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.

Place and Time: Abingdon, September 22, 2016  from 19:00 for 19:30

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

TITLE: The Weather in Space – The Sun’s Impact on Earth

Speaker: Richard Harrison, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL)

The UK has long been a world-leader in solar physics research, developing instrumentation that has flown on major space missions for many years. Our understanding of the Sun has been revolutionised in recent years, but it has also driven a parallel interest in the hazards of space weather to the extent that it is even listed on the UK’s National Risk register! Solar activity impacts the space environment around our planet and there are many activities underway to address this both on the research side and in terms of operational space weather forecasting. RAL has been at the core of these activities and has been involved in space observations of the Sun for over 50 years. This talk with briefly outline that history but will focus on the activity of our local star and its impacts on Earth.

Professor Richard Harrison is Head of RAL Space Physics Division and Chief Scientist for RAL Space. He has been a space scientist for 34 years specializing in solar physics research, with research interests in solar mass ejection processes, coronal structure and impacts on the heliosphere and near-Earth space. He is the Principal Investigator for space instrumentation aboard NASA and European Space Agency spacecraft and has been responsible for developing and operating space-borne instrumentation and aspects of space strategy and management continuously since 1992.

Place and Time: Abingdon, August 25, 2016  from 19:00 for 19:30

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

TITLE: Will we ever understand animal cognition?

Speaker: Alex Kacelnik, Oxford University

Many animals display creative problem solving abilities beyond those we can currently program in the most advanced current autonomous robots. This means that we don’t really understand how they do it, or how their minds work.

As a biologist and comparative cognitivist, Alex tests the limits of animal cognitive capabilities and will present examples of problem solving performance by crows, parrots and ducks and illustrate them with video clips.

Place and Time: Abingdon, July 28, 2016  from 19:00 for 19:30

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

TITLE: Atomic Fingerprints

Each type of atom is different, it has its unique pattern of light that it can absorb or emit. This fingerprint allows us not only to study distant star or search for life on other planets, it even allows us to calculate the age of the universe itself. The talk will give an introduction to the understanding of light and how it is related to the structure of atoms and explores with practical demonstration how these measurements can be made. For example, during the talk audience members will be asked to identify a series of unknown gases with simple spectrometers.

Sian Tedaldi studied Physics at the University of Liverpool. She is not only a member of the Atom Society Committee, but more importantly the Outreach Officer at the physics department of the University of Oxford. She is in charge of sharing the exciting research of the Department with the general public and working with schools to inspire the next generation of scientist.

Place and Time: Abingdon, June 23, 2016  from 19:00 for 19:30

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

TITLE: The Ethics of Human Therapeutic Cloning

Human Therapeutic Cloning (HTC) is a promising procedure for producing human transplants that are immunologically compatible. The procedure involves the creation of embryonic stem cells.

Consequently, as well the promise of HTC for effective medical treatment there are serious ethical concerns: Is it right to create embryos for the purpose of harvesting stem cells and where does the doctor’s duty lie? How do we choose between alleviating suffering and avoiding ‘doing harm’ to a human embryo?

Aisha Malik, bioethics tutor at the Department of Continuing Education at the University of Oxford, will introduce the procedure and the issues it raises and will open up the discussion with the help of some case scenarios.