Category Archives: Presentation

Dr Helen Czerski: Bubbles – The Bath and Beyond

Helen brought her bags full of enthusiasm to the Isle of Wight when she enlightened the audience about the world of Bubbles that she inhabits.

It’s highly-likely that you had no idea quite how fascinating Bubbles are if you haven’t heard Helen speak about them before.

Here’s a smattering of many things Helen covered –

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Dr Gareth Dyke: The Evolution of Birds from Dinosaurs

Dr Gareth DykeAt the January meeting Dr Gareth Dyke, a senior lecturer at Southampton University, laid out his case that birds evolved from Dinosaurs, fully engaging the considerable audience.

He started off giving the history of discovery and how the idea fell out of favour until the 1960s/70s. 1987 was a huge leap forward, before which almost nothing was know about evolution of flight in birds.

To illustrate the connection, Gareth gave many examples of similarities of the body structures of birds and dinosaurs.

Interestingly, relatively little is known about the relationships between the orders of bird, when compared with details known about mammals.

Continue reading Dr Gareth Dyke: The Evolution of Birds from Dinosaurs

John Yelland: ‘Are we throwing caution to the wind?’

At a packed event at the end of last year, John Yelland, a physicist and an engineer based on the Island, put forward his theories on Wind turbines and his belief that the UK’s energy policy is going in the wrong direction by backing wind turbines.

He covered the other energy sources currently available, he also discusses the ‘Renewable obligation’ and ends on the need to control future demand.

Have a listen after the jump …
Continue reading John Yelland: ‘Are we throwing caution to the wind?’

Prof. Heather Viles: Science & conservation in Cultural heritage presentation

Prof. Heather VilesProfessor Heather Viles presentation was very well received last night.

Giving many examples from around the World, Heather showed how conservation is the way forward rather than the ‘seal it in aspic’ approach of preservation.

Her central message, beside the science is needed to understand and conserve these items is that, you want to be a geographer – not only is it fascinating, but you have great fun doing it!

Slide and audio after the jump
Continue reading Prof. Heather Viles: Science & conservation in Cultural heritage presentation

David Livingstone on the History And Development Of Drugs

After a working lifetime in the commercial field of drug development, David Livingstone left the world of large chemical companies to setup his own consultancy, ChemQuest, while exploring the academic world at the Centre for Molecular Design at University of Portsmouth.

The talk he gave to the Isle of Wight branch of Cafe Scientifique covered the history and development of drugs.

Listen to his presentation and look at his slides is below …

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Dr. Alan Chambers: Material engineering in Medicine, Art, Fashion & Sport

Dr. Alan ChambersDr. Alan Chambers, a senior lecturer in the department of Materials Engineering at Southampton University, spoke about “Engineering in Medicine, Art, Fashion & Sport”.

It included such subjects as stress testing historical tapestries and why our first fleet of commercial jet aircraft, the Comets, had several tragic crashes.

Listen to his presentation …

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Jolyon Chesworth’s Marine Conservation Presentation

The March Cafe Scientifique meeting saw Jolyon Chesworth, the Manager of the South East Marine Conservation Project at the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust speak about Marine Conservation.

He spoke about about the scientific data that led to the establishment of the project and the proposed conservation zones to protect marine biodiversity and how they will be monitored.

His presentation is below …
Continue reading Jolyon Chesworth’s Marine Conservation Presentation

Garry Momber’s Presentation and Q&A on ‘The Unique Stratified Mesolithic site at Bouldnor Cliff’

A strong turnout of again of around 80 people for Garry Momber’s talk at the new venue, The Regency Suite in Shanklin.

Garry is the Director of The Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology and spoke on “The Unique Stratified Mesolithic site at Bouldnor Cliff.”

Here’s the audio of Garry’s presentation …

Continue reading Garry Momber’s Presentation and Q&A on ‘The Unique Stratified Mesolithic site at Bouldnor Cliff’