So last night I found myself in the middle of a busy week, in London, in the Royal Institution of Great Britain, listening to 3 minute slots of excellent science. This was because I had received an invitation to the FameLab National Finals. This was something totally new to me despite the fact it has been running since 2005. What started as a fun event at the Cheltenham Science festival has gone global with 20 odd countries holding their own versions and requiring an international final to be held at the festival in June this year. The basic premise is for the contestants to talk on a science topic of their choice for 3 minutes. It should be informative, accurate and entertaining and the 10 finalists had all been through regional heats so had honed their talents prior to this evening. The field was varied and strong with topics such as quantum tunnelling, hydrogen fuelled transport and epigenetics. My particular favourites were a fantastic piece about how the measle virus can utilised to treat cancer and the eventual winner's talk on why carrots are orange (based on how electrons are trapped in a box, that is the beta-carotene molecule…. you kinda had to be there).

Science seems to be crawling back out of the lab and back out into popular culture again. It seems to go in waves with people declaring that science is the saviour of the planet one day and a freakish out-of-control monster the next. In reality there are so many exciting breakthroughs that we never get to hear about. It's sad that this amazing celebration of science communication could only be viewed online last night when the equivalent event in Turkey had 20 million viewers. The speakers are funny, bright and inspiring and I'd urge you to have a rummage through the FameLab site and even consider attending the festival as the programme has just been published and looks astounding. Unfortunately I am going to be in Africa so won't make it this year but will have to make room in my crazy schedule in 2013!

To visit FameLab CLICK HERE

To see the Festival Site CLICK HERE

This is an area of the world that I have visited many times as they have an unbelievable array of habitats and species. Like the rest of the world, these habitats are under threat and there are many amazing projects working tirelessly to conserve them and their target species as possible. To celebrate this spectacular region and update you on the work that's been done there, Chester Zoo is holding a day of talks, films and discussions at the Zoo. I am hosting the event but the rest of the speakers are a great bunch. See the flyer for more information.

For those of you who have been watching Safari Vet School on ITV1 on Friday nights, you'll have met Will Fowlds. Will is a giant in stature and nature. He appears to have the most amazing job flying around darting lions, elephants and antelopes but the last few weeks has tested him beyond anything he's had to deal with before. Being called out to two rhino who have survived poachers hacking the whole front of their faces off to take their horns. Three rhinos had been darted using veterinary drugs overnight and the poachers had brutally removed the bone, skin and horn with either machetes or axes and then left them for dead. One had in fact died from it's injuries but 'Themba', a male, and 'Thandi' the female were still alive when discovered the next morning. So began a gruelling, heartrending week of trying to cope with two mutilated huge animals. Decisions had to made whether to euthanise them straight away or give them a chance. Will and the park team decided to bravely see if they could be saved.

The body's capacity to heal is phenomenal and I see a cat versus car case almost weekly in general practice but seeing these big beautiful creatures so maliciously traumatised makes me feel ill. Trying to piece them back together without the ability to handle them as we do our patients is so difficult. Will and the rest of the team are doing everything they can and are these are just two of over a hundred animals poached this year alone in South Africa. We are back in crises again with this species that only a couple of decades ago was at the brink of extinction.

The images and video of these poor animals is sickening to watch but we need people to be shocked, shamed and angered into action. Without a real global effort we are going to lose this species one horrific act at a time.

To follow the rhino's story please visit Kariega Park's Facebook page HERE.