National Science Week 2006
Human diseases have never been so popular!
On Saturday 12 August over 1000 people turned out to attend the Museum of Human Disease Open Day. The overwhelming response, due in part to publicity generated through coverage in The Sydney Morning Herald, resulted in long waits and queues for visitors as museum staff and volunteers carefully managed the crowds that arrived.
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Crowds waited for entry patiently | Once inside, visitors were fascinated |
Visitors were able to view unique museum specimens showing a whole range of diseases, as well as participate in the interactive Gut-Wrenching Science activity, which involved measuring their Body Mass Index (BMI) and Body Fat % to assess their general health and wellbeing. This information can indicate whether an individual is underweight, normal, overweight or obese. Excess weight and obesity in particular have been linked to various disease problems such as Heart Disease and Type 2 Diabetes.
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Measuring body-fat percentage | Measuring BMI was a popular activity |
Gut-Wrenching Science - Results from Open Day
 | BMI Category |
Adult* | Underweight | Normal | Overweight | Obese |
Males | 0 (0%) | 14 (36%) | 21 (54%) | 4 (10%) |
Females | 1 (2%) | 37 (59%) | 16 (25%) | 9 (14%) |
* Adult = 20 years and over | |
The feedback from visitors has been tremendously positive and many have expressed a desire to attend future events at the Museum:
“An unmitigated success- Great information and very good PR for faculty and university.”
“Fascinating and extremely inspiring for a student interested in doing something in the medical field. Thank you for this wonderful experience.”
Future medical practitioner ? |
The other major National Science Week event was the Gut Feelings Forum which was held on Monday 14 August. The evening featured the expertise of A/Prof Michael Grimm (Inflammatory bowel disease) , Dr Rosemary Stanton (Why we should stop searching for the perfect diet) and Prof Lesley Campbell (Diabetes Type 2: An energy crisis).
Over 100 people attended and posed some challenging questions for the panel!
Thank you to the many that attended and our invaluable museum volunteers that contributed to the success of these events.