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Where : |
The
Old Cooperage Bar, Jennings Brewery, Castlegate, Cockermouth |
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When : |
The
third Tuesday of each month whenever possible (there may be
exceptions, depending on speakers' availability);
doors open at 7pm and meetings start at 7:30pm
(the shop door is closed very promptly!) and end no later than
9.30pm. |
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Contact:
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Contact
Ann or John Lackie on 01697 321967 |
Previous Events
Upcoming Events
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Date: |
Tuesday
September 22nd |
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Title: |
Knowing me, knowing you
- the essence of transplantation |
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Speaker: |
Phil
Dyer |
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Description: |
Phil's talk will focus on how the body differentiates between self and
non-self and how immune reactions can be modified to allow successful
transplantation. He will set his talk in the context of clinical
transplantation and will review cases which raise ethical concerns.
Phil Dyer, Professor in
Transplantation Science and a Consultant Clinical Scientist, is the
Director of the Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics Services in the
Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service. He has over 30 years
experience in laboratory science support for organ and tissue
transplantation and is a past President of the British Transplantation
Society; he has advised the Government on the Human Organ Transplants
Act (1999) and the Human Tissue Act (2004).
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Date: |
Tuesday October 13th |
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Title: |
Wave power |
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Speaker: |
Jamie Taylor |
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Description: |
One of the major forces shaping our coast is the action of waves (think
Dubmill Point!), yet this power is almost completely wasted in smashing up
rocks to make sand. Finding a way of harnessing this power would seem to
make more sense than building windmills or barrages – but the engineering
challenges are significant.
Jamie Taylor is Senior
Research Fellow in the Wave Power Group within the Department of
Mechanical Engineering at Edinburgh University – the Department where,
back in 1974, Stephen Salter invented the 'duck' as a means of
generating electricity from the natural power that arrives as ocean
waves on our shores. Jamie will discuss some of the challenges involved
– and some of the solutions that are being tested in their wave tanks.
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Date: |
Tuesday November 17th |
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Title: |
Cosmic indigestion:
things that go 'bump' in the night |
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Speaker: |
Carole
Mundell |
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Description: |
Carole writes: “I aim to
introduce some of my research interests, namely astrophysical phenomena that
are driven by black holes, big and small, i.e. active galactic nuclei and
gamma ray bursts. These two classes of
objects share many physical processes, but change their observed properties
on vastly different timescale - millions of years vs seconds or
minutes. I'll compare and contrast what we know (and more of what we
don't know) and I'll try to give a flavour of how it is to be an
observational astronomer in the modern era of robotic telescopes and
real-time discoveries. |
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Date: |
Tuesday December 8th |
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Title: |
Granular matters: the
strange behaviours of sand |
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Speaker: |
Michael Welland |
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Description: |
Sand plays a surprisingly active role in our lives and that of our planet.
But sand, like all granular materials, behaves in bizarre and unpredictable
ways that are the subject of intense research by physicists, engineers,
geologists and other scientists around the world. Through demonstrations
(magic tricks?) with sand, a glimpse into this fascinating and extraordinary
world will be provided, and the exciting realm of all that we don’t
know about sand will be discussed.
Michael Welland is the founder and director of Orogen Limited, a consulting
company based in London. He has been face to face with geology around the
world, from early field work in the Arctic and for the British Geological
Survey in Oman to recent Saharan expeditions. He has held university
teaching and research positions in the United States, a variety of roles in
the international energy business, and is a Fellow of the Geological Society
(London), the Geological Society of America, and the Royal Society for the
Arts and Commerce. His book, Sand: the Never-Ending Story, was
published this year by the University of California Press and the UK
edition, Sand: A Journey Through Science and the Imagination by
Oxford University Press. Michael’s blog on this theme can be found at
www.throughthesandglass.com. |
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