Latest news with #PintofSciencefestival
India Today
22-05-2025
- Science
- India Today
Pint of Science Festival makes lively India debut across three cities
The world-renowned Pint of Science festival made its much-anticipated India debut from May 19 to 21, 2025, captivating audiences in New Delhi, Bengaluru, and from diverse fields of science traded their lab coats for microphones, sharing the latest breakthroughs in health, technology, and the cosmos with the public in the relaxed settings of local cafes and in the UK in 2013, Pint of Science has grown into a global movement, now spanning over 500 cities in 27 countries. Its mission: to break down barriers between researchers and society by making science accessible, engaging, and—above all— The Indian edition featured two venues each across three cities, and all events sold out in festival's opening night in Delhi spotlighted advances in cancer care and the mysteries of metastasis, while Bengaluru and Pune hosted talks on ecology, immunology, and the power of two delved into artificial intelligence, urban development, and the science of complexity, with speakers from IIT Delhi, JNU, and IIIT-Delhi demystifying topics like neuromorphic computing and computational wonders and sustainability took center stage on the final day, with presentations on dark matter, pulsars, and galactic on the positive role of radiation in medicine and agriculture, as well as strategies to combat invasive plant species, highlighted science's impact on society and the encouraged speakers to use visuals, memes, games, and storytelling, turning complex research into lively discussions and interactive Q&A was truly wonderful to see people of all age groups come together—not just to enjoy the food and drinks, but to engage with science, ask questions, and have fun with ideas that shape our world,' said Vishaka Ranjan, Delhi Coordinator for Pint of Science its resounding success, Pint of Science India plans to expand to more cities in 2026, allowing more researchers to step into the public sphere and making science a part of everyday conversation
Irish Independent
21-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Independent
‘We are living through a Sepsis pandemic, but no one is talking about it'
But there's another condition that silently yet aggressively takes lives, often without being spotted in time – it's called sepsis. Since the Covid pandemic was declared in 2020, the world recorded 7.1 million deaths linked to the disease. But during that same period, sepsis caused around 11 million deaths globally each year. According to Professor Steve Kerrigan of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), this lack of attention is deeply alarming and awareness of sepsis remains dangerously low. 'That's not a pandemic?' he said. 'Sepsis is a pandemic.' Tonight, Professor Kerrigan, who is head of the Cardiovascular Infection Research Group and co-founder/Chief Scientific Officer at Inthelia Therapeutics, will host a talk on the dangers of sepsis as part of the Pint of Science festival. He'll be sharing the stage at The Waterloo Bar on Baggot Street with a sepsis survivor and the relative of a woman who died from the condition. In February 2018, Professor Kerrigan and his team carried out a survey and found that only 28pc of the population could define sepsis, which is considered a 'silent killer' both in Ireland and around the world. He aims to increase public awareness on how to recognise sepsis and understand why early detection is critical. 'It's not like cancer or stroke, where there are widely known signs. Sepsis is very non-specific,' he said. 'That's where the big problem is.' Professor Kerrigan said sepsis can kill in as little as 12 hours. Even in hospitals, there is no definitive test or biomarker for sepsis, unlike other diseases like cancer. ADVERTISEMENT 'Sepsis is an exaggerated, sudden, overwhelming reaction to an infection by the body,' he said. 'We really need to get people to be able to spot the signs and symptoms because it happens so fast.' If caught early, the only effective treatment available is antibiotics. 'If we catch the patient early enough, sepsis is fully curable,' Professor Kerrigan said. 'But for every hour you delay treatment, the risk of death increases by 8pc.' Sepsis remains difficult to spot. Its symptoms often resemble the flu or a cold: fever, chills, fast heartbeat, rapid breathing, disorientation, extreme fatigue. 'The big problem is that the signs and symptoms of sepsis are non-specific. That's why many people ignore them – they think it's just the flu,' Professor Kerrigan said. 'You need to get to the hospital as fast as possible and ask the question: Could this be sepsis? That one question can trigger the right treatment protocol and save a life.' However, raising awareness is only the beginning. Professor Kerrigan said that healthcare worker training is equally important. 