BIOLOGY CONFERENCE

On Friday 9th of July a group of Year 12 students studying A2 Biology paid a visit to the University of Gloucestershire in Cheltenham for a conference and a set of lectures on a variety of topics, entitled “Bees: Not Just For Honey”, “Wives and Mistresses: The Infidelity of the Pied Flycatcher” (not as bad as it sounds!) and “Fly on the Wall: The use of Insects in Forensic Entomology”. We spent from 10am to 2pm within the University and were encouraged to look around the place during the breaks – as far as we could see, the complex was modern and comfortable with sizeable outside space and we were made to feel welcome by the staff there, and were even provided with drinks and cookies at break (note to the staff at the University: never offer a basketful of leftover cookies to Jacob Kent).

We were offered notebooks to scribble down notes during the lectures on the way in and were directed straight to one of the lecture rooms for the first presentation. Dr Adam Hall, the lecturer was enthusiastic and contrary to our expectations he interacted with the audience frequently. He talked about the topic of bees and the many varieties that can be found – it’s a common misconception that people believe there are only two species of bee: the honey bee and the bumblebee. There are actually twenty thousand-plus species, more being discovered often. Dr Hall described bees as, essentially, “hairy, vegetarian wasps” and launched into an effective presentation on the life of bees and their history. Also, if you want to sound really brainy and sound like you know some Latin, you can shout “Bombus!” whenever a bumblebee floats near.

The lecture by Miss Goodenough on the Pied Flycatcher was less fast-paced yet just as informative as we learned about the “social structure” of species of animals and their mating habits – generally known as monogamy, polygamy and polygyny. The key question was why, if the survival of the species is so important, females mate with already-mated (i.e. naughty) males. Hypotheses included that of deception and the necessity of breeding, whatever the species, and other, less creditable explanations like competition and available gene pools.

Our last lecture was by the professor from the Natural History Museum. We were also presented with a real life case of a dead body found in a farmhouse and we learned what the entomologist’s job would be. This gave us an insight into the daily work of an entomologist. This was arguably the most interesting as we were shown some graphic images of how maggots are one of the best decomposers of dead bodies. We plunged into the world of cadavers and crime, studying the use of insects in determining how long a corpse has been dead after it has been found. The lecture was centered on the extra-sensitive sense of smell of blow-flies in picking up the odour given off by decomposing bodies and how, with the correct formulae and knowledge, one can estimate the time lying there between the last live sighting of the person and the discovery of the body. Although we digressed slightly, one of the more interesting facts of the day is that police presence at a murder scene is actually rising into the multi-million pound range!

The general consensus was that we all thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to take a day out to experience a change of scenery and learn some remarkable biological facts. For honest and hardworking students grappling with university applications and examinations, it was refreshing to take a day out and learn some new, offbeat stuff from one of our more local Universities. No doubt we’ll be making a special effort to do something similar again soon.