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Compression

When you tune into Netflix you might not be aware that the box in your living room starts a complex set of negotiations with servers on moving 563 Gbytes of information into your residence. That is equivalent to having 15,000 copies of the Encyclopaedia Britannica dumped into your home! So, why is watching a Netflix film not the equivalent of the Amazon-delivery from hell? Compression, which this lecture will show is economically and entropically a hot topic.

Inventions That Changed The World: GPS

In 1977 or thereabouts a collection of scientists huddled around a secret radio receiver in the US desert. This was the start of GPS, Glonass, Gallileo and the whole navigation industry. But how does this technology work? And are there situations when it does not work?

Maths vs. Covid-19

Mathematics has been used as a tool to understand and control infectious disease for over a century, but Covid-19 brought along a whole epidemic of new challenges.

Trends in Health in the UK: The Implications for the NHS

What the NHS has provided and had to treat over its existence has changed much more radically than most people realise. Some of this change is rightly the domain of politics, but much is driven in response to changing health needs, improvements in medical science and priorities of society.

Lymphoma, Leukaemia and Myeloma

Lymphoma, leukaemia and myeloma arise from different parts of the white blood cell system. Unlike solid tumours, they can be widely distributed in the body, and this means they need a different approach.

BBC Radio in the Digital Era (1982–)

On 17 August 1982, the first commercial CD was released. Digital recording and editing have changed the face of music by making recordings easy to originate and share. But has this affected musical quality, and what are the financial and artistic consequences?

Food Oppression

Food-related conditions – cancer, heart disease, and strokes – are the leading causes of preventable deaths in the UK. Common wisdom is that health reflects personal choices and will power.

What Can We Do About Rising Obesity?

It is widely accepted that the rising prevalence of obesity is a major threat to current and future health of individuals, the public, and the NHS. Obesity comes from a complex interaction of personal choices, genetics, economics, the food industry, and the environment, among other things.

Computers: A History

Even the most humdrum of electrical devices nowadays contains at least one computer; yet surprisingly few people are aware of their history, their form or function. In this talk we will see that not only is the history of computers rich and diverse, their architecture likewise.

Vaccination

Vaccination has transformed the outlook for many previously lethal infectious diseases. It has, however, caused controversy since its beginnings, even when used for widely feared diseases such as smallpox. For many infectious diseases we do not have a vaccine, and may never get one.

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