Ravenshead

Science and Technology

Group Leaders Trevor Smith Barry Marshall
Meetings 1st Friday in month 2 pm See Calendar (Beacon)
Place The Centre at St Peter's
Status Current

Please click on the Calendar link below to see a diary of events for groups. Use the radio button to select a particular group:

Calendar

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December 2023

December Meeting

Eleven members ignored the cold weather and came to The Centre to hear about reverse tricycles. These are vehicles which have two wheels at the front and one at the rear. We started by listening to a designer who looked at a variety of design configurations for him to develop a streamlined reverse tricycle where he wanted to be able to tilt the vehicle at 35deg and still maintain stability. The main issues were the linkages interfering with the body and loss of wheel grip at the extremes.. He concluded on a design which may had had to have an element of compromise but still achieved the goal.

Then we looked at a number of vehicles in development and early production from around the world using similar techniques to allow the vehicles to tilt and not flip over which was often the case of steering wheel leading vehicles such as the Bond and Reliant three wheelers of yesteryear.

We saw electric assisted pedal tricycles, fully powered scooters, some off which were enclosed and some with provision for passengers, and motorbikes and we saw how manoeuvrable they were and in some cases how fast they could accelerate. Some were designed for commuting and others for off road application. Some were just fun vehicles. Some were designed for low cost and others for sophistication. It looked fun , but these designers are not looking at using these techniques on what I expect will be my next vehicle, a mobility scooter, but you all know they do not go around at 30mph!

Then we were treated to a designer talking about how his team have evolved a new version of a petrol engine powered Morgan sports car. At last something designed and develop in the United Kingdom! We are an eccentric race after all.

Finally in the spirit of Christmas we had to take part in eating mince pies and stollen with our coffee and tea. Many thanks to all the people who helped.

As usual if anybody wants to see the presentation I can download a copy to them.

Best wishes for Christmas to one and all.

Trevor

November 2023

At this weeks meeting we had two new members join us. Welcome from us all, to Jo Beardsley and Gill Froggatt.

This week’s topic was about the hidden world of trees and how they communicate with each other. We learnt about mycorrhizal fungi networks that grow from root to root passing messages to nearby trees, The oldest trees in the forest, mother trees, have bigger roots and more mycorrhizal fungal networks covering a much larger area and therefore the mother tree can pass on experience to many more trees and in particular to young saplings. We learnt of the way Douglas fir and birch trees actually help each other at different times of the year. This is leading to new forestry practice of not totally clearing all trees in their logging business but to leave some to continue to nurture future trees.

We were perhaps surprised to hear that Charles Darwin had written about cooperation between trees and plants, but people overlooked this as everybody concentrated on his Origin of Species.

We learnt of experiments where three springs were covered by plastic bags and radioactive isotopes of carbon dioxide was introduced into one of the bags and within an hour radioactive material was traced in one of the other samples. This happened at all eight sites in the forest. it was a clear sign of communication between trees.

Did you know that Giraffes eat acacia leaves when they are moving into the wind. This is because the tres being eaten sense this and rush toxic chemical into their leaves to warn other trees. These chemicals are toxic to herbivores, so with the leaves emitting the chemical, the Giraffes simply move upwind and keep eating. Similarly some trees can detect deer saliva and again chemicals are produced in the leaves which give bad taste and therefore protect the tree.
Trees have even been found to give out electromagnetic signals similar to those in humans and some give out cracking sound pulses at 200Hz.

These is a lot of things going on underground and we are only just beginning to learn about it.

For those who were not able to attend a copy of the presentation can be made available for you to see at home. Just drop me a line and I will send a link for you to receive the powerpoint presentation.

Update April 2023
The Science and Technology Group meeting at The Centre on Sheepwalk Lane on the first Friday of every month, where we have presentations on a range of topics covering all aspects of science and technology, covering medical interests, biology, food science, construction, and manufacturing technology, both in terms of hardware and software, artificial intelligence, and sciences from A (astrophysics) hrough to Z (zoology).
Challenges abound with members joining in for a “Sevens’’ presentations where people discuss a topic for 7 minutes and a maximum of 7 slides.
Coffee and biscuits are provided to ensure debate amongst the members.

In addition to the meetings, we all try to arrange some visits to local establishment of interest.
Forthcoming topics, include, the science of weather forecasting, the science of cheese making, (complete with cheese tasting), plastic musical instruments, can we eat bugs? How cruise ships cope with waste products.

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More Group Pages
Antiques Armchair Travellers
Belly Dancing Book Reading
Canasta Chair Yoga
Chess and backgammon Cinema and Theatre Visits
Country and Folk Dancing Craft Group
Creative Writing Cryptic Crossword
Dog Friends Family History
Food and Cookery French Conversation
Garden Group Guitar
Hikers (5 - 8 miles) Holiday Spanish
Knitting and Crochet Latin
Local History Mah Jong
Meet and Eat Pétanque
Photography For Fun Pickleball
Salsa Science and Technology
Scrabble Cribbage Rummikub Sprich mal Deutsch
Table Tennis The Weekenders
Thursday Walking Group Topical Discussion Group
Weekenders Sunday Lunch Wine Groups
Writing for Fun! Yoga