Reducing heat loss from houses -105science

A scientific look at ways to reduce our use of energy in the home while still staying warm! We’ll meet a building scientist and ask how does a house lose heat? On the same theme, we take an infra red camera on the streets and use it to measure the temperature of the outside walls of a house and see which walls and windows waste heat.

Science Show reporter Nicola Terry asked a local environmental scientist Dr Ray Galvin to tell us about houses and heat loss. Nicola also hitches a ride on the Heatseekers vehicle in Cambridge. Heatseeker Dawn Morley explained how her infra red camera can see the heat escaping from homes.

On 18th October, you can join in to Stand Up To Cancer. Cancer Research UK is asking us to Stand Up To Cancer – literally – to stand for as long as we can or want to, on the 18thOctober to raise money for lifesaving research. To make a difference, just slap on the Stand Up To Cancer bum badge and collect donationshttp://www.standuptocancer.org.uk/get-involved

Cancer research in the news

Exercise fights cancer! Hildebrand and colleagues show that even moderate physical activity is associated with a lower risk of breast cancer. The secret is to walk at least one hour per day. Longer walks and more vigorous exercise further reduce breast cancer risk. http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/content/22/10/1906.full

Inject the nipple spare the body. The Journal of Visualized Experiments just published a new technique for treating and preventing breast cancer to avoid damage to healthy parts of the body. See how it works: http://www.jove.com/video/50692/intraductal-injection-for-localized-drug-delivery-to-mouse-mammary

WHAT’S ON

Thursday 10 October, a talk about “Concorde”, the airplane. There has never been another civil or military aircraft, which can do what Concorde did. There are aircraft that can fly faster, fly higher, fly further or carry more people. But none of them could fly one hundred passengers at Mach 2 across the Atlantic, without refuelling, in just over three hours. Concorde was and still is, an icon. David Rowland will trace the origins of Concorde the aircraft and explain why it was such a huge engineering achievement. “Concorde – a Real Life Time Machine is on Thursday 10 October, 19:00 Engineering Department on Trumpington Street, Cambridge. http://talks.cam.ac.uk/talk/index/47534

Thursday 10 October 2013, AT 7 pm “Practically Making the Philosophers’ Stone: Recreating Alchemical Experiments” a talk by Dr Jennifer Rampling from the Dept of History of Science, Cambridge University. Dr Rampling is interested in the history of alchemy, medicine and natural philosophy and early modern European intellectual history. This will be at the Department of Chemistry on Lensfield Road.

Saturday 12 October is Big Biology day. Big Biology Day, is the local offering for National Biology Week and it’s back for a second year. Go along to Hills Road Sixth Form College to find members of the public, groups from schools, supported by the Society of Biology and the University running hands-on activities and demonstrations. There will also be a Zoo in a bus. It’s open to everyone, and there’s no need to book or pay money. Big Biology day link: http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/whatson/detail.shtml?uid=f095406f-5f71-40ec-9664-d3af26b47897

On Tuesday 22 October 21:00 What can Cognitive Science tell us about Chemistry?
We rarely see substances reacting with each other. Most reactions such petrol burning ; metal rusting are explainable only with specialized knowledge of its hidden mechanisms. Talk by Michelle Ellefson on Tuesday 22 October, 21:00-21:30 Senior Parlour, Gonville & Caius College.

Related Science Show podcasts

Home energy – heat pumps – David Crowther in Cambridge explains how a heat pump, underfloor heating and good insulation keep the house warm. Podcast – January 2012 http://cambridge105.fm/podcasts/the-science-show-190212/)

Home energy – infrared cameras – Dawn Morley of ‘Heat Seekers’ who explains how their infra red camera in a van is able to ‘see’ where a house loses its heat. Contact Heat Seekers on 0800 111 4968 or go to www.homeheatseekers.co.uk. Podcast March 2012 http://cambridge105.fm/podcasts/the-science-show-100312/

Home energy – Cambridge’s eco-homes – Roger Frost visits a super-insulated city Eco-home that minimises its use of energy; has a garden for insulation on the roof. He talks to architect Jeremy Ashworth about the ways that his building saves energy. Thanks to Ashworth Parkes Architects Limited http://www.ashworthparkes.co.uk

Behind the scenes of Cambridge’s OPEN ECO HOMES event where over two weekends the public are invited on tours of 25 local properties to hear about measures taken to reduce their energy use. Thanks to http://cambridgecarbonfootprint.org/ Podcast May 2012 http://cambridge105.fm/podcasts/the-science-show-05-05-2012/

Home energy – solar panel experts tell Chris Creese about their special panels and offer some smart ideas for using solar energy. Pete McKeown, Director of Cernunnos Homes (http://www.cernunnos-homes.co.uk/) and Hamish Watson, Director of Polysolar (http://www.polysolar.co.uk). Podcast October 2012

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