Newcastle Cafe
 
 

Launched January 2000

 

 

 

 

 

 



 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Date:
 

September 27th 2004

Title: 'Does Darwinism Have a Politics?'
 
Speaker: Steve Fuller
 
Description:

Philosopher Peter Singer once urged the Left to replace Marx with Darwin as its philosophical foundation.   Historically, Social Darwinism has been associated with right wing ideologies.  What are the political implications of Darwinism?  Formerly at the University of Durham, Steve is now Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick and has published widely in the sociology and philosophy of science.
 

 
Date:
 
October 18th    2004       
Title: 'Digging up bones: scientific justification and ethical considerations'
 
Speaker:
 
Charlotte Roberts
Description:

Archaeologists have excavated thousands of bodies over the years from all over the world. Why are we so fascinated with corpses? Why should we continue to recover our dead and what can we learn about our past? Charlotte started out as a nurse and is now professor of palaeopathology at the University of Durham.  Her many publications include accessible books on the history of disease.
 

 
Date:
 

November 15th

Title: 'Alcohol: bad for the young but good for the old?'
 
Speaker:
 
Oliver James
Description:

The government has seems to have given up on its promise to provide a national alcohol strategy.   Perhaps we should sympathise, given that alcohol health messages are increasingly complex.  Alcohol is arguably responsible for more deaths, injuries and unhappiness in under thirty year olds than anything else.  But, “moderate” alcohol consumption reduces the risk of cardiovascular death or stroke and may reduce the risk of dementia and type II diabetes.  Oliver is Head of the School of Clinical Medical Sciences, University of Newcastle, has been treating patients with alcoholic cirrhosis for 30 years, and is an enthusiastic wine amateur.
 

 
Date:
 
January 17th 2005
Title: 'Designer babies: Born and Made'
 
Speaker:
 
Sarah Franklin
Description:

What is a designer baby and how do we know what we think of them? How can the desires of individual parents be reconciled with the need for limits to reproductive intervention? Are humans increasingly made as well as born?  Has this always been the case?  Sarah has conducted ethnographic research on new reproductive and genetic technologies in Britain for over 20 years, including two years of fieldwork with two of Britain's leading centres of preimplantation genetic diagnosis.  She is based at the BIOS Centre at the LSE.
 

 
Date:
 

February 21st

Title: 'Pollution and health risk: How much do we have to accept?'
 
Speaker:
 
Tanja Pless-Mulloli
Description:

Chimneys, shipyards and coal mines are the legacy of the industrial past of the North East. In recent decades, there have been drastic changes in pollution levels; in evidence about links between pollution and human health; in the distribution of pollution amongst the rich and the poor; and people’s acceptance of pollution. Tanya will explore the past, look at the present and gaze into the future of these interrelated factors impacting on our quality of life.  Tanja is an environmental epidemiologist at the University of Newcastle.
 

 
Date:
 

March 21st

Title:

'Right at the beginning ... of the Universe'
 

Speaker:
 
Carlos Frenk
Description:

Cosmologists have learned more about our Universe in recent decades than in the rest of human history. Using astronomical data in tandem with virtual universes constructed in supercomputers, we are now beginning to understand how the universe evolved from the early simplicity of the Big Bang to the present-day structured complexity. We can confidently trace back cosmic history to about a micro-second after the Big Bang and possibly beyond.  Carlos is Ogden Professor of Physics and Director of the Institute for Computational Cosmology, University of Durham.


 
Date:
 

May 16th

Title: 'Atkins: the sugar industry gets it in the gut'
 
Speaker:
 
Eric Brunner
Description:

The low carbohydrate Atkins diet forbids soft drinks, crisps, sweets, chocolate and biscuits, and is an effective way to lose weight. Atkins advocates a high protein, high fat diet. But high fat is linked with cardiovascular disease, and there is not enough protein from animals, fish and seafood to feed six billion. Surely deep-fried tofu is not the only way forward?  Come and graze on some indigestible contradictions.  Eric is a Reader in Epidemiology at UCL, and has previously worked at the London Food Commission.
 


 
Date:
 

June 20th

Title: 'The appliance of Science'
 
Speaker:
 
Arlene Judith Klotzko
Description:

Arlene is a bioethicist and lawyer.  Author of A Clone of Your Own, she has contributed to several US and UK broadsheets, and now writes the regular “Science Matters” column for the Financial Times.   She has been writer in Residence at the Science Museum, London and Visiting Scholar in Bioethics at the Windeyer Institute, University College, London.  She will be talking about morally fraught areas of biomedicine.
 

