Join The u3a Science Network

Meeting on Wednesday May 22, 2024, 9.30 -11am

Mike Trevethick of Thanet u3a to his latest u3a Science Network online (Zoom) science meeting on Wednesday May 22, 2024, 9.30-11am
The topic is Artificial Intelligence.
You can connect to the meeting from 9.15am on Wednesday May 22, 2024.

Mike is using the National u3a Zoom Licence for this meeting and he is grateful for the help and support .
Details of how to register and other information is below:
Registration is via Eventbrite.
Here’s the link to the Eventbrite booking page:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/science-network-event-tickets-884196855597?aff=oddtdtcreator

Once you have clicked on the link – scroll down and on the right-hand side there is a box saying ‘reserve a spot’ click on this and fill in your details.
Summaries of the talks are also on this page.
You will then:

1. Get a confirmatory email acknowledging a successful registration.
2. The link for the meeting on May 22 will be sent to your email address a day or two before the meeting.
3. If you don’t get the meeting link by close of play on May 21 then please let me know u3ascience2023@hotmail.com
   Agenda for Wednesday May 22
   At this session we will have only one talk on Artificial Intelligence – a topic which I’m sure most of us will have heard of but may not be (like me!) quite sure what it is or what it can do.
   9.30-9.35 Welcome and Introduction Mike Trevethick
   9.35-10.35 Artificial Intelligence Everywhere Ian Hawker (East Suffolk u3a)
   
   Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to systems/machines which display intelligent behaviour, act autonomously, and learn over their lifetime. Global investment in AI by corporations is currently about $100 billion per year. We consider applications of both generative AI, which produces new content, and analytic AI, which uses existing data to promote efficiency, innovation, and transformation. Examples are taken from healthcare, transport, climate change, finance, and education. We also look at the social implications of AI including its effect on employment and personal power.
   10.35 – 11am Questions
   11-11.10 am Future sessions (Mike Trevethick)
   Look forward to Zooming with you on May 22, 2024
   With best Wishes
   Mike Trevethick u3ascience2023@hotmail.com

The u3a Science Network Events in 2023

Plans are in hand for the three meetings of the u3a Science Network this year. We have two dates for online Zoom meetings – Tuesday 18th April and Thursday 26th October from 9.30am to 12.15 – which will be in similar format as the last couple of years, i.e., two or three talks and a plenary session at the end.

There were plans for a one day summer in-person meeting at Aston 9th August, but this was effectively blocked by the u3a central office.

Instead the meeting was on Wednesday 9th August via Zoom.

Regards, Leigh Edwards
Former U3A Science Network Group Leader

October 26th	Topic	Speaker – all talks are 45 minutes with 10 – 15 minutes for questions
9:30 – 9:35	Welcome and Introduction	Michael Trevethick – u3ascience2023@hotmail.com
9:35 – 10:35	Forensic DNA, fact, fable and future	Dr Robert (Bob) Green, Reader in Forensic Science at the University of Kent, UK. Currently a Reader in Forensic Science and Director of Student Engagement for the School of Chemistry and Forensic Science at the University of Kent, UK. He has almost 30 years’ practical experience working in the field of forensic science, teaching and policing study. During this period, he has been responsible for the management of many serious and notable crime scenes. In addition, he has undertaken much development work both in the UK and abroad and is the author of several national reviews of forensic science. For his services to forensic science, he was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list of 2008. Prior to joining the University full-time, Bob worked for the Forensic Science Service (FSS) in research and service development before moving to the Home Office to become the head of science and technology in the Police and Crime Standards Directorate. During this time, he was at the forefront of ensuring the most effective use of forensic science to combat crime and develop knowledge around the application of forensic science and policing tools to support the investigation of both violent and acquisitive crimes
10:35 – 10:50	Break
10:50 – 11:50	The Apollo Programme and what we have learnt about the Moon	Andrew Graham, Dulwich and District u3a Now that we have visited the Moon, collected samples of lunar rocks and left recording experiments on the lunar surface, we now know much more about its age and formation. The talk will focus on the scientific results derived from the Apollo programme which began in July 1969. Andrew is a geologist/geochemist who graduated from Manchester University with a PhD in 1970. His first employment was geochemical research at the Australian National University, Canberra. He then moved to America and held a research fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, working on meteorites. This was followed by a research position in London at the Natural History Museum working on meteorites and samples from the Moon. In 1993 he changed career and became a science teacher in secondary sector schools, specialising in A-Level Chemistry.
11:50 – 12:15	Round up and discussion of future events
12:30	End

