Royal Institution Christmas Lecture - 2007

Max Adventure had the honour of supporting the 2007 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures with company director Mac Mackenney volunteering to be 'Grilled and Chilled!'

Mac's involvement was part of this year's series, ‘Back from the Brink’, the science of survival, presented by Dr Hugh Montgomery. The 5 lectures covered different aspects of how the human body has adapted and evolved to survive in arduous conditions and circumstances. Hugh had been part of the Caudwell Xtreme Everest team, for which Max Adventure organised the entire logistics - the largest ever medical research expedition at high-altitude.

The audience were presented with the following thought-provoking questions:

We live in extraordinary places - from the middle of the Sahara desert to the frozen wastelands of Alaska. Take a snake to the North Pole, and it will stop moving in minutes. Take a cat to the desert and it can be dead in hours. So how can humans survive such extremes?

During the lecture, Mac was plunged into an iced-bath, stripped bare in a freezer van at -30C (except for his swimming trunks!) and then sweated in a sauna at +60C.

Our bodies burn fuel using oxygen to create an energy currency. During the lecture, the audience learned how this creates heat. They were shown that some of the work done when the energy currency is spent can keep you warm; that shivering really works; that a hot meal really makes a difference and that mothers are right when they say that you should wear a hat on a cold day!

They were also taught about where blood is diverted when it gets cold and when it is too hot; what sweat is and how it works and even why dogs pant and humans do not.

In addition to Mac, the audience were introduced to some survivors of the very coldest and hottest places in the world, to discover what their limites of survival were and how close they got to finding out.

The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures have been inspiring children and adults alike since 1825 and have been aired on television since 1966.

The Christmas Lectures were initiated by Michael Faraday at a time when organised education for young people was scarce. He presented 19 series of Christmas Lectures himself, establishing an exciting new venture of teaching science to young people.

The Christmas Lectures have continued annually since the 1825 series, stopping only during World War II. Many world-famous scientists have given the lectures including Baroness Susan Greenfield, the current Director of the Royal Institution, David Attenborough and George Porter.