162 results found for ,vega

Can everything that happens in the universe be explained in terms of just three forces? Particle Physicist Brian Cox talks us through the history of our scientific understanding, revealing why scientists have come to believe this. Brian explores the ....

Particle physicist Brian Cox explains how quantum mechanics has changed the way that we think the world works and why it predicts the existence of a particle that has never been seen. The Higgs boson is a mysterious particle that explains why things ....

C-60, the football caged molecule is the head of a family of carbon based structures called the Fullerenes. In this presentation we ook at the larger structures, the giant fullerenes and among other things we will explore the 60n² rule us....

Since the time of Faraday lines of force in space have been 'observed' by sprinkling iron filings around magnet. The lecturer explains how, with modern techniques we can 'see' lines of force inside a solid magnet. The studies reveal a fascinating dyn....

A significant proportion of our electricity is generated by thermonuclear reactions. The dangers attached to these processes and the radioactive products are well known and publicised. Much less well known are the measures taken to ensure that the hi....

David Bomford is Senior Restorer of Paintings at the National Gallery, London.  There is a long tradition of applying scientific techniques to the study of works of art.  This discourse reviews past and present approaches and shows that these advan....

The discovery of pulsars, neutron stars which form when massive stars explode (supernovae), took astronomers by surprise. Their discovery is described and the way in which these bizarre objects have led to an understanding of matter under extreme con....

Biology operates at two levels: the large scale which we can see and the underlying microscopic one. The amazing way in which intermolecular forces cause protein arrays to self-assemble, enabling Nature to fabricate the large scale components of livi....

Carbon nanotubes, some 1000 times smaller than conventional carbon fibers, have tensile strengths 100x that of steel and conduct electricity like metals. They promise a revolution in structural and electrical engineering.

Roy discusses the disturbing events of the then (1997) recent history of the BSE epidemic and some of the crucial mistakes which contributed to the epidemic are highlighted.

Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides a powerful means of not only distinguishing between different types of tissue but also of identifying whether the tissues are normal or diseased.

Susan Greenfield conducts us on an exhilarating tour of brain. A brief fascinating historical introduction is followed by a discussion on our present, admittedly limited, understanding of this amazing organ. Members of the group handle (and dissect) ....

Michael Garrett discusses the physical properties of gases and demonstrates how air is liquefied. Liquefied gases are a key resource for survival with an amazing range of applications and there are now few industries which are not in some way depende....

With his innate ability to explain the most abstract and complex concepts of modern physics in accessible terms David Miller convinces even the most sceptical that 'empty space' is teeming with a new cast of fundamental characters from virtual photon....

In thistalk Harry Kroto explains that molecules have structures that are every bit as real in the mind of the chemists who create them, as are the edifices of brick, steel and concrete designed by architects and built by engineers.

Satellite, ship survey and computer modelling studies of the workings of the marine environment are used explore present fish supplies worldwide. The desperate need for global 'farming' strategies necessary to ensure that the Oceans can continue to p....

The controlled ways that electricity and magnetism can stimulate the body are demonstrated and how the resulting responses can aid diagnosis discussed.

An elegantly simple optical diffraction demonstration with an inexpensive laser pointer is used to show the way in which x-rays can reveal the structure of crystals, and in particular, the double helix structure of DNA.

The concept of creativity from the point of view of how original ideas develop is explored with the aid of recent advances in computer modelling programming strategies. Featuring some beautiful examples, Margaret addresses the question, can computers....

Nobel Laureate Professor Sir John Cornforth, overcomes his deafness to present an elegant account of how he, and his wife Rita, disentangled a historically important puzzle in steroid synthesis.

Helen Sharman, the UK's first astronaut, gives a vibrant account of her personal experience of life in space using models and film to illustrate the key scientific concepts involved in spaceflight. Among other things she discusses the way Newton's Th....

John Maynard Smith, one of our most eminent evolutionary biologists and scientific communicators originally trained as an engineer and spent the war years designing aircraft. He describes the way that flight developed in the animal kingdom. The fossi....

John Murrell discusses the basic physical principles relating to the gaseous, liquid and solid states with the aid of models and demonstrations. Attention is drawn to phase changes and subtle features involving intermediate phases such as liquid crys....

Chris Freeman, the founder and first director of the UK's Science Policy Research Unit introduces Bernal, the father of the protein crystallography techniques which enabled the double helix structure of DNA to be unravelled. Bernal's major impact on ....