King’s at Cheltenham Festival

Chris Coe, Director of Public Engagement at King’s, said: ‘Once again, the College is taking advantage of being an academic partner of the country’s leading science festival to engage huge numbers with our research.’

King’s speakers are involved in the following Festival events:

Tuesday 12 June

Identically different

How can identical twins, with identical DNA, often turn out to be so different? How are your genes influenced by your life experiences? Professor Tim Spector from the Department of Twin Research explores the cutting edge field of epigenetics – hidden influences on your genes.

Superfoods

Will drinking orange juice stave off your cold? Are some foods more super than others when it comes to boosting yourbody’s ability to fight infection? Immunologist Catherine Hawrylowicz, DivisionofAsthma, Allergy and Lung Biology, challenges some popular beliefs with other scientists in the field.

Wednesday 13 June

Hacktivism

Cyber terrorism or legitimate political protest? Hacktivists – like Wikileaks and Anonymous – target the online systems ofgovernments, companies, law enforcement agencies and individuals to stage a protestin the name of free speech and civil rights. Is this a good thing? In an age where statesecrets, medical records and bank accounts are all stored online, Tim Jordan, from the Department of Culture Media and Creative Industries, joins James Lyne and Misha Glenny to explore digital security and the future of hacktivism.

Thursday 14 June

Adding quality to end of life

As a person comes to the end of their life, symptoms such as pain and severe breathlessness can make them wishtheir lives away. Can we help them to do more with the time they have left? Professor of Palliative Care at King’s, Irene Higginson explores helping people tolive well before they die.

Organ regeneration

If a salamander looses a limb it simply grows another. How do they do that and why can’t humans regenerate the same way? Fiona Wardle from the Randall Division of Cell and Molecular Biophysics at King’s, joins other experts in the field to explore regenerative medicine and discuss whether you couldone day ‘re-grow your own’!

Hunt for the Higgs Boson

The Higgs boson – the so-calledGod Particle – is thought to be the last remaining building block in ourunderstanding of matter. Three years after the world’s largest particleaccelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), was switched on in the hunt forthe Higgs, physicists expect this to be the year it is finally found – or not. John Ellis, Department of Physics, discusses what this could mean for physics.

Friday 15 June

Dementia

Is it possible to ‘live well’ with dementia? What is it like to receive a diagnosis? Can we all be doing more to reduce our risk? Martin Prince, Institute of Psychiatry will explore the innovations and challenges for patients and global society along with other dementia experts.

The Depressed Brain

Does the brain of someone withdepression have a different structure or behaviour when they are depressed’How can triggers like stress affect the brain and cause depression? Carmine Pariante, Institute of Psychiatry, will discuss how antidepressants increase neuronal number and are good for the brain.

Science of Honey

How do bees make honey? Whatare all the different types of honey? What are the health benefits? ThreeFestival favourites – pharmacologist from King’s, Clive Page, chemist Andrea Sella and materials scientistMark Miodownik – are joined by honey producer Daniel Basterfield to explorethe wonders of this golden treasure.

For full details of events, please visit the Cheltenham Festivals website.