| Status: | Active, open to new members |
| Organiser: |
Bob Ruffles
|
| Group email: | Science Open group |
| When: | Monthly on Monday afternoons 2:00pm-4:00pm 2nd Monday, October to May |
| Venue: | Otford Village Memorial Hall |
| Cost: | £3.00 |
Open to all u3a members. Illustrated talks by visiting speakers on a wide range of science & technology topics. We also arrange visits to places of interest and an annual seminar.
We ask that attendees turn up to talks in good time for a prompt 2:00pm start as latecomers do disrupt proceedings and it is distracting for the speaker. The cost to attend each meeting includes refreshments.
Our next Science Meeting will be on Monday 9 November, with a talk by Philip Lhermette. Philip has recently joined our u3a, but may be better known to many of you as the principal and founder of Elands Veterinary Clinic in Sevenoaks. The talk is entitled Are we Killing with Kindness? Obesity is a major healthcare problem in both human and veterinary medicine, and there is an increasing prevalence of obesity in people and pets. It is a complex disorder involving diet, level of physical activity, behavioural factors, socioeconomic factors, environment exposures, genetics, metabolism and the microbiome. People and pets share several obesity-related problems. Philip will be discussing these issues and how we can keep our pets healthy.
Future talks (details to be confirmed).
- 14 December: -The Exploding Kind. An insight into bomb disposal and improvised explosive devices (IED’s) by Peter Hubbard OBE. Peter was involved in developing techniques for bomb disposal and improvised terrorist devices.
- 11 January – Cybercrime - recognising scams and prevention. A talk by Kent Police on cybercrime activity addressing scams, phishing and preventative measures. Presented by Arran Ostridge, Kent Police.
If you would like to help our team with organisation these meetings, please contact me.
Bob Ruffles for the Science Committee
Our May talk was given by Lawrence Pater and Andrew Bridger-Smart of the Kent Fire Investigation Service. They presented a talk, including video clips of fires they had investigated in the Kent area, on the cause of fires in domestic environments and measures to reduce the risks. In addition, the Sevenoaks Fire Team, who were on call, attended with their fire engine.
The Sevenoaks team wanted to advertise the service they offer to homeowners and offered to undertake home inspections to check fire detectors, offer advice on fire risks in the home, and, where necessary, supply additional detectors free of charge.. Several of our members signed up for this service.
Our March talk was “Beyond the Compass: Mapping in the Digital Age” by Paul Frost which provided an overview of digital mapping applications, Ordnance Survey mapping and how satellite and aerial images can be used in mapping. Paul’s recommendation for an easy, enjoyable read about maps and mapmaking is How to Lie with Maps by Mark Monmonier, 3rd ed., 2018 and recommendations for online resources, all of which are freely available, are:-
- OpenStreetMaps:- An open source mapping tool similar to Google, Apple & Bing maps but which is maintained by a volunteer community which you can be part of. Maps are free to use and share under an open license.
- Earth@nullschool.net:- A beautiful near real-time visualisation of global weather conditions
- The National Library of Scotland mapping website, THE place to go to for historic maps of anywhere in the UK, including digitised versions of historic OS maps which can be overlayed with satellite and Lidar (Airborne Light Detection and Ranging) as per the map of Otford below.
Last updated 4 October 2026