If you didn’t make it to Physiology 2012 in Edinburgh, you can still see The Society’s Annual Public Lecture and the Annual Review Prize Lecture online.
Gareth Leng, Professor of Experimental Physiology at the University of Edinburgh, delivered the Annual Public Lecture, entitled ‘The Loving Brain’, on Tuesday 3 July. Love hormone, oxytocin, which helps us to bond with both babies and lovers, is being pursued as a panacea. Gareth’s lecture explored the mechanisms that really underlie love – and dispelled the pseudo-science and sensationalist claims.
Gareth said: “Oxytocin is a remarkable hormone. It is needed for childbirth and for the reflex that allows milk to be released when a baby sucks at the nipple. It is also important for sexual arousal, and in forming close bonds, such as that between mother and child and that between lovers.
“Over the last few years there has been an extraordinary amount of nonsense talked about oxytocin, including by scientists who you might expect should know better. It’s a field that is becoming bedevilled by bad science and exaggerated claims.”
The Annual Prize lecture was delivered by Oxford University’s Peter Ratcliffe on Wednesday 4 July. The lecture reviewed the biochemistry, evolution and pan-genomic organisation of the HIF hydroxylase pathways, and addressed the wider role of intracellular protein hydroxylation in biological systems.
You can also see Holly Shiel’s GSK Prize Lecture, ‘How cool are ectotherm hearts?’