molly Crockett and Dr Julia Gottwald, discuss what brain scans tell us, what they may tell us in the future and what impact fMRI may have on society during the event, Sex, lies and brain scans: can scans reveal what goes on in our minds?(13 March)
A similar event, A roller-coaster guide to exploring the mind with technology, looks at how advancing technology offers unprecedented ways in which to understand people, their inner lives and overt behaviours, Dr Sharon Morein (Anglia Ruskin University) explores some of the ethical, legal and social issues arising from modern research into the mind. (25 March)
On the second day of the Science Festival, the link between our gut and brain is investigated in light of recent research that reveals how our guts have much more influence over our brains than we might think. During the event, Inside out: how the gut changes the brain’s view of the world the pervasive view of the gut and brain as fulfilling different roles, one concerned with higher matters while the other does the dirty work: processing, absorbing and digesting the nutrients that we take in is challenged. Professors Fiona Gribble and Paul Fletcher oppose this view and show that close interactions between the brain and gut shape our eating behaviours and more. (14 March)
In the event Are you the master of your impulses?the idea that we really know who we are and why we do the things we do, including our choices and impulses, is explored. Dr David Belin discusses how our impulses drive our emotions and behaviour and how these may contribute to deficits in decision making, impulsivity and even addiction. (18 March)
In relation to our political choices and decisions, research has revealed a surprising range of individual differences between people who identify as left or right wing — from the size or activity of particular areas of the brain, to moral values, to biases in categorising. Perhaps these findings can help us to understand the perspective of those who identify as being on the left or the right? More is revealed by psychology expert Dr Lee de-Wit during the event,The psychology and neuroscience of political preferences (19 March)
It would also appear that our immune system has some control over our behaviour and thoughts. In 2009, doctors in Cambridge discovered that a small proportion of people with psychosis have antibodies in their blood that bind to brain proteins. If they are treated with drugs to eliminate these antibodies, psychosis improves. Professor Alasdair Coles, scientists and people affected by psychosis discuss the implications of this understanding of how the immune system affects our behaviour and thoughts in the event Odd behaviour, strange ideas and the immune system. (22 March)
Other related events:
- Losing and finding the self in the brain (16 March): Our personal identity depends on an intact brain. Dr Jane Aspell, Anglia Ruskin University, discusses how rare neurological and psychiatric disorders contribute to our understanding of the neuroscience of self.
- Feeling the touch or pain of others(18 March): When you see someone being touched, do you feel as if you are the one being touched? Do you literally ‘feel the pain of others’? If you do, you are not alone. Take the survey and find out more about mirror-touch and mirror-pain synaesthesia with Dr Idalmis Santiesteban.
- Social consensus: how can social psychology inform society’s biggest challenges? (18 March): How does social consensus around key societal issues emerge? Why do some social causes go viral but not others? An exploration into how research from social psychology informs some of society’s biggest challenges, from climate change and Brexit to public health and poverty.
- Technology and the evolution of the personal(18 March): The introduction of novel technologies, especially those that intrude into our relationships, often results in outcomes that are different to what was intended. How can psychology help us understand why this is so and what is in prospect for the future of recent innovations?
- More brain poking(19 March): Steve Mould is well known for pulling pranks on people in BBC1’s Britain’s Brightest, all in the name of science. He explores the mysteries of the brain by messing with your senses. Discover how tricking your perception of reality can unlock the secrets of the mind.
- What makes you, you: stories of genetics and human identity(23 March) How does genetics relate to who ‘we’ are, as an individual, as a family and as a society? Social scientist Jonathan Roberts explores how films and books can help us think about our identity as we enter the genomic age.
To pre-book events, visit the Cambridge Science Festival website, or call: 01223 766 766. Visit the Festival’s twitter site @camscience #csf2017, or Facebook page cambridgesciencefestival
Cambridge Science Festival brings science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine to an audience of all ages through demonstrations, talks, performances and debates. Run by the University of Cambridge, the Festival draws together independent organisations in addition to many University Departments, Centres and Museums.
This year’s Festival sponsors and partners are Cambridge University Press, AstraZeneca, MedImmune, Illumina, TTP Group, Science AAAS, Anglia Ruskin University, Microsoft Research, FameLab, Babraham Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Napp, Alzheimer’s Research UK, The Institute of Engineering and Technology, UTC Cambridge, Hills Road Sixth Form College, Cambridge Junction, British Science Week, Cambridge Live, and BBC Cambridgeshire.
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Further information can be found at: www.sciencefestival.cam.ac.uk
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Cambridgesciencefestival | Twitter: @camscience #csf2017
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