April 2026
U3A Science Group Newsletter April 2026
The next meeting of the Joint Science Group in May, like the last one in March on Artificial Intelligence, addresses a highly topical, important and somewhat scary topic, Genetically Modified Food.
At the meeting on 6th May Dr Keith Davies will give a talk on What Makes Genetically Modified Crops Distasteful? Details are in the poster. You don’t need to pre-book, just turn up.
At the March meeting Russell Whitworth gave a very interesting talk on Artificial Intelligence. This attracted an excellent turnout.
Russell explained what distinguishes AI from what has gone before, what it can do and what it can’t (yet!). He gave examples including self-driving cars, analysis of medical scans, airport e-gates. identifying vegetables on the scales in a supermarket, teaching and composing the music and words of a song about the joys of driving on the M25, which he played.
Russell said AI has tremendous advantages, but also risks, and there needs to be regulation. In some ways it is similar to the industrial revolution, but it is happening much faster.
If you want to know more, there is a great deal of information on the U3A AI for everyone website https://u3acommunities.org/interest-groups/computing/ai-for-everyone/ Russell is a member of the team responsible for this.
He also referred to the excellent AI Confidential series of three BBC TV programmes with Hannah Fry – easily found by searching for her name on the iPlayer.
The Epsom and Ewell website team have compiled a guide on how to learn about and engage with AI, the guide contains information regarding using Chat GPT which is currently one of the most popular AI services. It can be found at https://epsomandewell.u3asite.uk/a-guide-to-using-ai-2/
May 2026