2025
November – Stars – the origin of materials Speaker : Terry Sloan
October – The science of Ancient Greece
May – Pathogenesis or how germs have changed human history Speaker – Sue Ashley
April – Protecting curlew nests Speaker : David Gardiner
March – The weather speaker – Alan Goodman (met Office)
February – Loweswater project to improve water quality Speakers : Leslie Webb and Andrew Shaw
January – a review of the practicalities associated with remediating old gas works Speaker : Martin Love
2024
December – The Chemistry Advent calendar Speaker : Steve Wilson
November – Nature in our local patch – looked at the variety of nature seen within a short walking distance of home Speaker : Tony Marsh
October – Discussion of whether science is a force for good or whether it has unwittingly caused more harm than good.
May – Understanding the weather Speaker : Sue Ashley
April – The Geology of the Himalayas Speaker : Danny Clark Lowes
March – Quantum Mechanics without the equations Speaker : Terry Sloan
February – Put your foot in it a humorous look foot problems Speaker : Magdi Greiss
January – The life of a carbon atom Speaker : Leslie Webb
2023
December – But is it science looked at some more dubious theories and discussed whether they were scientific or not Speaker : Sue Ashley
November – Alchemy or how to make gold Speaker : John Hudson
October – Coffee’s Brewing crisis Speaker : Joe Human
September – The Anti-Kythera mechanism Speaker : Mike Hynd
May – Himalayan Balsam and other Invasive Species Speaker : Sue Ashley
April – Drug Development Speaker : Rob Alves
March – How the internet works Speaker : Peter Normington
February – When climate change makes people move Speaker : Joe Human
2022
December – Kitchen Science Speaker : Chris Lewis
November – The Science of Instrument Strings Speaker : Peter Fox
October – Rewilding Speaker : Pete Leeson
February – The History of Explosives Speaker : Steve Wilson
January – Let it snow Speaker : Sue Ashley
2021
December Christmas Quiz
November – Outrage to optimism – shone a light on the obstacles that have prevented promises and pledges by political actors from leading to meaningful action against climate change. Speaker : Jo Alberti
October - Atmospheric Railways Speaker : Richard Wilmott
September – Climate change – the science Speaker : Terry Sloan
February – The Ice Ages Speaker : Terry Sloan
January – Arctic sea ice and climate change – why does it matter to us? Speaker : Mike Hambrey
2020
29th June Terry Sloan (Joint meeting with Ambleside U3A) How unique was Storm Desmond?
24th June Mike Green Some scientific aspects of Coronavirus
9th March Mike Green (Ambleside U3A) To sleep perchance to dream.
10th February Andy Brewster The discovery of new drugs for the treatment of cystic fibrosis : Cystic fibrosis is a genetic condition characterised by a build up of mucus in the lungs. Genetic diseases pose particular challenges to medical research but advances in our understanding of the causes of cystic fibrosis at the molecular level have led to the introduction of promising new drug treatments which are now available under the NHS.
13th January Nicky Moss The Internet; Introducing the Internet Protocol, the simple idea that revolutionised digital communication and underpins the World Wide Web upon which we all rely on.
2019
11th November Jim Samson of Cockermouth U3A talked about ‘the Geology of the solar system’
14th October Stephen Wilson (Whitehaven U3A) gave a talk on the intriguing subject ‘The Polonium Trail’
9th September 2019 is the International Year Of The Mendeleev’s Periodic Table. To celebrate, Leslie Webb of Cockermouth U3A told us about this table of the chemical elements.
May 13th - Nicky Moss gave us an introduction to Artificial Intelligence and took away some of the mystery that surrounds this topical subject. He explored what AI is and explained some of the techniques used leading to a discussion of it's implications.
April 8th - John Howell talked about that very topical subject "Microfiltration and Microplastics - Using membranes to remove microplastics from drinking water and also from secondary effluents discharged to the environment.
March 11th - Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein were both great scientists that almost everyone has heard of. Terry briefly reviewed the work of both men - leaving time for a group discussion followed by a vote on which was the greater scientist. Isaac Newton won the vote.
February 11th - Andy Brewster gave a presentation on how drugs (medicines not recreational) work.
January 14th - Computers - we all use them and often curse them. But do you know how they work? Peter Normington talked about Algorithms and the Turing Machine - the basis of computers.
