Dr Graham Bruce, St. Andrews University, uses light to investigate the chemical composition of materials. Because light is non-destructive and non-invasive, spectroscopic techniques can provide information on samples in-situ with no need for complicated sample preparation. Graham will shed light on several mysteries he has been involved in – from detecting counterfeit whisky in Scotland, through screening for falsified medicines in West Africa to revealing toxic pigments in Victorian book covers. Be careful. If you have any old books with bright green covers – that’s Arsenic!

Perthshire Society of Natural Science is one of the oldest Scientific Societies in Scotland and encourages interest in the natural World by means of lectures, meetings and field outings.

The annual Curious Minds Lecture series, presented by Culture Perth & Kinross and the Perthshire Society of Natural Science is themed around “Contemporary Science in Scotland” and, over past seasons, speakers have covered a stimulating array of scientific topics from dinosaur fossils in Skye, through the human genome to black holes, gravitational waves and the science of consciousness.