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Live Experiment

Welcome

Experiments are usually carried out behind the closed doors of a laboratory, clinical studies are complicated procedures conducted by experts – in short: science is a black box, its functioning remains a mystery to the outsider. “Zu Wirkungen und Nebenwirkungen” is a science event with a real-time trial as a main feature – the audience will actually be part of a hands-on demonstration of how up-to-date clinical research works.

During a first part of the evening, a group of experts will perform a trial with the audience present as test subjects, where one placebo will be tested against another (mineral water both). In the second part, (pseudo) findings gained from this data collected during the event will be analysed and presented. This “live experiment” set-up will serve as a take-off for a discussion about the fallacies and mathematical challenges of (medical) studies, and the notions of complexity and uncertainty in science in general.

The team consists of two scientists and a host. Kaspar Staub is a historical anthropologist working at the Centre for Evolutionary Medicine at Zürich University. He is investigating the secular acceleration phenomenon (the fact that people are getting taller and taller) in Switzerland. Peter Jüni is currently Director of the ISPM at the University of Bern. Roland Fischer is a freelance science writer, formerly working as a scientific editor at “Der Bund” and “Basler Zeitung”.

Official trailer on Youtube

Weiterführende Informationen

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