Cambridge Science Festival 2018

LECTURES

pod ast

Cosmopolitan Lovesick Blues - The Right Profile

Dr David Belin, Department of Psychology, discusses our current understanding of the psychological and neural basis of impulsive/compulsive disorders such as drug addiction and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). He will offer an overall framework within which to understand how goal-directed behaviour, initially aiming at experiencing euphoria, pleasure, or performing better at the exam, in the context or drug use, or relieving distress in the context of OCD becomes, in some vulnerable individuals, a compulsive habit.

Dr David Belin is a Lecturer in Behavioural Neuroscience at the Department of Psychology of the University of Cambridge.

Dr Belin was born in Blois, France. He graduated in 2005 in Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology at the University of Bordeaux 2. During his PhD he developed the first preclinical model of cocaine addiction based in the operationalisation of multiple clinical criteria of the pathology as defined in humans.

Dr Belin then moved to the laboratory of Professor Barry Everitt at the Department of Experimental Psychology of the University of Cambridge in January 2006. With his mentor Dr Belin investigated the corticostriatal mechanisms of cocaine seeking habits and the relationships between impulsivity and compulsive cocaine self-administration, leading to a breakthrough in our understanding of the neurological and psychological mechanisms subserving individual vulnerability to cocaine addiction.

In 2009 Dr David Belin tenured at the INSERM in France and established his INSERM team in Poitiers (France) which focused on the psychological, neural and cellular mechanisms of individual vulnerability to compulsive disorders and their modulation by the environment. Soon it became apparent that Cambridge is where he wanted to carry out his research and he came back in October 2013, being appointed Lecturer in Neuroscience at the Department of Pharmacology. He moved back to the Department of Psychology in October 2016, where he has now established his research on the psychological and neural mechanisms of compulsive disorders.

Dr David Belin has received the Mémain-Pelletier Award from the French Academy of Science and the Young Investigator Award from the European Behavioural Pharmacology Society. He received a visiting scientist award from the Chinese Academy of Science in December 2017.

Dr David Belin - When The Object Of Your Actions Escapes You

Mobile devices are often with us 24/7. Intuitively, we understand these mobile companions must know a lot about our interests and friends but sensors embedded in these devices offer a incredibly rich window into the lives of individuals and society as a whole. Is this information reliable? For what and how can this be used? How can we exploit it while respecting user privacy? Cecilia Mascolo, Professor of Mobile Systems, discusses the challenges and opportunities of this technology that is revolutionizing the future of a wide variety of domains ranging from health care to how cities function.

Cecilia Mascolo is a mother of a teenage daughter. She is also Full Professor of Mobile Systems in the Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge, UK, a Fellow of Jesus College Cambridge and a Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute for Data Science in London. Prior joining Cambridge in 2008, she was a faculty member in the Department of Computer Science at University College London. She holds a PhD from the University of Bologna. Her research interests are in human mobility modelling, mobile and sensor systems and networking and spatio-temporal data analysis.

She has published in a number of top tier conferences and journals in the area and her investigator experience spans projects funded by Research Councils and industry. She has received numerous best paper awards and in 2016 was listed in “10 Women in Networking /Communications You Should Know”. She has served as an organizing and programme committee member of mobile, sensor systems, networking, data science conferences and workshops. She has delivered a number of keynote talks at conferences and workshops in the area of mobility, data science, pervasive computing and systems. She sits on the editorial boards of IEEE Pervasive Computing, IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, ACM Transactions on Sensor Networks and ACM Transactions on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies.

More details at www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/cm542.

Cecilia Mascolo - Small but mighty data: what mobile devices can tell about us?

Whether it's about the risks of eating burnt toast or changes in sexual habits, numbers get used to give weight to a media story. But statistics are frequently abused, with exaggerations and misunderstandings disguised by the illusion of hard facts. Professor David Spiegelhalter shows how to identify the naughty numbers and the shabby stats, and how some basic mathematics can take apart scare stories.

David Spiegelhalter is Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk and Fellow of Churchill College at Cambridge University, and as Chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication, he works to improve the way in which risk and statistical evidence are taught and discussed in society. He gives many presentations to schools and others, advises organisations on risk communication, and is a regular commentator on risk issues. He presented the BBC4 documentaries ‘Tails you Win: the Science of Chance’ and the award-winning ‘Climate Change by Numbers’. He was elected FRS in 2005, awarded an OBE in 2006, and was knighted in 2014 for services to medical statistics. For 2017-2018 he is President of the Royal Statistical Society. In 2011 he came 7th in an episode of Winter Wipeout.

