Date:

Monday 7th January 2008

Title:

A twenty-first century transport system for Leeds?

Speaker:

Date:

February

Title:

The physics of Star Trek: could anti-matter power the Enterprise?

Speaker:

Stephen Morley

Stephen Morley is Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Leeds and holds an honorary clinical appointment in the NHS. He is associate editor of Pain, the journal of the International Association for the Study of Pain and section editor of the European Journal of Pain.
He will be speaking about the psychology of pain (particularly chronic pain) and the treatment of pain by psychological methods. What do these methods aim to achieve? And how effective are they?

Title:

Polymaths: who needs them?

Speaker:

Date:

Title:

Speaker:

Steven French

"Most people think of the world as made up of objects, which have certain properties and interact with each other in certain ways. Even if modern physics tells us that those objects behave in very odd and sometimes baffling ways, this is typically how we regard the world at its most fundamental level. I want to explore the suggestion that the implications of modern physics are even more radical than that - in effect they take objects out of the picture, leaving only structures. I shall look at these implications in (hopefully!) accessible terms and then discuss what the world might be like as nothing but structure."

Professor Steven French is Head of the Department of Philosophy and Professor of the Philosophy of Science, at Leeds University. His interests include the history and philosophy of modern physics. He is currently Editor-in-Chief of the reviews journal Metascience.

Date:

Tuesday 2nd June

Title:

Sex and drugs and broken bones

Speaker:

Jo Neill and Kay Marshall

Evidence is accumulating for the existence of subtle differences in the brain structure and neurobiology of men and women; differences which may account for differences in behaviour. At least part of these differences may act through the sex steroids, oestrogen, testosterone and progesterone. There is also gathering belief in the hypothesis that oestrogen has neuroprotective properties which influence both normal and disturbed behaviour, as observed in psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. 

Dr Neill is Reader in Psychopharmacology in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Bradford and Dr Marshall is Head of Division in the School of Pharmacy.  They are currently collaborating on research into gender differences in cognitive function. Their presentation will focus on the evidence for sex differences in brain and behaviour shown by clinical and preclinical studies. 

Date:

Monday 7th July

Title:

Artificial Intelligence in Games – 1945 to 2045

Speaker:

Peter Cowling

Peter is deeply interested in the use of games as a testbed for the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The Universities of Bradford and Essex have teamed up with Imperial College and with academics and games company professionals from around the UK to create the Artificial Intelligence and Games Research Network  www.aigamesnetwork.org of which he is a leading member.

In this talk Peter will review the role of AI in games and then consider the large class of games where such AI advances have proved impossible so far.

Can games represent an important step in the search for general-purpose AI?

Date:

Monday 4th August

Title:

Biofuels:  Global Challenge, International Response

Speaker:

Catherine Rhodes

The recent rapid increase in the use of biofuels has caused great controversy. Promoted as a means of rural development and of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on carbon-based fuels, it has become clear that expanded biofuels use could actually cause more harm than benefit.

Catherine will outline the challenges for the international community in managing increased use so that negative impacts on food security, biodiversity, climate change, etc. are minimised and she will explore the issue of how the international community can best respond to these challenges. 

Catherine is a research fellow in Bradford University’s Department of Peace Studies.  Her research focus is governance of biotechnology at the international level.  She maintains a website (www.genomics-gateway.net) and produces a quarterly online report on developments in the international regulation of biotechnology.

Date:

Title:

Speaker:

Doug Parker, Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science, Leeds University

Meteorology is a rather unusual scientific area, in that it is constantly being asked to predict the future. Measuring and predicting the state of our chaotic atmosphere is a big challenge. In addition to the scientific challenges, meteorologists are faced with the problem of communicating complex scientific results to the general public, every day.  In recent years, this communication has expanded through the wide availability of measurements and forecasts on the internet. The successful 5-day weather predictions which we commonly make use of in the UK are the result of remarkable scientific and operational progress, mainly achieved in the 20th century.

Doug will give an overview of the scientific, computing and logistical systems which produce scientific weather predictions today. This will include a description of the hot areas of research, and the ways in which we can expect the delivery and quality of our forecasts to change in the coming years, for example through presentation of forecast probabilities. He will also try to indicate how an informed person can use observations and forecast products from the internet, to refine the public weather forecasts for personal use or for special applications.

Alan Reid has had extensive experience working as an academic and consultant in Zimbabwe and Namibia.  Now based in the UK, he is an Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds but his current projects are world-wide.

Alan will be illustrating the various methods of investigating and imaging the structure of the earth.

