The idea of building objects in a near-earth orbit may seem like a distant dream, but the progress being made in 'robotics' and AI is advancing rapidly.

The publication of the IN-SPACE SERVICING, ASSEMBLY AND MANUFACTURING NATIONAL STRATEGY has ensured that the technologies needed are already coming together. Funded by NASA and led by Spacex and Axiomspace, the big corporations are investing huge amounts on research, and literally hundreds of small robotics startups are using AI to design and create future factories in space.

UKRAINE - Is this another unwinnable war?

It has become clear that Russia's President Putin was "badly advised" to attempt to restore his Union of Russian Republics. Ukraine's vigorous response, plus shortcomings in the Russian war machine, have led to some sort of a stalemate.

What may be even worse, Putin's control of state television and press has effectively poisoned the discourse and minds of his people for decades to come.

After a very quick look at the time-line for this conflict we discussed possible outcomes.

Some thoughts on trends in AI

So much has been/is being written about AI recently that it's sometimes hard to know what to think. On June the 13th 2023 we reviewed the current state of affairs and showed examples of some AI outputs.

We also discussed some of the possible ways that this emerging technology can be used for good and evil, and several subscribers gave examples of their experience with it. There was time for an interesting discussion and a wide range of comments

Peter Weston, a participant of the Climate Crisis group, has once again enthralled us with a talk about his experiments to heat his house cheaply and reduce his carbon emissions to a bare minimum.

No wonder his talk lead to a long discussion and it is amazing what a treasure trove of knowledge the group proves to be.

Enjoy!

Quasars
After a long career in IT, David now spends his spare time in doing research to broaden his interest in galaxies and quasars (he has a PhD in Astronomy from Imperial College). His latest project has been aided in no small part by the huge body of observational data gathered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, embracing millions of galaxies and over 700,000 quasars.

As we heard, quasars are truly fascinating objects with many unusual and unique characteristics, but David also hopes this presentation will demonstrate what can be achieved by amateur astronomers in their own homes using publicly available data.

Web 1-2-3
In this talk by Peter Lord of U3A Wokingham we discuss how Tim Berners-Lee's original World-Wide-Web inventions work (often known as Web1), how the technologies have evolved into the present-day internet (Web2) along with some of the problems its introduced.

We then discuss how Web3 works, where it can be used and if it will solve at least some of the Web2 problems.

Starship and 'the Chopsticks'
"a disaster waiting to happen?"
We've all marvelled at those videos showing Falcon9 boosters landing on those lovely just-in-time legs.

However, Starship and Starbooster (far larger than Falcon9) now have NASA's contract to be used as part of the USA's Artemis programme, and Elon Musk seems to be switching to a 'legless landing' - catching returning earth-bound rockets mid-flight with a pair of steerable 'chop-sticks'.

The system he designed and built did the job and was very impressive... but did it really 'cure' the problem? Mike Trevethick from Thanet u3a told us more.

The discovery of an extensive Bronze Age correspondence between Kingdoms revealed the full details of the invasions.

The two waves of seaborne attackers brought down many well-fortified kingdoms and city states; it was only Egypt that was able to beat them off.

The full story can be heard in Professor Eric Kline’s analysis on youtube “1177 BC – The Year Civilisation Collapsed”.

ELISA -- it's all in the name
When a health professional takes a sample of blood, or maybe urine, have you ever wondered what happens to it when it's sent off to the lab for analysis? What are they looking for, how do they detect it, and - most challenging of all - how do they measure accurately how much of it there is, when the quantities present are often vanishingly small?

That's where 'ELISA' comes in. Former analytical biochemist Carol Barrett (Cardiff u3a) revealed the secrets of the amazing science behind the acronym

But what if we decided that the answer might be to use 'less' rather than 'more'? That the safer alternative to "Growth" is "Degrowth"?

Whatever happened to Flu?
As this year's seasonal flu vaccination campaign gets under way, you may be wondering what all the fuss is about. After all, the dire warnings of winter flu outbreaks issued at this time last year, and the year before, never actually materialised.

