Wednesday, 7th October 2015 – Space Weather and the Earth’s Magnetic Shield – Prof. John Shaw

The Earth’s magnetic field shields the Earth from the solar wind and high energy particles that are released from the sun during solar storms. Is the magnetic shield constant or does it change, can it collapse completely? What do we know about the behaviour of the magnetic field in the past? What could happen to civilisation if the field decreases? The answers to these and many other questions can be found in the ancient recordings stored in ceramics and rocks. John Shaw gave us a fascinating account of how the earth’s magnetic field protects us from harmful rays and particles ejected from the surface of the sun, and went on to explain what might happen if the magnetic field disappeared. He rounded off the talk by showing us how to make a DIY megnetometer, mainly using a handful of household objects.

Wednesday, 2nd September 2015 – Himalayan Medicine – Dr John Winter

John Winter is the author of “Aiming High, Overland to the Himalayas” Aiming High – Overland to the Himalayasand a local member.

He travelled to Everest, Annapurna and Indrasan in the nineteen seventies as a newly qualified medic to help with the treatment of climbers suffering from altitude sickness.

With some stunning photographs, and sketch maps of the region, he gave an overview of the risks and medical problems associated with high altitude mountain climbing and trekking in the Himalayas.

Wednesday, 1st July 2015 – Predators in Liverpool Bay – Mathew Clough

Mathew Clough is Director of the Liverpool Bay Marine Life Trust, and came along to tell us about the seals, cetaceans and sharks on our own doorstep.

Liverpool Bay is often forgotten in regard to its marine life and there is an image of it being polluted. Hard work and a lot of clean up programmes have bought life back to the bay though and Mathew described just how many of the large predators are now found within Liverpool Bay and where we see them.

Wednesday, 3rd June 2015 – Solar Eclipses – Phillip Pendred

Last year Phillip talked to us about ‘Time’, or the measurement of time to be precise, illustrating his talk with some wonderful slides. This year he gave us a very instructive talk about Solar Eclipses – how they come about, why they last for varying lengths of time, why they don’t occur more frequently at any one place on earth and more.

Illustrated with computer simulations of the movement of the moon and earth in relation to the sun, he explained the various astronomical cycles that ancient observers used to predict eclipses, even without our modern understanding of the solar system.

Wednesday, 1st April 2015 – Forensic Geology – Dr Maggie Williams

Dr Williams, from the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of Liverpool, gave us an insight into the science of Forensic Geology and how it is applied in the investigation of crime scenes. Her slides can be downloaded here.

Wednesday, 4th March 2015 – Lovey Dovey – Graham Cawdell, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Whiston Hospital. Graham came along to tell us about breeding, egg laying, incubation, feeding, nurturing and fledging in birds. Many of these things vary greatly from one species to another, and there seems to be an almost limitless number of combinations, each designed to ensure the continuity of that species in its niche environment.

Graham’s talk was both entertaining and informative – and obviously delivered by someone whose interest in birds was kindled at a very early age. A thoroughly enjoyable session.

   Wednesday, 4th February 2015 – Chemical Elements part 2 – this was a joint effort by 6 of our members, each talking for 10 minutes on their chosen element. It was the second session on chemical elements, the first one being last June. February’s line-up was:

Frank Wood – Silicon
John Appleton – Lead
Ann Parker – Hydrogen
Allan Yates – Polonium
Bill Hale – Iridium
Sue Watkinson – Gold

Each of the presenters took a different approach, which provided great variety.

Frank outlined the zone refining of silicon, its crystal structure, and its major uses. He then went on to explain how silicon acts as a semi-conductor when doped with either nitrogen or phosphorus atoms and is the basis of the transistor.

John described the harmful effects of environmental lead in the development of children’s teeth, with particular reference to a project he has worked on in Poland monitoring the levels of lead over time.

On a lighter note (you can’t get much lighter than hydrogen!), Ann explained the critical importance of hydrogen bonds in biology and how they enable life as we know it.

Allan talked about the discovery and properties of polonium, one of the most radioactive and toxic substances around, and its role in the killing of the former soviet secret service agent Alexander Litvinenko.

Bill’s interest in birds and geology suggested iridium, which is found in meteorites with an abundance much higher than its average abundance in Earth’s crust. For this reason the unusually high abundance of iridium in the clay layer at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary gave rise to the Alvarez hypothesis that the impact of a massive extraterrestrial object caused the extinction of dinosaurs and many other species 66 million years ago.

Sue rounded off the mini-talks with an interesting account of the early history of gold and its uses through the centuries right up to the present day use in electronics , medicine and space exploration.

I venture to suggest that the seventy-eight people who came along not only enjoyed the talks, but also went away knowing something extra about six more of our chemical elements.

Wednesday, 7th January 2015 – It’s a Materials World! by Jack Brettle
What is your view of history? What do historians think drives the development of human society? Is it economic, political, religious or sociological forces?

Jack Brettle posed these questions, but suggested that historians have got it all wrong and that human development is down to new materials technologies!

The talk walked us through four “ages of development”: the stone age, the agricultural age, the industrial age and finally the information age. Within each age, Jack outlined the basic types of materials available at the time, and posited that it was the discovery or development of significantly novel materials that led to the transition to the next age.

He finished with some thoughts on the future; as we move towards a “molecular age” will we be able to design functional molecules for almost any purpose?

An excellent talk, which sparked lots of questions and contributions from the assembled gathering.