 
Date:
 

July 18th

Title: 'Big Brother versus the Internet'
 
Speaker:
 
Ian Brown
Description:

Computer voting?  Electronic patient records?  Copyright… data encryption… Information security, surveillance and privacy are major issues of our time.  Based at UCL, Ian is the Director of the Foundation for Information Policy Research, chairman of Privacy International, and has consulted for the financial services industry.

Date:
 
Monday 17th October 2005, 7.30 pm
Title: 'Aren’t we all neurotic? Why the antidepressant controversy won’t go away'

 

Venue: Atrium, Central Square, Forth Street (behind Newcastle Central Station) 
 
Speaker:
 
Dr Michael Barr (Bios Centre, LSE)
Description:

.Dr Michael Barr (Bios Centre, LSE) asks: Are antidepressants good medical care or just good business? Who should be prescribed such drugs? Can biochemistry explain and treat an existential crisis? Is there a future for psychotherapy? Formerly of PEALS, Michael moved to the LSE in 2004 to explore these and related questions. So come and join the debate on an issue that has recently attracted international attention.
 

Date:
 
Monday 21st November 2005, 7.30 pm
Title: 'Fuel Cells & the Hydrogen Economy - Tees Lights The Way Forward'
 
Venue: Atrium, Central Square, Forth Street (behind Newcastle Central Station) 
 
Speaker:
 
Ben Mayo
Description: Ben Mayo introduces us to fuel cells, the new energy alternative: engines which are twice as efficient as internal combustion, silent, and emit little more than water. Over the next few years we will be starting to use them to power everything from laptops to buses. Our region has most of the attributes required to be right at the forefront of this exciting new technology.  A Tees light house will be using fuel cells in the near future. Ben is the Director of the Fuel Cell Applications Facility at the Centre for Process Innovation on Teesside.
 
Date:
 
16th January 2006
Title: A New Year: A New You: 2006
 
Speaker:
 
Amelia Lake (Newcastle University)
Description: Amelia Lake (Newcastle University) gets to grips with those seasonal resolutions about diet and health.  Are you all going to take out gym membership and set optimistic goals?  Will you eat those five fruit and veg? Are you all going to take out gym membership and set optimistic goals?  Is behaviour change at this time of year really a good idea, and do we need to change our behaviour?
 
Date:
 
Monday 20th February 2006
Title: Uncanny Valley: Living with Living Machines
 
Speaker:
 
Richard Evans
Description:

For the last forty years, scientists around the world have been working towards realising the dream of creating humanoid robots. Now, as walking, thinking and even feeling robots and androids take their first tentative steps into reality, writer Richard Evans outlines the latest robotics research and discusses the far-reaching ethical and social implications of the coming world of artificial helpers, friends and lovers.  Richard researched his acclaimed futuristic thrillers Machine Nation and Robophobia at MIT, sponsored by Arts Council England

 
Date:
 
Monday 6th March, 7pm
Title: Artificial Life and Virtual Reality
 
Speaker:
 
Steve Grand
Description:

To celebrate the AV Festival, an evening with acclaimed programmer Steve Grand (job: Digital God), whose innovative work on the Creatures game and Lucy the robot is described in his books Creation: life and how to make it and Growing up with Lucy. Can something that happens inside a computer ever be really alive, or really real? What does this imply for our traditional understanding of reality?
 

Date:
 
Monday 15th May
Title: Why memes?
 
Speaker:
 
Mary Midgley
Description:

One of Britain’s most renowned and best-loved thinkers, Mary has written about animals, about Darwinism and about the Gaia hypothesis. We are delighted to welcome her back to raise more questions about science and society.
 

Date:
 
Monday 19th June
Title: How gay are your genes?
 
Speaker:
 
Lisa Matthews
Description:

Twin studies suggest that sexuality may partly be influenced by genetics. Dean Hamer famously identified a region of the X chromosome which may be involved.  For the last two years, writer Lisa has been working with the region’s lesbian, gay and bisexual community to explore their attitudes and responses to genetics, and their views on sexuality.

 
Date:
 
Monday 17th July
Title: SmartHEALTH diagnostic technology: earlier and more effective treatments of cancer
 
Speaker:
 
Calum McNeil, Professor of Biological Sensor Systems, Newcastle University and Coordinator of the SmartHEALTH programme

Description:

SmartHEALTH is an innovative European healthcare technology - in the early stages of development - which aims to make cancer diagnosis, treatment and monitoring more effective. In miniaturizing a laboratory into a hand-held device, testing could be moved from remote laboratories to local clinics, GPs surgeries or even your home. Waiting for test results could be reduced from days to minutes. To support more accurate and personalised diagnosis, these miniature systems will also allow GPs to access patients’ electronic records - held anywhere in the country - using mobile phone or wireless internet technology. The prototypes systems under development are for breast, cervical and colorectal cancer. This event aims to raise a diversity of issues, including questions such as:
• What diseases would we choose to test with our GP or in our own homes?
• Who will have access to this new technology?
• What are the challenges of introducing complex Information technologies into the healthcare system for patients, GPs and the wider public?