Date:

Title:

Speaker:

As we approach the major Darwin anniversary of 2009 -- 200 years since Darwin's birth, 150 years since the publication of his Origin of Species - it is widely believed that Darwin's evolution theory started a 'revolution'.
But is that right?  What is at stake in saying that Darwin's work was or was not "revolutionary"?  Taking opposite sides on the reality of a Darwinian revolution, Jonathan Hodge and Gregory Radick, coeditors of The Cambridge Companion to Darwin (2003/2009), will explore some of the challenges to historical understanding of Darwin and his importance to science and society.
Jonathan Hodge and Gregory Radick are based at the Centre for History and Philosophy of Science in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Leeds.  Besides the Darwin Companion, their recent books include Before and After Darwin (Hodge, 2008) and The Simian Tongue (Radick, 2007). 

Date:

Title:

Speaker:

Louise Dye is Reader in Biological Psychology in the Institute of Psychological Sciences, University of Leeds and a senior member of the Human Appetite Research Unit.

Her research interests include functional foods for cognitive performance and wellbeing as well as hormone-food interactions and appetite/weight control, e.g. the effects of soy isoflavones on cognition and wellbeing in younger and older women; cognitive function during the menstrual cycle and in altered hormonal states, etc.

Dr Dye will be talking about breakfast and mental performance in children and adults; omega 3s; ‘superfoods’ such as blueberries and soy, and the short and longer term effects of the lack of them.

Date:

Title:

Speaker:

In spring 2009, the start button for the biggest scientific experiment in the history of mankind will be pressed. Using the energy required to power Geneva, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will investigate many of the mysteries surrounding the smallest things in nature by recreating the conditions immediately after the Big Bang. It may also reveal secrets that the Universe has hidden since the early stages of its birth. Come along to explore the immense scale of the experiment, find out how the LHC works, and examine some of the big questions it will address.

Pete Edwards is an experienced science communicator who co-ordinates the outreach programme of the Ogden Centre for Fundamental Physics at Durham University. His previous research interests included gamma ray astronomy and astro-particle physics. He toured the UK in 2006 delivering the Institute of Physics Schools’ Lecture ‘Gravity, Gas and Stardust’ and provides regular talks for the Science Events for Schools Programme of the Royal Institution.

Date:

Monday 2^nd March 2009

Title:

Speaker:

Alan Watson helped build the observatory at Haverah Park near Harrogate which was in some ways a forerunner of the instrument he uses now.  He spent 20 years looking for high-energy cosmic rays there and then, after a brief period heading a group working at the South Pole, initiated with an American colleague the Pierre Auger Collaboration which has built the instrument he will describe. 

He was elected to the Royal Society in 2000 and is currently a research professor at Leeds University.

Cosmic rays were discovered in 1912 but we still do not know where they come from.  The most energetic have the energy of a tennis ball hit by Andy Murray and can only reach us from places about 200 million light years away, quite  close by on a cosmological scale.  These very energetic particles are also very rare and a massive instrument (the Pierre Auger Observatory) covering 3000 square kilometres has been built in Argentina, at a cost of $54M, by an international consortium from 17 countries.

Alan will describe how the Observatory was built and try to explain how recent results hint that cosmic rays might come from black holes. No knowledge of cosmic rays will be assumed.

Date:

Monday 6^th April 2009

Title:

The 21^st Century’s First Perfect Storm: A View From Outside Economics’

Speaker:

Dr. Larry Brownstein I will look at the current financial crisis from the perspective of a philosopher-psychologist-social scientist (although I have studied and am quite at home with the natural sciences).  Although not an economist, I have studied the field and argued with economists over the years.  It is now generally accepted that economics is the most myopic of all disciplines - Willem Buiter has recently contended that academic economists are particularly useless. 

Economics has recently been trying to incorporate contemporary psychological perspectives into its theoretical endeavors, particularly in the field known as behavioral finance.  To many, this is a highly contentious development.  An assessment of it will form part of my story. 

I will point out some of the mistakes economists have made over the years and why they might have made them, taking me into the history and philosophy of science - and the Archbishop of Canterbury’s views on the current crisis. 

This story contains heroes and villains, geniuses and morons, the psychologically healthy and the psychologically unhealthy, all working in a socio-cultural context that could reasonably be viewed as being deeply pathological. 

