'Power' is assumed to be about resources, exercised by men over women as well as by men over other men. But this misunderstands the biology of dominance, which is same-sex, serving not to apportion resources more efficiently by minimising conflict, but to create competition so as to apportion reproduction. To understand society, our conception of 'power' needs radical revision. Steve Moxon has published a provocatively titled book, 'The Woman Racket: The new science explaining how the sexes relate at work, at play and in society - http://www.imprint-academic.com/moxon. A scientific essay on dominance is to be an editorial in the journal, Medical Hypotheses, and he publishes his own occasional and challenging blog - stevemoxon.blogspot.com.
Monday, 1st June at 7pm in the bar of The Showroom
Sheffield Café Scientifique
Friday, 22 May 2009
Thursday, 7 May 2009
Big Science for Big Questions: the race to find New Physics at the Large Hadron Collider
Monday, 11th May at 7pm in the bar of The Showroom
On 10th September 2008 seemingly the whole world was watching as the largest machine on the planet, the 27km circumference Large Hadron Collider, was coaxed into life 100m under Geneva. This mammoth project has been 15 years in the making, and despite the early engineering glitch it promises to revolutionise our understanding of how the universe works at the smallest and largest scales, answering questions ranging from how particles acquire mass to why galaxies rotate as fast as they do.
In his presentation Professor Tovey will give a whistle-stop tour of the LHC and the giant experiments which observe its collisions; outline the motivations behind their construction; and highlight the key role in the project played by Sheffield scientists.
Café Scientifique is sponsored by LloydsTSB
Dan Tovey Professor of Particle Physics,
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Sheffield
On 10th September 2008 seemingly the whole world was watching as the largest machine on the planet, the 27km circumference Large Hadron Collider, was coaxed into life 100m under Geneva. This mammoth project has been 15 years in the making, and despite the early engineering glitch it promises to revolutionise our understanding of how the universe works at the smallest and largest scales, answering questions ranging from how particles acquire mass to why galaxies rotate as fast as they do.
In his presentation Professor Tovey will give a whistle-stop tour of the LHC and the giant experiments which observe its collisions; outline the motivations behind their construction; and highlight the key role in the project played by Sheffield scientists.
Café Scientifique is sponsored by LloydsTSB
Dan Tovey Professor of Particle Physics,
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Sheffield
Sunday, 26 April 2009
emotional responses to music in film
Dr Nicola Dibben, the University of Sheffield
‘Chills, thrills and other feeling states: Understanding emotional responses to music in film soundtracks.’
For many people music elicits strong emotional experiences, and film soundtracks often exploit that potential, whether it be to heighten an effect of suspense and terror, as in the shower scene of the film Psycho, or of love and romance, as in Brief Encounter. Musicians have developed the ability to evoke emotions through a folk psychology of musical techniques, many of the clichés of which can be heard in film music. But why do these techniques work (and why do they sometimes fail?). The talk will explore the way in which affective response to music is dependent on psycho-biological mechanisms for expectation, illustrated with clips from films, and data drawn from experimental research. The talk illustrates the way in which affective experience of music is shaped both by culture and biology.
Dr Nicola Dibben is a Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Sheffield where her research and teaching focuses on the relationship between music, mind and culture.
She has over 40 publications spanning music cognition and emotion, textual analysis of popular music, gender and identity, and critical and cultural theory. She is editor of the journal Popular Music and has two books forthcoming: Björk (Equinox Press, 2009) and Music and Mind in Everyday Life (Oxford University Press).
‘Chills, thrills and other feeling states: Understanding emotional responses to music in film soundtracks.’
For many people music elicits strong emotional experiences, and film soundtracks often exploit that potential, whether it be to heighten an effect of suspense and terror, as in the shower scene of the film Psycho, or of love and romance, as in Brief Encounter. Musicians have developed the ability to evoke emotions through a folk psychology of musical techniques, many of the clichés of which can be heard in film music. But why do these techniques work (and why do they sometimes fail?). The talk will explore the way in which affective response to music is dependent on psycho-biological mechanisms for expectation, illustrated with clips from films, and data drawn from experimental research. The talk illustrates the way in which affective experience of music is shaped both by culture and biology.
Dr Nicola Dibben is a Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Sheffield where her research and teaching focuses on the relationship between music, mind and culture.
She has over 40 publications spanning music cognition and emotion, textual analysis of popular music, gender and identity, and critical and cultural theory. She is editor of the journal Popular Music and has two books forthcoming: Björk (Equinox Press, 2009) and Music and Mind in Everyday Life (Oxford University Press).
