Hampstead Scientific Society Programme 2010-11
Extra Information

Date Subject  (Standard Info) Speaker
Thurs 16 Sept
2010
8:15 pm
ASTRONOMERS AND ODDITIES
The Royal Astronomical Society and its Library
A general overview of the Society's history and collections, some of the extraordinary characters who have been associated with it during its 175 year history, and some of the dottier enquiries received. It is intended to give an idea of the breadth and diversity of the Society's collections, the emphasis being on manuscripts , photographs and the like, the printed books being featured in 'Treasures of the RAS Library' ( q.v. infra); and of the amusement and interest often derived from working there, though it isn't all beer and skittles by any means !
Peter Hingley
(Royal Astronomical Society)
Thurs 21 Oct.
8:15 pm
INTEGRATING WIND POWER INTO AN ELECTRICAL NETWORK:
THE VARIABILITY PROBLEM

The wisdom of the extensive deployment of wind power to supply a major part of the UK electricity demand has been questioned by many. The lecture will address this topic by explaining how electrical power systems operate and the operational adjustments necessary if such a variable resource is to be accommodated without an unacceptable effect on the reliability and on the cost of electricity to the consumer.
Prof. Leon Freris
(Loughborough University)
Thurs 18 Nov
8:15 pm
MAN-MADE MATERIALS: BLESSING OR CURSE?
Polymers ("plastics") were discovered in the 1850s and have been produced on an industrial scale since the 1900s. Their production contributed to wealth creation and increase in prosperity – especially in the Western World. We have become almost completely dependent on made-materials in the last century. Has the Age of Polymers made our lives more comfortable or more miserable?
Dr Barbara Gabrys
(Dept. of Materials, University of Oxford)
Thurs 16 Dec
8:15 pm
THE DAVENTRY EXPERIMENT AND THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN
In the early 1930s the threat from Nazi Germany was becoming apparent. Whereas aircraft technology had improved considerably, defensive measures had changed little since the World War, when London had already been subject to bombing. Stanley Baldwin, a member of the National Government, in November 1932 had said that: "...the bomber will always get through...".
The Daventry Experiment was instigated by Air Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, the Tizard Committee, and Robert Watson Watt, superintendent at the Radio Research Department of the NPL. The experiment took place on 26th February 1935, in the vicinity of the BBC shortwave transmitter at Daventry, and was carried out by Arnold Wilkins, a scientific officer at the RRL.
The experiment demonstrated that a radio signal targeting a distant aircraft would be reflected back, and this signal could be picked up by a receiver with a cathode ray tube. Further development led to the setting up of the 'Chain Home' radar system, around the coast of Britain, just in time for the Battle of Britain in September 1940.
Peter Stern will be discussing the background to the experiment, the technical issues and what lessons can be learnt, in relation to science in today's more complex situation.
Peter Stern
(Hampstead Scientific Society)
Thurs 20 Jan 2011
8:15 pm
ZEOLITES - MAGIC ROCKS
Every single litre of petrol has passed through a zeolite. Most washing powders have zeolites in them. What are zeolites? How do they convert oil to petrol and make your clothes cleaner? And are they on Mars? The magic of these rocks will be revealed.
Dr. Dewi W. Lewis
(Department of Chemistry, UCL)
Thurs 17 Feb
8:15 pm
SEAWEEDS
The term 'seaweed' is a collective name for red, green and brown macroalgae, a highly diverse group of organisms that are found throughout the world on seashores and in shallow seas. They are scientifically fascinating with a fossil record indicating that they have been around for well over 1 billion years. They range in size from single cells to giant kelps which can be over 50 m long, and many species can be beautiful in shape and colour. Seaweeds are extremely important ecologically, being primary producers and providing habitats for a wide range of marine life. They are also extremely valuable economically as a source of food, other products such as alginates and potentially of bioactive compounds. Britain and Ireland are rich in seaweed biodiversity, with approximately 7% of the world's 10,000 species. In this talk Prof. Brodie will give an overview of the seaweeds and also talk about some of her work.
Prof Juliet Brodie
(Natural History Museum)
Thurs 17 Mar
8:15 pm
CHEMISTRY THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS *** CANCELLED *** and replaced by
GLOBAL WARMING
Dr Mike Porter
(University College, London)

