The Big Science Saturday
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44 Gardner St, Brighton, BN1 1UN. [ map ] Tickets for Arena and Arena talks - £7 / £5 concessions. Tickets for individual Main Stage talks - £6/£4. Special All Day Ticket - £15 accesses all areas and all talks in all theatres (except Richard Wiseman) Tickets available on the door, but advance booking is advisable. Food available all day; cakes & sandwiches, fruit, snacks and drinks. |
Main Stage Speakers
Main Stage Speakers / Arena Events / Arena Talks
| Each talk will last 1 hr. | |
10.30AM - MULTIPLICITYRITA CARTER - Tickets £6/£4 concs book tickets online Cases of people with multiple personalities are dramatic, though rare. Yet we all have different versions of ‘me’ which we display when in company or on our own, at work or with our family. How easy is it for the boundaries to break down? Rita is a science and medical writer specialising in the workings of the human brain. Her books ‘Mapping the Mind’ and ‘Consciousness’ are already classics. Her new book, ‘Multiplicity’ looks set to join them. |  |
12.00pm - FANTASTIC PLASTICPROF. AVERIL MACDONALD - Tickets £6/£4 concs book tickets online To celebrate a century of plastic (yes, just one hundred years), Averil Macdonald, Professor of Science Communication at Reading University, gives a dazzling display of the tricks scientists can play, from disposable nappies to flat screen TVs, from Lego to zero pollution cars. What about the waste? Averil shows how polymers can be reincarnated to save precious resources or how they can be made to biodegrade and return to the Earth in a useful way. We see how the latest developments may be the answer to pollution and global warming. |  |
1.30PM - MAKING UP THE MINDCHRIS FRITH - Tickets £6/£4 concs book tickets online It seems that Free Will is a figment of the imagination. Chris Frith, one of the world's leading neuroscientists, is well known for his extremely clear thinking on very complex psychological matters, such as agency, social intelligence and the minds of people with autism and schizophrenia. In ‘Making Up the Mind’ he uses evidence from brain imaging, psychological experiments and studies of patients to explore the relationship between the mind and the brain, and discover just how little we are in control. |  |
3.00PM QUIRKOLOGYRICHARD WISEMAN - Tickets £6/£4 concs book tickets online How does your surname influence your life? What does the way you walk reveal about your personality? Why should women have men write their personal ads? What is the funniest joke In the world, and do religious fundamentalists have a sense of humour? Why are people in Delhi more helpful than Londoners? How can you be persuaded to remember events that never actually happened? Why do incompetent politicians win elections? For over twenty years, psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman has examined the quirky science of everyday life. Here is the definitive guide to what happens when behavioural scientists misbehave.Go to Quirkology for some amazing videos. |  |
Arena Events
Main Stage Speakers / Arena Events / Arena Talks
ROUGH SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS WITH THE OPEN UNIVERSITYTest your science skills with these Open University challenges devised by Mike Bullivant from the OU/BBC Rough Science TV series. Using basic and readily available materials, you’ll be able to build a working motor and solve a crime. Help Dr Jonathan Hare, from Rough Science, to build a power generating windmill which unlocks a secret treasure box. |  |
TEA TASTINGSo, how English are you? Can you tell good tea from bad? Clare Trumper, top Tetley tea taster, tests your taste buds in a tea tasting tongue twister, celebrating the centenary of the teabag. |  |
HELIUM STICKJamberry, experts in team building, demonstrate their winning style, including the mysterious 'helium stick', which rises in the air in spite of the efforts of eight people to lower it to the ground. |  |
DYNAMICS OF SPINSpinning toys are not only fun to play with, they can also illustrate fundamental principles of dynamics. Explore the rattleback, tippy-toppy, spinning eggs and see how they can help probe some of the fundamental principles of dynamics. |  |
THE “OWL” HOME ELECTRICITY MONITORAn amazing gadget for your kitchen counter top, that lets you in on the private life of your electricity meter. Know your daily energy usage and you can more easily cut down on waste. |  |
CAN ANCIENT ART ADVANCE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY?Cultures such as the Navajo Indians and Tibetan Monks used specially designed funnels to distribute sand to create beautiful paintings. Scientists have developed this technique allowing computers to control the flow of metal and ceramic powders in a way never achieved before. See how using vibrations produced by a robot can manipulate the flow of powder to help make new composite multi-materials as well as art. |  |