Date:

Title:

Speaker:

Jennifer Smillie

In spring 2009, the start button for the biggest scientific experiment in the history of mankind will be pressed. Using the energy required to power Geneva, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will investigate many of the mysteries surrounding the smallest things in nature by recreating the conditions immediately after the Big Bang. It may also reveal secrets that the Universe has hidden since the early stages of its birth. Come along to explore the immense scale of the experiment, find out how the LHC works, and examine some of the big questions it will address.  

Jennifer Smillie is a research fellow in the physics department at Durham University.  Her research is centred on the theories which will be tested at the LHC  in Cerne and which make this such an exciting time.

Date:

Monday 1st June 2009

Title:

Policing at the frontiers of science: the forensic use of DNA

Speaker:

Carole McCartney

The discovery of ‘genetic fingerprints’ had a dramatic impact on forensic science, leading to a DNA ‘revolution’ in policing. Strong government support, and financial investment in forensic DNA technology, has been bolstered by dramatic legislative change to police powers, with the UK boasting the largest forensic DNA database in the world. Scientists continue to work at the frontiers of genetics to assist police, yet questions are emerging concerning ethical issues and the efficacy of taking, and permanently keeping, DNA samples.

Dr Carole McCartney is a lecturer in criminal law and criminal justice at the University of Leeds. She previously studied and taught at Bond University, Queensland, Australia. She has written on Australian justice, Innocence Projects, and DNA and criminal justice, including Forensic Identification and Criminal Justice: Forensic Science, Justice and Risk, published in 2006. She established an Innocence Project at the University of Leeds in 2005, of which she remains Director. She was project manager for the Nuffield Council on Bioethics report ‘The Forensic Uses of Bio-information: Ethical Issues’ and is currently leading a Nuffield Foundation project on ‘The Future of Forensic Bioinformation’ and working on a project to teach forensic practice to law students.

Date:

Monday 6th July 2009

Title:

Stable plaques - unstable memories

Speaker:

Glyn Wainwright

The current food and pharmaceutical lobbies encourage ambitious long-term cholesterol lowering. The regulation of cholesterol biosynthesis can affect the form and function of every cell membrane.

Cell morphology and membrane research increasingly highlights new data on cholesterol-rich lipid membranes. The clinical impact of long-term inhibition of cholesterol biosynthesis now demands an urgent revision of advice given.

Glyn will make a mini-review of non-cardiovascular research concerning cholesterol-rich rafts in lipid membrane processes. He proposes there is an urgent need to reassess the clinical advantages and disadvantages of long-term statin use, and the ever-broadening criteria of cholesterol reductions.

Glyn Wainwright MBCS CITP CEng MSc is a member of THINCS - an international group of doctors, pharmacists and related scientists who are re-examining the cholesterol hypothesis and lipid theories around heart disease.

Date:

Title:

Details

The night sky contains a whole range of objects of interest. The furthest thing that can be seen with unaided eye is the Andromeda Galaxy some 2 million light years distant, but with optical aid it is possible see many times further. 

The closest things within the usual ambit of astronomy are meteors and noctilucent clouds, occurring in the upper atmosphere. Beyond the Earth comes the Moon, planets, asteroids, comets. Then stars of all varieties, sizes and temperatures, many in multiple systems, some varying in brightness. Also regions of star formation, sites of stellar death and star clusters are of interest.

Paul Marchant has had an interest in cosmic matters since childhood but learnt his way around the sky as relief from lab and desk work when doing a PhD in astrophysics.

Ray Emery began stargazing at the age of 7 (having been blessed with the dark skies of Lincolnshire), and has been a keen amateur astronomer ever since. Since coming to Leeds in the mid-1970s he has been President of both the Leeds University Astronomy Society and the (city) Leeds Astronomical Society. He has organised the major “Astromeet” conference in Leeds, and is particularly interested in offering astronomy to as many people as possible.

Other members of the Society will attend with items of equipment. Hopefully there will be a clear sky and we can do some observing in the garden of the venue. So dress warm and bring binoculars if you have them.

Date:

Monday 2nd November 2009

Title:

Decoding reality

Speaker

Vlatko Vedral

Details

Date:

Title:

Speaker

Details

Matthew examines what the Government's target of building zero-carbon homes by 2016 actually means and what options we have to achieve that target. This will be a practical science presentation rather than a theoretical one, and will aim to generate discussion on what steps people can take to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from their own homes.

Matthew  is a Consulting Engineer with Leeds Environmental Design Associates who specialise in the design of  low energy buildings. He is also a local consultant for the Carbon Trust, teaches "green issues" to architecture students in Leeds and assisted in drafting the Climate Change Strategy for Leeds City Council.

