Our February 2023 Meeting

Rebel Cell: A New View of an Old Disease 

Dr Kat Arney

Thursday, February 16th at 7:30PM

The North End Club, 70 Roff Avenue, Bedford, MK41 7LW

Many of us think of cancer as a contemporary killer caused by our modern lifestyles. But that’s not true. Cancer has always been with us. It killed our ancient ancestors, the mammals they evolved from and the dinosaurs that trampled the ground before

that. Why? Because cancer is a bug in the system of life. 

Kat Arney takes us to the dawn of life on planet earth right up to the present day to get to the heart of what cancer really is and how by better understanding its evolutionary journey we might one day overcome it.

Dr Kat Arney is an award-winning science writer, broadcaster and public speaker, and is the founder and creative director of First Create The Media.

Her latest book is Rebel Cell: Cancer, evolution and the science of life. Kat was a key part of the science communications team at Cancer Research UK for more than a decade, co-founding the charity’s award-winning Science Blog and acting as a principal media spokesperson.

Kat also presents the popular Genetics Unzipped podcast for The Genetics Society and has fronted several BBC Radio 4 science documentaries including the recent series Ingenious, looking at the stories behind our genes.

 

Our January 2023 Meeting

A Human History of Emotion: How The Way We Feel Built The World We Know 

Dr Richard Firth-Godbehere

Thursday, January 19th at 7:30PM

The North End Club, 70 Roff Avenue, Bedford, MK41 7LW

We like to think of humans as rational creatures, who have relied on calculation and intellect to survive. But many of the most important moments in our history had little to do with cold, hard facts and a lot to do with feelings.

Richard Firth-Godbehere’s award-winning interdisciplinary research walks the line between history, psychology, linguistics, philosophy and futurism, vividly illustrating how our understanding and experience of emotions has changed over time, and how our beliefs about feelings profoundly shaped us and the world we inhabit.

Richard Firth-Godbehere, PhD, is one of the world’s leading experts on disgust and emotions and is an Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for the History of the Emotions, Queen Mary University of London.