A list of all SciBar events in reverse chronological order

  • 5th November 2018 – Fuels of the Future

    Professor Nigel Scrutton, Director, Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, School of Chemistry, Man University, will lead this discussion. continue reading

  • 1st October 2018 – Climate Change and Food: a Cosmologist’s Perspective

    Professor Sarah Bridle returns to talk about food – a far cry from her “day job” investigating dark energy and dark matter as Professor in the Manchester University School of Physics and Astronomy! Motivated by the need to reduce global greenhouse gas continue reading

  • 3rd September 2018 – How the Immune System affects Brain Disease

    Professor David Brough, a researcher and senior lecturer at Manchester University gives a fascinating account of recent developments in the field. David says “Inflammation is our body’s response to infection and injury. It is generally beneficial promoting resistance, repair and continue reading

  • 2nd July 2018 – The Size of Space

    Just How Do Astronomers Measure Distances? William Stewart, who is a founder member of South Cheshire Astronomical Society, will give this talk, in which he will explain how astronomers (from the ancients to modern man) measure distances within and beyond continue reading

  • 4th June 2018 – The Manchester Egyptian Mummy Project

    What can Ancient Egyptian Mummies do for Modern Medicine? Professor Rosalie David will lead this discussion – this is her resumé of what she will be saying: “In 1973, the Manchester Egyptian Mummy Project was inaugurated at The University of Manchester continue reading

  • 14th May (NB not 7th) 2018 – Seeing the Invisible

    Observing the Dark Side of the Universe Professor Sarah Bridle (Professor of Astrophysics, Manchester University, School of Physics and Astronomy) will talk about dark matter and dark energy. These appear to form the vast bulk of the universe, but we continue reading

  • 9th April 2018 – Bitcoin: a Personal Perspective on Database Technology

    Note the date of this talk – it’s the second Monday because April 2nd is Easter Monday. This talk will be led by SciBarian Adrian Fisher, who valiantly answered Chris Grice’s plea at February’s meeting for a speaker for April. continue reading

  • 5th March 2018 – Small Modular Nuclear Reactors

    This discussion will be led by Emma Vernon, of the N(ational) N(uclear) L(aboratory).  In Emma’s words: “The UK has expressed an interest in the potential deployment of Small Modular Reactor technology as a means to help address the energy trilemma continue reading

  • 5th February 2018 – Gene Editing

    The Brave New World of CRISPR Gene Editing The session will be led by Professor Matthew Cobb, professor of Zoology at the University of Manchester. Over the last five years, biology and medicine have been shaken by the discovery of continue reading

  • 8th January 2018 – Cryptography: past, present and future

    UPDATE (Feb 2018): Alan described a way of creating passwords which are (probably) more secure than those most people currently use. Here is a link to a paper Alan wrote last year describing the method: Passwwords. Note that depending on your continue reading

  • 4th December 2017 – DNA in Medicine

    The promises, challenges and everyday application of DNA in Medicine Dr Jamie Ellingford will be talking about the latest technology and software available to generate and analyse big DNA datasets, and discuss the promises, challenges and everyday applications of these continue reading

  • 6th November 2017 – On The Face Of It

    Surfaces and Interfaces in Chemistry, Physics and Medicine Dr Andrew Thomas of the School of Materials, Photon Science Institute, The University of Manchester will be presenting this topic. Every solid or liquid has a surface. We probably take this for granted, but continue reading