u3a

South Solihull

Science

Status:Active, open to new members
Coordinator:
When: Monthly

The Science group meets on average about once a month. Our aim is to explore topics of current scientific interest through a combination of visits to places of scientific interest, home-based meetings, practical investigations and attending talks and lectures.  We do not follow a formal training course, and we are not lead by a tutor.

New members who have an interest in Science are welcome.

Home based meetings

Our home-based meetings are hosted and led by various group members and have explored contemporary topics such as:

  • Diet and Climate Change
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Robotics
  • The Chemistry of Winemaking
  • Astrobiology (life on other planets)
  • Einstein’s Special Relativity
  • Pandemics - past and present
  • Hydrogen as an alternative energy source
  • Chinese Nutrition
  • Plastics

Visits

We also visits with a science theme. Past visits have included the National Brewery Centre , Burton-upon-Trent and the National Museum of Computing, Bletchley Park.  Read about our latest visits below.

Practicals

We had an interesting session in which we attempted to investigate the efficiency of domestic vacuum cleaners.  It made us realise how challenging it can be to control some variables in a scientific practical.

Talks and Lectures

Members have been to talks held by a number of national and local organisations, for example:

  • I.E.T. presentations on Hydrogen as an alternative energy source held at Austin Court, Birmingham.
  • British Science Association annual conference at the University of Warwick, including a presidential address by Prof. Alice Roberts.

Forthcoming Events

Wednesday 23rd September 2026
Meeting
We will visit the exhibition at the Exchange in Broad Street, Birmingham, where Helios, a 5-metre diameter illuminated sculpture of the Sun by British artist Luke Jerram, is on display.
Booking Required

Recent Events

  • An exoplanet is any planet beyond our solar system.  Most orbit other stars. Most of the exoplanets discovered so far are in a relatively small region of our galaxy, the Milky Way.  We know from NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope that there are more planets than stars in the galaxy.

  • An examination of the impact of climate change on the availability of water around the world and the measures that can be used to alleviate the crisis.

  • An online meeting to discuss the environmental impact of the decisions made at the recent COP26 summit meeting.

  • We discussed two programmes in the Brian Cox series: 'What is Time?' and 'What is Gravity?'.

  • (no details)