New Scientist Live 2022

 New Scientist is a magazine which specialises in Science and Technology. They have been around for a long time; I mean put it this way I went to university a long time ago and they existed then. Their magazine is packed full of useful information from everything related to science and other stem subjects. This is something I would definitely recommend, especially if you are in college/ University or are just interest in the topic. Science and Technology is within all walks of life anyway. Take for example myself, I am a registered Nutritionist, studying the effects food plays in our body and systems. The environment and how climate change impacts on this is also part of science. Let us not forget Technology! Well mobile phones are a prime example, we use our phones for so many things like watching the apps Tik Tok or Instagram! Studying data and usage is all related to Technology and would make a great career (also Nutrition ha ha!)

So New Scientist does yearly festivals at the Excel Centre, in East London. This was the first time to have been held there since the covid pandemic. So, I was even more excited to attend the event. I attended on behalf of my organisation Association for Nutrition (AFN for short) that supports our registrants throughout their professional journey and making sure they update their CPD (career professional development) 

I got there as early as I can, to make sure I was able to look at the wide range of stalls available. Middlesex University were demonstrating their next AI feature for people, and their uses on a virtual rollercoster. I have to admit that was really exciting to watch the people's faces being on a fake rollercoster ride!  There was the Doctor Who Tardis and the famous travel telephone box, Unboxed attended to promote all things VR, Amazon had a stall (ish) to promote their Stem Learning Programme, amongst other stalls and educational events.    

As mentioned, before I was there representing AFN, so my colleagues including myself were speaking to the attendees about our organisation, and the importance of giving consumers the best scientific and up to date knowledge within nutrition. It was great speaking to a wide variety of the public about Nutrition, and the future. It is amazing to see that they are really clued up about this, and were interested to hear more information about AFN, and our mission. I was explaining that we do have a list of all the registered nutritionists throughout the UK, that the public can look for, and was sharing our business cards. 

For more information the link is here to look for a local Nutritionist: AFN 

To round things off we played two games with them. The first game was which biscuit had more fibre by tasting each of the biscuits that were available. Both of them tasted the same. I explained to them that food manufacturers are adding more nutrients to food to increase the amount of that nutrient requirement per day. However, they do not want to affect the taste of the biscuits, otherwise we will not buy them, so the biscuits still have to taste nice. According to the website market research, the biscuit market is worth billions across the world. We do not consume enough fibre as a nation, so what better way to get extra fibre, by adding this to biscuits? 

The other game we played was looking at how our sensory system works, and how this affects the taste of something. So we gave a placebo to the attendees, (it was plain sugar) and asked them to pinch their nose,and place the placebo on the tongue. Whilst holding their nose, they had to tell me what they think the item was. Once they guessed what that item was, I would then ask them to let go of their nose, and then guess again what the item was. I was then often given a different answer. I explained that when we put food in your mouth, the tongue picks up the five basic tastes: Sweetness, saltiness, sourness, bitterness, and umami, which is a different kind of taste. The tongue has taste receptors, which picks up a single sensation, sending signals to the brain. The taste receptor will identify whether this is sweet, salty, bitter, sour or umami. Flavour on the other hand comes from the environment around us, which decides then the overall taste of food, including our nose. So when the nose is blocked, this is why our taste of food changes.  

It was great to hear everyone's views on the quizzes, they all enjoyed this, and will definitely be using this during the online clinics that I do. I am looking at re attending to this next year, so hopefully I can get to meet you all soon in person.

The event was fantastic!  however, I did not get chance to listen to the sessions available but will be watching this online to try and catch up.