Whether its putting the technological achievements of the ancient Egyptians under the microscope, analysing the construction of a ballet dancer’s shoe or looking at how addictive penguins can be, SciFest Africa’s popular Talkshops offer something for all scientific persuasions.
This year the Talkshops are being held in Grahamstown’s 1820 Settlers Monument ground floor art gallery and kick off at 10am on March 24 with freshwater biologist Helen James’s lively discussion ‘When is a species a species?”
James is based at the Albany Museum in Grahamstown and specialises in aquatic insects known as mayflies and in particular a group of mayflies known as Prosopistomatidae.
In her line of work one of James’s jobs is to distinguish between species and says that suprisingly often we come across creatures that do not fit the description of any known species.
‘Are these ‘new’ species, or just variants of one we already know, and how do we determine this?” she asks. Join her and find the answers.
Cryptographer Tyla van der Merwe is putting the fascinating subject of encryption in the spotlight at this year’s SciFest and says that every time we make an electronic payment or use a cellphone we use cryptography — the science dedicated to the protection or hiding of information and the study of mathematical techniques related to information security.
‘Cryptography has a rich history,” she says. ‘Many a war has been lost or won by messages passed in secret.”
Van der Merwe will reveal some of those secrets in her presentation entitled ‘Attila the Hun — encrypting in motion” on March 24 at 12pm. Like many women Louise Cole is into shoes in a big way.
But not the high-heeled strappy variety — this professional ballet dancer is South Africa’s leading authority on the pointe ballet shoe and in particular its history and how it’s made.
Her Talkshop presentation ‘The making of a dancer’s shoe: Tradition vs technology” examines the journey of the pointe ballet shoe from its advent in the early 1800s to its modern form, looking at how current technology and innovation, with strong traditions, offer new shoe designers the chance to keep today’s dancers on their toes with ease.
SciFest visitors are invited to tip-toe into Cole’s Talkshop at 4pm on March 24.
Peter Loyson may be a professor of physical and analytical chemistry at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, but he’s also a keen Egyptologist. Loyson is presenting two Talkshops, examining mathematics in the days of the pharaohs.
‘Maths was very important to the ancient Egyptians,” says Loyson. ‘They used it in the construction of pyramids and temples and needed it to calculate areas of land for the collection of taxes. They were also obsessed with fractions, using only unit fractions, and based their maths on two concepts: the 2x table and finding 2/3 of any number.”
Their love of maths made the ancient Egyptians one of the most enterprising and innovative people of the ancient world and their technological achievements and craftsmanship are still admired today.
Find out more by at tending ‘Maths in the days of the pharaohs” at 10am on March 26 or ‘Technology of the ancient Egyptians” at 10am on March 27.
Raising public awareness of science and its everyday relevance is a passion for Bristol-based physicist Peter Barham. But his most driving passion is for penguins.
‘Penguins can be addictive,” he says. ‘Once you learn a little about them you want to know more and more until, if you are lucky enough, you end up working on research to help conserve these precious birds.”
Barham’s work with finding new ways to study penguins is the subject of his Talkshop: ‘A physicist amongst penguins” which takes place at 4pm on March 26.
Barham will also present an altogether different Talkshop entitled ‘Molecular gastronomy: The science of taste and flavour” at 4pm on March 28. This explores what exactly it is that gives food its flavour.
For Dr Lester Davids, life is less about food and more about skin. This Capetonian has dedicated the past five years of his life to the study of human skin and its various disorders and has put together a Talkshop presentation called ‘Moving molecules: From melanocytes to melanomas”.
In his talk Davids will answer questions like ‘Why is skin so important?”, ‘Can we get rid of wrinkles?” and ‘Is there a cure for skin cancer?” Join Davids at 12pm on March 30 to find out more.
For more information on these and other Talkshop presentations, visit www.scifest.org.za