©CDC Phil, Wikimedia Commons

Prospect Recommends: the best science events this month

August 17, 2016
British Science Festival

Various venues, Swansea, 6th to 9th September

This crowd pleaser, run by the British Science Association, lands in Wales this year. Find out how engineers make planes lightning-proof; hear author David Adam talk about his obsessive compulsive disorder; and watch Michael Frayn’s classic play Copenhagen about the mysterious meeting between two famous physicists during the development of the atomic bomb. Followed by a weekend of family events.

The Zika Virus, Dengue and Yellow Fever Mosquito

Barnard’s Inn Hall, London, 15th September

The Olympics will be over by now, and it seems a good time to review where the Zika virus is heading—literally. This barely known pathogen, for which there are no drugs or vaccines, is spreading. Parasitologist Francis Cox and government adviser Chris Whitty discuss the lessons from dengue, genetically modified mosquitoes and whether climate change is pushing us towards a nightmare scenario.