Newcastle University

Scientists and post-graduate students from the IAH are taking an active role in this year's British Science Festival which runs from 7 -12 September. Events which highlight our areas of interest include:

Do I look good in these genes? Perspectives on personalised nutritional advice (Saturday 7 September)
Panel debate - The cost of genetic information is coming down. How can we best use our current understanding of DNA and nutrition to design healthier diets tailored for each individual? Should we? Do we really want to know what our DNA could reveal?

Clotbusters (Sunday 8 September)
See the latest treatment options for acute brain attack (stroke) followed by a behind the scenes tour. Presentations by Professors Phil White, Gary Ford and Helen Rodgers

How the brain ages (Sunday 8 September)
What happens to the brain as it ages? Try our interactive activities and get upclose to some brain tissue! Test your brain’s function and reaction times, from computer-based activities and brain-training games to bop-it for the younger ones. Look under a microscope to see the structure of healthy and diseased brains, and how the brain changes with age.

Life without ageing? (Monday 9 September 2013)
Professor Tom Kirkwood and Dr Aubrey de Grey discuss strategies to combat the ageing process

Ageing: The challenge of our time (Wednesday 11 September)
A panel of experts debate how science is addressing one of humanity's greatest achievements: living longer. One in four children born today will celebrate their 100th birthday. Tom Kirkwood leads a panel of experts in exercise, technology and brain health to explore how science is addressing the challenges and opportunities that living longer presents.

IAH staff are also participating in the schools programme:

Brain Hats - Discover how your brain thinks and remembers and how it changes as you get older. Test your own memory and explore what happens when things go wrong through illness or injury. You can even make your own ‘paper brain hat’ to take home. (Monday - Thursday)

Will Getting My Genes Sequenced Help Me Choose A Healthier Diet? - When the human genome was launched in 2000, it introduced the possibility of personalised health care. This could be applied to nutrition to create a diet tailored specifically for an individual. How can we use our understanding of food and our genes to design a better, healthier and more individual diet? Do people really want to know what they should eat? Do people think that they should get their DNA sequenced or are they worried about what that will reveal? (Tuesday)

Britsih Science Festival Website