Our March 2023 Meeting

Drop The Dead Donkey: Are the benefits of Chinese medicine e'jiao too good to be true? 

Dr Heather Maggs

Thursday, March 16th at 7:30PM

The North End Club, 70 Roff Avenue, Bedford, MK41 7LW

Wrinkles! Bleeding/Childbirth! Erectile dysfunction! Cancer! The reduction of nitrous oxide in the blood! “When you’re just feeling a bit shit!”

Sceptical already?

E’jiao, made from boiling donkey skins to form a collagen-based TCM, has been used in China for over three millennia by emperors and their elites. Clever marketing over the past 30+ years is generating increasing demand for this multi-therapeutic TCM, which is threatening global donkey populations as well as aiding and abetting illegal trafficking in pangolin scales, ivory and tiger bones – to name just a

few.

If you find this difficult to believe, Heather will share some of the results from both her recent doctorate and her sponsor, the Donkey Sanctuary. Please note, her presentation will contain images that some people may find distressing.

Dr. Heather Maggs is a local lass and registered veterinary nurse (RVN), Heather has a passionate and lifelong interest in animal welfare.

She has just completed a PhD by papers at the University of Reading, researching the value of donkeys in underpinning the livelihoods of poor rural farming communities in northern Ghana. Her three peer-reviewed papers focus on the study’s over-arching results, livelihoods and incomes and how children view and work with their donkeys.

 

Our February 2023 Meeting

Rebel Cell: A New View of an Old Disease 

Dr Kat Arney

Thursday, February 16th at 7:30PM

The North End Club, 70 Roff Avenue, Bedford, MK41 7LW

Many of us think of cancer as a contemporary killer caused by our modern lifestyles. But that’s not true. Cancer has always been with us. It killed our ancient ancestors, the mammals they evolved from and the dinosaurs that trampled the ground before

that. Why? Because cancer is a bug in the system of life. 

Kat Arney takes us to the dawn of life on planet earth right up to the present day to get to the heart of what cancer really is and how by better understanding its evolutionary journey we might one day overcome it.

Dr Kat Arney is an award-winning science writer, broadcaster and public speaker, and is the founder and creative director of First Create The Media.

Her latest book is Rebel Cell: Cancer, evolution and the science of life. Kat was a key part of the science communications team at Cancer Research UK for more than a decade, co-founding the charity’s award-winning Science Blog and acting as a principal media spokesperson.

Kat also presents the popular Genetics Unzipped podcast for The Genetics Society and has fronted several BBC Radio 4 science documentaries including the recent series Ingenious, looking at the stories behind our genes.

 

Our January 2023 Meeting

A Human History of Emotion: How The Way We Feel Built The World We Know 

Dr Richard Firth-Godbehere

Thursday, January 19th at 7:30PM

The North End Club, 70 Roff Avenue, Bedford, MK41 7LW

We like to think of humans as rational creatures, who have relied on calculation and intellect to survive. But many of the most important moments in our history had little to do with cold, hard facts and a lot to do with feelings.

Richard Firth-Godbehere’s award-winning interdisciplinary research walks the line between history, psychology, linguistics, philosophy and futurism, vividly illustrating how our understanding and experience of emotions has changed over time, and how our beliefs about feelings profoundly shaped us and the world we inhabit.

Richard Firth-Godbehere, PhD, is one of the world’s leading experts on disgust and emotions and is an Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for the History of the Emotions, Queen Mary University of London.

 

Our November Meeting -  The Reluctant Teacher - with
Kevin Precious - Thursday, November 17th at 7:30PM

The North End Club, 70 Roff Avenue, Bedford, MK41 7LW

Kevin returns for his 3rd Bedford Skeptics appearance. This time with a work-in-progress show, the former-teacher turned stand-up-comedian takes a backward glance towards his former profession, as he looks ahead to Edinburgh 2023.

Expect anecdotes and observations aplenty, as well as the odd polemical interjection regarding the parlous state of the profession.

‘Kevin’s stage charisma and poise set him head and shoulders above the previous acts’ - The Times

Our September 2022 Meeting -  Tackling Climate Change & The 6th Mass Extinction - with Prof. Jim Harris - Thursday, September 15th at 7:30PM

The North End Club, 70 Roff Avenue, Bedford, MK41 7LW

ACOP26 necessarily had a major focus on reducing, eliminating,
and sequestering carbon. Less prominent in the headlines is the crisis in biodiversity – the Sixth Mass Extinction, with the current rate of species loss to be as much as 1 000 times higher than the natural background – caused by us. We have been losing species by habitat loss, unchecked invasive species, overexploitation (extreme hunting and fishing pressure), pollution, and climate change.