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
April Cafe: Nothing is Certain: Understanding Randomness, Unpredictability and Uncertainty
Keith Worden [Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sheffield]
Monday 06 April 2009 at 19:00 The Showroom
Engineering relies increasingly on computer modelling of systems and structures. Because of the expense of prototypes for testing, modelling offers clear economic advantages. However, this may not be as reliable as one would wish, because of uncertainty in the physics being modelled. This may be due to the inherent randomness or unpredictability of nature or may be a result of ignorance. Even if physics is deterministic, predictability can be lost – as in Chaos Theory, where the fluttering of a butterfly’s wings can appear to have catastrophic consequences. Uncertainty also commonly arises in living organisms, e.g. the behaviour of human tissue depends on highly uncertain material properties; this will be illustrated by reference to models of heart valves and ‘shaken baby’ syndrome.
Monday 06 April 2009 at 19:00 The Showroom
Engineering relies increasingly on computer modelling of systems and structures. Because of the expense of prototypes for testing, modelling offers clear economic advantages. However, this may not be as reliable as one would wish, because of uncertainty in the physics being modelled. This may be due to the inherent randomness or unpredictability of nature or may be a result of ignorance. Even if physics is deterministic, predictability can be lost – as in Chaos Theory, where the fluttering of a butterfly’s wings can appear to have catastrophic consequences. Uncertainty also commonly arises in living organisms, e.g. the behaviour of human tissue depends on highly uncertain material properties; this will be illustrated by reference to models of heart valves and ‘shaken baby’ syndrome.
Thursday, 5 March 2009
How to be Creative
Cafe Scientifique, the Arts-Science network and the ESRC present:
How to be Creative
Thursday, 12th March 2009, 7 - 9 pm,
the Showroom Bar
As part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science, we are hosting a special event on creativity in the sciences, the social sciences and the arts. Two physical scientists, a psychologist and an artistic director/performer will draw on their research and personal experiences to share their insights and tips on how to be creative. This is an opportunity for Cafe Scientifique guests to interact with the disciplinary specialists on where, how and whether they are creative! With a mix of stories, studies, discussion and creative activities, this session is set to be a Cafe with a difference!
How to be Creative
Thursday, 12th March 2009, 7 - 9 pm,
the Showroom Bar
As part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science, we are hosting a special event on creativity in the sciences, the social sciences and the arts. Two physical scientists, a psychologist and an artistic director/performer will draw on their research and personal experiences to share their insights and tips on how to be creative. This is an opportunity for Cafe Scientifique guests to interact with the disciplinary specialists on where, how and whether they are creative! With a mix of stories, studies, discussion and creative activities, this session is set to be a Cafe with a difference!
Friday, 13 February 2009
March Café: Ghost Science
Ghost Science and pharmaceutical research: Statistics without data and other weapons of mass deception
Dr Aubrey Blumsohn Consultant, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals
This is not the best of times for academic medicine involving pharmaceuticals. Doctors and patients rely on the scientific literature to make rational decisions.
Many incidents have cast doubt on the honesty of that literature. Pharmaceutical companies have developed an extraordinary stranglehold over academic life, journals, governments, regulators, and common sense.
"Authors" of " scientific" publications have been denied access to raw data in several instances. Those charged with regulating integrity have colluded with scientific fraud.
Fear of litigation and the flow of advertising and grant revenue have inhibited proper discussion.See http://www.sciencecafesheffield.org/200902.htm
http://scientific-misconduct.blogspot.com/
Dr Aubrey Blumsohn Consultant, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals
This is not the best of times for academic medicine involving pharmaceuticals. Doctors and patients rely on the scientific literature to make rational decisions.
Many incidents have cast doubt on the honesty of that literature. Pharmaceutical companies have developed an extraordinary stranglehold over academic life, journals, governments, regulators, and common sense.
"Authors" of " scientific" publications have been denied access to raw data in several instances. Those charged with regulating integrity have colluded with scientific fraud.
Fear of litigation and the flow of advertising and grant revenue have inhibited proper discussion.See http://www.sciencecafesheffield.org/200902.htm
http://scientific-misconduct.blogspot.com/
More on Darwin and Evolution
If you were interested in our previous Evolutionary biology talks [ http://sheffieldsciencecafe.blogspot.com/search/label/evolution ], there are some Darwin related events to which you are invited.
The University of Sheffield's Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Society is organizing a series of lectures during which speakers will talk about their own experience with the theory of natural selection and what their understanding of the theory has given them in their scientific arena.
These lectures will be held in Firth hall (Firth court, Western bank, at the University of Sheffield) between 1 and 2 pm on the following days:
Friday 20th February: Dr Frank Ryan, author of the popular science book "Darwin's Blind Spot" talks on how modern evolutionary biology has much to offer medicine in terms of new molecular and biotechnology research in a lecture entitled "The New Evolution/The New Medicine".
