SCIENCE FOR ALL
The Group meets to share an interest in science and technology with all u3a members, with the emphasis that no background knowledge is needed. I have about 170 members on my mailing list. The continuing pandemic meant we used Zoom from January to July and we have usually had an audience of 30-40 households. Zoom enabled us to have speakers from across the country. From September we switched to hybrid meetings, i.e. with the speaker plus about half the audience in Bramhall Village Club and half viewing the talk from home via Zoom. Thanks are due to David Pechey for providing his technical expertise. Topics of talks have been wide ranging covering Lucretius and life sciences, building HS2, the solar system, the internet, weather prediction, fusion energy, managing flood risk, the pandemic, electrochemical energy storage and climate reality. Do come and join us.

Mike Hollingsworth

The Group meets to share an interest in science and technology with all U3A members, with the emphasis that no background knowledge is needed. We have about 170 members and a regular attendance of 40 - 50 people. The Group has talks, mainly from outside speakers, with plenty of opportunity for discussion. The year started, as in previous years, with talks in Bramhall Village Club on Lumb Lane on the first Wednesday afternoon of the month, 2-4pm. We had 2 physical talks on fracking shale for oil and gas and in contrast a talk on Titus Lucretius Carus and his book “On the Nature of Things”. The pandemic then started. We switched to virtual meetings from May using Zoom with the assistance of David Pechey. The frequency of meetings was increased over the summer and the use of Zoom enabled us to have speakers from across the country. Topics of talks have been wide ranging covering the heart, physiological aspects of cycling, the science of stupidity, the role of iron in health and disease, earthquakes: why they happen and how they are measured, liquid amps – the story of electrochemistry, nearly lost: the Southern Humpback Whale, COVID-19 – what just happened, made to be measured: the revolution in analytical science for the real time analysis of the human body and Caroline Herschel: the Comet-Sweeper.

Mike Hollingsworth

The Group meets to share an interest in science and technology with all U3A members, with the emphasis that no background knowledge is needed. We have about 160 members and a regular attendance of 40 - 50 people. The Group has talks, mainly from outside speakers, with plenty of opportunity for discussion. Topics of talks have been wide ranging covering microalgae and their use in waste disposal, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, targeted drug therapy of cancer, nature’s mathematical patterns, harnessing the immune system against cancer, stem cells, prosthetic limbs and changes in muscle properties with ageing. Talks took place in Bramhall Village Club on Lumb Lane on the first Wednesday afternoon of the month, 2-4pm.
In addition, we have had a guided tour of Manchester University.

Mike Hollingsworth