SciBar is science in a bar - an invited speaker gives a talk on a scientific topic while people enjoy a drink or meal, with a Q&A afterwards. In March, Bollington SciBar takes place at the Cock and Pheasant pub in Bollington. Note that this is a change from our usual venue, as the Vale Inn has closed.

Adventure Neuroscience – How the Brain Responds to Extreme Challenge in the Wild

In a world defined by uncertainty, conflict and rising stress, our mental health is under strain. At the same time, we're losing our tolerance for discomfort – and with it, the sense of adventure that once drove our species to explore new environments that provoke adaptation in the brain.

Adventure Neuroscience is an emerging field that brings together cognitive psychology, stress neurophysiology and performance in extreme environments to understand how the brain responds to challenge, risk, fear and pressure. Through this lens, discomfort becomes a catalyst for adaptation: challenge the brain, and it reorganises itself to function more effectively. This is a basis for resilience and cognitive flexibility that is much needed to thrive in the modern world.

Cognitive Psychologist and Neuroscientist Dave Gallagher examines how humans perform under intense stress in real-world high-challenge settings, from mountaineering and cave diving to BASE jumping and high-risk work environments. Drawing on established research in stress physiology, brain organisation and cognitive control — alongside his own attempts to study these processes "in the wild" — he explores what is currently known about how the brain manages fear, focus and decision-making when the stakes are high, and how this can benefit anyone without the need to go to such extremes.

About the speaker:

Dave Gallagher is a Chartered Psychologist and Adventure Neuroscientist who thrives on the challenge of doing science in the wild. His research, affiliated with the University of Lancashire, considers how the brain, in the words of Edwin Hutchens (Cognition in the Wild) "adapts to its natural surroundings". This particularly includes extreme environments, such as high altitude mountains and in extreme sports performers - so-called 'adrenaline-junkies' (a misnomer as will be seen). Dave takes an approach that combines experimental psychology, neurophysiology, and observational research out in the wild, motivated by the challenge of studying this subject in the real world where those adaptations in brain and behaviour take place. A believer in lived experience, he's undertaken a pioneering BASE jump himself in the name of science to understand the subject matter from the inside out. His forthcoming book The Excitement Switch - Turn your Brain onto Adventure outlines the philosophy behind Adventure Neuroscience and his own personal and scientific odyssey through the world's extreme environments.

 No charge, all welcome. Talk begins 6.30pm. Details at bollingtonscibar.co.uk