British Science Festival Day 2

We’re nearing the end of Day 3 at the British Science Festival, so what better time to print our roundup of Day 2?

Our day kicked off at the Chemistry section’s Forensic Chemistry and Air Security. Roy Harrison, Johannes Laube and Aberdeen’s own Eva Krupp, discussed toxicity in the air, bioaccumulation of mercury, and told us that while Aberdeen has some of the cleanest air in Britain, walking down some areas of London, you’ll be inhaling as many as 100,000,000 particulates per breath

On the other side of campus, in King’s College Conference Centre, the Isambard Kingdom Brunel Award Lecture was this year given by Tim Drysdale. The Ethics of Seeing through Clothes asked how much exposure the audience would be comfortable with. What if that exposure led to greater security?And what are the health implications of such technology? The consensus was that so long as you never meet the person watching the screen, most of us are happy to expose ourselves for the sake of security.

At the daily xchange at the Spiegeltent Helen Arney treated us to a selection of science-songs, Tim Drysdale and Simon Watt summed up their lectures, and Jim Wild answered questions and drummed up trade for his lecture that afternoon. You can listen to the Day 2 xchange podcast here.

Look out for more from Simon Watt and Tim Drysdale in the next issue of Au!

The award for the best graphics in a presentation has to go to Space Weather: A New Hazard for a Modern World. Space scientists, Jim Wild and Lucie Green talked about explosions on the sun, sunspots larger than the Earth, the Northern Lights, and electric currents in space. Geomagnetism scientist Alan Thompson then explained how these space weather systems could, and do, effect us here on earth.

The Au team returned to the Spiegeltent for an evening of science-comedy with Bright Club. Science joined forces with comedy to present one of the most entertaining research conferences you’ve ever seen, including a forestry expert with not-so-subtle innuendos, a Coolio inspired criminologist and biologist who managed to graph the enjoyment of the audience.

More links to summaries and blogs will be added as they appear. For live updates on the British Science Festival, you can follow the #BSF2012 hashtag, follow us at @ausciencemag, or follow the Au team: @jo_do, @hapsci, @amykinshay, @ksn_81,@ginazoo, and @daisb.