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/.

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

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

TITLE: Rocking the foundations of mathematics: logic, paradox, and the quest for consistency

Mathematics looks like the rock-solid foundations of the sciences. But is it really as safe and unshakeable as it seems? The development went through some crises and hit upon unexpected paradoxes and problems.

Logicians, philosophers, and mathematicians, among them Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russell, Kurt Gödel, and Alan Turing have worked on the foundations of mathematics. In the talk I will tell the story of grand programmes, their failures, feuds, and cunning arguments at the intersection of mathematics, logic, computer science, and philosophy.

Speaker: Volker Halbach

Volker Halbach is professor of philosophy at the University of Oxford. He specializes in logic and formal philosophy. For more information on the speaker see here.

We will have a members Christmas Party on December 15, 2016 from 19:00 to 22:00 in the Brewery Tap. Please register with the Secretary, if you plan to attend, so that we can order the right amount of nibbles.

Place and Time: Abingdon, October 24, 2016  from 19:00 for 19:30

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

We will have an initial short talk followed by the AGM.

Talk Title : Dark Matter

Dark matter is one of the biggest mysteries in physics. We know there is something out there twisting starlight and flinging stars around in galaxies, but we have never managed to detect it – it seems to be like nothing we know. In this talk, we will examine the evidence for dark matter and see what it tells us about this mysterious stuff, before considering some of the ways scientists are hunting for it and trying to discover what makes up 85% of the matter in the universe.

Speaker: Ms Kathryn Boast

Kathryn Boast is a graduate student at the University of Oxford. She is involved in planing and building the most sensitive dark matter experiment yet. She is also very active promoting women careers in science.

AGM Agenda

1. Apologies for absence
2. Minutes of last meeting
3. Matters arising
4. Chairman’s Report
5. Treasurer’s Report
6. Resolution to reduce membership fees
7.  Elections
   1. Officers
      1. Chair
      2. Secretary
      3. Treasurer
      4. Programme Organiser
   2. Ordinary Committee Members
8. ATOM Festival 2017
9. Any Other Business

Place and Time: Abingdon, October 27, 2016  from 19:00 for 19:30

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

TITLE: Murder, Maggots and Mitochondrial DNA

Speaker: Ms Catherine Hale

Technological advances have led to an increased understanding of the potential of DNA analysis, broadening its impact across a wide range of fields.

The focus of this talk will be the application of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis, specifically its role in species identification. This technique is used in a  number of areas, including forensic science, ancestry and conservation. Ms Catherine Hale

Catherine currently works in forensics, but developed an interest in mtDNA several years ago whilst undertaking a joint research project with the Royal Veterinary College and the Natural History Museum, London. The project, which will also be discussed tonight, compared molecular analysis methods to morphological identification methods for maggot species identification. Accurate identification of maggot species offers the potential to estimate a time of death, or the reveal if a body has been moved post-mortem.