Science enthusiasts are being offered the chance to join an exciting behind-the-scenes recording of one of the UK’s most enduring festive television treats.
TechFest has once again been chosen as a livestream partner of the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, which this year are being delivered by Dr Chris van Tulleken, the NHS doctor and presenter of highly-popular food science programmes.
The screenings will take place on December 10 and 12 at The Rowett Institute, where the audience will also get the chance to find out more about the cutting-edge nutrition research that goes on in its labs on the university’s Foresterhill campus.
The family-friendly event offers a sneak preview of the lectures as they are filmed in front of an audience in the RI’s Faraday Theatre in London. They will be broadcast on BBC Four and iPlayer in late December.
Dr Van Tulleken will investigate how food has fundamentally shaped human evolution, uncover the importance of our microbiome – as the extra ‘organ’ we didn’t know we had – and offer some startling facts to chew over about how our modern food is made and what it’s doing to our bodies.
There will be fact-fueled demos, special guest appearances – human and animal, festive food hacks, and a healthy dose of self-experimentation, as he swallows a camera-pill to unpack the digestion process at every saliva-soaked step.
TechFest education manager Dr Yashka Smith said: “We are delighted to be partnering with the Rowett Institute to bring the live stream of the famous Christmas Lectures to Aberdeen for the second year. Come and see behind the scenes of how this programme is filmed and dive into this year’s topic; the science of food, diet and digestion.
“This is a great opportunity to get together with friends or family, learn more about the related research that is carried out at the Rowett Institute and then watch the live recording of Dr Chris van Tulleken, streamed from the famous Faraday lecture theatre in London.”
Professor Jules Griffin, Rowett Institute director, said: “The Rowett is home to the largest concentration of nutrition researchers in Europe, and much of our ground-breaking research is looking into the gut microbiome and food processing.
“So when we found out the subject of this year’s Christmas Lectures, we jumped at the chance to host these events.
“As always TechFest has done a fantastic job bringing science to a public audience here in the North-east of Scotland and we look forward to showing off just some of the work we are doing on healthy and sustainable diets alongside the screening.”
Initiated by Michael Faraday when organised education for children was scarce, the Christmas Lectures have featured a stellar list of speakers over the years, including Nobel Prize winners William and Lawrence Bragg, Sir David Attenborough, Carl Sagan and Dame Nancy Rothwell.
They were first broadcast in 1936 and have been an annual fixture on our screens since 1966, making them the oldest science television series.
Tickets for the two live-stream and research exhibition events at the Rowett Institute can be booked through Aberdeen Performing Arts here: https://www.aberdeenperformingarts.com/whats-on/royal-institution-christmas-lectures-livestream/#book