Girls in Years 11 and 12 learned about the crucial part nutrition plays in complex bodily systems at an academic lecture which was also a technological first for Queen's.
Dr Helen Mason from the University of Newcastle 'dialled in' to the school's new Virtual Boardroom so she could deliver her lecture without having to leave her laboratory in the North East of England.
The talk covered the crucial part played by nutritional factors, for example looking at the way specific genes can impact on levels of cholestorol and in this way trigger cardio-vascular disease.
The talk also looked at studies that have used mice to replicate such gene deficiencies and considered the issues patients might face if identified as having a particular genetic make-up e.g. the possibility of being refused life insurance etc.
Year 12 student Anna said: "The talk was great for showing the many different sides to biomedical science and the content was a great back-up to what we are covering at A-level."
The many and diverse factors that governments have to think about before they take actions was the topic of the next fascinating lecture by one of the UK's leading young economists.
Dr Amrish Patel spoke on the fascinating topic of behavioural economics, explaining how 'logical' decisions can often lead to unexpected and unwanted outcomes in the real world.
"If you want to discourage people from doing something then the logical thing might be to impose a tax on an activity to make it more expensive," said Dr Patel, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of East Anglia.
"There are situations however, where this has the opposite effect - for example when a nursery tried to impose fines on parents who arrived late to pick up their children. Parents simply treated this as a charge for a bit of extra childcare and more people left their children late than they did before the fines were imposed!"
Dr Patel explored the idea of economic externalities - unintended effects of activities that can impact either positively or negatively on wider society.
The talk made use of the the school's superb new Virtual Boardroom which allows speakers located anywhere in the country to 'dial in' and address pupils through electronic link-up.
Year 12 pupil said: "Dr Patel introduced me to a lot of ideas I had never really considered before and he did it in a way that was really clear and easy to understand."
Our Academic Lecture Programme is open to students from any school to be part of.