August 9th	Topic	Speaker	u3a
10:30 – 10:40	Welcome and Introduction	Chair
10:40 – 11:40	Quasars	David Youll	Basingstoke
11:40 – 11:50	Break
11:50 – 12:50	CRISPR Genome Editing Tool	David Tordoff	Wolverhampton
12:50 – 13:30	Lunch
13:30 – 14:30	Semmelweis and Handwashing	Mike Trevethick	Thanet
14:30 – 15:15	Plenary session

April 18th	Topic	Speaker	u3a
10:30 – 10:40	Welcome and Introduction	Chair
10:40 – 11:40	Anti -oxidants and Superfoods	Paul England	St.Albans
11:40 – 11:50	Break
11:50 – 12:50	Earthquakes – how they happen and how to measure them	Pete Webb	New Mills
12:50 – 13:30	Lunch
13:30 – 14:30	Get Rid of that Stink! – Bazalgette and the sewer system	Mike Trevethick	Thanet
14:30 – 15:15	Plenary session

The Science Network Defined, Plus Some History

The u3a Science Network is one of a number of informal u3a subject networks to provide a platform for u3a members to connect and come together around their common interests. The u3a Science Network was established in 1999, originally as the Science and Technology Network, and was set up by Ken Bates, Len Street and Glenys Tuersley. There was a regular newsletter, but then annual events were held in person. The first of the annual lectures at the Royal Institution was held in 2001, and the first annual residential three day Seminar was at Mulberry House in Abergavenny in 2003 and ran through to 2011/12.

Elsie Denham ran the organising team until 2014, then a group of members offered to carry on and Jill Gigg headed this group. Over the years this organising group included Mike Hollingsworth (as Science Advisor), Jo Livingston, Peter Read (as photographer), Ralph Timms, Chris Read, John Marriage (Website), Andrew Cline (technical and AV equipment), the programme organiser was Jane Whitehead (now Jane Tietjen), external visits arranged by Mike Trevethick, bookings were handled by Sally Ingledew.

After that, annual residential meetings with approximately 80 attendees were held at Harper Adams University in Shropshire, then at the University of Nottingham, and then at Aston University until 2019. Then the Covid pandemic brought these meetings to a halt, but 100 members had registered for the 2020 meeting when the lockdown(s) came into operation.

An organising team was responsible for the promotion and running of the annual meetings was lead by Michaela Moody, from 2019, until early this year (2023) when Leigh Edwards took on the lead role. The annual in person meetings, typically involved a three-day residential event, with a series of presentations by u3a members attending the meeting, and also included visits to a places of scientific interest. The organising team selected the presentations from offers made by u3a members.

During the Covid pandemic, three virtual Zoom meetings were held annually from 2020 – 2022, and three meetings are again in planning for 2023. Two meetings will be held over Zoom but a number of members have shown an interest in a one day face-to-face meeting, so locations and timings are currently being investigated.

Previous u3a Science Network Meetings – in reverse chronological order

u3a Science Network Meeting Thursday 27 October 2022, online via Zoom

Session Timings
10:30 – 10:40 Leigh Edwards, Science Subject Adviser Welcome and Introduction
10:40 – 11:40 David Tordoff, Wolverhampton u3a Body Clocks and Circadian Rhythms
11:40 – 11:50 Break
11:50 – 12:50 Pete Webb, New Mills u3a Fracking Shale for Gas and Oil
12:50 – 13:30 Lunch
13:30 – 14:30 David Burnell, Northwood and District u3a Smoke, Soot and Steam
14:30 – 15:15 Plenary session. Feedback and review of future meetings

Presentations on
Body clocks and Circadian Rhythms
A walkthrough the absorbing and evolving subject of body clocks of insects and birds and how the body clocks and circadian rhythms function in humans. Also covered chronotherapy, sleep, jet lag and S.A.D.

Fracking Shale for Gas & Oil
A presentation which summarises the anti-fracking movement’s arguments and shows that these are distorted and misleading. Fracking can be conducted safely with less impact on the environment than some of the ‘green’ solutions.

Smoke, Soot and Steam
An account of the building of, and travelling on, the world’s first underground railway, drawn largely from contemporary accounts, illustrating some of the more humorous aspects.

Tuesday 26th July 2022 Zoom meeting
Presentations on
Blowing Hot and Cold in the 1980s: John Marriage
The Carbon Imperative: Mike Perry
Human colonisation of Space: Leigh Edwards

Tuesday 5th April 2022 Zoom meeting
Presentations on:
The Manhattan Project and the British Bomb: Rhobert Lewis
The Human Microbiome Part 1: Leigh Edwards
The Scale of the Universe. David Youll

Thursday 14 October 2021 Zoom meeting
Session timings:
10:30 – 10:35 Welcome and Introduction – Michaela Moody Chair
10:35 – 11:35 Drug Abuse in Sport – Paul England St Albans u3a
11:45 – 12:45 Medicines from Plants – Billy Martin Bearsden & Milngavie u3a
12:45 Lunch
13:30 – 14:30 The Ignobel Awards – Barry Zussman Torridge u3a
14:30 – 15:00 Plenary session for feedback from those attending and to announce details of future meetings.