'We need to ensure that all of our health care workers, all of them, need to be trained in understanding what sepsis is and how to spot signs and symptoms,' he said. Professor Kerrigan also highlighted the urgent need for government-backed research to fight against sepsis and antibiotic resistance. 'We are heading back to the pre-penicillin era, where infections and sepsis could not be effectively treated. If antibiotics fail, we have nothing else to rely on,' he said. 'We're hoping we can develop some tests to see if a person has sepsis, because we have identified a potential biomarker we think is playing a really important role. 'That might be the new diagnostic and the reason why you would give a drug and start initiating antibiotics.' Professor Kerrigan's talk takes place on Thursday, May 21, at The Waterloo Bar, 36 Baggot Street Upper. Doors open at 6.30pm, with the event set to begin at 7pm. Tickets can be obtained for free on the Pint of Science website
Indian Express
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
First time in India, science breaks down walls between researchers, ordinary people
As with every good talk, this one began with an anecdote that was also a joke. It involved a scientist, a frog trained to jump on command, a cruel experiment that is repeated on many other frogs and a final, eye-opening conclusion — that frogs without legs are deaf. Shraddha Bhurkunde from IISER Pune was quick to clarify to a packed house at the Orange Art and Book Cafe in Aundh that this was a fictional narrative. What came next, however, were true stories, as far as science knows, about real-life events that led to the end of dinosaurs. Dinosaur doomsday unfolded through games, storytelling, banter, humour and scientific sleuthing. Bhurkunde's session inaugurated a one-of-a-kind event, Pint of Science festival, on a thundering, rainy Monday in Pune. Pint of Science is a concept that breaks down the wall between the people of science, such as researchers, and the rest of the population. The event is the concept of Dr Michael Motskin and Dr Praveen Paul, research scientists at the Imperial College London. In 2012, they invited people affected by Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, among others, into their labs to tell them about their research. A year later, the first Pint of Science festival opened in a pub, creating an informal space for some of the biggest names in science to 'explain their ground-breaking work to lovers of science and beer'. In the past 10 years, it has reached 27 countries. Now, for the first time, it is in India, with Pune, Delhi and Bengaluru being the selected cities. In Pune, the second venue is Doolally Taproom in KOPA Mall. The force behind bringing Pint of Science to India is Debarati Chatterjee, a theoretical astrophysicist at IUCCA who is an expert on analytical and numerical description of compact stars (neutron stars and white dwarfs). 'We have a wide spectrum, covering everything from astrophysics to neuroscience to AI to astrobiology and chemistry. I was really happy to get in touch with very well-known speakers in so many disciplines and came to know so much breakthrough work that is happening. I was really happy that there are so many women scientists who have come forward to support this outreach which will inspire a lot of young people,' says Chatterjee. Hamsa Padmanabhan from the University of Geneva took the audience, which included several Class VI students, through 'Lessons from the Earth's deadliest extinctions'. 'During its 4.5 billion-year-old history, our planet has been witness to at least five major extinctions. Of these, the most destructive one was called the Permian Triassic Mass Extinction, which took place around 252 million years ago and destroyed about 96 per cent of all marine and 70 per cent of all terrestrial species. But how did such a large-scale wipeout take place?' she said. As she spoke about how 'a sharp rise in carbon dioxide levels in the millennia leading up to the extinction, possibly triggered a global warming runaway and made conditions hostile for life', it was only a matter of time before it became evident that humans had learned nothing from the past. Sneha Rode went from Earth to Mars and back and forth and carried the audience along with captivating data, images and quizzes. Earth vs. Mars: The landform showdown changed ideas and challenged preconceptions about the similarities and differences between the blue and red planets. There were valleys and craters and a deep scar on the face of Mars and the fascinating Olympus Mont, the largest volcano in the solar system, which makes Earth's Everest look like a baby. Though it was late and raining, people still gathered around Rode as the venue buzzed with geology.
