SCIENCE INTERESTS AND ISSUES GROUP

Bob ColeBrenda
                      HoodA group which discusses current science and technology and issues it raises for society, and which visits places of scientific interest.

Group Coordinators: discussion Bob Cole (click to contact); visits Brenda Hood (click to contact)
When

Discussions normally at 2.30pm on the second Monday in the month; visits as arranged.
Where

Meetings usually in a room in a Town Hall; visits to interesting places around London.
Science and technology affect our everyday lives and often raise moral and practical issues that society needs to address. We also hear explanations of fascinating science and technology from the unsolved problems in mathematics, simply explained, to the geometry of diamonds and why carbon molecules can look just like footballs!

Completely accessible to non-scientists, this group enables members to understand more about what science tells us and to explore some of today’s major scientific issues.

There are two threads in the group’s programme:
  • A monthly discussion meeting at which a member introduces a discussion on a topic previously chosen by the group
  • Visits to interesting venues such as the Wellcome Trust and the Science Museum.
Meetings
We have the following list of potential discussion topics for the future:
  • Rubbish!
  • Do we believe palaeontologists?
  • Will humanity destroy the planet?
  • Antarctic biology/ecology (starting from iU3a plenary lecture last year)
  • Are engineers prone to terrorism?
  • Should science be moral?
  • Can humans co-exist with artificial intelligence?
  • Will we travel to the stars?
— but we are always interested in new ideas for discussion topics.

Discussion topics covered so far have included:
  • Climate Change
  • The science of ageing
  • The impact on Neonicotinoid pesticides on bees
  • Funding for medical research
  • 'The end of antibiotics?'
  • Our current knowledge of the solar system (complete with scale models!)

Visits
We have previously been on visits to the Royal Society for a discussion on British weather, and to the Anaesthesia Museum.







 

 


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