PLEASE NOTE THAT BOOKINGS FOR COURSES WILL CLOSE AT 12 NOON ON THE FRIDAY OF THE WEEK BEFORE THE COURSE STARTS. UNFORTUNATELY, WE CANNOT ACCEPT BOOKINGS AFTER THAT TIME.
HOW YOUR BRAIN WORKS IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH
Roddie McKenzie
Starts: Wednesday 6 October 10.00 am – 12.00 pm, 5 weeks
Fees: £40/£35 Code: 05 108
Weighing approximately 3lbs the brain is the second heaviest organ in your body.: your skin comes first. The brain is the source of your consciousness and your personality but how does this complex organ work and what happens when it develops a fault?
This short course will discuss the structure of the brain, what the components and different regions do and how they shape our perception of reality. Physical change or damage to the brain through accident or disease may effect our senses or our behaviour, permanently or temporarily. Throughout history scientists, doctors and others have experimented with and developed treatments and therapies for dealing with both physical and mental health problems and research continues to find ways of answering current concerns associated with an ageing brain.
THE DARK SHADOWS OF THE JOLLY GREEN GIANTS: urgent policy and research priorities in renewable energy technologies.
Dr Keith Skene
Starts: Wednesday 3 November 6.30 pm-8.30 pm, 5 weeks
Fees: £40/£35 Code: 05 115
This course sets out to review the environmental, ecological and social impacts of current renewable energy technologies. Problems are highlighted in terms of manufacturing, installation, lifetime and end-of-life of these technologies. What emerges are concerning issues that threaten the recovery of the Earth system, and that need to be urgently addressed. It is suggested that many of these issues have been overlooked because of our focus on carbon reduction, which, while important, may lead to a failure to deal with other equally concerning threats, and even exacerbate them. These threats are identified and then urgent priorities in terms of policy, regulation and research, are laid out that can pave the way to an energy future that does not threaten the functionality of the Earth system. Finally, a number of key underlying themes are identified that may inform our judgement as we move forward.
See also courses listed under Astronomy
