Balanced diets are often talked about, but beyond eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, perhaps not everyone understands how diets can be balanced. Equally, sustainable diets are often referred to, and this phrase is becoming increasingly popular. However, what is a sustainable diet, and can a balanced diet also be a sustainable diet?
Many of us look forward to spring and at SEFARI we are no different. It’s the time our gardens start to come back to life and usually at this time we would also be sharing our knowledge and enthusiasm with families young and old at the Edinburgh Science Festival. We really enjoy developing and running a range of free to access activities hosted at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh during the festival each year.
In recent years, sustainable diets are increasingly being promoted as a way to reduce the impact of human activities on the planet as well as to improve population health. Food consumption is responsible for up to 30% of the environmental impact of household consumption, and recently sustainability has been added to dietary goals in several countries (albeit not in the UK yet).
Since the emergence of late blight (Phytophthora infestans) in the 1840s this disease has presented a major challenge to the potato industry, with annual losses estimated to be £55 million in the UK.
My current role involves facilitating public engagement with RBGE science in an informal educational context through a variety methods including: events, exhibitions, digital and community outreach.
A focus on food and crop plants has proved to be an effective public engagement hook that leads into topical issues such as biodiversity loss, climate change and making agriculture more sustainable.
As part of the workshop, which was held at the James Hutton Institute, we invited two guest speakers; Paul Fretter (Head of Computing infrastructure for Science, Norwich Bioscience Institutes) and Robert Maskell (UK Director of High-Performance Computing, Intel). Both speakers brought a wealth of real-world experience of using and developing HPC for innovative science.
The basic scenario of the Cowtastrophy app is that the participant is the Chief Veterinary Officer on an imaginary island. A fast spreading disease is affecting cattle on the island. It is their job to control the disease using a combination of the available options, which are: livestock movement restrictions, vaccination and culling.
Infrared (IR) Spectroscopy is a versatile analytical technique that can characterise a wide variety of different sample types e.g. from drugs and plastics to soil and minerals. The IR spectrum produced is a chemical “fingerprint” or profile of a sample and allows us to “see” what it is made up of.
Policies implemented in order to control Foot and Mouth Disease, such as large-scale culling of healthy animals, were often controversial. Other infections have the potential to cause similar problems.
Science and the Parliament aims to foster close relations between policymakers and key stakeholders. This event is organised by the Royal Society of Chemistry and is a firm fixture in the Scottish parliamentary calendar.
Sorry, this event has already happened. Have a look at our upcoming events.