 

Date:

Monday, September 18th

Title:

Freedom to shape the future?

Speaker:
 

Bano Murtuja and Tom Wakeford from the new Right 2B heard network

Description:

Do we trust experts to decide about genetics, nanotechnology and biotechnology?  Is it realistic for non-specialist citizens to control policy on science and technology?

Date:

Monday, October 16th

Title:

Free energy or a nuclear state?

Speaker:
 

Bridget Woodman, energy analyst, Warwick Business School

Description:

How should UK reduce carbon emissions while keeping the lights on?  Through renewables, or through another generation of nuclear reactors? 

Date:

Monday, March 5th 2007

Title:

Patient choice or patient responsibility?

Speaker:
 

To be confirmed

Description:

Current UK health policy makes the patient central to choosing where and how to be treated but this implies freedom without responsibility. Is there now a dangerous imbalance between doctor and patient?   

Date:

Monday, May 21st

Title:

Body parts - free, or for sale?

Speaker:
 

Naomi Pfeiffer, London Metropolitan University

Description:

Since slavery was abolished, it has been illegal to buy and sell human bodies and body parts. However, scientists, biotech companies and tissue banks profit from human tissue given freely by patients and members of the public. Naomi Pfeffer asks whether a market in human body parts should be allowed to develop.

Date:

Monday September 17th

Title:

Do Animals Feel Pleasure?

Speaker:

Jonathan Balcombe

Description:

Jonathan Balcombe, animal behaviourist and author of Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good will argue that animals have deeper emotions than conventional science accepts. For Balcombe, behaviours are not just about adaptation, they're about feeling good.

Date:

Monday October 15th

Title:

Our Future Human Body?

Description:

As part of the Cyborg Future exhibition at the Discovery Museum, we take a look at the shrinking divide between us and the technology we use, from prosthetic body parts to smart textiles and wearable body extensions.

Tobie Kerridge and Ian Thompson (Biojewellery) and Peter and Carla Allen (KnoWear) will be discussing whether this is the future we want with Sabine Seymour.

Date:

Monday 19th November

Title:

For Whom the Roads Toll

Speaker:

Phil Blyth

Description:

What challenges face us in delivering a robust and sustainable road transport system fit for purpose in the twenty-first century? Phil Blyth, Professor of Intelligent Transport Systems at Newcastle University argues that we will need to change the way we travel if we are to manage and optimise our use of roads and alternative forms of public transport. He will explore the options for paying for road use as well as looking at the additional impacts and benefits of such as scheme as the technology involved will lay the foundation for future intelligent infrastructure for transport.

Date:

Monday 7th January 2008

Title:

Cafe Philosophique - Theory Slam!

Speaker:

 

Description:

If you're looking for a festive alternative with intellectual zing, come and pitch ideas at the first Tyneside Theory Slam. All comers will be offered three minutes each to sell us their theories - serious, silly, conspiracy - and the audience vote will select the winner.

Email us in advance at info@cafeculturenortheast.org.uk if you have a pet theory you want to share. Theories put forward so far include Is the Pope a Catholic? and The Truth of Existence. These, and others, will be shared.

Date:

Monday 21st January

Title:

King Coal rides again: restoration of the monarchy?

Speaker:

Paul Younger

Description:

In this era of low-carbon ambitions, could it remotely make sense to talk of a renaissance of energy production from coal?  Geologist and environmental engineer Paul Younger, HSBC Professor of Energy & Environment at Newcastle University, argues that it's time we disinterred Old King Coal and restored him to his throne but this time under a new constitution that will limit his powers to lord it over his subjects.

Date:

Monday 18th February

Title:

Climate change: fact or fiction?

Speaker:

Hayley Fowler

Description:

The science of climate change has become heavily politicised, with 'beliefs' intertwined with scientific fact. Hayley Fowler, NERC Research Fellow in the Water Resource Systems Research Laboratory at Newcastle University, will explore the myths surrounding climate change science, explain what impacts we may expect in the future and how interventions may help to reduce these.

Date:

Monday 17th March

Title:

Where can we go with stem cells?

Speaker:

Lyle Armstrong

Description:

Will scientists soon be able to re-programme embryonic stem cells to create tissues for transplantation? Is cloning a way to avoid problems of immune rejection, or would it be better to use the technique to understand how to re-programme adult cells to make them like embryonic stem cells? Cutting edge insights from Lyle Armstrong , a member of the world-beating team at Newcastle's Centre for Stem Cell Biology and Developmental Genetics.

 

 

 Last Modified 08-04-2008                                                                                                                            Home