Future Meetings
Wednesday 8 February 2012 at 7:30 pm
The Duality of Cholesterol - Myth, Money and Method
Glyn Wainwright, THINCS, Leeds
Your brain is about 2% of your body mass but it contains 25% of your body's cholesterol. Cholesterol accounts for around 20% of all the molecules in all the membranes of every cell in your body. If this proportion of cholesterol is reduced to 18% your cells will begin to fail, become deformed and start to leak. These insights have implications for the treatment of many diseases including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and dementia. Our modern medical obsession with the lowering of our 'blood lipid cholesterol' may need to be reversed as the long term effects on our health become better understood. This talk will explore the myths that led to the characterisation of cholesterol, a vital chemical component of all our lipids and cell membranes, as being either "good" or "bad". The commercial exploitation of this popular cholesterol myth accounts for the generation of global profits measured in billions of dollars. Is it possible to resolve the conflict of interests that has arisen between control of the funding for medical research, the influences on the regulation of medical practice and the need for the scientific freedom implicit in the exploration and expression of factual evidence?
Glyn obtained a degree in chemistry in 1969 from the University of Bradford and then spent a year exploring career options in pharmacology at Leeds Medical School. Following that he gained a PGCE from the University of Leeds in chemistry and physics which led to ten years of teaching A-level chemistry as Head of Department in Leeds. In 1982 he earned an MSc in computing at the University of Bradford, which was followed by 18 years as a Senior IT Manager, mainly in the financial services sector. Since 2000 Glyn has pursued an independent career which has included: reading medical research and writing review papers as a member of THINCS - an international network of professionals interested in studying the role of cholesterol in bio-medical sciences; honorary recording engineer for the Leeds Symphony Orchestra; and a variety of DVD and CD productions in aid of 'good causes'.
Wednesday 7 March at 7:30 pm
Synthetic Biology - A Brave New World
Dr Bruce Turnbull, School of Chemistry, University of Leeds
Imagine a world in which we could make fuels or pharmaceuticals in the same way we ferment malt to make beer. A world in which materials as strong as steel are made without industrial waste, or artificial viruses can be used to administer anti-cancer drugs without the usual side-effects of chemotherapy. Synthetic biology promises new technologies that could change our lives through the design and construction of new biological parts and devices, and the redesign of existing, natural biological organisms for new purposes. So, how can we redesign living organisms to perform useful functions? Can we create artificial life in a laboratory? Bruce Turnbull, a synthetic chemical biologist from the University of Leeds will provide an overview of synthetic biology - the possibilities, practicalities, perils and potential profits.
Bruce Turnbull is a Royal Society University Research Fellow based in the School of Chemistry, University of Leeds. He gained his BSc and PhD in Chemistry from the University of St Andrews before undertaking postdoctoral work at the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Leeds. His research interests lie at the interface of chemistry and biology where he studies the protein toxins that cause cholera and similar diseases with the aim of re-engineering toxins for use in drug delivery.
Wednesday 4 April 2012 at 7:30 pm
What Kinds of Things are Theories?
Professor Steven French, Department of Philosophy, University of Leeds
What kinds of things are scientific theories? Are they like paintings or photographs, in the way they represent the world? Or are they like pieces of music, in the way that different scores/texts correspond to the same piece/theory? And are theories created in the same way as works of art? Are they discovered or created through a flash of insight, or 'Eureka moment'? Was Einstein like Mozart when it came to being creative? Or is the creative process in science different from that in art? In my talk I'll explore answers to these and similar questions in order to shed light on some of the intriguing similarities and differences between art and science. And I shall suggest that we get off on the wrong foot in this comparison if we think that theories are kinds of 'things' to begin with.
Steven French is Professor of Philosophy of Science at the University of Leeds, where he has worked for almost twenty years. Before moving back to the UK he taught in the USA and Brazil and he has published numerous books and papers on philosophy in general and the philosophy of science in particular.
Wednesday 9 May 2012 at 7:30 pm
Are We Alone? Looking for Life on Other Planets
Dr Simon Goodwin, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield
Over the last 15 years hundreds of planets have been discovered orbiting around stars beyond our solar system. This has re-ignited interest in the possibility of life on other planets and given rise to a new branch of science - astrobiology. I will explain how we have found these planets and what they are like. I will also talk about how we could find life on another planet within the next ten years and what that life might be like. I will also discuss the possibility of finding other intelligent civilisations.
Simon Goodwin is an astronomer at the University of Sheffield who is interested in star and planet formation. He has also written several popular books on astronomy.
Wednesday 6 June 2012 at 7:30 pm
Scientific Progress and the Economic Impact Fallacy
Professor Philip Moriarty, Nanoscience Group, School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Nottingham
In these financially straitened times, shouldn't scientific research in universities be focussed on near-market R&D and potentially economy-boosting applications? Isn't it right that the Department of Business, Innovation, and Skills, the research councils, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) seek to maximise return on government investment in science? And what's wrong with now requiring academics to include a two page 'impact' statement with each grant proposal, describing potential pathways to improving the socioeconomic impact of their research? In this talk, I will discuss how the research councils and HEFCE, by coercing academics to work on near-market and short-term problems perceived to have direct socioeconomic impact, fail to understand the fundamental societal role of universities and will ultimately, and perhaps counter-intuitively, damage the return on taxpayers' investment in publicly-funded research.
Philip Moriarty is a Professor of Physics and an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Fellow in the School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Nottingham having been appointed to a lectureship there in 1997 and promoted to Reader in 2003. Prior to attaining a lectureship at Nottingham, Moriarty was a postdoctoral researcher there (1994-1997) and, from 1990-1993, did his PhD at Dublin City University. He has authored/coauthored over 100 refereed papers including a frequently-cited invited review article on nanostructured materials. His research interests span a number of topical themes in nanometre scale science with a particular recent focus on single atom and molecule manipulation. He is currently Chair of the Institute of Physics Nanoscale Physics and Technology Group committee, and a member of the Science Board of the Institute of Physics. Moriarty has a keen interest in public engagement/outreach activities and science funding policy and has interacted with national and international media on these issues, contributing, for example, to a recent BBC Radio 4 documentary, "Ivory Tower", on the subject of this Café Scientifique talk. He is also a regular contributor to Nottingham's Sixty Symbols project (www.youtube.com/sixtysymbols).
Wednesday 4 July at 7:30 pm
A Tunnel to the Beginning of Time
Dr Peter Edwards, Department of Physics, University of Durham