The UK itself is in the bottom 10% of biodiversity as a country – with about half of its biodiversity left – compared to the global average of 75%, which itself is nothing to celebrate. The good news is that by increasing biodiversity through ecosystem restoration we can sequester more atmospheric carbon than simply planting rows of non-native tree monocultures.

Prof. Jim Harris, an environmental scientist at Cranfield University, will take us through the science of this complex, but hopeful, prospect.

Our October Meeting -  ORIGINS - How the Earth Shaped Human History - with Prof. Lewis Dartnell - Thursday, October 20th at 7:30PM

The North End Club, 70 Roff Avenue, Bedford, MK41 7LW

When we talk about human history, we focus on great leaders, revolutions, and technological advances. But how has the Earth itself determined our destiny? How has our planet made us?

As a species we are shaped by our environment. Geological forces drove our evolution in East Africa; mountainous terrain led to the development of democracy in Greece; and today voting behaviour in the United States follows the bed of an ancient sea. The human story is the story of these forces, from plate tectonics and climate change, to atmospheric circulation and ocean currents.

By taking us through millennia of human history, and billions of years into our planet's past, Professor Lewis Dartnell tells us the ultimate origin story. When we reach the point where history becomes science we see a vast web of connections that underwrites our modern world and helps us face the challenges of the future.

From the cultivation of the first crops to the founding of modern states, Origins reveals the Earth's awesome impact on the shape of human civilizations.

ORIGINS is the Sunday Times top history book of the year, a Waterstones 'Best of 2019' book, on iNews' 11 best popular science books for 2019, and a Mail on Sunday recommended science and nature book.

Origins by Lewis Dartnell stands comparison with Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens... A thrilling piece of Big History' -- THE SUNDAY TIMES

Dartnell's story is beautifully written and organized. His infectious curiosity and enthusiasm tug the reader from page to page, synthesizing geology, oceanography, meteorology, geography, palaeontology, archaeology and political history in a manner that recalls Jared Diamond's classic 1997 book Guns, Germs, and Steel.'  -- NATURE

Dartnell's approach is encyclopedic, marked by both a broad sweep and a passion for details. -- WASHINGTON POST

 Dartnell has found the perfect blend of science and history. This is a book that will not only challenge our preconceptions about the past, but should make us think very carefully about humanity's future' -- MAIL ON SUNDAY

Frack or Fiction?

This month Hazel Gibson of Plymouth University joined us to talk about the very current issue of fracking.

Specifically, Hazel wanted to show us that scientists need to think about how fracking and geology as a whole will be perceived by a less informed audience such as the general public.

For example, Hazel showed us that 'fracking' doesn't only mean to inject liquid a high pressure to open fissures and thus extract oil or gas.  Urban slang gives 'fracking' numerous meanings from 'to betray' and 'to bungle' to...erm...'pleasure oneself'.

She also was keen to emphasise that fracking is a method that can be used to not just extract gas and oil but also to create environmentally sustainable energy options.  For example, by drilling down into the earth to where superheated water lies and then using that water and steam to drive turbines in a geothermal power station.

Of course, whilst Hazel's talk was mainly about the perceptions of fracking it was inevitable that the pros and cons of fracking for oil and gas would be discussed.  Heather explained that it was hard to use the United States as an guide to what might happen in the U.K. as there are so many differences.  Different geology, a different legislative structure regarding how fracking is controlled and the fact that there were no baseline studies in the United States.  Because of the lack of any such studies it's impossible to definitively say how things have changed.  However, the Environment Agency is carrying out such studies in advance of any fracking.

Hazel also took to task the idea that fracking would contaminate the water course with methane.
Setting fire to tap water has been an internet hit.  It's also been latched onto by many anti fracking activists as proof of just how dangerous fracking can be.  However, Hazel pointed out that finding methane in water, drinking or not, is not a new thing.

Infact, the fact that there is methane in the water isn't due to the fact that fracking is taking place nearby.  It's far more likely that fracking is taking place nearby because there is methane in the water supply which is a good indicator of a viable gas deposit ripe for extraction.

Hazel was a very lively and interesting guest with a real gift for public speaking and audience engagement. Highly recommended to any other Skeptics groups.

NEXT MONTH: Tamasin Cave from Spinwatch will talk to us about the lobbying industry ans why she thinks it is distorting our democracy. Thursday 18th September - 7:30pm - North End Social Club - More details HERE.