Science cognoscenti from London and elsewhere entertain and educate at the annual festival.

Nicola Powles-Glover

Mike Robins presses a remote control button and starts shaking uncontrollably down his right side. He has Parkinson’s disease. But for the previous 20 minutes he has been strolling around the stage without any indication of his condition. He has just demonstrated the benefits of deep brain stimulation (DBS) to an amazed audience. It is exactly the kind of spectacle that the Cheltenham Science Festival is renowned for.

“I felt a need to attend,” says Robins, who shared the platform with his neurosurgeon. “I wanted to demonstrate the effects of a successful DBS, and to make the general public and Parkinson’s sufferers aware that if or when medication becomes ineffective there is an alternative treatment for this distressing condition.”

Big names, intelligent audience

Now in its sixth year, and under the co-directorship of UCL’s Mark Lythgoe, and Kathy Sykes from the University of Bristol, Cheltenham attracts the biggest names in UK science. Why do the likes of Lord Winston and Colin Blakemore (and even David Cameron) give up their time for the annual Festival?

Blakemore, Chief Executive of the Medical Research Council, has been an Honorary Associate of the Festival since its inception. “I enjoy the Cheltenham experience – well worth the journey from London. It’s one of the best opportunities for scientists to talk about the excitement of science with an appreciative and intelligent audience,” he said. "The Cheltenham Festival has quickly become established as an essential part of the public engagement arena in Britain, with the guarantee of a lively, well-informed and opinionated audience.”

From SpongeBob to sandcastles

This year’s programme was inclusive of all ages – SpongeBob Squarepants taught children the science of bubbles while Tom Kirkwood revealed how to live longer.

In one of the festival’s highlights, Blakemore participated in a debate on stem cells, with bioethicist Christine Hauskeller, UCL’s Chris Mason, and Lord Winston. In a separate event, Winston took his audience on a reproductive journey, from manipulations of fertility to the ethical and scientific difficulties in conception today. This is the sixth year that Winston has participated in the festival, and he was described as ‘part of the family’ by the Chair.

Environmental issues featured heavily. David Cameron, leader of the Conservative party, was probed by Jonathon Porritt on how governments and individuals should respond to climate change. The discussion veered from alarming statistics on deforestation to how aviation taxes should increase, with Cameron arguing that “rises should be per aeroplane not person”.

NESTA’s FameLab final was another highlight. Nicholas Harridan, a PhD student from Imperial, won the £2000 prize with a talk about microwaves.

Elsewhere, the presenters from the last series of the BBC’s Coast revealed how they were broadcasting science almost by stealth – for example, making paraffin from peat and building structurally sound sand castles. Mike Bullivant, one of the presenters described Cheltenham as “simply the best and most well organised science festival I’ve been to. What they lay on for young people is particularly impressive. If we’re to attract youngsters into science, we need more quality events like this.”