A list of all SciBar events in reverse chronological order

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
4th September 2017 – Building Biological Batteries

This topic will be presented by Nick Fowler, a Biophysics PhD student at the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology. In Nick’s own words: “Nature has had billions of years to evolve the various life processes that constitute life. As a result, these… continue reading
3rd July 2017 – Laboratory Support in Poisoning

Laboratory Support in Poisoning – a Clinical Toxicologist’s View Dr Ian D Watson MSc PhD FRCPath FACB FIBMS DipMedTech CSci EurSpLM MCMI Retired Consultant Clinical Biochemist Dr Watson will give a presentation on ‘Laboratory Support in Poisoning’. This will cover an historical perspective, the… continue reading
21st June 2017 – Lymm Dam Geology Walk

Leader Fred Owen gathered a group of SciBarians at the Lymm Dam car park for a briefing on the geological history of the area. He explained that Lymm is situated in the centre of the northern part of the Cheshire… continue reading
5th June 2017 – Mersey Gateway

Keith Bold will tell the story of one of the largest construction projects in the UK. Work started on the Mersey Gateway Project on 7th May 2014 and in autumn 2017 a new six lane toll bridge over the Mersey… continue reading
29th May 2017 – Lions Centenary Fair

The photo above is from a previous big rocket event, held as part of Playday, organized by Friends of the Moor. Please note that Friends of the Moor have said they will NOT be running Playday this year. Update (June 2nd):… continue reading
8th May 2017 – Human Leucocyte Antigen (HLA) System

Andy Canterbury is the business development manager for MC Diagnostics, a small company based in St Asaph, North Wales and they have developed a DNA microarray platform for medical diagnostic testing; the primary application being HLA typing. Andrew has an… continue reading