Air, Sea and Land (...a beer mat!)

For the past few centuries our need for technology, development and growth has led to our skies being polluted with a concoction of invisible chemicals and particulates. Liverpool is leading the way in understanding these pollutants; with his team Dr Higham from the University of Liverpool has been installing connected pollution monitoring devices across Liverpool providing sources of invaluable information. Jonny will talk about what insights these data give us into the mixing of pollutants in the city and also how we might use these data to help us reduce pollutants and our exposure to them.

Sea level has risen and fallen over geological time; 100 million years ago it was 150m higher than present; 20 thousand years ago it was 120m lower than present. Evidence of this change can be seen in ancient rocks which contain a record of sea-level change over millions of years. Sea level is now changing due to changing climate. In his talk Peter will explore why, as the planet warms and sea level is rising once again, deciphering the rock record to understand how, why and especially how fast sea level changes is increasingly important if we are to mitigate and survive climate change.

Have you ever tried to throw a beer mat and hit a target? You failed, right? Don't worry. It's not you, it's the beer mat. Science has recently discovered why beer mats don't fly stably in horizontal orientation, why they change direction mid flight and how you can improve your aim without actually practising. Hear the whole truth about the discovery of the beer mats' secret ambition (backspin) involving guns (shooting beer mats), special effects (a high speed camera) and the mandatory likeable computer nerd (at your service).