© Pint of Science, 2024. All rights reserved.
We are constantly searching for life elsewhere, but to find extraterrestrial life we must first understand our bodies better to enable us to recognise similar creatures. During tonight's event we will explore the fundamental building blocks of human life, using our chemical senses (smell and taste). We will then discuss how much aliens differ from us... Please note that this event takes place on the ground floor and is accessible for those with impaired mobility.
Alcohol, hot and cold drinks will be on offer and there will cakes and snacks available.
Alcohol, hot and cold drinks will be on offer and there will cakes and snacks available.
Atoms Through The Looking Glass
Professor Jim Thomas
(Professor of Bio-inorganic Chemistry)
Mother Nature is not always ambidextrous. In particular, all biological systems, including you and me, are built up of molecules with specific “handedness.” Don’t take my word for it and find out yourself: you can detect the differences between “left” and "right” hand molecules with your own senses.
Edible Experiments – A Taste of Chemistry
Dr Joanna Buckley
(Chemist and Science Communicator)
I first became interested in food chemistry when a batch of fudge I had prepared tasted spectacularly unpleasant, so I set about investigating what went wrong by applying my background in analytical chemistry to the problem. I have since devised ‘Edible Experiments’; a baker’s dozen of food experiments that explore the chemistry behind certain foods. During Pint of Science, I will share my passion of food chemistry and answer some significantly silly food-based questions that have kept me awake at night. Prepare your taste buds for some surprising science!
What would aliens be like?
Professor Simon Goodwin
(Physics and Astronomy)
We will have the technology to detect alien life in the next 10 years-or-so. But what are we looking for? What might aliens be like, and what do we think the chances of finding them actually are? I will talk about what we're guessing we might find and wondering if there are intelligent aliens (and maybe civilisations?).
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