A brainy night out this Halloween

Fifty shades of grey matter: brains are on the agenda at this Halloween evening with a twist

A Hull York Medical School anatomist will be hosting a Halloween evening with a twist this Wednesday 31 October, as she performs a live dissection of an animal brain to a sold-out audience in a city centre pub.

The public event will see Dr Katherine Sanders, Lecturer in Clinical Anatomy at Hull York Medical School, explain the inner workings of the brain to a captive audience in the appropriately-named The Brain Jar in Hull’s Old Town.

The evening will conclude with the dissection of a sheep’s brain – though this will be optional for the more squeamish members of the audience.

The event forms part of the national Anatomy Nights series, which aims to give members of the public the opportunity to learn all about the human body, from leading experts in the field.

Dr Sanders said: ‘We really wanted to top the success of our first Anatomy Nights event, which saw my colleagues and I dissecting hearts on Valentine’s Day in pubs up and down the country. So we decided to embrace the spooky season and opted for brains this time around!

‘The brain is a fascinating and mysterious organ, and I can’t wait to show people how to tell their hypothalamus from their hippocampus.

‘As the dissection will use a real animal brain, discretion is advised. Those who don’t want to see the dissection will be able to step outside at that point, and although young people are welcome, they should be accompanied by a guardian.’

The event is sold out, but more information about future events can be found at twitter.com/AnatomyNight