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The presentations shown at our meeting on the 4th January 2016 (Fracking, Transistors) and February (Black Holes) have been posted to this page – please scroll down to see the attachments which you can download as you wish. ———————— We hope that you enjoyed our September 2015 talk on volcanoes. Our speaker has kindly provided links to a number of volcano-observing videocams around the world. Montserrat Volcano Observatory: www.mvo.ms The MVO’s webcam: http://www.caribbean-on-line.com/caribbean-web-cams/montserrat-volcano-webcam.shtml Hawaii Volcano Observatory: http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/ The HVO’s many webcams: http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/cams/ List of most of the volcano web cams around the world: http://www.wired.com/2015/04/worlds-volcano-webcams/ ===========
Many thanks to John Russell for his talk on ‘Feeding the World – Synthetic Ammonia’. John’s presentation and his detailed notes are attached to this page – please scroll down.
Please scroll down to see copies of a number of previous presentations in pdf format. These include:
For those interested in further reading to follow up the talk on Petroleum Reserves by Paul Worthington on the 1st September 2014, the website mentioned by Paul can be found here: http://www.spe.org/industry/reserves.php
The key diagram and related messages are in this document.
Our May 2014 presentation was “Gesture, Sign Language and Makaton”, given by S&T group member Margaret Walker MBE.
Margaret’s presentation is attached to this page – please scroll down.
Here is the link to the British Deaf Association website – this page has the first “signing” video referred to in the presentation:
The second video is on this page:
Margaret’s earlier presentation ‘Human Communication – Just how much do we take for granted?’ is also available below.
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On 3rd February, we were able to make use of home-grown group talent in the form of two speakers who stepped in at a fairly late stage to replace a speaker whose talk has been re-timetabled. First, John Hitch spoke about the story of the Royal Jubilee Bells and showed a DVD tracing the design, casting & tuning, procession on the Thames, and final hanging of the bells. He is closely involved with the historic Wren Church of St James Garlickhythe, where the bells now reside. He was involved in the project from the outset and raised the money for one bell. He described the new world record for ringing changes achieved with the bells in October 2013. Copies of the excellent and unique DVD are available for £12 from johnrhitch@gmail.com After the tea break, Roy Goodman drew on his experience of civil engineering and consultancy to talk about The Gestation of a Major Highway. Drawing on several examples, he gave an account of the planning and other hurdles that need to be jumped before a bypass, for example, can come to fruition. We all think of planning processes as complex, but when a major road is involved complexity is certainly raised a couple of notches! The success of the afternoon prompts us to ask you all to consider putting your names forward to give a talk – anything from 20 to 50 minutes would work well. Thanks to Roger Hoyle for his presentation on the Bloodhound SSC project. A pdf copy of his presentation has been posted below.
Note that the videos shown at the meeting have been removed from his presentation for ease of posting on our site. These and many more can be found on the project website here:
The talk on the 4th November was “Maintaining fish stocks in British waters”by Dr Will Wright, Chief Fisheries Officer, Kent & Essex.
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Alexa Briggs’ 7th October 2013 presentation on “Data Centres, powering the Internet” (together with her speaker notes) have been posted below in both pdf and Powerpoint formats.
Here is the link to the introductory video: http://www.wimp.com/internetworks/
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On the 2nd April 2012 Gordon Harris treated us to a presentation on the structural engineering of large buildings and the new Shard building in particular.  The Shard skyscraper is under construction in Southwark, London, near London Bridge. When completed in May 2012, it will be the tallest in the EU and the 46th-tallest building in the world at 310 m (1,017 ft) tall.The tower will have 72 habitable floors, with a viewing gallery and open-air observation deck – the UK’s highest – on the 72nd floor. It has been designed with an irregular triangular shape from the base to the top, and will be clad entirely in glass.
Gordon has kindly provided the following pictures from his presentation.     The March 4th 2013 topic was ‘Nanotechnology’, presented by Prof Gabriel Aeppli
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On 4th February 2013 the group was treated to a fascinating presentation – ‘Human Communication – Just how much do we take for granted?’ by Margaret Walker MBE. Margaret is a member of the S&T group. She has recently retired from the role of CEO of the Makaton Charity, which she founded in 1978. (Formerly known as the Makaton Vocabulary Development Project). http://www.makaton.org/
Margaret was the Speech Therapist whose research in 1972/73 led her to design the Makaton Language Programme. “Makaton” as it is known is now used extensively throughout the UK and in many overseas countries with children and adults with communication and learning disabilities.
Her talk provided an overview of the complex physical, sensory, cognitive and neurological processes by which we all develop communication skills and which we just take for granted.
Margaret has kindly prepared comprehensive notes which have been integrated with her presentation in the document attached below.
—————————— On Monday 3rd September 2012 Dr David Bott, Director of Innovation Programmes,Technology Strategy Board, gave a talk on on ‘Future Technology Innovation in the UK’
———————————– The 14th May 2012 presentation on “The History of Computing” is attached below (please scroll down to the bottom of this page). Further “white papers” will be added in order to provide additional information on this topic.
———————————— On the 5th March 2012 around 60 members attended a most interesting talk by David Duncombe of Crossrail.
See also this article on the BBC website. ————————————- In February 2012 we were treated to a presentation on Modern Dental Technologies by Dr Yasmin George, who talked us through the benefits and application of various technologies including the CEREC CAD/CAM restorative system, the WAND anaesthesia system, the use of lasers & air abrasion -“no drill” technology.
 The CEREC system is described as one of the most exciting new technologies in dentistry, enabling custom restorations to be machined from ceramic blocks on the premises. This means that there are no temporary restorations, no need for impressions and no wait for an external laboratory. Because the process is so precise, a greater proportion of the natural tooth can be preserved. The material used is bio-inert, incredibly strong and has been designed to mimic the natural physical properties of tooth enamel. |
2012 sees the
Camberley and District U3A. Science and Technology Group 