THE PERCEPTION DECEPTION: MATHS MADE OPTICAL ILLUSIONS“Optical illusions are some of Nature’s most impressive magic tricks. They are deceptively simple and yet compelling - your brain is telling you lies,” says Professor Peter McOwan from the Computer Science Department at Queen Mary, University of London. “Tricking the human brain can help us understand how we see, and help us explain how our brains work”. |  |
THE EYES HAVE IT: WHAT CAN MEASURING EYE MOVEMENTS REVEAL ABOUT THE MIND?The eyes are the window to the soul. With some amazing eye tracking gadgetry we can see inside yours. Because only a tiny region of the retina is capable of seeing things clearly, we move our eye constantly to fill in the gaps. But how much of the world do we invent? Dr. Sam Hutton will surprise you. |  |
BINOLOGYCan you psychoanalyze people by looking in their bins? The University of Brighton tell tales of the way we dispose of our trash, and how to do it better. |  |
SPEED DEBATINGSpeed debating is like speed-dating but this time you impress your partner with your intellect rather than your looks. For those who suffer from l’esprit d’escalier – realizing what you should have said in an argument when you’re halfway down the stairs having lost it – this session offers you a chance to learn some tricks that will help you score points in your next confrontation. |  |
A TOOL IN TEN MINUTESWhy spend a whole day learning how to think outside the box when you can acquire the same skill during a tea-break? Paul Levy delivers the essential tool for creative decision-making in a ten minute workshop that could change your life (tea-break included). You can also catch Paul on Monday Feb. 19th at the Catalyst Club where he'll be telling tales of ‘happiness’. |  |
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SIMULATORStudents at Northbrook college are trained to take up a career in the aircraft industry. Today, you can feel the pressure for yourself as you try out their sophisticated computers. Can we trust you to get a jumbo safely on to the ground? | |
A CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCKA paleontologist was recently examining a stone-age dwelling. He bent down to pick up a million year-old axe head, and cut his finger on it. Still sharp after all these years! It shows us that there is something to be said for the second oldest profession. Allan Course, Sussex’s finest modern cave-man, will be making flint blades, demonstrating human-kind’s first great technological breakthrough. |  |
Arena Talks
(on same ticket as Arena Events)
Main Stage Speakers / Arena Events / Arena Talks
| Each talk will last 20-30 minutes, with a further 10-15 minutes for questions. Big Science Sunday is a huge day, so don't forget to check the entire page to see what is happening on the other stage, and in the arena... | |
10.30am - INSPIRATIONAL BREAKFAST(Free to Arena ticket-holders, but must be booked in advance). A business networking breakfast, where live wires can spark! Several events this year cover the spectrum of the science/business interface, from the purely science end (how new technology will inspire new industries), through sustainability (how science will help us face the scary scarcities which are just around the corner) to the purely business end (how to get your point across and motivate your team). Short inspiring talks, networking opportunities and breakfast snacks. |  |
12.30pm - HOW TO SPEAK PROPERScience is too often mute, sometimes baffling and only occasionally inspiring. If science is to change the world for the better then the world needs to hear what science has to tell it in words that make it hungry for more. Sean Lusk looks at what makes scientists believe in their science and what makes societies believe – and disbelieve – what scientists tell them. |  |
1.45pm - OUR DAILY BREADEngineer Peter Martin and materials scientist Mark Miodownik offer a taste of how chemistry and engineering produce the flavours and textures of our favourite staple. |  |
3.00pm - YES! FIFTY SECRETS FROM THE SCIENCE OF PERSUASIONSteve Martin gives practical tips on some scientific ways to change people’s minds; improve their awareness or clinch those elusive deals. Based on the latest academic research. |  |
4.15pm - THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOXINGMarcus Smith explains the appliance of science in elite boxing. A little knowledge can mean the difference between victory and defeat. |  |
5.30pm - NATURE’S PATTERNSPrize-winning author, Philip Ball, explores the simple laws that produce complex patterns everywhere in nature, from galaxies to the cream in your coffee, from fluid dynamics to traffic tail-backs. |  |