A series of free open lectures at University College Cork is designed to promote science as an enjoyable cultural activity, writes Dick Ahlstrom.
Human cloning, the dangers of stress, the global threat posed by obesity and the help and harm resulting from alternative medicine are just a few of the subjects up for discussion in a series of free public lectures that get underway next week. University College Cork's highly popular annual lecture series will open with a talk on the scientific, medical and ethical issues raised by stem-cell research.
There are 12 lectures planned for the programme, which runs each Wednesday from January 16th through March 26th. The goal is to foster a greater public understanding of science, explains the series organiser and Irish Times columnist, Prof William Reville.
"It is a way to increase public understanding and awareness of science," says Reville. "We want to build public support for science because science has become so important for our economic development."
It is also a way to help people understand how science works and to attract more students to pursue a career in the sciences.
"We have a problem in attracting our quota of the brightest students to the sciences," Reville says, an observation repeated in many other countries around the world.
But even if the sciences enjoyed an over-supply of student applications there would still be a justification for the lecture series, he argues. Science is a cultural activity in the same way as art or business.
"The study of science has great cultural value. We know this amazing story of how things began and evolved, and even what will happen in the future," he says. "It is a great pity that more people don't understand the big story of science. It is an important part of our culture and a part of our common human intelligence."
Reville, who is UCC's public awareness of science officer in the faculty of science, has lined up expert speakers who will explain in ordinary language the latest scientific discoveries in a variety of fields and their importance to the general public.
The opening lecture is by DCU's Prof Martin Clynes, whose talk is called Stem Cell Research and Cloning: Scientific, Medical and Ethical Issues. Reville will deliver the second talk himself, on Intelligent Design. He will discuss the arguments put forward by creationists against evolution, demonstrating their flaws and explaining why claims for intelligent design are not valid science. Subsequent lectures include:
January 30th:Dr Jerry Murphy: Are Biofuels Good or Bad?
February 6th:Prof Mike Mansfield: Nuclear Fusion - Energy for the Future.
February 13th:Prof Mike Jones: Is Biodiversity Threatened by Climate Change?
February 20th:Dr John F Cryan: Getting on Your Nerves: Stress on the Brain - From Disease to Drugs.
February 27th:Dr Cora O'Neill: Alzheimer's Disease: Progress in Understanding a Complex Brain Disorder.
March 5th:Prof Nora O'Brien: Obesity - A Global Public Health Issue in the 21st Century.
March 12th:Prof Rosemary O'Connor: The Hows and Whys of Cancer.
March 19th:Prof Colin Bradley: Complementary and Alternative Medicine - Holistic Healing or Noxious Nonsense?
March 26th:Dr Paul O'Toole: Genes, Microbes and Food - New Insights and Human Health Implications.
The lectures will start at 8pm in University College Cork's Boole Lecture Theatre Four. Admission is free and open to the public. Further details of the series and lectures are available at http://understandingscience.ucc.ie, where footage of past lectures and this year's (once given) may also be found.