The Questionable Science of Crop Circles

 It was the practical joke that conned the world. Two artists began flattening shapes into fields of corn, giving rise to one of the greatest mysteries of the past century - crop circles. Almost 21 years on from their admittance of guilt, the legacy of Doug Bower and Dave Chorley's prank remains.

 Trystan Swale takes you inside the dubious science associated with the phenomenon; the poor research, abuse of statistics and outlandish conclusions. And he questions just why some specialist publications continue to get it wrong.

 Trystan Swale is a contemporary folklorist, and between 2004 and 2009 was an active member of two paranormal investigation teams in southern England. From his experiences with these organisations he developed his own rationalist approach to investigating anomalous phenomena. This has led him headlong into scrutinising claims of ghosts, unidentified flying objects, poltergeists, winged humanoids and out of place animals.

 Since 2005 he has contributed to publications including ‘The Big Cats in Britain Year Book’ and ‘Haunted Swindon’.

 In 2009 Trystan created the popular Righteous Indignation podcast to explore claims of the paranormal from a critical perspective. Trystan has also spoken at a range of events including 2011′s Seriously Strange conference, Cheltenham and Swindon paranormal festivals, Edinburgh Free Fringe, numerous Skeptics in the Pub meetings and QED Conference 2011.

 TBA

According to some nutritionists and practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine, sharks don’t get cancer. It’s a myth that’s not only brought false hope to sufferers of one of the world’s horrific diseases, who are told that consuming shark cartilage can cure cancer, but it’s also contributed to a recent acceleration in demand for shark cartilage, which has had devastating impact on the world’s shark populations. In fact, it’s estimated that 38 million sharks are slaughtered every year.

After millions of years serving as the oceans’ main apex predator, many shark species are now on the brink of extinction following just a few decades of indiscriminate fishing. People often ask ‘where the harm?’ when it comes to using alternative medicine, and this talk will explain the very real and costly price of relying on unregulated, bogus medicine to treat cancer.

In this talk, marine conservation enthusiast Ben Hardwidge will explore the theories behind using medicines derived from sharks and rays, and explain the devastating impact that overfishing them is having on our marine ecosystem. As well as this, he will also introduce the ideas behind a new scepticism campaign in development, which aims to raise awareness about medicines based on shark cartilage, while appealing to major retailers to stop stocking them.

Science vs Religion in the Classroom

How can children brought up in religious families reconcile the different 'truths' they are told about the world? And to what extent should we discuss these issues in schools: what exactly should science teachers say when asked about the 'truth' of science by religious students?

In this talk, Alom Shaha will describe his personal experiences growing up in a Bangladeshi Muslim community in London, what role his science education played in his journey towards atheism and how, as a Physics teacher, he responds to the apparent conflict between science and religion in the classroom.