Following on from this talk and discussion, at 9.30 pm, there will be a special extra event:

Almost Everything Explained – the nearly complete guide to the universe.

How the world started and what to do when it ends; how traffic wardens evolved and where to go on holiday in the Bronze Age.

Featuring Steve Skinner: song writer, cartoonist and Leeds-based community worker, who has created an original act using extracts from his cartoon book.

Date:

Title:

Speaker

Details

You're probably reading this on the screen of your standard laptop computer, which is plugged into standard current. The light overhead comes from a standard bulb. The shoes you are wearing are of a standard size. Your dinner was of a standard variety in a package of standard weight. Perhaps you recently took a standard exam for a driving licence.

Although they're normally invisible, we live in a world largely created by standards. They are the recipes by which we cook up everyday life. Everything from global trade, to terrorist activities, to responses to climate change depends on standards. Standards exert enormous power, even as we cannot do without them. They provide us with rules to follow as well as set the range of possible choices we make.

But who makes these standards? How are they enforced? Come and peek behind the curtain to find out how this seemingly boring stuff shapes everything and everyone.

Lawrence Busch is Professor of Standards and Society at the Centre for Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics, Lancaster University and University Distinguished Professor of Sociology at Michigan State University. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a Member of the Académie d’Agriculture de France. He has written or edited eleven books, and more than 150 other publications, on the politics and ethics of food and agricultural standards, and on scientific and technical change.

Date:

Title:

Speaker

Details

Jeremy Taylor has been a broadcaster of popular science all his working life and has recently turned to science writing with his first book "Not A Chimp: The Hunt To Find The Genes That Make Us Human." He has produced a number of television programmes for the BBC’s flagship series ‘Horizon’ and made many others informed by evolutionary theory including two with Richard Dawkins.

Date:

Title:

Speaker

Details

Imagine a world in which we could make fuels or pharmaceuticals in the same way we ferment malt to make beer.  A world in which materials as strong as steel are made without industrial waste, or artificial viruses can be used to administer anti-cancer drugs without the usual side-effects of chemotherapy. Synthetic biology promises new technologies that could change our lives through the construction of new biological parts and devices, and the redesign of existing biological organisms for new purposes. 

So, how can we redesign living organisms to perform useful functions? Are we on the point of creating artificial life in a laboratory? 

Dr Bruce Turnbull, a synthetic chemical biologist from the University of Leeds, will provide an overview of synthetic biology – the possibilities, practicalities, perils and potential profits.

Date:

Title:

Speaker

Details

Meditation is becoming an increasingly studied topic within psychology and cognitive neuroscience. More and more beneficial effects of meditation practice are being described and different meditation-based interventions have already been implemented in clinical as well as non-clinical contexts. Meditation research spans a broad range of aspects, including meditators who spent up to 50,000 hours in meditation as well as the application of mindfulness meditation adjunct to cognitive behavioural therapy for helping people with depression.

So, what happens in the brain when meditators sit around and do nothing? How can this be beneficial and what are the effects of regular meditation practice?

Dr Peter Malinowski, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Liverpool John Moores University, will introduce the latest developments in this emerging field. His main research focuses on the cognitive neuroscience of meditation. As he is a practicing Buddhist and has been teaching Buddhist meditation for more than 15 years he also understands how meditation feels from inside.

Date:

Monday 5^th July 2010

Title:

Speaker

Details

Using a particle accelerator to generate “ion beams”, researchers at the University of Surrey Ion Beam Centre are making new generations of computer chips, fighting crime and helping develop new cancer treatments. This talk will discuss how ion beams are generated, accelerated to speeds approaching 10% of the speed of light and used in a variety of applications. High speed particles interact with materials in ways that give clues about their composition, enabling analysis of items as diverse as gunshot residue, fingerprints, works of art and biological materials. Ion beams are used in the processing and manufacture of every silicon chip found in mobile phones, laptop computers etc.   They also affect the biological properties of materials and this “particle therapy” is being used in a small number of hospitals around the world for the treatment of certain types of cancer.

Dr Melanie Bailey is a research fellow at the Surrey Ion Beam Centre and works with users of the facility from across Europe to design and carry out their experiments.  She is currently developing analysis procedures for samples recovered from forensic investigations and is working with various different institutions and policing bodies to achieve this aim.

Prof Roger Webb is the Director of the Surrey Ion Beam Centre, providing resources for academic and industrial users throughout the world. He has been researching the interaction of ion beams with materials for more than 30 years for a diverse set of applications from superconductors to biology through coatings and radiation damage.