UCL at Cheltenham 2010

Cheltenham Science Festival 2010 is over. I am back in London and back to my research. However, I will definitely not forget the brilliant time I had there. So thanks to the UCL graduate school for that (and UCL communications for allowing me to write about it).

The festival was great on so many levels!

There was a real buzz in the place. There was something for everyone, be it entertaining science or intellectually stimulating activities for those wanting a bit more.

As I have mentioned a couple of times before, I was also surprised by how interactive the whole experience was. There was no intimidation for participating in anything, be it having a go at a demonstration, or asking questions during events.

A few events will definitely remain with me. First of all are the ‘demonstration-based’ shows, The Bigger Bang, Science vs Magic, but particularly Chemistry: A Volatile History. I don’t think any kid could have watched those and not themselves becoming excited at the prospect of becoming a scientist. Also, Heston Blumenthal in Conversation with Harold McGee: the questions asked were really all over the place, but both of them answered them in a brief but definitely entertaining way. The last show I wanted to flag up was The School for Gifted Children. It was hilarious, it was entertaining…and it was scientific. What shouldn’t you love about that?

I have returned with an enthusiasm for research, an enthusiasm for science…but most of all I have become infected with an enthusiasm for getting science out there to the public.

As the festival’s theme was ‘Decadence‘, I thought I would leave you with some of the festival’s decadent highlights. Expect lights, bangs…and science!

Did you know that the smell of seaside is really dimethyl sulfide from bacteria (Coast), or that the probability of winning the lottery is equivalent to the probability of dying in 1hour…27mins…and 2s (Matt Parker)?

As a scientist, I love facts. ‘How can you not’ I ask? And this festival provided me with more than its fair share of them. I slipped quite a number of them into other posts, but some of them have escaped that fate…until now!

What else did I learn? Well, Henrietta Lacks‘ cells, known as HeLa – the first immortal human cells ever grown in culture – double in number every 24hrs (Is this the golden age of science writing?). Or that most Mexican waves require 25 people to start and travel at 27 miles per hour? (The Wavewatcher’s Companion).

However my favourite is probably this: Did you know that the fraction line is known as the vinculum. Mathgasm anyone? (Stand-Up Mathematics). Yeah I’m ever so slightly geeky!

Moving on to the somewhat bizarre? Quentin Cooper (FameLab International) stated that the periodic table is the scientific equivalent of a six-pack…where did he come up with that?

But the most inspirational thing I heard? The distinction would fall on the Moroccan Famelab contestant:

“If I wasn’t a scientist I would do my best to become one”

And that is what I have reminded myself during this festival…exactly why I do what I do and why I love what I do. And I will echo his words once again: If I wasn’t a scientist I would definitely try my best to be one!

What is this that I am hearing? Two teams, Decay and Dense (decay-dense…decaydense…decadence?…A laugh? Anyone?) battling it out against each other…to declare a winner the best liar of them all?

Call my scientific bluff was the name of one of the last events I watched at the festival. The team Decay was led by Timandra Harkness, while Dense was led by the festival director, and UCL’s own Mark Lythgoe. Decay was completed by Robin Ince and Robert Winston while Mark Lythgoe was joined by Sarah J. Arney, and one of my favourite entertainers from this festival, Quentin Cooper.

For all of you out there who do not know the concept of the show, it involves one scientific term, three definitions, but who’s bluffing and who’s telling the truth?

The terms ran the whole gamut from ekistics to pledget, linkboys to climactery. I didn’t know what any of them meant…and it seemed like neither did any of the contestants.

Winning was just plain guesswork, but one team did come out victorious. Guessing pledget, espyne, and parison, and bluffing on tegestologist and ekistics, Dense proved their name wrong, and decimated what was left of Decay.

An entertaining show hosted by Marcus Moore. Whoever said scientists don’t lie?

It’s 50 years since the lasers were discovered…and 46 years since Goldfinger threatened Bond with one. In that time lasers have come a long way, from being ” a solution looking for a problem” to the solution for a lot of problems.

Kate Lancaster (who was also at ‘The school for gifted children‘ event yesterday) was first up. She spoke to us about Chirped pulse amplification, Q-switching, mode locking, and a lot of other such things. But what’s more important is that her pet project is trying to make miniature stars, and that Vulcan, where she works, has an open-door policy! Organise a trip…anyone?

Next up was David Payne. He now works with high-powered fibre lasers – these are better than the fiddly ones Kate Lancaster works with he opined. He also spoke about WMD. No…not Weapons of Mass Destruction (though those too)…but Weapons of Mosquito Destruction. Don’t believe it? Check this out!