Friday 27th February: Professor Terry Burke talks on one of Darwin's most misunderstood theories, sexual selection.
Friday 13th March: Dr Milton Wainwright talks on the possibilities that "Survival of the Fittest" was an idea already in the scientific domain before the publication of "On the Origin of Species", and that Darwin just happened to publish the right book at the right time.
To reserve a place contact Glenn Masson: glennmasson@googlemail.com
The University of Sheffield's Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Society is organizing a series of lectures during which speakers will talk about their own experience with the theory of natural selection and what their understanding of the theory has given them in their scientific arena.
These lectures will be held in Firth hall (Firth court, Western bank, at the University of Sheffield) between 1 and 2 pm on the following days:
Friday 20th February: Dr Frank Ryan, author of the popular science book "Darwin's Blind Spot" talks on how modern evolutionary biology has much to offer medicine in terms of new molecular and biotechnology research in a lecture entitled "The New Evolution/The New Medicine".
Friday 27th February: Professor Terry Burke talks on one of Darwin's most misunderstood theories, sexual selection.
Friday 13th March: Dr Milton Wainwright talks on the possibilities that "Survival of the Fittest" was an idea already in the scientific domain before the publication of "On the Origin of Species", and that Darwin just happened to publish the right book at the right time.
To reserve a place contact Glenn Masson: glennmasson@googlemail.com
Friday, 16 January 2009
Tuesday, 2 December 2008
January 2009 Cafe: How much do we really know about fluoride?
How much do we really know about fluoride?
19:00 12 January 2009 [Venue]
How much do we really know about fluoride?
"How much do we really know about fluoride? Ulrich Weigert, who has spent many years studying its effects, has some things to reveal about it which may shock some listeners and cause them to revise their views on the advisability of ading it to water, toothpaste etc. This is an important public issue on which the public should be as fully informed as possible - which it is not at present".
19:00 12 January 2009 [Venue]
How much do we really know about fluoride?
"How much do we really know about fluoride? Ulrich Weigert, who has spent many years studying its effects, has some things to reveal about it which may shock some listeners and cause them to revise their views on the advisability of ading it to water, toothpaste etc. This is an important public issue on which the public should be as fully informed as possible - which it is not at present".
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
The quest for ever larger astronomical telescopes
Monday 01 December 2008 [Venue]
Richard de Grijs, Reader in Astrophysics,Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Sheffield.
Astronomy is in a golden age. It is, in particular, a technology- enabled science: progress in astronomy demands new technologies and new facilities.
In the past half-century a new generation of telescopes and instruments allowed a golden age of remarkable new discoveries: quasars, masers, black holes, gravitational arcs, extrasolar planets, gamma ray bursts, the cosmic microwave background, dark matter and dark energy have all been discovered through the development of a succession of ever larger and more sophisticated telescopes.
In the last decade, satellite observatories and the new generation of 8- to 10-metre diameter ground- based telescopes, have created a new view of our Universe, one dominated by poorly understood dark matter and a mysterious vacuum energy density. This progress poses new, and more fundamental, questions.
As the current generation of telescopes continues to probe the Universe and challenge our understanding, the time has come to take the next step.
A small step in telescope size will not progress these fundamental questions. Fortunately, preliminary studies indicate that the technology to achieve a quantum leap in telescope size is feasible.
A telescope of 50-metre to 100-metre diameter can be built, and will provide astronomers with the ability to address the next generation of scientific questions.
Richard de Grijs, Reader in Astrophysics,Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Sheffield.
Astronomy is in a golden age. It is, in particular, a technology- enabled science: progress in astronomy demands new technologies and new facilities.
In the past half-century a new generation of telescopes and instruments allowed a golden age of remarkable new discoveries: quasars, masers, black holes, gravitational arcs, extrasolar planets, gamma ray bursts, the cosmic microwave background, dark matter and dark energy have all been discovered through the development of a succession of ever larger and more sophisticated telescopes.
In the last decade, satellite observatories and the new generation of 8- to 10-metre diameter ground- based telescopes, have created a new view of our Universe, one dominated by poorly understood dark matter and a mysterious vacuum energy density. This progress poses new, and more fundamental, questions.
As the current generation of telescopes continues to probe the Universe and challenge our understanding, the time has come to take the next step.
A small step in telescope size will not progress these fundamental questions. Fortunately, preliminary studies indicate that the technology to achieve a quantum leap in telescope size is feasible.
A telescope of 50-metre to 100-metre diameter can be built, and will provide astronomers with the ability to address the next generation of scientific questions.
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