Are drugs the answer to learning languages?

Thursday 10 July 2014, 7-8.15pm Royal Institution of Great Britain, 21 Albermale St, London, W1S 4BS 

Chaired by Robin McKie, Science and Technology Editor, The Observer

Scientists have discovered that drugs previously used to treat mood disorders can dramatically enhance your capacity to learn. If you could take a pill to boost your ability to learn a language, what are the moral, practical, social and medical implications? How else can these drugs be used? Do the benefits outweigh the risks?

This panel, chaired by Robin McKie, looked at the research behind the claims, talked through the consequences of this potential new era for language learning and asked your opinions of what this would mean to you.

Foreword:
Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, FBA, Autism Research Centre, Cambridge University

Panel:
Chair: Robin McKie, Science and Technology Editor, The Observer
Henk Haarmann, Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Maryland
ShaoLan Hsueh, founder, chineasy.org
Daniel Tammet FRSA, writer and essayist
Professor Barbara J Sahakian FMedSci, University of Cambridge Department of Psychiatry and MRC/Wellcome Trust, Behavioral and Clinical Neuroscience Institute

To find out more visit the Guardian event webpage.