Then we got Stephen Bown, from UCL’s National Medical Laser Centre. Unlike the others, he’s a simple guy. He just wants “lasers in just the right place at just the right intensity”. High power? Not for him! For him, lasers are “A gentle way to get rid of nasty bits of tissue…without upsetting all the nice bits”.

But most importantly…X factor? Lasers have definitely got it!

Yesterday a boy told me “you cannot make a perpetual motion machine” while discussing water rockets and Newton’s laws. But today I think I’ve seen one! Running around the stage at breakneck speed Alom Shaha has just presented Science vs Magic.

For Alom, magic school took 10 weeks and £250; Science, including time at UCL, cost him 20 years and over £15,000. Which was worth it?

With a card trick we delved into ‘How does that work?’

• Magic? Simple explanations!
• Science? It’s about “fundamental things”

Another difference?

• Magic = cheap props…”Magicians are obsessed with handkerchiefs”
• Science = real phenomena…”Understand the nature of reality at its fundamental level”

From vanishing handkerchiefs, to mind-blowing mind-reading, we saw it all. But of course there is a scientific reason behind everything…and a scientific phenomenon which is even more exciting than the magic trick!

Alom Shaha said, “Science is hard”, but there is the “satisfaction of getting to grips with it”. I think that is one of the most important messages. It is more the satisfaction of getting my teeth into a problem and solving it that I appreciate about science, rather than necessarily the learning of ’stuff’. And I think that is what we need to get across to the general public: the ‘good feeling’ you get from finally seeing the light in any problem.

I want to end by echoing Alom Shaha’s excellent sentiment at the end of the event:

I don’t care that I’m just a physics teacher, because that is what I want to be”

I very brightly managed to book for two overlapping events. So after watching the  Famelab participants perform, I snuck out during the voting process and made my way to the EDF Arena for ‘The school for gifted children‘ (thanks Jay for posting the results though!).

The school for gifted children was billed as “a fabulous night of debate, polemic and glorious comedy that shows what would result from the collision of The Royal Variety Performance and The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures“. I have never been to either of those shows, but if last night was anything to go by, why ever have I not?

I arrived at the venue as Robin Ince was introducing Kate Lancaster from the Rutherford Appelton Laboratory. She talked to us about lasers – did you know it is their 50th birthday this year? She pulled through a (laser based?) laptop failure to talk to us about lasers, and more importantly…laser hobbyists. I am sure if I was her I would be very scared of being zapped by one of them anytime soon…but she’s made of tougher things than me it seems.

Next up was Helen Arney, a musical comedian based in London. Accompanied by her ukulele, she entertained us all with tales of love-lorn mathematicians, randy chemists, and that scourge of science – risk assessments. You can check out one of her songs: Helen Arney – Indecent Proposal.

By this time the end of the show should have been fast approaching. But we were by no means closed to finish (how’s that for some extra value for money?). It was now the turn of Ray Tallis to enlighten us on the issue of atheism and the evidence for it.

Ahh – and then it was Matt Parker! I had already heard him present at the Famelab competition as the UK finalist. I was definitely not disappointed to be entertained by him again…and that’s a good thing, considering I’m going to his show tonight as well (over-dose? I think not!).

Last up was then Brian Cox (O-B-E). I must admit that not being British I have somehow only just heard about him quite recently…and never saw any of his shows (yes – boooooo to me!). So errr – I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Not to worry. Even at 11:30 at night he managed to get through an explanation of relativity…and I actually got something out of it – light bouncing off mirrors anyone? Definitely says something for his skills.

After a long day I left the show and the Cheltenham festival grounds very tired but very much enlightened as well as entertained by the science on show. Last day today. What awaits?

Chemistry: A Volatile History wasn’t the only demonstration-based chemistry show I saw today. In fact, the first show I saw this morning was The Bigger Bang with Dr Hal and his team.

This show was definitely impressive, with the bangs getting bigger and bigger as the show progressed. We learnt about gases of different densities, luminescence, and about how things burn…and that we ’shouldn’t try this at home’. There was light flashes, boats floating, and I repeat: big bangs.

However, I think there was two things that I was slightly concerned with during this event. First of all, the presenter at certain intervals outlined what were the learning outcomes of the just-performed demonstration. Hearing those words made me feel like I am back on the school bench and I am there to ‘learn something’ rather than there to enjoy the event and subtly learn about what I am observing, which is what I think science communication at such a festival, and especially if aimed at kids, should be about.

Another thing I observed was the use of chemicals including sulfur hexafluoride were used. This chemical has been identified as one of the most potent greenhouse gases out there. I agree that the quantities used were not big, but couldn’t another chemical be used instead?

Other than these two quibbles, the show was highly entertaining. The presenters kept the show flowing quite easily and fluidly. I am sure everyone there came out in awe of chemistry, but confident that they can manage it.

