HALLOWEEN is over for another year, but a series of workshops being held at a North-East university will look into the science of the supernatural this week.

Academics at Northumbria University will be working with the NHS to find out why vampires drink blood, and why werewolves howl at a full moon.

The workshops are being held as part of the NHS Healthcare Science awareness week, which is designed to boost the number of scientists going into medicine.

Academics will involve the audience in experiments and demonstrations.

They will look at zombies, werewolves and vampires as part of the study.

Geoffrey Bosson, senior lecturer in biomedical sciences at Northumbria University, said: "Many of the fairy stories and legends that we tell our children, especially at Halloween, arose during the Middle Ages when the understanding of science was very limited.

"At that time, most bad things that happened to people were usually attributed to the Devil, and that included illness and disease.

"It has been 50 years since the structure of DNA and the genetic code were discovered, but it has only been the last decade that has provided the knowledge to understand some of the rarer diseases.

"One group of diseases, the porphyrias, are thought to be the basis for stories about zombies, werewolves and vampires.

"The lecture and demonstration will use some basic science techniques to explain these diseases and understand how they became fairytales and legends and, at the same time, will hopefully encourage people to consider a career in the biomedical sciences."

The free workshops are open to everyone and will be held from 6pm to 8pm on Thursday in Rutherford Hall, at the university's City Campus. Anyone wishing to attend or requiring further information should call Lesley Robertson on 0191-243 7488.