Professor Mark Harris, director of the Ian Ramsey Centre at the University of Oxford, is both a physicist by training and an ordained Anglican priest. He spoke about the ways the relationship between science and religion and theology can be seen – from outright conflict (which is bigger than the other?) through independence to a dialogue and more.
The video of his talk is available on Youtube: https://youtu.be/OECJF0jBB_4
The moment we hear someone talk, their accent and dialect influence the mental image we form of that person’s national, social, economic and educational background.
Dr Sadie Ryan is a sociolinguist at the University of Glasgow with a keen interest in the relationships between accents and identity. She spoke particularly about the relationships between Scots and English.
See the video of the lecture here: https://youtu.be/1HN-kiJ_-G8
Last night Dr Sarah Chan from the University of Edinburgh spoke on the ethics of running medical trials – do people have the right to refuse to join trials, a moral obligation to join one, or even the right to ask to join a clinical trial?
A video of the lecture is available at https://youtu.be/RHMwp81yGiQ .
For this year’s McAlpine Lecture, Professor James Curran (visiting professor at the University of Strathclyde, amongst many other positions held including former chair of SEPA) spoke to us about the state of climate change.
From problems – CO2 emissions leading to global warming, biodiversity loss, extreme weather events and more – to how our perception of the solutions should change, understanding Sustainable Development of the environment supporting society and the the (circular) economy.
Even to a casual observer it seems obvious that the noise generated by ships, boats, drilling rigs, sonar and other forms of human activity must be a problem for marine creatures.
Yesterday evening, Dr Luke Rendell, from the University of St Andrews, spoke about the extent and detrimental effects of both natural and man-made noise on marine mammals.
This video is available in high quality on our youtube channel:
For the fifth in this series of Curious Minds lectures, Dr Delma Childers (University of Aberdeen) spoke to us about “killer fungi”.
Fungal diseases are an under-appreciated global health threat that are responsible for more than a million deaths per year. Delma is keen to raise public awareness about fungal infections and the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance.
Content Warning:
A couple of the slides have moderate gore. These are preceded by slides with an asterisk in the top-right corner by way of advance warning.
Dr Rob Armstrong (University of St Andrews) gave us a very informative talk about research into battery chemistry – from the history of early NiCd and Li-ion battery designs through LFP and on to sodium-based chemistry options, with a view to what’s best for EV cars, recyclable for home storage and usable as part of grid infrastructure.
For the first talk in our 8th Curious Minds season, Professor Bill Austin from St Andrews spoke about “Blue Carbon”.
Oceans absorb 30% of our CO2 emissions and 90% of the heat trapped by greenhouse gases. But some marine habitats can sequester 10 times as much Carbon per acre as a terrestrial forest.
Professor Austin Bill spoke about the potential benefits of Blue Carbon and about government initiatives, both in Scotland and beyond, to conserve this vital and useful habitat.
We all enjoyed Sabine’s talk on Peruvian culture. She has kindly provided handouts of her talk.
The first handout is a short description of Sabine’s research into clearances of the indigenous population from their agricultural land by Estate owners. There are remarkable parallels with Scottish history.
Sabine Dedenbach-Salazar is an expert in Latin American studies at Stirling University. She is going to tell us about two fascinating aspects of the indigenous Peruvian culture: the well-know use of Coca leaves and the less-well-known history of the Peruvian Highland Clearances.
We have a really interesting talk coming up this week. Dr Steve Brusatte, of the University of Edinburgh, is going to tell us about the discovery of Dinosaur fossils on Skye. Friday 18th November. 7:30pm in the Souter Theatre, A K Bell Library. Perth.
On Friday 28th October Matthew Jarron, Curator of Dundee University Museum, will give the second “Curious Minds” talk of the season. Matthew will talk about one of the most remarkable Scottish academics of all time, D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson. Thomson was Professor of Natural History at Dundee College and St Andrews University. Amongst many other accomplishments he is perhaps best remembered for his work “On Growth and Form” in which he described the mathematical basis for the growth of many features seen in plants and animals.