Science on a Summer's Evening
Each year the College of Science and Engineering presents a special evening of lectures and hands-on science, showcasing exciting research at the University of Edinburgh.
Societal restrictions make this event challenging to host currently, but we will announce details of our next annual event when this becomes possible. For now, you can see the talks from our 2019 event below.
Wednesday 10th July 2019
Location - Lecture Theatre A, James Clark Maxwell Building, The King's Buildings.
Talks began at 17:30
Flammable cities: a burning issue for our world's poorest
Dr David Rush
Institute of Infrastructure and Environment, School of Engineering
Over one billion people across the globe live in informal shack settlements, and this number is steadily increasing. Many of these informal settlements (i.e. shantytowns, favelas, slums) are at constant risk of lethal, large-scale destructive fires due to flammable construction materials, heating and cooking methods, shack proximity, etc.
This presentation will highlight the global extent of the urban-fire problem including those who are most at risk. The focus will then turn to the example of Cape Town and the research findings from the IRIS-Fire team - an international group led by the University of Edinburgh - who are looking at the engineering and social aspects of the urban-fire issue.
Avoiding bad eggs and making good eggs: improving and extending female fertility
Professor Evelyn E Telfer
Institute of Cell Biology and CDBS, School of Biological Sciences
Female fertility declines with age, yet more women are delaying having children until later in life. Women are born with all their eggs, the quality of which declines with age. If young eggs could be stored and used later, or if new eggs could be made from stem cells, we could overcome this ageing process and extend female fertility.
In my lab we are working on techniques to grow and make human eggs outside the body. This presentation will take you from the earliest stages of human egg development through growth outside the body, and we will find out what makes a good egg.
Watch Evelyn's talk on YouTube
Previous events:
Science on a Summer's Evening 2018
Science on a Summer's Evening 2017
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