|
|
Where : |
The
Old Cooperage Bar, Jennings Brewery, Castlegate, Cockermouth |
|
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. |
|
Contact:
|
Contact
Ann or John Lackie on 01697 321967 |
Previous Events
Change of
venue: because our normal venue at Jennings’ Brewery
fell victim to the Cockermouth floods we will run the first two
cafes of 2010 at ‘The Great Escape’ Coffee Shop at Moota Garden Centre –
but we're hoping to be back at the Brewery in the refurbished
Cooperage Bar for the March Café.
Upcoming Events
|
Date: |
February 16th 2010 |
|
Title: |
We're not chimps! |
|
Speaker: |
Jeremy Taylor |
|
Description: |
The chimpanzee genome
differs from that of humans by a relatively small amount, they show
emotions similar to our own, make and use tools, and are capable of some
degree of empathy and altruism. As a result many people have argued that we
are "the third chimpanzee" and, more controversially that "chimps are
people too!" Jeremy Taylor will, however, describe how recent comparative
genomic research has widened the gap between us and the other great apes,
and that there are many aspects of our cognition that are unique in the
animal kingdom. We are not chimps.
Jeremy Taylor is a producer of popular science television, firstly with the
BBC then freelance since the early '90s; he has made numerous television
programmes, including two with Richard Dawkins. |
|
Date: |
March 16th 2010 |
|
Title: |
Astrobiology - the search
for alien life |
|
Speaker: |
Lewis Dartnell |
|
Description: |
'Astrobiology' is a brand-new field of
science, encompassing research into the origins and limits of life on our
own planet, and where life might exist beyond the Earth. But what actually
is 'life' and how did it emerge on our own world? What are the most extreme
conditions terrestrial life can tolerate? And what would an alien actually
look like - how realistic are the life-forms envisaged by science fiction
novels and films over the years?
Join Lewis on a tour of the other planets and moons in our solar
system which may harbour life, and even further afield to alien worlds
orbiting distant stars, to explore one of the greatest questions ever asked:
are we alone...?
Lewis Dartnell
(www.lewisdartnell.com) is a researcher based at University College London, studying
how life, and signs of its existence, might survive the intense cosmic
radiation on the surface of Mars. Alongside his research he writes regular
science articles in newspapers and magazines, and in 2007 published a
popular science book introducing astrobiology, "Life in the Universe: A
Beginner's Guide".
|
|
Date: |
April 13th 2010 |
|
Title: |
Malaria mankind's biggest
enemy? |
|
Speaker: |
Lisa Ranford-Cartwright, Glasgow University |
|
Description: |
A child dies of malaria every 30 seconds. The
disease kills over a million people every year, and affects 40% of the
world's population, mainly in the tropics and subtropics. Malaria was
also widespread in Europe in the last century, and in the UK was common in
the Thames and Medway estuaries and the Fens (Oliver Cromwell was a
sufferer). Today there are a few thousand cases in the UK every year,
contracted by people visiting countries where malaria is rife. How likely is
malaria to come back to Europe and the UK?Can we ever eradicate this disease
from the world, and how would we do it?
Lisa Ranford-Cartwright is a senior lecturer
at the University of Glasgow, and has been carrying out malaria research for
over twenty years, working in many countries in Africa, SE Asia and S
America, studying resistance to anti-malarial drugs and the differences
between malaria parasites from different parts of the world. Her research
group also studies how malaria parasites are transmitted to mosquitoes. |
|