Our first 2021 Virtual Zoom meeting exceeded all expectations
The u3a Science Network’s first Virtual meeting exceeded all expectations with over 200 members attending.
Tuesday 20 April 2021
The meeting was introduced by Mike Hollingsworth, who was the Science Subject Adviser, and over 200 members enjoyed three very different presentations from John Marriage, Mike Trevethick and Mike Gray. Each lasted 45 minutes and was followed by questions which were posted on Chat and presented to the speakers after each of their talks.

Darwin – the Geologist
John Marriage introduced us to Charles Darwin the Geologist who became involved with several men who were starting to transform geology from its practical origins in mining and quarrying, to a well organised branch of Natural History.
His trip on the Beagle gave him the opportunity to expand his field experience. Wedded to the idea of a “simple model” of geology, he started to deviate, month by month, from the model he’d been taught by his mentors and was persuaded by a new movement promoting huge timescales and the slow persistent action of processes still visible.
On his return, he then became involved in one or two British geological problems which turned out not to fit with his “simple geology”, and which he explained incorrectly. This experience was a painful shock to his system; he had to admit that he’d been wrong.
His subsequent work on evolution was another “simple” all-encompassing theory which claimed to be capable of explaining everything within its scope. There were other influences too, but having his fingers burnt with geological theory was an important contribution to his well-known reluctance to publish The Origin of Species twenty years later.

Covid Vaccines are here – what are they and how do they work?
After a short break, Mike Trevethick spoke about the arrival of COVID vaccines and their efficacy. He started by explaining coronavirus and how our bodies tackle the infection, what Vaccines are, how they work and how you make one.
He showed how Vaccination tricks our body into thinking it is under attack and the need to establish herd immunity by wholesale vaccination. He described 4 ways of making vaccines and talked in more detail about the Pfizer-BioNtech and Oxford-AstraZenica vaccines. Redeployment of the BioNtech &Oxford Technology Platforms Rapid Vaccine development programmes to Covid 19 resulted in the swift development of Clinical Trials for Covid Vaccine to prove that it was safe, would prevent COVID infection and where Covid infections are high, reduce Hospitalisation, severe disease and death.
There was a good immune response in all age groups, showing Antibodies from people vaccinated with Pfizer or AZ bind to and neutralise covid virus. Mike went on to show that data from the real world on the Pfizer and AZ reduced both the risk of infection and of hospitalisation. He also covered the New Covid Mutant in UK and the South African variant.
He brought us right up to date by showing how concerns about Blood Clots on the brain with covid vaccines are clearly outweighed by the risks of COVID. Public Health England (PHE) analysis indicates that the COVID-19 vaccination programme prevented 10,400 deaths in those aged 60 and older in England up to the end of March. Despite the fantastic progress, there’s still more to do: including people under 18, the effects on virus transmission, what happens if the virus mutates and can we mix and match vaccines.

Chocolate – what is chocolate?
Mike Gray gave us a potted history of chocolate from Mexico to Spain, and other parts of Europe by 1606. More recent history of chocolate covered developments in the 19th century and the 1890 Legislation introduced in Europe to protect chocolate which was being widely adulterated.
We learned what chocolate is legally, what milk and white chocolate are. On average it takes about 40 cocoa beans to make a 50g bar of 70% dark chocolate = a whole pod! Generally, each tree will produce 1 – 1.5 kg of dried cocoa beans per year with one year’s crop from one tree making 18 or 20 bars.
We learned about the location of coffee beans and what they contain, drying the beans and how it’s just the flavour of cocoa beans that varies from place to place. We also discovered how the grinding process had developed, the production of cocoa butter and cocoa powder and how most of Chocolate’s unique characteristics (and foibles) are due to cocoa butter. It melts rapidly in the mouth, why care must be taken with sugar crystals and the impact of low and high viscosity.
Mike took us through the various production and refining stages, conching and the continuous fat phase of chocolate. We learned that chocolate is Non-Newtonian because it has a yield value, what Crystallisation and Polymorphism are, what tempering is and the many causes of Bloom.
Mike ended his fascinating presentation on the science of chocolate by showing the many uses of Chocolate and the varied ways it can be used to make finished products by Moulding, Enrobing, Panning, Extruding, Spinning and Sculpting.

The Science Network’s 2019 Annual Meeting was held from Monday 5 to Thursday 8 August 2019 at Aston University.