| Where | STFC Daresbury Laboratory But currently online |
| Contact | Talking Science at Daresbury Laboratory |
Upcoming events
28 April 2022, at 6-7pm
Storms in space! Our planet, our star and space weather
Robert Walsh
The Sun, our closest star, provides all the heat and light required for life on our world. Glancing up at the Sun, it may appear to us to be just a boring, bright globe in our skies. However, your star is massive atom smashing machine; a seething mass of electrified gases that at times is anything but quiet and uninteresting.
In this talk we will learn how important the Sun is for us here on Earth, how it’s energy escapes out into space and explore the clash of solar and terrestrial magnetic personalities! Using the very latest space based telescopes, Professor Walsh will guide us out from the solar core, help us surf the solar wind and then run for cover from immense solar storms that head our way!
Suitable for age 11+
Previous events
Thursday 12th November, 18:00
The future ain’t what it used to be (Age 10+)
Mark Leweny
Why aren’t astrologers rich? Surely, the horoscope of a footballer would tell them how to win a game? The science of foretelling the future has changed dramatically over the centuries, so why can we predict some things, like total eclipses, but not others? Join our favourite guitar physicist Dr Mark Lewney as he presents ‘a history of the future’, beginning with films such as 2001 Space Odyssey and Back To The Future 2. He will explain in simple terms what chaos theory, and quantum physics is, and how these mind blowing theories prevent us from predicting everyday life. Finally, we will look at the evolution of science and technology and how, with the development of supermaterials such as graphene, our future may change completely. Even though we cannot be sure exactly what the future holds – we know that it is going to be very exciting when we get there! To register click here.
Wednesday 25 November, 18:00
Drones: the brilliant, the bad and the beautiful (Age 10+)
Andy Miah
This talk examines the consequences of a society in which people live among drones. From the most spectacular and amazing applications to the most destructive ones, it charts a course in recent history which tells the story of how drones came to prominence and what they mean for humanity’s future. Focusing especially on the scientific uses of drones, it examines how these flying machines are enabling new kinds of research to emerge, along with discussing some of the biggest technological challenges they present, which tell the story of how artificially intelligent robots will become a bigger part of our lives in the future. To register click here.
Wednesday 9 December, 18:00
Swarm engineering across scales: from flocking robots to nanomedicine (Age 10+)
Laura Gemmell
Laura Gemmell, a PhD Researcher at the University of Bristol, will discuss swarm engineering and how it allows us to make robots that work in large numbers of over 1000, and tiny sizes of less than 1cm. Swarm strategies are either inspired from nature like ant colonies, fish shoals, and bird flocks, or are automatically discovered using machine learning and crowdsourcing. Demonstrated applications on this scale are used for real life issues, including the deployment of swarms of flying robots to create outdoor communication networks, the use of 1000 coin-sized robots to form structures and explore their environment, and the design of nanoparticles for cancer treatment. To register click here.