Discovering Discovery Walk

An event next Thursday – 18th October – allows you to take a guided stroll along Discovery Walk and find out more about the history, design and stories around the ten bronze plaques that celebrate the gifts that Dundee has given the world and those inspiring individuals who were behind some of the world’s most ground breaking discoveries and contributions to science and society.
 
With phase three of Discovery Walk starting soon you will have the chance to talk to the creators of the walk, Susanne Scott and Kelly-Ann Marr, about who you think should be the next individual to be immortalised with a bronze plaque.
 
Full details are available here.

Wednesday afternoon lecture – University of Dundee

From the Friends of the University of Dundee Botanic Garden :

The first of the Wednesday afternoon lectures, held in the D’Arcy Thompson lecture theatre in the Tower Building at the University of Dundee, takes place later this week. 
 
This will be given by Dr Neil Paterson of the Botanic Garden, and the title is “Sex, Obsession and Madness: Linnaeus and the naming of names”. 
 
It is on Wednesday 17th October at 2.15pm, and admission is £2 – all welcome!

University of Dundee Culture Day: Examining the Body

From the Curator of Museum Services at the University of Dundee :
 
The University’s annual Culture Day is a stimulating mix of talks and presentations across a wide-range of subjects united by a common theme. 
 
This year we are pleased to be part of the new Festival of the Future and we’ll be exploring the body, marking 200 years since the publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and 130 years since the first Professor of Anatomy was appointed in Dundee. 
 
Feel free to come to as much of the event as you like.   Admission is free and booking is not essential, but for catering purposes it would help if you could reserve a place via Eventbrite here.
 
Programme
 
1.30pm – Welcome
 
1.45pm – Keith Williams (English, School of Humanities) – Reanimating Bodies: the Frankenstein Theme in Early film
 
As an ‘electrical’ medium which brought still photographic images of bodies to life, early film became quickly associated with themes of bodysnatching, duplication and artificial reanimation. This talk examines the reasons why adaptations of Mary Shelley’s novel and related narratives became a kind of self-reflexive commentary on the apparently uncanny potentials of the new medium to reanimate both the living and the dead.
 
2.00pm – Caroline Brown (Archive Services) – Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes 
 
Using the theme of the body this talk uncovers some of the fascinating stories found in the University Archives. Pioneering experiments and discoveries, disease and health, art and fashion – all are explored through the medium of the human form. 
 
2.15pm – Peter Amoore & Joanna Helfer (Exhibitions, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design) – A Body of Art
 
Cooper Gallery, DJCAD presents a talk on the ways in which the idea of ‘The Body’ is represented, discussed and questioned by artists, writers and thinkers within our recent programme. Considering which bodies we mean when we talk about ‘The Body’, we will show clips of film, discuss artworks and quotations that challenge socially normative ideas of the bodies.
 
2.30pm – Claire Cunningham (CAHID, School of Science & Engineering) – Our Silent Teachers: Body donation at the University of Dundee 
 
Claire will discuss the process by which members of the public make the ultimate donation to the University, gifting their bodies for anatomical and medical students to learn from.
 
2.45pm – Break for refreshments
 
3.05pm – Matthew Jarron (Museum Services) – The Body Beautiful: Art and Anatomy
 
Dundee is now renowned for its unique Medical Art postgraduate course, but the University began bringing together art and anatomy from the beginning, thanks to the artistic interests of the first Cox Professor of Anatomy, Andrew Melville Paterson. This presentation will look at some of these early connections, as well as the beautifully created models, charts and other teaching aids used in the Anatomy department.
 
3.20pm – Allan Kennedy (History, School of Humanities) – The Body Brutalised: Torture in Scottish History
 
One of the most elemental facts about of the human body is that it is capable of feeling pain. This talk looks at the nature and uses of judicial torture in Scotland’s past. Focusing particularly on the early modern period (c.1500-c.1700), we will explore when and why torture was used by the Scottish authorities, before delving – in grizzly detail – into the precise techniques visited upon those unfortunate enough to come face-to-face with a torturer.
 
3.35pm – Diana Swales (CAHID, School of Science & Engineering) – The Stories Bodies Tell: Archaeological Narratives
 
Human remains from archaeological contexts and their treatment in death provide clues about the lives people led and the socio-cultural relationships of the living. This talk covers the osteobiographies of archaeological human remains including theories and case studies. 
 
3.50  – Break
 
4.15pm – Neil Paterson (Botanic Garden) – From the Metamorphosis of Plants to the Origin of Species: Goethe, Darwin and the Development of the Plant Body
 
Goethe, the author of Faust, is the towering German literary figure. But he also saw himself as a scientist and put forward ideas on plant form which prefigure yet clash with the concepts of modern botany, informed by the insights of Darwinian evolutionary thought.
 
4.30pm – Chris Murray (English, School of Humanities) – Frankenstein and Comics
 
This illustrated talk will explore the many adaptations of Frankenstein in comics and graphic novels, with a special emphasis on comics responding to the novel produced by creators associated with the Scottish Centre for Comics Studies and Dundee Comics Creative Space.
 
4.45pm – Graeme Stevenson (Music) – A Body of Music
 
The “heart” and “eyes” are frequently mentioned in love songs but there’s a long history of anatomical references in music. Graeme will talk about and play some examples of these works including music by Buxtehude and Marin Marais.
 
5pm – Finish

Weekly Road Report – West End Ward #dundeewestend

DUNDEE CITY COUNCIL – WEEKLY ROAD REPORT
 
REPORT FOR WEST END WARD – SATURDAY 13 AND SUNDAY 14 OCTOBER 2018
 
Blackness Road (at Peddie Street) – temporary traffic lights on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 October for BT cabling works.
 
Perth Road (at Union Place) – temporary traffic lights on Sunday 14 October for BT cable work.
 
REPORT FOR WEST END WARD – WEEK COMMENCING MONDAY 15 OCTOBER 2018
 
Riverside Drive (at Barnetts) – temporary traffic lights for one week for gas main installation.  Riverside Approach closed southbound.
 
Old Hawkhill – temporary traffic lights for 2 weeks for water main connection.

Getting things done – West End roads update #dundeewestend

Following my reporting residents’ complaints, I am pleased to advise that a series of potholes on Logie Avenue at its east end will be repaired this week.
 
I have also received from the council’s Roads Maintenance Partnership the following feedback on complaints I raised about road surface deterioration in Marchfield Terrace and Hillcrest Road :
 
“The Road Maintenance Partnership inspector has raised an order for two thermal patches to be done in Hillcrest Road with a timescale for repair of approximately ninety days.    A pothole repair has also been raised for Marchfield Terrace with a timescale for completion of approximately thirty days.” 

Event at the Botanic Garden #dundeewestend

This Sunday – 14th October – the Friends of the University of Dundee Botanic Garden have an event at the garden.
 
Clare Reaney will lead a foraging walk and talk in the Garden, starting at the Education Centre at 2pm.
 
Booking is essential for this – please e-mail fudbg.committee@gmail.com to book your place. 
 
Free to members; guests are invited to make a donation.