Interspersing his speech with words including “spectacularly brilliant”, “stunningly beautiful”, “just mesmerising”, Andrea Sella, from UCL Chemistry has just reminded me exactly why I love chemistry. He is clearly enthusiastic about his subject, and that enthusiasm was definitely infectious.

Today I attended a full-house event for Andrea Sella’s event Chemistry: A volatile history with Jim Al-Khalili. The event was based on the recent television series of the same name.

As Sella stated, chemistry always seems to be thought about in connection with pollution, cancer and other negative terms. However, there is so much more to it.

The ancient Greeks believed that the world was made up of 4 elements: water, earth, air and fire. However, as chemists (or alchemists) tried to discover more, they started identifying individual elements, culminating in the development of the periodic table. Quoting Sella, “It’s true that chemistry is about the elements. But it is also about much more than that”.

During the event we saw slow-motion videos from the series, but even more impressively Andrea Sella had numerous demos prepared for us – from burning potassium, to burning diamonds…yes there was a lot of burning!

A truly inspiring event, both for how much information it provided, but even more so for the way it brought that information to your attention in a subtle but exciting manner.

As a chemist I cannot resist ending with this quote, again from Sella:

If it stinks and burns: it’s chemistry;

If it doesn’t work: it’s physics.

The last event I went to last night was the event A Question of Science. This was a hilarious take on a pub quiz with (quite) a bit of science flavouring sprinkled on top.

The event was presented by a very entertaining Quentin Cooper. He was joined on the stage by a team from The Times, a team from the Cheltenham Science Festival, and a New Scientist team.

Throughout the event we were exposed to everything, from finger-tapping doofers to very entertaining goofers (including a water-spouting Robert Winston wetting[?] himself?). Then of course there was the mind-boggling questions which stumped quite a significant portion of the audience (me definitely included).

Amongst many things [not including those which flew straight over my head], we learnt that the lips of Norway lobsters have been very good to biodiversity, that wimpzillas are not imaginary, and that antimony is the first element in Tom Lehrer’s Element song! [Never heard it? Check it out! Tom Lehrer's Element Song]

How well did we all do? Well, let’s just say that the winner, Richard Smith, got a total of 28 points from a maximum of 50! How did the teams fare? New Scientist came top with a brilliant[?] 19, followed by the festival team at 11, and the Times team at a not-very-impressive 9.

As for me? I don’t think I did too well. Though I desperately believe (hope?) that I at least surpassed the 9 points! Hmmm…maybe I should return to studying? But on second thoughts…the festival is so much more riveting! Scrap studying…it’s the festival for me!

Delving into the world of stress was…how shall I put it?…Stressful!

Cary Cooper and Douglas Carroll helped us understand why people are stressed at work during Performance under Pressure: Stressed Out? I must admit I found this event one of the most informative, if somewhat sinister in tone.

Apparently, since 2004 stress has become the leading cause of sickness at work. What is the cause of this though?

Even worse I thought was the fact that in 2007 presenteeism – which is the act of coming to work whilst ill and the person’s decreased level of productivity this causes – had resulted in greater costs than absenteeism. And this was before the economic crisis!

There was also a lot of discussion about how work causes illness. Cary Cooper quoted Studs Terkel as saying

Work is by its very nature about violence – to the spirit.

I found this very thought provoking, if somewhat scary, and it seemed to do the same to others. Another stand-out phrase was that “If you continuously work long yours you will get ill. Do you think that would stand as an excuse with most bosses? I’m not really sure!

This is so even in today’s service-based world when most of us could probably work from home if need be. However, work provides us with the social contact we often crave.

Another ominous phrase came, particularly for today and England’s first World Cup game for 2010, from Douglas Carroll. Apparently when the UK lost to Argentina on penalties there was a 25 % increase in admissions to hospitals due to heart attacks. So I urge you one thing: please be careful in the coming weeks!

The seriousness of work stress also extended quite significantly into the question time, when Mark Lythgoe who was chairing the session had quite a bit of a problem getting the two professors to keep their answers short and sweet.

But is there any hope? The only sliver of hope seemed to be that ”the more you perceive to have autonomy and control over your job the less ill you get”. So if you have a problem identify it, see what options you have, and tackle it with the option giving you most benefits for least cost.

By the end most of us were probably feeling even more stressed than when we came in! So Mark Lythgoe asked both presenters to end on one positive take home message. At last, the light at the end of the tunnel seemed to grow significantly brighter! The answers?

Douglas Carroll: Laughter boosts the immune system. So when things seem to be going badly – take the piss!

Cary Cooper then resorted to the all-time pantomime favourite: be nice to each other!

And that’s what I urge you.