Chemistry is the central, useful and creative science! Its historical relevance and its contribution to society will be discussed with significant achievements over the last 50 years highlighted. Recent advances have enabled chemical reactions at surfaces to be observed at the atom-resolved level. This has been central to the development of nano-technology, one of the fastest growth areas in science, and to the understanding of catalysis whether in the context of pollution control in automobiles or in chemical synthesis.

Surprisingly, one of the most important cosmological observations is that the sky is dark. On the other hand astronomers often talk about the brightness of the night sky (due to objects beyond the Earth not man made light), the most well known being the cosmic microwave background. How can the night sky be both black (dark) and bright?

Over the past ten years there has emerged, almost un-noticed, a new science of maleness. I will ask what it means to be male rather than female, why men are - relatively speaking - in decline; and how we can use genes to identify Adam, Eve - and where they did (or did not) meet.

Teeth survive death and contain lots of information about their 'owners'. Teeth are used as weapons in rape, murder. This talk covers the latest science and is illustrated by infamous crimes.

Chemical processes may be performed in microscale fluidic capillaries, made using chip-fabrication techniques, but which often mimic evolved solutions found in nature. Scaling laws open a new world of processing functions when everyday tasks, like mixing, separation and synthesis are perfromed at this scale. Chip-scale factories and ambient intelligence are two of many prospects for this emerging technology in healthcare and drug discovery, distributed manufacturing and ecological management.

Research at the Wales Heart Research Institute ranges from basic science (examples; cell signalling and actions of nitric oxide) through physiology (arteral wall), clinical studies (heart failure) to health services evaluations (multicentre trials) and audit. This talk will focus on epidemiology, interpreting the effects of smoking on heart diseaese and relationship between response to chronic infections and heart disease and on health services research, studying the care of patients following cardiac arrest and heart attack.

The last ten years has seen an enormous increase in the speed with which pharmaceutical companies can test potential new medicines. Much of this increase has been made possible by the availability of technologies capable of both automating the screening processes and improving the quality of information obtained. The world's leading supplier of drug of drug screening technologies over this period has been Amersham, through its Research and Development and Manufacturing laboratories in Cardiff. The commercialisation of a technology which quite literally gave birth to a new scientific discipline - high throughput drug screening.

The use of hydrogen as a major energy vector is a major discussion subject in political and scientific circles. Like many futurology subjects, everybody has his or her own view of what "the hydrogen economy" means. There is a common view that hydrogen can be a clean fuel, at the point of use, since it produces only water when burnt or used in fuel cells. However, hydrogen has to be produced and most current major production methods will themselves generate environmentally undesirable by-products, such as carbon dioxide. Hydrogen also has the disadvantage, compared to current fuels, that it has a very low density even if compressed or liquefied. In this talk I will examine where hydrogen is used today and what challenges exist if it is to become a major component of our energy systems.

This talk will look at some of the experiments that I have conducted over the last 30 years to explore how we detect, recognise and identify faces. How the normal brain processes facial information will be examined alongside work conducted on patients following brain injury or with neuropsychiatric disorders. The ultimate goal is to establish a model of how the brain/mind performs such amazing feats - something that no computer has yet been able to match.

A wide variety of tools and instruments are used to support the scientific endeavours of researchers in the marine environment These tools range from rudimentary hardware such as deep-sea corers and dredges to sophisticated instrument platforms at grander but differing scales. The lecture will concentrate on the capability, development and potential of three of the larger instrument platforms available to UK researchers, "Autosub" - an autonomous underwater vehicle, "Isis" - a deep ocean ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) and the replacement of the multi-role Royal Research Ship Charles Darwin.

Should exercise be considered as a prophylactic with reference to coronary heart disease, diabetes and ageing? What are the advantages and disadvantages associated with this therapy. Data from early and more recent studies will be presented for comment. In addition ler tion of different science based exercise programmes formance of elite athletes will be discussed. Are we using the knowledge available, should we be seeking management or manipulation?

At 135 meters high, the London Eye is the world's largest observation wheel; it is already a prominent feature on the south bank of the Thames and is the fourth tallest structure in London. During its first three years of operation, the Wheel attracted more than 11 million visitors. Engineering the Wheel was complicated and there are several novel features in its design: these include the design of the rim, main spindle and capsules; the ride control systems and the treatment of wind dynamics. Important interactions between construction and detailed design will be described.