Edinburgh Science Festival 2020
Our staff and students are heavily involved in Edinburgh Science Festival 2020. Find out more about which events the College is holding here.
Medicines in the Making
4th-6th April, 11.30am, 1.30pm and 3pm @ National Museum of Scotland
The mysterious Easter Bunny Syndrome is spreading quickly around the world. Play our life-sized clinical-trial board game to help us find a treatment and to test out whether it works. While making your way across the board, you will learn what clinical trials are and how they help us develop new medicines. For ages 7–12. Each ticket also admits one adult if required.
Game On!
5th-8th April, 11.45am and 2.45 pm @ National Museum of Scotland
A hands-on, playful introduction to computer programming. You'll explore the exciting world of video games, learn the basics of coding in a visual programming language called Scratch and you'll design and build your very own computer game! For ages 8–14. Each ticket admits one adult if required.
Amazing Immunology: be a scientist, build a vaccine!
7th-10th April, 12pm @ National Museum of Scotland
Become a scientist and learn how your immune system detects and destroys bugs, and how vaccines trigger the immune system and its memory to protect us from deadly diseases. Take part and build your own vaccine to halt a nasty virus. For ages 7–13. Each ticket admits one adult if required.
Fruit Flies: a key to unlock human mysteries
9th-10th April, 10am-4.30pm @ National Museum of Scotland
Get hands-on with live fruit flies, use a microscope to identify their body parts and use glow-in-the-dark organs to see what's going on inside! Find out how our techniques contribute to scientific progress and discuss the latest research with biomedical researchers.
Brains!
9th-10th April, 10am-4.30pm @ National Museum of Scotland
What is your brain made of and how do we find out how it works? Join us for an interactive look at real brains and find out about how researchers use donated human brain tissue to better understand human disease. Discuss the latest research techniques with medical researchers.
Neuron Safari
9th-10th April, 11am-4pm (ever half-hour) @ National Museum of Scotland
Explore how the billions of cells in your brain work through Minecraft! Get involved and learn about the incredible machinery that makes our cells work. You'll be able to make proteins from DNA and learn how our neurons communicate with one another. For ages 7+.
Body Image: a technological tour of the body
11th-13th April, 10am-4.30pm @ National Museum of Scotland
Get hands-on with medical researchers to find out how new technologies are advancing the way we understand and see inside the body. Use cutting-edge imaging techniques to uncover body mysteries, run experiments to discover if whales are stressed and explore ways that body fat can be healthy!
Air Pollution: the new tobacco
5th April, 3pm @ National Museum of Scotland
Our lungs breathe in between eight to nine thousand litres of air each day, filling our bodies with life-sustaining oxygen. But pollution of the air we all breathe is on the rise, and has been declared a public health emergency by the World Health Organisation. Join Dr Stefan Reis, expert in atmospheric chemistry, Dr Mark Miller, whose research focusses on the effects of air pollution on our cardiovascular system and Sustrans Director of Urbanism Daisy Narayanan to explore and unpack these issues. Hosted by Claire Daly from Sustrans.
Let's Talk Cancer Prevention
7th April, 8pm @ National Museum of Scotland
Although the rate of cancer survival in the UK has doubled and half of patients now survive the disease for ten or more years, the number of people getting cancer is increasing. Although our understandings of the risks are constantly improving, preventing cancer remains a complex issue. Join Cancer Research UK's cancer prevention champion Prof Linda Bauld to explore the changes we can make as a society to stack the odds in our favour.
Earthly Matters: A Space Gynaecologist's Perspective
14th April, 7.30pm @ Pleasance
For the past decade, Dr Varsha Jain has been fascinated by the impact space has on human health. Her research today offers valuable insight into women’s health here on Earth. Join Dr Jain, in conversation with science communicator Hazel Lambert, for a lively and fun discussion about her findings and how she views the ‘missing element’ in our debate about women’s Earthly matters.