2018
December 10th - Christmas Science quiz with mince pies.
November 12th - Richard Wilmot showed how we see and print colours, and explained some of the colourful effects we can see in the sky, and looked at the early methods of colour photography.
October 8th - Cancer ('the Big C') will affect most of our lives at some time - either personally or through people that we love. But can it be prevented. Sue Ashley discussed the science of Cancer Prevention
June 11th : Cathy Colam "So you are going for a scan - which imaging systems show what and why"
May 14th : Barry Colam - "What's so special about water"
April 9th : Terry Sloan - Global warming - science and politics
March 12th : Peter Normington : Quantum Mechanics
Feb 12th : Mike Hind - Deciphering Egyptian Heiroglyphics
Jan 8th : Terry Sloan - are we alone in the universe - the Drake equation
2017
Dec 11th : Mike Hambrey - The Geology of the Arctic
Nov 13th : Richard Wilmot - The Measurement of time through the ages.
Oct 9th : Sue Ashley - Darwin’s evolution – how is man changing now or has Homo Sapiens stopped evolving?
Sept 11th : Sue Ashley Science in our Lifetime – a review of some of the ways in which science and technology have changed our lives since 1950.
May 8th : Alastair Cook - managing the floods with reference to Thirlmere reservoir
April 3rd : Prof Terry Sloan - dating of geological samples ; radio carbon, themoluminescence; potassium-argon & cosmogenic
Mar 13th : Stuart Cresswell - Some interesting numbers
Feb 13th : Barry Colam - DNA and the genetic code
Jan 9th : Aline Hopkins - Islands of Fire and Ice - volcanic and glacial features of the Azores and Iceland
2016
Dec 12TH : Christmas Science Quiz
Nov 14TH : Sue Ashley - Legal ways of gaining an advantage in sport.
Oct 10th : Prof. Mike Hambrey - A pictorial account of the geomorphological impact of Storm Desmond in the River Greta catchment
Sept 12th :Prof Terry Sloan - Swords and Ploughshares: the A-Bomb and nuclear reactors.
May 9th : Sue Ashley - The life and work Sir Austin Bradford Hill & Richard Doll - the men who persuaded us to stop smoking.
April 11th : Prof Chris Wilson - Tsunamis
March 14th : Cathy Colam - Chernobyl and its effects on Cumbria
Feb 8th : Prof Terry Sloan - Neutrinos with an application to geology.
Jan 25th : Barry Colam - Antibiotic resistance
2015
Dec 14th : Christmas SCIENCE QUIZ.
Oct 12th & Nov 9th : Prof. Mike Hambrey - Snowball Earth: 1. historical background and fieldwork in Svalbard; 2. fieldwork in Greenland and the search for modern analogues
Sept 7th : Pauline Bibby/Sue Ashley : Einstein’s theories including ‘E = mc2’ and general relativity.
May 11th : Milankovitch cycles - an 'astronomical pacemaker of ice ages’
April 13th : John Dalton ; his life and scientific achievements.
March 11th : Global warming
Feb 9th : An exploration of some New Zealand science including earthquakes and alchemy.
Jan 12th : Terry Sloan talked about “"Why is the Earth different from Venus and Mars"
2014
Dec 8th : a talk on "Medical headlines - should we trust them" looked at some of the issues surrounding medical research.
Oct 13th and Nov 10th : Two talks on geological principles and the geological history of the Lake District (for notes on this, please see the links on the GEOLOGY group page.
June 2nd : We joined Cockermouth U3A Science group for a talk given by Tim Pillinger fom the Met Office on how they do the Weather Forecasting.
May 19th : A few members attended the Cockermouth U3A Science group for their talk (given by John Malley, National Trust's national water advisor for the North West) on the work being done to clean up Force Crag mine (Brailthwaite).
May 12th : We listened to and then discussed the podcast of 'The Age of the universe' (BBC radio 4 - In our Time series)
Apr 7th : A discussion of the BBC 'In our time' program 'The Planets'. This lokked at the planets of our solar sytem and also planets elsewhere in the universe.
Mar 17th : Continuing our study of the British weather.
Feb 10th : A short computer presentation to attempt to gain a basic understanding of the weather. Some notes are available on the links page.