YOU probably think your head is a perfectly normal shape, right?

Well, take it from me - or, if not from me, from University of York scientist Dr Philip Cox: it isn't.

Your head might be pretty ordinary as far as human heads go. But as a species, our heads are just weird. No other animal has such a massive brainpan, such a flat face, or such a big, broad forehead.

"Our skulls are really peculiar," says Philip, a zoologist and lecturer in physiology at the Hull York Medical School who will be dropping into the Fulford Arms next week to talk about heads as part of this year's Pint of Science festival. "We have really flat foreheads and faces, eyes right around at the front, closer than just about any other vertebrate, and space for this enormous brain."

The peculiar shape of our skull is partly because we evolved to be intelligent, of course. Not even our closest cousins, the chimpanzees, have brains anything like as big as ours. Our skulls need to be able to protect them.

York Press:

Zoologist Dr Philip Cox with a badger's skull at the Fulford Arms

And our odd, flat faces? We don't need a long snout, because the sense of smell isn't particularly important to us, Philip says. Dogs, which do rely on smell, have very long noses so they can fit in lots of smell receptors.

Our most important sense is sight - hence those big eyes close together in the centre of our face.

But why are they so close together? Rabbits and sheep have eyes almost at the side of their heads, giving them virtually 360 degree vision, so they can spot any predators trying to creep up on them.

We don't have eyes in the back (or even at the sides) of our head. So we're easy to sneak up on. But having our eyes together in the front of our faces gives us one big advantage. It means we have stereoscopic vision, which in turn allows us to judge distances. (Try doing that with one eye closed). We're primates who evolved in trees - so being able to judge distances so we could grab branches would have been really useful, Phillip says.

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We evolved in trees - so our eyes, like chimpanzees', are in the front of our heads

Our heads, with their flat faces and huge brainpans, are pretty peculiar when compared to other animals, then. But we're not alone in being strange. What really gets Philip fired up is the sheer diversity of head and skull shapes you can find in the animal kingdom. Each one is the result of evolution, and of animals adapting to a particular way of life.

Anteaters, for example, have extraordinary-shaped skulls, Philip says. "If I gave you an anteater's skull and didn't tell you what it was, you might think it looked like a baseball bat, it is so long and thin." The anteater has no cheekbones, and only a thin strip of bone for the lower jaw, because it doesn't need to chew anything, so doesn't need ridges of bone to attach jaw muscles to. It doesn't even have any teeth. Instead, it licks up its food - ants, naturally - with its long, sticky tongue. Its whole face is elongated into a long, thin snout that it can stick into an anthill, Philip says.

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Barman Doug Rooney and landlord Chris Sherrington prepare for Pint of Science at the Fulford Arms

Compare that to the skull of a badger. Like most carnivores, it has scissor-like teeth for slicing through meat, and very powerful jaw muscles. There's even a bony crest on the top of its skull which its jaw muscles attach to. This is an animal with one heck of a bite.

Philip will be discussing all this and more over a pint or two at the Fulford Arms in Fulford Road on Tuesday next week (May 24).

He'll be bringing a few animals skulls with him - and even a model of a human skull - to illustrate his talk, he promises. With a few beers to fuel the discussion, it sounds like being quite an evening.

Philip's talk, however, will be just one small part of this year's Pint of Science Festival, in which more than 40 York scientists will be dropping in at six pubs across York over three days from May 23-25 to talk about their research.

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Most of the universe is invisible...

You'll be able to find out about everything from the secrets of quantum physics to why we are what we eat, how most of the matter in the universe is invisible - and why, in this modern day and age, we're all so stressed out.

Best of all, you'll be able to do it over a pint down your local.

Chris Sherrington, landlord of the Fulford Arms where Philip will be talking about weird shaped heads, says it makes for a great evening.

His pub has taken part in the festival in previous years - and it always draws a good crowd.

"You get a really good mix of people," says the chemistry graduated turned publican. "You get people who have heard about it beforehand and come along specially; people from the university; and a good few of our regulars propping up the bar and going 'Oh, I wasn't expecting this!' You get some great discussions!"

  • Cracking The Skull with Dr Philip Cox, The Fulford Arms, Tuesday May 24, 7pm, as part of The Pint of Science festival.

The festival runs from May 23-25. Six York pubs are taking part: The Blue Boar, The Guy Fawkes Inn, The Eagle and Child, The Winning Post, The Walmgate Ale House and the Fulford Arms.

Tickets for each event cost £4 - roughly the price of a pint. To find out more, visit https://pintofscience.co.uk/events/york

Some other highlights of this year's Pint of Science festival in York:

The Blue Boar, Castlegate

Self and Society, Monday May 23, 7pm

Human beings are social animals - and we have evolved to be very sensitive about what other people think of us, says Prof Kate Pickett of the School of Health Sciences at the University of York. In a society in which inequality is seen as being on the increase, there is more competition for status than ever, Kate says - so that many of us struggle to feel valued. Inequality increases divisions and leads to an 'us and them' society. Kate says. But we're a naturally co-operative species, and there is clear statistical evidence that in societies that are more equal (such as Scandinavia) people are generally much happier...

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We're very sensitive to what other people think of us...

Guy Fawkes Inn, High Petergate

Aliens in the environment, Monday May 23, 7pm

The introduction of new (alien) animal and plant diseases is a growing risk in a globalised world where people and goods move freely from continent to continent. Such 'alien' diseases can have devastating economic and environmental impacts, as shown by outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease and ash dieback in the UK. So how can we keep alien diseases at bay? Dr Andrew Bate, Dr Julia Touza and Professor Piran White of the Environment Department at the University of York discuss.

The Winning Post, Bishopthorpe Road

Biological computers, Monday May 23, 7pm

Nature is a great problem solver. Over millions of years it has evolved solutions to everything from complex information processing (brains) to powered flight (birds). Dr Alexander Turner of the Department of Electronics at the University of York will look at some of the best examples of biological problem-solving - and show how biology can inspire the development of new methods of computing.

The Walmgate Ale House, Walmgate

The Invisible Universe, Tuesday May 24, 7pm

Most of the matter in our universe is invisible, so we don't know what it is made of, says Dr Celine Bohm of Durham university. Yet this "dark" matter plays an essential role in shaping the way the universe is. Observing distant galaxies and their environment could help understand the nature of dark matter - and perhaps even reveal new physical laws.

The Eagle and Child, High Petergate

The Romans and glassblowing, Wednesday May 25, 7pm

Glass is all around us. We use it every day and take it for granted. But the technology that allows us to make it is older than you might think. The early Romans were keen glassblowers, as Dr Jonathan Prior of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Durham explains...

  • Full details of all events at https://pintofscience.co.uk/events/york