Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
The science of everything, from A to DNA
This year the festival’s exceptional science strand is exploring new and uncharted territories – from examining the (hypothetical) evidence of the murder of Justin Bieber to exploring the link between science and the art of brewing.
Thanks to sponsorship from the University of Kent, there are talks and workshops from some of the country’s best minds – as well as science-themed events to keep your brains whirring and your mental cogs turning.
Biology meets balladry, physics encounters pentameter and chemistry confronts cadence as Kent’s leading scientists are paired with Canterbury’s finest spoken-word artists to create new micro-performances.
The result? Experimental Words, a diverse display of rhyme, rhythm and reason, which celebrates the creative similarities between science and the performing arts.
Hosted by scientific poet and former Canterbury Laureate Dan Simpson and poetry slam-winning scientist Dr Sam Illingworth, this will be an evening of precise delights and unexpected insights (November 1).
Dr Adam Rutherford, presenter of Inside Science, Radio 4’s flagship science programme, will be visiting the festival to present A Brief History of Anyone Who Has Ever Lived (October 31).
He will be looking at how history can be revisited using the map that we all contain and all its revelations. Through understanding our very own DNA as a historical text, we can begin to unravel a chequered past that includes kings, queens, inbreeding, war, plague, famine, diseases – and a lot of deviant sex.
Why did Agatha Christie use poison so often to dispatch characters and why do their poisons of choice provide such important clues to the identity of the murderer?
A is for Arsenic (October 26) will be a fascinating talk, exploring why certain chemicals kill, how they interact with the body and the feasibility of obtaining, administering and detecting these killer compounds. Kathryn Harkup explores the fascinating background to the novelist’s detailed chemical knowledge, illustrated by the use of poisons in her classic crime novels. An absolutely perfect event to get you in the mood for Halloween… . It is said that Cleopatra was keen to find a painless means to die that would leave behind an attractive corpse. She tested several poisons on her slaves, including arsenic and watched the effects before deciding on the bite of an asp – a poisonous Egyptian serpent.