Dr David Rowley
(University College, London))
Thurs 14 Apr
8:15 pm
THE ORGANISATION OF THE MIND *** CANCELLED *** and replaced by
THE EVOLUTION OF THE BRAIN AND THE CONTEMPORARY THREAT TO HUMAN MENTAL STABILITY

Dietary fats and lipids played a major, albeit inadequately recognised, role as determinants in evolution. Life originated 3 billion years ago. For the first 2.5 billion years of life there was ample opportunity for DNA modification. Yet during that time there is no evidence of significant change in life form. It was not until about 600 million years ago when the oxygen tension rose to a point where air breathing life forms became thermodynamically possible, that a major change is abruptly seen in the fossil record. The abruptness of this change and lack of change over the previous 2.5 billion years is a classical example of Darwin's "Conditions of Existence" which he saw as the higher force in evolution. Unfortunately, this aspect of Darwin's thesis was dropped by subsequent evolutionary biologist who considered the "All Sufficiency of Natural Selection" as supreme and any hint of conditions of existence as being Lamarckian. The sudden appearance of the 32 phyla in the Cambrian fossil record was also associated with the appearance of intracellular detail not seen in previous life forms. That detail was provided by cell membranes made with lipids (membrane fats) which provided a new condition of existence as structural essentials for subdivision of cell function. The compartmentalisation of intra-cellular, specialist functions by lipid based cell membranes as in the DNA containing nucleus, the energy producing mitochondria, the synthetic reticulo-endothelial system and plasma membrane led to cellular specialisation and then speciation. Thus not just oxygen but also the marine lipids were drivers in the Cambrian explosion. Docosahexaenoic acid (to give DHA its full name) is a major feature of marine lipids. To make it requires 6 oxygen atoms to insert 6 double bonds so it would not have been abundant before oxidative metabolism became plentiful. DHA provided the membrane backbone for the emergence of new photoreceptors that converted photons into electricity laying the foundation for the evolution of other signalling systems, the nervous system and the brain. Hence the omega 3 DHA from the marine food web must have played a critical role in the evolution of vision and the brain. There is also clear evidence from molecular biology that DHA is a determinant of neurogenesis, neuronal migration to form the brain's cortex, and the expression of several genes involved in brain growth and function. That same biological characteristic was essential to the ultimate cerebral expansion in human evolution. It implies human evolution was coastal using sea foods and fish as well as land nutrients. With the paucity of DHA from the land based food web, human cerebral evolution as a Robert Ardrey "Killer Ape" on the savannahs, would have been impossible. There is now incontrovertible support of this hypothesis from fossil evidence of human evolution taking advantage of the marine food web. Lipids are still modifying the present evolutionary phase of our species with their contribution to a changing panorama of non communicable disease. The most worrying change in disease pattern is the sharp rise in brain disorders which in the European Union overtook the cost of all other burdens if ill health at 386 billion Euro for the 25 member states at 2004 prices. In 2007 the cost for mental ill-health was £77 billion in the UK and £105 billion in 2010, a cost greater than heart disease and cancer combined. The rise in mental ill health is now being globalised yet is below the radar. The cause of the rising vascular disorders last century and now brain disorders this, lies in the changing conditions of existence. Last century, food policy and the nutrition paradigm were focussed on protein and calories with little attention to the requirements of the brain or for that matter the heart and arteries. A radical re-appraisal of the food system is required to arrest and reverse this sinister rise in brain disorders. The brain evolved in the sea 500-600 million years ago. With the wild fish catch having reached its limit some 20 years ago the solution will require the development of marine agriculture from estuarine, coastal and oceanic resources in a way that mankind learnt to develop land resources 10,000 years ago. The sustainability of human intelligence and humanity is at stake.
Prof Tim Shallice FRS
(Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL)

Professor Michael Crawford
(Imperial College, London)
Thurs 19 May
8:15 pm
SPACE GEODESY - GETTING THE MEASURE OF THE EARTH
Prof Marek Ziebart
(Dept of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, UCL)
Thurs 16 June
8:00 pm
AGM: Wine & Cheese £2+ scientific entertainment
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