Could it be that our fixation on the Covid pandemic actually did us a favour?

Former clinical virologist Dr Jane Sellwood, of Reading u3a, explained why influenza continues to surprise us, and still remains a significant public health challenge.

Four-legged Medical Diagnosis
Ever since the dog was first domesticated, thousands of years ago, our ancestors exploited its acute sense of smell for tracking and hunting. More recently, we've enlisted them as crime-busters, by teaching them to locate drugs & explosives.

And now, man's best friend can be trained to detect our diseases - like cancer, diabetes, epilepsy, malaria, even Covid-19 - earlier than conventional screening techniques, and often before we even know we're ill… incredible but true! In this talk, David McLellan (Torridge u3a) has been exploring dogs' extraordinary sense of smell, and considering its medical diagnostic potential.

But all that may be about to change. A new generation of genetically-engineered plants is just around the corner, created using a revolutionary new technique. In this talk, Barry Zussman (Torridge U3A) explained how this breakthrough could potentially solve the global food crisis, especially given the adverse effects of climate change on traditional agriculture.

The Lunar Society of 18th Century Britain
Britain, as we know, was the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, and nowhere played a bigger part in this great leap forward than the West Midlands. And it was here, in the second half of the 18th century, that an extraordinarily talented group of men – some famous, others now forgotten – came together to pool their collective genius and produce many of the ideas and innovations on which this nation’s emerging intellectual and commercial pre-eminence was founded.

They called themselves ‘The Lunar Society’, and Barry Zussman of Torridge U3A tells their fascinating story.

The Role of Women in War
We take a quick look at the ancient Amazons and the 19th Century Dahomey Lesbian Army. Interestingly a film has just been released about them which quite clearly depicts their bloodthirsty practices.

We also learn about the WW2 Rani of Jhansi's Girls Regiment (which fought alongside the Japanese against the British).

Lastly we spend time looking at the very significant part that women played in two World Wars.

Leigh Edwards from Exeter U3A (and U3A National Science Subject Advisor) looks back over the past 40 years at some of the truly amazing discoveries, inventions, and significant achievements made by the human race.

Also, a view on some developments nearer to date, and right up to date, with a few speculations on the future. All done with an eye on some of the humour that has come about during this amazing period of discovery and scientific advancement.

Eureka! The Unlikely History of Some of our Greatest Inventions

The legendary tales of Archimedes in his bath, and Newton's encounter with the apple, may only be fictional, but there have been plenty of less well-known 'Eureka' moments like these which certainly did happen.

In this talk, Barry Zussman from Torridge u3a revealed the surprising stories behind some of the important discoveries and inventions which owe their existence to unexpected twists of fate, and the innovators with the genius to exploit them.

Cracking Cholera – a Victorian detective story

At our meeting, Mike Trevethick, of Thanet U3A, told the fascinating story of Dr John Snow, the pioneering London physician who in 1854, faced with yet another of the recurring cholera epidemics which had blighted the city for so long, finally discovered the source of this terrible disease, and how to prevent it.

In doing so, his meticulous approach to data collection and analysis would become the founding principle of epidemiological investigations ever since.

Rocket Science Study Group - Starlink update

Spacex never stands still - it has 1,400 satellites in place, launching them 50 at a time, having requested the FAA to get 12,000 in place.

But can NASA and the US Government ever catch up? Elon Musk's request for permission to add another 30,000 newstyle satellites has also not been approved by the FCC and FAA, although Spacex is churning them out by the thousand, and even carrying out tests.

A History of the Cossacks

Inhabiting the turbulant land that we now know as 'Ukraine', but previously as 'the Wild East', the Cossacks fought battles from Lithuania in the West to Moscow in the East.

Their homeland was either in Poland or in the vast steppe of Central Asia, or perhaps both. In the 1930s and 1960s they were romanticised by Hollywood, but they have since resumed their traditional role - breaking up demonstrations and stamping out progressive movements.

Webwallah: Prasanna