Indian Express
20-05-2025
- Science
- Indian Express
Pint of Science festival: Are all snakes venomous? How do vaccines work? Researchers decode these questions — at a pub in Delhi
Can boardgames save the complex wildlife in Thar desert and prevent snakebites? How do vaccines train our cells to defend us again future infections? Scientists and researchers demystified these questions and more — not in a classroom or a seminar hall, but at Fort City Brew pub in Delhi's Hauz Khas market on Monday evening. The event is part of the Pint of Science festival, which has come to India for the first time. Originating in the UK in 2013, the non-profit global festival, organised by a grass-root community of thousands of scientists, soon spread to more than 500 cities in 27 countries. Topics ranging from atoms and galaxies to gene editing and quantum mechanics are de-mystified. At the pub in Delhi, wide-eyed science enthusiasts watch as independent researcher Peeyush Sekhsaria starts the festival with a game of bingo — but with a twist. Each player gets a card with 9 species of flora and fauna which are prevalent in and around the Thar desert. If the players have the species that Sekhsaria names, they place a pawn on top of the picture of the animal or plant. The first player to get a full house wins a reward. Before Sekhsaria takes out a placard of the species, he gives players clues and explains the localised myths surrounding them. Hyenas, he points out are frequently regarded as vermin by local communities. Another game he displays before the erudite audience is 'Snake-a-doo'. It's the conventional snakes and ladders but with options such as 'Got bitten by a snake, went to a baba and lost time', 'you tried to kill a snake, it's a crime,' and 'yay, not venomous'. The names of snakes are given along with what action to take in case one gets bitten by them. 'These games are part of a bigger project. We're working on snakebite mitigation and creating awareness among village communities,' he says. Annually, there are close to 60,000 snakebite deaths in the country (80% of the global deaths). Close to 9 in 10 of these deaths are caused by just four snake species. Along with dispelling myths and superstitions, his games have also transformed the way villagers think. 'Earlier, all snakes were saap and had to be 'killed'. Now, people have started differentiating between venomous and non venomous snakes,' he adds. Identification of networks of villages which are better equipped to deal with snakebites, connecting with local teachers and interviewing snake bite survivors are all a part of the project. The next speaker was K Mohan Reddy, a PhD student from Ashoka University who is working on how the 'memory' of our cells helps in gaining immunity against viruses and how vaccines work. Unpacking the fascinating world of immune memory, and how vaccines train our cells, his interactive session with quizzes grips the audience. 'Vaccines mimic the infection and that's how the immune cells in our body prepare themselves against the actual pathogen,' he says. He also speaks about herd immunity — 'what percentage of population should be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity is where the current research is at', he adds. Immune memory is the ability of our body to fight against the infections, Reddy points out. 'Not enough studies are done on immune memory persistence in the Indian population… That's exactly what we're trying to achieve,' he adds. He next explains the concept of T cells and B cells. While the former attacks infected cells, the latter attacks invaders (or viruses) outside the cells. Reddy also speaks about how flow cytometry – a technique used to detect and measure the physical and chemical characteristics of cells – helps in identifying immune memory cells. The festival is being held from May 19 to May 21 at Delhi, Pune and Bengaluru.
India Today
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- India Today
Science on tap: Pint of Science festival debuts in India across three cities
For the first time, the internationally acclaimed Pint of Science festival is coming to India, inviting the public to experience cutting-edge research in a relaxed, engaging setting outside traditional 2025 edition of this global science outreach event will be held from May 19 to 21 in Pune, Bengaluru, and New Delhi, joining more than 500 cities across 27 countries that celebrate science in local bars, cafs, and public in the UK in 2013, Pint of Science has grown into a grassroots movement where thousands of researchers share their latest discoveries with non-expert audiences. The format is informal and interactive, encouraging scientists to use visuals, memes, games, and storytelling to make complex topics accessible and year, Indian audiences can expect talks spanning everything from atoms and galaxies to ecology, technology, and the human festival provides a unique platform for young Indian researchers, including students and postdoctoral fellows, to showcase their work and spark curiosity among the public.'This unique event provides a wonderful opportunity to put young Indian scientists on the world map by showcasing their cutting-edge research in multidisciplinary domains,' said Debarati Chatterjee, Associate Professor at IUCAA Pune and Director of Pint of Science will also help to make science more fun and attractive to young doctoral and postdoctoral students by helping them engage with a general audience,' Debarati for Pint of Science India must be purchased in advance, as seats are limited and ticket prices are redeemable for food and drinks at the can choose from two venues in each city, with additional activities, prizes, and merchandise during breaks.