David Spiegelhalter - How To Spot Dodgy Data In The News

Using sparks, fire, microwave ovens and many more demos, Dave Ansell shows the science and engineering that has allowed humans to shine light into the darkness from the stone age to the present day.

This is Dave's 21st Cambridge Science Festival, in that time he's been an a physics undergraduate and a research student, has worked in science radio, built a hands on science museum, and started a science roadshow. Now he spends most of his time in his shed making science toys, demos and exhibits for his own shows and for museums, researchers, TV companies and enthusiasts.

http://sciansell.co.uk

Dave Ansell - Makin' Light

Take a deep breath and jump into the incredible world of fish, with marine biologist Dr Helen Scales (goggles and snorkels optional). Find out how fish can live for 500 years, how their beards can glow in the dark and sometimes they talk to each other with farts.

As a writer, marine biologist and broadcaster Dr Helen Scales' work combines a scuba diver’s devotion to exploring the oceans, a scientist’s nerdy attention to details, a conservationist’s angst about the state of the planet, and a storyteller’s fixation with words and ideas.

Helen writes books and articles and makes radio documentaries; she searches for stories about the oceans and the natural world, of the wonders of science and people; and she does her best to spend as much time as she can in, on and next to the sea.

Dr Helen Scales - Something Fishy

A technology breakthrough that started in Cambridge has brought us to where we are able to decode the entire DNA sequence of 100,000 genomes to determine mutations that cause rare genetic diseases and cancer. Dr David Bentley, Chief Scientist at Illumina, and Professor Mark Caulfield, Chief Scientist at Genomics England, discuss how this promises to revolutionise the way we practise medicine.

Dr David Bentley & Professor Mark Caulfield - 100,000 Genomes Project

They're paid a fortune — but for what, exactly? What makes a good C.E.O. — and how can you even tell? Is "leadership science" a real thing — or just airport-bookstore mumbo jumbo? We put these questions to Mark Zuckerberg, Richard Branson, Indra Nooyi, Satya Nadella, Jack Welch, Ray Dalio, Carol Bartz, David Rubenstein, and Ellen Pao. (Part 1 of a special series, "The Secret Life of C.E.O.'s.")

Freakonomics Radio

Freakonomics: What Does a C.E.O. Actually Do?

Grace Blakeley argues the case for 'Lexit' (a left-wing exit from the European Union) while Laurie Macfarlane thinks 'Remain and Reform' is our best option.

With a vote on the Prime Minister's deal imminent, what are the options? Paul Mason recently described Lexit – the leftwing case for Brexit – as a political fantasy, but is there still a progressive case for leaving the EU? Was there ever one? Or is our best chance to stay in the EU and reform it? Can it even be reformed?

We wanted to get to the bottom of all this, so on this week's podcast are two economists who share the same values but have come to very different positions about Lexit.

Enjoying the show? Tweet us your comments and questions @NEF!

Produced by James Shield.

Music: Podington Bear, Mr Frisby's Beat Pocket, and Jey Row, licenced under Creative Commons.

The award-winning Weekly Economics Podcast is brought to you by the New Economics Foundation – the UK's only people powered think tank. Find out more at www.neweconomics.org

Weekly Economics Podcast

Apple Podcasts

Lexit vs Remain and Reform

The Green New Deal has rocketed to the top of the agenda in the US. It's an ambitious plan, spearheaded by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, to decarbonise the US economy and eliminate economic insecurity at the same time.

But in fact the Green New Deal has some of its origins here at the New Economics Foundation. So what's the story behind the development of the idea? And how would a Green New Deal actually work, both in the UK and across the pond?

Ayeisha Thomas-Smith is joined this week by:

- Ann Pettifor, director of Prime Economics and one of the co-authors of the Green New Deal report published by NEF in 2008;

- Miatta Fahnbulleh, chief executive of the New Economics Foundation;

- Waleed Shahid, communications director of the Justice Democrats, who also worked on the campaign to elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. 

Enjoying the show? Tweet us your comments and questions @NEF!

Produced by James Shield.

Music this week is by Podington Bear, used under Creative Commons licence.

The award-winning Weekly Economics Podcast is brought to you by the New Economics Foundation – the UK's only people powered think tank. Find out more at www.neweconomics.org