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Tonight's talks will delve into the darker side of chemistry. Whilst normally a discipline devoted to helping the world, powering our phones and curing disease, our speaker's work to save us from the destructive side of the science. We will discuss the highly controversial topic of chemical weapons and how we can defend against them, alongside the insidious threat of toxic air pollution; a threat extremely close to home.
Finding and Destroying Chemical Nasties
Dr Ian Fallis
(Reader, Inorganic Chemistry, Cardiff University)
The threat of terrorism is a hot topic throughout the news at the moment, and with a growing array of chemicals being made each day the threat of chemical weapons being used against us is a very real concept. In this talk we will discuss a few of the known weaponised chemicals and how we can both detect them and destroy them before they have a chance to be used. Because what better time to discuss the security of our nation than in a pub over a nice cold pint?
Breathing Kills!
Dr Joseph Beames
(Research Fellow, Cardiff University)
The World Health Organisation states that air pollution is a major cause of death around the world; Wales is not excluded. Cardiff is one of the five UK cities which break safe air pollution levels. Over the last 200 years anthropogenic emissions have dramatically changed the chemical composition of our atmosphere creating diverse conditions dependent on location. This talk will dive into new atmospheric and health problems that increased industrialization and human population have caused. Together we will examine the chemistry of the air we breathe: face masks for the walk home not included!
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