Wednesday, 4 November 2015 – Mobile Phones and Sunbeds
![mobile-phone-150x150[1]](https://aou3ascience.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/mobile-phone-150x1501.jpg)
Are you worried about what you ![sunbed-150x150[1]](https://aou3ascience.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/sunbed-150x1501.jpg)
read in the press about their dangers? Come along on and hear about it from an expert: Professor Peter Cole, Liverpool University Department of Physics and President of the Society for Radiological Protection.
Wednesday, 3rd June 2015 – Solar Eclipses – Phillip Pendred
Last year Phillip talked to us about ‘Time’, or the measurement of time to be precise, illustrating his talk with some wonderful slides. This year he gave us a very instructive talk about Solar Eclipses – how they come about, why they last for varying lengths of time, why they don’t occur more frequently at any one place on earth and more.
Illustrated with computer simulations of the movement of the moon and earth in relation to the sun, he explained the various astronomical cycles that ancient observers used to predict eclipses, even without our modern understanding of the solar system.
Wednesday, 4th February 2015 – Chemical Elements part 2 – this was a joint effort by 6 of our members, each talking for 10 minutes on their chosen element. It was the second session on chemical elements, the first one being last June. February’s line-up was:
Frank Wood – Silicon
John Appleton – Lead
Ann Parker – Hydrogen
Allan Yates – Polonium
Bill Hale – Iridium
Sue Watkinson – Gold
Each of the presenters took a different approach, which provided great variety.
Frank outlined the zone refining of silicon, its crystal structure, 
and its major uses. He then went on to explain how silicon acts as a semi-conductor when doped with either nitrogen or phosphorus atoms and is the basis of the transistor.
John described the harmful effects of environmental lead in the development of children’s teeth, with particular reference to a project he has worked on in Poland monitoring the levels of lead over time.
On a lighter note (you can’t get much lighter than hydrogen!), Ann 
explained the critical importance of hydrogen bonds in biology and how they enable life as we know it.
Allan talked about the discovery and properties of polonium, one of the most radioactive and toxic substances around, and its role in the killing of the former soviet secret service agent Alexander Litvinenko.
Bill’s interest in birds and geology suggested iridium, which is found in meteorites with an abundance much higher than its average abundance in Earth’s crust. For this reason the unusually high abundance of iridium in the clay layer at the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary gave rise to the Alvarez hypothesis that the impact of a massive extraterrestrial object caused the extinction of dinosaurs and many other species 66 million years ago.
Sue rounded off the mini-talks with an interesting account of the early history of gold and its uses through the centuries right up to the present day use in electronics, medicine and space exploration.
I venture to suggest that the seventy-eight people who came along not only enjoyed the talks, but also went away knowing something extra about six more of our chemical elements.
Wednesday, 7th January 2015 – It’s a Materials World! by Jack Brettle
What is your view of history? What do historians think drives the development of human society? Is it economic, political, religious or sociological forces?
Jack Brettle posed these questions, but suggested that historians have got it all wrong and that human development is down to new materials technologies!
The talk walked us through four “ages of development”: the stone age, the agricultural age, the industrial age and finally the information age. Within each age, Jack outlined the basic types of materials available at the time, and posited that it was the discovery or development of significantly novel materials that led to the transition to the next age.
He finished with some thoughts on the future; as we move towards a “molecular age” will we be able to design functional molecules for almost any purpose?
An excellent talk, which sparked lots of questions and contributions from the assembled gathering.
Thursday, 11th September 2014 – visit to Springfields Nuclear Fuel Manufacturing site, organised by Jack Brettle. A fascinating tour of the nuclear fuel plant near Preston, the visit gave us an insight into the complex and highly technical aspects of manufacturing fuel rods for various British nuclear power stations. Precision is important, as you might imagine, but the process still relies on people to correct any bends in the rods and make sure they are actually straight!
The visit was also notable for the extent of the security checks made by the operators of the site – we had to register with our passports or photo driving licences, and while we were having our bags searched, a security team was sweeping the coach to check for bad things – concealed weapons, I guess!
Wednesday, 2nd July 2014 – The History of Communications over the past 100 years, with particular reference to the changes made during the lifetimes of our members, by Mike Briggs. Mike started out as a ship’s Radio Officer in the Merchant Navy, before moving into the world of Microwave Transmissions systems for both TV and data.
The talk covered
There was also a selection of equipment available for people to examine, from the simple but amazing telegraphic Morse key through to point to point microwave systems, walkie talkies and a few museum pieces.
All in all, Mike gave us a great insight into the developments that have changed the way we communicate with each other.
Wednesday, 4th June 2014 – “Chemical Elements – Part 1″ – a joint effort by 6 of our members, each talking for 10 to 15 minutes about their chosen element. The line-up was:
Patsy Colvin setting the scene with a brief definition of an element, a bit of atomic theory and a tour around the periodic table, then on with the show, starring your very own…
Edmund Moynihan talking about Iron. A whizz through the history of iron taking in Soviet Art, the Romans, the industrial revolution, geology with a bit of biology to finish with.
Beryl Yates talking about Copper. Its history, its geology complete with samples to show: what more could you ask for!
Chris Procter talking about Phosphorus. From its discovery to its critical importance in biology and agriculture, everything you wanted to know.
Peter Croughan talking about Noble Gases Six elements at once, not so unreactive as you might think with much curious chemistry and many important technological applications
John Parsons talking about Chlorine A much maligned element, critical to modern hygiene. The world of Domestos revealed
Tony Edwards talking about Platinum Not just for jewelry, important in many areas of technology especially the glass industry. We learned some metallurgy from an expert.
Each of these has a story, and each of the presenters took a different tack. We heared some fascinating things about the discovery, chemistry, physical properties, uses and economic importance of each of these elements; and with seven of our own presenters, no one fell asleep!
FutureLearn is an offshoot of The Open University providing online courses in a wide range of subjects, many of a scientific nature. The aim is to connect learners from all over the globe with high quality educators, and with each other. Courses are delivered one step at a time, and are accessible on mobile, tablet and desktop, so you can fit learning around your life, rather than your life around learning.
Courses are typically from 2 to 8 weeks long and expect you to do between 1 and 4 hours work per week.
The list of courses currently running or soon to be run is here.
Wednesday, 2nd April 2014 – “Spectroscopy, gemstones and minerals”. Keith Snell, leader of the U3A Geology group, gave a very interesting talk about the use of Spectroscopy in the analysis of minerals and in the gems trade. Illustrated with some very colourful slides, and pieces of his own home-made equipment, Keith’s talk was laced with personal anecdotes of his interest in gems and minerals throughout his life.
Wednesday, 5th March 2014 – Following on from our highly successful talk about Forensics in February, our own Marguerita McBride will talk about Chemical Analysis.
It’s a complex world we live in – physically (as well as politically, socially, financially, culturally, and so on!) – and there are many processes used in analysis of the chemical, physical and biological properties of materials.
This presentation is about some of the types of analysis linked to Chemistry and the impact of those on many aspects of everyday life. Some reference will be made to the Electromagnetic Spectrum we looked at in November, eg Infra Red, Ultra Violet, but other methods may perhaps be less well known and yet every bit as important and interesting. How do we know the formulae of so many complex chemicals, for instance, or that we are ‘over the limit’ or that an athlete has taken a banned substance?
It’s all down to Chemical Analysis, and the modern tools and techniques used. Come along and find out more about it.
Aughton & Ormskirk U3A Science Group (Archived) 