Place and Time: Abingdon, Thursday 18 May 2017  from 19:00 for 19:30

Barn Room, Crown and Thistle (18 Bridge St, Abingdon OX14 3HS)

TITLE: Micrographia Revisited: Looking at Hooke’s work through today’s eyes!

Robert Hooke’s Micrographia was a revolutionary book in the 17^th Century since it revealed a completely new view of the world to the general public. It was used by the Royal Society to demonstrate that its members were engaged in practical enquiry using new technology. It addressed topics such as the sharpness of a pin-head or a razor, the nature of peacock feather displays, what insects (such as flies, fleas and lice) really looked like, and the nature of materials such as wood, cork and charcoal.

2015 marked the 350^th anniversary of its publication and, in order to commemorate this, we initiated a project to produce a new version of Micrographia showing how Hooke might re-examine his subject matter using modern technology. This talk will explore some of these topics from a modern perspective.

Speaker: Dr Martin Grossel

Since retiring in 2013, Martin was elected an Emeritus Student of Christ Church, Oxford, having been a Student (or Fellow) of Christ Church from 1993.  His research interest is in supramolecular Chemistry, molecular electronics, crystal engineering, and nanochemistry. More information about the speaker can be found here.

Place and Time: Abingdon, Thursday 20 April 2017  from 19:00 for 19:30

Barn Room, Crown and Thistle (18 Bridge St, Abingdon OX14 3HS)

Double Act: Two 30 min presentations

• Self versus foreign – how does the immune system learn?
• Colloidal Polymers

FIRST TALK:   Self versus foreign – how does the immune system learn?

The immune system is the general line of defence for the body against bacterial infections and viruses.

The immune system is made up of a variety of different tissues such as the spleen or lymph nodes. Several cell types produce different proteins such as antibodies which are contributing to immune responses.  This talk will focus on the thymus, the organ responsible for ‘educating’ certain types of immune cells, known as T cells.  Through this ‘education process’, a response of immune cells against the body’s own tissues (termed autoimmunity) is prevented.  In this talk I will discuss the discovery of autoimmunity and the remaining mysteries surrounding the processes which the body has developed to prevent it from occurring.

Speaker: Kathrin Jansen

Kathrin Jansen is a PhD student in “Genomic Medicine & Statistics” at the University of Oxford (Kennedy Institute for Rheumatology).  After degrees in Biochemistry and Cancer Biology, her current research is focussed on single-cell RNA sequencing of thymic epithelial cells.  For more information, see: https://www.kennedy.ox.ac.uk/team/kathrin-jansen

SECOND TALK: Colloidal Polymers

Understanding the formation, ageing and failure of particle gels is both of fundamental interest and industrial importance. Numerous commercial products contain active ingredients, which contain colloidal polymers. Polymers or clays are routinely added to such systems as thickening agents. The addition of these often results in the formation of particle or colloidal gels, the lifetime and behaviour of which can be difficult to predict.

Speaker: Michael Mordan

Michael Mordan is a PhD student at the University of Oxford, working in the Oxford Colloid Group.

Don’t miss our ATOM Festival of Science & Technology March 22-26, 2017.

Place and Time: Abingdon, February 16, 2017  from 19:00 for 19:30

Barn Room, Crown and Thistle (18 Bridge St, Abingdon OX14 3HS)

TITLE: The Power of Karst Palaeoclimate

Climate change is one of the greatest modern challenges facing society on a global scale. The study of past climates (“palaeoclimatology”) is a critical field that looks beyond the short instrumental period of the last century to improve our knowledge of ocean-atmosphere dynamics and gain a better understanding of the magnitude and speed of change the climate system is capable of. Ultimately, records of hundreds of thousands of years of past climate help scientists to gauge confidence in the ability of state-of-the-art climate models to correctly predict future change in temperature, rainfall, sea level, etc.

In this talk I will introduce one archive that has taken centre stage in the palaeoclimate arena over the last decade: cave speleothems as recorders of past rainfall amounts. I will discuss methods scientists use to study these mineral deposits (how to determine the age of a stalagmite, how to extract climate information from layers of calcium carbonate), and some of the most astonishing conclusions that have been drawn from records across the globe. I will also share my experience of caving expeditions in the heart of Borneo, searching for ideal samples to reconstruct changes in tropical convection through the ice ages.

Speaker: Stacy Carolin

Stacy Carolin is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford. She specializes in paleoclimate and geochemistry. For more information on the speaker see https://www.earth.ox.ac.uk/people/stacy-carolin/.