Seven days in science - 25 March 2010

This week began with the discussion meeting ‘Handling uncertainty in science’. Mervyn King, governor of the bank of England, talked about uncertainty in macroeconomic policy making on Monday.

Lord Krebs FRS (pictured), who spoke about risk and regulation during the second day of the event, discussed the crisis of confidence in scientific authority on Tuesday’s edition of the Today programme.

The 2010 Budget, which was announced this week, “shows some indication that Government appreciates the role science can play in re-building our economy” according to Sir Peter Williams FRS, Vice-President and Treasurer of the Royal Society.

Tickets are now available for See Further: The Festival of Science + Arts, a unique ten-day summer festival at Southbank Centre in celebration of the Royal Society’s 350th anniversary. The festival will explore links between the sciences and arts, science and our human impulse to understand the world we live in. A host of cross-disciplinary collaborations, scientific and artistic events will also feature.

Focusing on events and activities that reflect the breadth of our programme of work, as well as special events taking place all over the country, Inside Science’s first issue of the anniversary year is out now.

Research published this week in Proceedings of the Royal Society B shows that there may be some very good reasons why ‘man flu’ has evolved.  Olivier Restif – a Royal Society University Research Fellow – and Professor William Amos at the University of Cambridge have developed a model showing why differences between male and female responses to infection might have evolved.

A range of activities that look into how Manchester scientists and engineers made and used energy starts at MoSI next Monday. Heroes of Energy, which is part of the Local Heroes programme, will run throughout the Easter holiday.

The second event in a series about Asian contributions to modern scientific thought takes place at Asia House next Wednesday. A Passage to Infinity: Indian Mathematics in World Mathematics is part of the Capital Science programme.