Lectures - 2017/2018

Breath Biopsy: a Mission to Save 100,000 Lives

Billy Boyle, co-founder, Owlstone Ltd

How Owlstone Medical has developed a breathaylzer for disease and is on a mission to save 100,000 lives

Mon 2nd Oct 2017
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The DNA Revolution Has Arrived in the Behavioural Sciences

Prof. Robert Plomin, King's College, London

How individual differences in behaviour, such as GCSE scores and university entrance, can be predicted from DNA alone, using polygenic scores

Mon 16th Oct 2017
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The Scientific Challenges of Fusion Power

Prof. Steven Cowley, Corpus Christi College, Oxford

Imagine holding a lump of jelly - the plasma - with a few pieces of knitting - a magnetic field - and the plasma is ten times hotter than the core of the sun, while the magnets are held within a few degrees of absolute zero, and you have some idea of the materials challenge...

Mon 30th Oct 2017
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Will the Antarctic Go Green Again? Lessons from its Fossil History

Prof. Jane Francis, British Antarctic Survey

Fossil plants preserved in Antarctic rocks show it was once covered in lush green forests, despite being situated over the South Pole. The fossils provide us with a window into life at high latitudes in our future warm world.

Mon 13th Nov 2017
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How Democracy Ends: Thinking the Unthinkable

Prof. David Runciman, University of Cambridge

Democracy is feeling the strain everywhere. What might happen next? How bad could it get?

Mon 27th Nov 2017
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Building World Class Life Science Businesses – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Dr. Jonathan Milner, Deputy Chairman, Abcam plc

Jonathan Milner, co-founder of Abcam, offers a masterclass in building successful life science starts-ups, based on his experience with over 40 companies and three Tech IPOs on the London AIM Stock Exchange.

Mon 22nd Jan 2018
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Enhancing the Brain and Wellbeing in Health and Disease

Prof. Barbara J. Sahakian, University of Cambridge

How more effective treatments are being developed through an understanding of the neural basis of cognitive, emotional and behavioural dysfunction

Mon 5th Feb 2018
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Epigenetics - Why DNA Is Not Your Destiny

Dr Nessa Carey, Imperial College, London

How a complex web of chemical changes can have profound effects on gene expression and life itself

Mon 19th Feb 2018
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The Knotty Maths of Medicine

Prof. Dorothy Buck, University of Bath

Learn how mathematically understanding knots, like the kind in your shoelaces, has helped us to understand DNA and diseases better

Mon 5th Mar 2018
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Metamaterials and the Science of Invisibility

Prof. Sir John Pendry, Imperial College, London

Recently created Metamaterials are proving to be a disruptive technology where their ability to control the trajectory of light promises improved telecommunications, solar energy harvesting, stealth, biological imaging and sensing, and medical diagnostics.

Mon 19th Mar 2018
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Clean Brexit - how to make a success of leaving the EU

Dr Gerard Lyons, Netwealth Investments

Since 1999, the share of UK trade with the EU has fallen from 61% to just over 40%. If the single market is so good for the UK, why do we trade less with the EU than with the rest of the world?

Mon 23rd Apr 2018
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Effective terrorist interrogation without torture - why tough tactics fail, and rapport gets results

Emily Alison & Prof. Laurence J. Alison, University of Liverpool

The popular mythology of beating confessions from suspects has been shown to be counterproductive, while new research is providing a successful way forward

Mon 21st May 2018
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The secret lives of fish

Dr. Helen Scales

Everything you always wanted to know about fish, but were afraid to ask

Mon 4th Jun 2018
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Creating the first self-developing embryo from stem cells

Prof. Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, University of Cambridge

How Cambridge scientists developed the world’s first self-developing mouse embryo from stem cells, and the implications for advances in human IVF treatment and for understanding of how life itself starts

Mon 18th Jun 2018
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Previous lectures

Discover the synopses and supporting materials from previous lectures over the years: