Christmas Cheer

Wednesday 4th December 2019 On the 4th December we had our traditional Christmas Cheer event which started with short talks on the theme of the deep mid-winter: the effects of freezing, when is it actually winter?, the effect of day length on plants and a new slant on the birds of the twelve days of Christmas; plus a… Read More »

Attrial Fibrillation

 Wednesday 6th November 2019 The full title of the talk was “The global stroke tsunami related to an irregular heart rhythm: A focus on atrial fibrillation” – which really says it all.  Atrial fibrillation is a heart condition which affects 7 in 100 of over 65s and we were lucky to hear all about it from two experts… Read More »

Age Related Macular Degeneration

We were due to have a talk on “Age Related Macular Degeneration: Causes and Future Treatments” in September but this had to be cancelled because the speaker, Dr.  Simon Clark, had to go to Germany at short notice but hoped to give us his talk a few weeks later.  However the visit to Germany was very productive in… Read More »

Nuclear Weapons

Wednesday 2nd Oct 2019 Nuclear war is perhaps something not thought about as much as it should be nowadays but was an important topic when we were younger.  Edmund Moynihan gave us a sobering account of the early development of these weapons, the science and technology behind them and the possible results of their use.  A talk which… Read More »

August Meeting

Wednesday 7th August 2019 There was no meeting on 7th August as we had our usual summer break. Last Updated – Friday, August 9, 2019

Are Digital Games All Bad?

Wednesday 3rd July 2019 Older people (us?) often have strong views on digital games, social media, emojis, mobile phones etc. particularly their use by younger people (grandchildren?).  Are these views well founded?   Dr. Linda Kaye, a Edge Hill University psychologist, specialising in understanding the social effects of digital media (a cyberpsychologist no less), came to give us some… Read More »

Novel Digital Healthcare

Wednesday 5th June 2019 We had a return visit by the NHS North West Innovation Agency with presentations and demonstrations of novel healthcare products. organised by the NHS North West Innovation Agency who are tasked with making the NHS better, safer, faster and more cost effective by introducing new healthcare devices, often for personal use.  We had demonstrations… Read More »

Visit to Heysham Nuclear Power Station

Wednesday 15th May 2019 On the 15th May 37 of us set off to Heysham to visit the nuclear power station.  After a tour of the displays at the visitor centre, a talk on nuclear power generation and a safety and security briefing we were kitted out with our high vis jackets, safety spectacles, hard hats, ear defenders… Read More »

Solar Energy: Its Journey from the Sun to Your Kettle.

Wednesday 1st May 2019 Professor George King, Manchester University physics department,  explained how solar energy from its birth in the sun through its journey to earth can be harnessed and how we can store this solar energy when the sun isn’t shining.  We had everything from atomic physics to the economics of different forms of renewable energy generation. … Read More »

The Great Twin Ponds Project

Wednesday 6th March 2019 Many Lancashire farms have a pond at their field boundaries or in a quiet corner; these are often overgrown and neglected.  Helen Greaves came to tell the Science Group how these lifeless ponds may be restored to health in partnership with local farmers to improve biodiversity and aid wildlife conservation.  Helen is a great… Read More »

The Mechanics of Walking

Wednesday 6th February 2019 Our speaker on 6th February was Dr. Kris D’Aout, a lecturer in musculo-skeletal biology at the Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease, Liverpool University.  He studies the mechanics of walking on complex surfaces, the effect of footwear and how gait is affected during healthy ageing as well as in disease.  His talk proved very… Read More »

Christmas Cheer with the Science Group

Wednesday 5th December 2018 We had our traditional Science Group Christmas Cheer event with quizzes and refreshments of Christmas cake, mince pies and a variety of nibbles, biscuits and chocolates.  Proceedings got off to a great start with Patsy’s famous mulled wine which helped everyone’s confidence in doing the quizzes if not their success!  We started with a… Read More »

ALICE Seeing Cancer Before it is Cancer

Wednesday 7th Nov 2018 Dr. Michele Siggel-King, a research associate from the Physics Department of Liverpool University explained to us how ALICE, a unique and extremely powerful infrared light source based on a free electron laser facility at the Daresbury Laboratories is being used  in to identify changes within and surrounding cells which indicate  the beginnings of a tumour. … Read More »

Innovation Agency Meeting on Digital Healthcare

Wednesday 3rd Oct 2018 Digital Healthcare is being introduced into the National Health Service to make it safer, faster and more cost effective.  This  Science Group meeting was hosted by the NHS Innovation Agency, whose job it is to promote innovation and so improve health care in the region.  After some presentation by agency staff explaining their work,… Read More »

Reasoning Machines: Could a Machine Think?

Wednesday 5th Sept 2018 We hear a lot about artificial intelligence in the media but with Dr. Louise Dennis’s talk we had the opportunity to listen to, and question someone who really knows; Louise is a researcher in the School of Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Computer Science at Liverpool University who has a background in artificial intelligence, robotics… Read More »

Summer Break

There was meeting on the 1st August as we took our usual summer break. Last Updated – Friday, August 3, 2018

Science on the 4th July

Wednesday 4th July 2018 What else did we have on the 4th July, but an Independence Day quiz and a series of 10 minute snippets by some of our members on science related events which happened on that date throughout history: american astronomy, Benjamin Franklin, Antoine Lavoisier, Giovanni Schiaparelli, Madame Curie and the beginnings of modern geology.  A… Read More »

A Vision of the Future

Wednesday 6th June 2018 A Vision of the Future was the title of the talk given Neil Heyes, a well known local ophthalmic optician.  He told us about the latest developments in ophthalmology and optometry equipment such as Optical Coherence Tomography used to examine our eyes to detect and monitor any problems which may be developing.  Things have… Read More »

Climate Records from Small Lakes

Wednesday 2nd May 2018 How has the UK climate changed in the last 15,000 years?  Professor Jim Marshall from Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences Department at Liverpool University explained how lake sediments preserve chemical and biological records of environmental change and help us identify abrupt changes in the UK climate since the last ice age which mirror similar… Read More »

Martin Mere – Its Origins and Demise

Wednesday 4th April 2018 On the 4th April one of our own members, Professor Bill Hale, told us all about Martin Mere (the lake not the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust  Centre).  The talk covered the science and engineering, over nearly 15,000 years, of how the lake was created in the first place and why it is trying very… Read More »

The Role of a Pharmacist in a GP’s Practice

Wednesday 7th March 2018 The speaker for our March meeting was Julia Bate who has worked as a hospital and local pharmacist, in pharmaceutical primary care giving prescribing advice to GPs, and has run clinics for chronic disease management and medication reviews.  Her talk covered how a pharmacist can influence prescribing in relation to safety, efficiency and cost effectiveness. … Read More »

Graphene – Unexpected Science in a Pencil Line

Wednesday 7th February 2018 On the 7th February we had an audience of over 100 (a record for a science group meeting) for a lecture by Rory Phillips from the Graphene Institute, University of Manchester, entitled “Graphene – Unexpected Science in a Pencil Line”.  Rory was a last minute stand in for his colleague, Aravind  Vijayaraghavan, who was… Read More »

Christmas Cheer Event

Wednesday 6th December 2017 – Christmas Cheer Event Puzzles, odd one out quiz, who am I and what am I games, a table full of strange objects to identify – all part of the Christmas Cheer entertainment event, helped along of course by mulled wine, Christmas cake, stollen, mince pies. Lots of fun was had by all.  No… Read More »