Would I Sci To You? Science comedy show
Relevant but irreverent: science, technology, engineering, and maths meets Would I Lie to You, Have I Got News for You, and QI!
Riveting research, fascinating tales, and unique objects combined in this comedic panel show.
Back for its second year, Would I Sci to You? pitted two teams against current affairs, the great and odd of recent research and applications, mystery objects from museum collections, and their own true experiences (or are they all lies…?).
The Intellectual Forum co-hosted this event with the Cambridge Science Centre, and this panel show was a light-hearted look at the wonders that power our world.
This year’s guest panellists were:
Isabel is an award-winning science and nature writer and the author of more than 200 books for young audiences. She lives in a village south of the city with her husband, three children (who are guinea pigs for her experiments and activities) and two tortoises (who are no help whatsoever). Her books include The Bedtime Book of Impossible Questions (a Guardian Book of 2022) and Exploring the Elements (a New York Times Book of 2020). Isabel also writes for The Week Junior Science + Nature and works with the BBC and Wellcome Sanger Institute. She counters deskbound writing days by performing at schools around the country, bouldering, rowing, tennis and planting trees.
Professor Jeremy J. Baumberg FRS
Jeremy leads a UK Centre for Nanotechnology at the University of Cambridge and is the author of popular science book “The Secret Life of Science: How Science Really Works and Why it Matters” (2018) was published by PUP. Before this, he worked for Hitachi, IBM, and his own spin-offs. He has won the IoP Faraday Gold Medal (2017) and Royal Society Rumford Medal (2014), and is a strategic advisor on Nanotechnology to the UK Research Councils. In his spare time, he likes to make sculptures that move, and write short stories.
Harriet is currently the Director of Cambridge&, the inward investment service for Greater Cambridge and is Chair of Cambridge Ahead. Before this, Harriet was a Diplomat for over 20 years with the British Foreign Office. She served in 17 countries, in various roles including Deputy Ambassador (three times), Head of Press and Public Affairs, and Head of Commercial Services. She regularly served in hostile environments, trouble-shooting specific crises including in the Congo, Cambodia and Ethiopia. Harriet was the Prime Minister’s Business Ambassador for Life Sciences for 5 years to 2018 during which she was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2016 for her services to Healthcare and Life Sciences.
Jason is a scientist entrepreneur passionate about translating innovative technologies into better patient outcomes. As CEO and co-founder of Start Codon, a Cambridge (UK) - based venture builder, he aims to identify the most disruptive healthcare founders and innovations from across the UK, seed fund them and leverage the exceptional resources of the Cambridge cluster to de-risk and drive the success of their start-ups. Previously he was CEO of Cambridge Epigenetix and Business Development Manager for Horizon Discovery’s diagnostics division. He also served as an associate at Cambridge Enterprise, the technology transfer office of the University of Cambridge.
The event also featured mystery objects kindly provided by the Museum of Cambridge and the Whipple Museum of the History of Science.
